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A groundbreaking classic that lays out and defends a democratic theory of education Who should have the authority to shape the education of citizens in a democracy? This is the central question posed by Amy Gutmann in the first book-length study of the democratic theory of education. The author tackles a wide range of issues, from the democratic case against book banning to the role of teachers' unions in education, as well as the vexed questions of public support for private schools and affirmative action in college admissions.
The time has come to challenge many of the age-old assumptions about schools and school learning. In this timely book leading thinkers from around the world offer a different vision of what schools are for. They suggest new ways of thinking about citizenship, lifelong learning and the role of schools in democratic societies. They question many of the tenets of school effectiveness studies which have been so influential in shaping policy, but are essentially backward looking and premised on school structures as we have known them. Each chapter confronts some of the myths of schooling we have cherished for too long and asks us to think again and to do schools differently. Chapters include: * Democratic learning and school effectiveness * Learning democracy in an age of mangerial accountability * Democratic leadership for school improvement in challenging contexts. This book will be of particular interest to anyone involved in school improvement and effectiveness, including academics and researchers in this field of study. Headteachers and LEA advisers will also find this book a useful resource.
In the first edition of this book published in 1988, Shirley Engle and I offered a broader and more democratic curriculum as an alternative to the persistent back-to-the-basics rhetoric of the ‘70s and ‘80s. This curriculum urged attention to democratic practices and curricula in the school if we wanted to improve the quality of citizen participation and strengthen this democracy. School practices during that period reflected a much lower priority for social studies. Fewer social studies offerings, fewer credits required for graduation and in many cases, the job descriptions of social studies curriculum coordinators were transformed by changing their roles to general curriculum consultants. The mentality that prevailed in the nation’s schools was “back to the basics” and the basics never included or even considered the importance of heightening the education of citizens. We certainly agree that citizens must be able to read, write and calculate but these abilities are not sufficient for effective citizenship in a democracy. This version of the original work appears at a time when young citizens, teachers and schools find themselves deluged by a proliferation of curriculum standards and concomitant mandatory testing. In the ‘90s, virtually all subject areas including United States history, geography, economic and civics developed curriculum standards, many funded by the federal government. Subsequently, the National Council for the Social Studies issued the Social Studies Curriculum Standards that received no federal support. Accountability, captured in the No Child Left Behind Act passed by Congress, has become a powerful, political imperative that has a substantial and disturbing influence on the curriculum, teaching and learning in the first decade of the 21st century.
. Renewal of Life by Transmission. The most notable distinction between living and inanimate things is that the former maintain themselves by renewal. A stone when struck resists. If its resistance is greater than the force of the blow struck, it remains outwardly unchanged. Otherwise, it is shattered into smaller bits. Never does the stone attempt to react in such a way that it may maintain itself against the blow, much less so as to render the blow a contributing factor to its own continued action. While the living thing may easily be crushed by superior force, it none the less tries to turn the energies which act upon it into means of its own further existence. If it cannot do so, it does not just split into smaller pieces (at least in the higher forms of life), but loses its identity as a living thing. As long as it endures, it struggles to use surrounding energies in its own behalf. It uses light, air, moisture, and the material of soil. To say that it uses them is to say that it turns them into means of its own conservation. As long as it is growing, the energy it expends in thus turning the environment to account is more than compensated for by the return it gets: it grows. Understanding the word "control" in this sense, it may be said that a living being is one that subjugates and controls for its own continued activity the energies that would otherwise use it up. Life is a self-renewing process through action upon the environment.
Recounts the founding years of the Democratic School of Hadera and explores the place of democratic education in one man's life.
The time has come to challenge many of the age-old assumptions about schools and school learning. In this timely book leading thinkers from around the world offer a different vision of what schools are for. They suggest new ways of thinking about citizenship, lifelong learning and the role of schools in democratic societies. They question many of the tenets of school effectiveness studies which have been so influential in shaping policy, but are essentially backward looking and premised on school structures as we have known them. Each chapter confronts some of the myths of schooling we have cherished for too long and asks us to think again and to do schools differently. Chapters include: * Democratic learning and school effectiveness * Learning democracy in an age of mangerial accountability * Democratic leadership for school improvement in challenging contexts. This book will be of particular interest to anyone involved in school improvement and effectiveness, including academics and researchers in this field of study. Headteachers and LEA advisers will also find this book a useful resource.
