June 2019 Bookshelf
Books 13 June 2019
The Lost Education of Horace Tate: Uncovering the Hidden Heroes Who Fought for Justice in Schools
Vanessa Siddle Walker
Brown v. Board is so ubiquitous that you’d be hard pressed to find a passerby who couldn’t at least give you a one-sentence understanding of the case’s historical impact. However, the stories and characters who operated behind the scenes, making the case as transformative as it became, were almost completely lost. Thankfully, Vanessa Siddle Walker befriended one of the decade’s less popularized civil rights leaders, Horace Tate, who, just before passing in 2002, told her of an old attic where untouched strategies and secrets of the movement could be found. As you read The Lost Education of Horace Tate, you might find the inspiration you’ve been looking for to make change happen in your community.
The Book of Learning and Forgetting
Frank Smith
If you begin questioning some of the thinking undergirding the conventional education system, you will likely end up asking questions about the purpose of education itself. Once that door is open, Frank Smith, author of The Book of Learning and Forgetting, is ready to aid in your exploration. Smith asks his readers why learning is considered rigid, systematized work, rather than the natural, socially-embedded phenomenon it is. And, in this questioning, he invites you to consider the many possibilities that could transform the system altogether.
Future Wise: Educating Our Children for a Changing World
David Perkins
What if instead of viewing “curriculum” as a topic-specific roadmap every learner must follow throughout the year, it instead guided young people to their interests and passions? David Perkins, author of Future Wise, landed on such an idea when he realized “preparing kids for the future” was a fool’s errand if educators were truly trying to predict the unpredictable. Instead, he wanted to introduce people to the possibility of creating curriculum that was “big-picture focused” and didn’t demand the limited scope of content present in the conventional system.