The Mission Hill School, founded by MacArthur Award winner Deborah Meier and colleagues in 1997, is a small public school that has rethought almost everything about the process of teaching and learning. Beyond richly describing and evaluating this high-achieving school, the author argues that democratic education is increasingly difficult in this era of testing and standardization and that a school such as Mission Hill must be continually thoughtful, innovative, and courageous in counteracting systemic inequality. This in-depth examination is essential reading for anyone interested in how to better understand seemingly intractable problems related to urban public education in the United States. Book Features: An exemplary model of democratic education that shows the inner workings of a largely teacher-governed school.A rare example of an urban school implementing Dewey-influenced progressive pedagogy.In-depth descriptions of an anti-racist and culturally relevant pedagogy and curriculum.A close examination of successful practices, including shared decision making, intensive problem solving, and looking at student work. Matthew Knoester is a National Board Certified Teacher and former teacher at the Mission Hill School in Boston. He received his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is currently Assistant Professor of Education at the University of Evansville. “Matthew Knoester has done us an enormous favor by showing us, in detail, what could be—one example of how schools can be the building blocks for democracy, recreating community for all to taste, feel, hear, and see.” —From the Foreword by Deborah W. Meier “This is exactly the kind of book that is so necessary at this time. Schools can be respectful, responsive, and caring places. Matthew Knoester gives us a detailed picture of such a school. If more people would read books such as this, the national debate on education would be all the better for it.” —Michael W. Apple, John Bascom Professor of Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Policy Studies, University of Wisconsin–Madison “Knoester’s account of the Mission Hill School captures the ‘habits of mind’ needed if public schools are to be truly democratic in spirit and in practice, centered on the children, and, as Deborah Meier so powerfully advocates, protected from those policies and social forces that accept and perpetuate disengagement and inequality in our children's education.” —Linda McSpadden McNeil, Professor of Education, Rice University; author of Contradictions of School Reform “To those who have never seen the Mission Hill School in Boston, it may sound like a magical place. The good news is that it is real and Knoester shows us through his compelling narrative how and why they have been able to achieve so much. For educators, students, and parents this book will be a source of inspiration. At a time when our policymakers and many so-called reformers are actively undermining support for public education, this important book will serve as a reminder that we can do a much better job at educating all children.” —Pedro Noguera, Executive Director,Metropolitan Center for Urban Education, New York University
Based on 20 years of teaching experience and research in schools across the country, Teaching and Learning on the Verge demonstrates how educators in all disciplines can integrate civic engagement, multicultural literacy, and leadership into their classrooms and programs. Featuring voices from literature and philosophy in dialogue with the living stage of classrooms, streets, and community spaces, this book offers an imaginative and practical guide to democratic education. Teaching and Learning on the Verge will help educators to: Apply models for breaking down walls between school and society. Provide students with experiences that deepen their understanding of identity, justice, and relationships. Make learning meaningful to students by bridging communities, generations, and other social divides. Resist a narrow focus on achievement and make space for students as independent thinkers and leaders of social change. Make schools stronger by challenging the processes that people in power use to thwart movements for equality. “Teaching and Learning on the Verge exemplifies the giddiness, unpredictability, and intrinsic messiness of democratic action and civic learning. Elliott offers an engaging whirlwind of examples and ideas in examining civic action among and with youth in a multicultural democracy.” —Meira Levinson, associate professor of education, Harvard Graduate School of Education “One teacher’s efforts to practice democracy in her classroom, becomes a scholarly, yet sparkling, exploration of the thought and practice and real difficulties involved in enacting varieties of democratic learning. Personal testimony goes hand in hand with intellectual depth to produce this vital handbook for adventurous teachers everywhere.” —Jay Featherstone, poet, writer, and educator, former editor of The New Republic
Many educational practices are based upon ideas about what it means to be human. Thus education is conceived as the production of particular subjectivities and identities such as the rational person, the autonomous individual, or the democratic citizen. Beyond Learning asks what might happen to the ways in which we educate if we treat the question as to what it means to be human as a radically open question; a question that can only be answered by engaging in education rather than as a question that needs to be answered before we can educate. The book provides a different way to understand and approach education, one that focuses on the ways in which human beings come into the world as unique individuals through responsible responses to what and who is other and different. Beyond Learning raises important questions about pedagogy, community and educational responsibility, and helps educators of children and adults alike to understand what a commitment to a truly democratic education entails.
Nautilus Gold Award Winner (Books for a Better World) in Social Sciences & Education Create inclusive, democratic classrooms that prepare knowledgeable, compassionate, and engaged global citizens. Today’s global challenges—climate change, food and water insecurity, social and economic inequality, and a global pandemic—demand that educators prepare students to become compassionate, critical thinkers who can explore alternative futures. Their own, others’, and the planet’s well-being depend on it. Worldwise Learning presents a "Pedagogy for People, Planet, and Prosperity" that supports K-8 educators in nurturing "Worldwise Learners": students who both deeply understand and purposefully act when learning about global challenges. Coupling theory with practice, this book builds educators’ understanding of how curriculum and meaningful interdisciplinary learning can be organized around local, global, and intercultural issues, and provides a detailed framework for making those issues come alive in the classroom. Richly illustrated, each innovative chapter asserts a transformational approach to teaching and learning following an original three-part inquiry cycle, and includes: Practical classroom strategies to implement Worldwise Learning at the lesson level, along with tips for scaffolding students’ thinking. Images of student work and vignettes of learning experiences that help educators visualize authentic Worldwise Learning moments. Stories that spotlight Worldwise Learning in action from diverse student, teacher, and organization perspectives. An exemplar unit plan that illustrates how the planning process links to and can support teaching and learning about global challenges. QR codes that link to additional lesson and unit plans, educational resources, videos of strategies, and interviews with educators and thought leaders on a companion website, where teachers can discuss topics and share ideas with each other. Worldwise Learning turns students into local and global citizens who feel genuine concern for the world around them, living their learning with intention and purpose. The time is now.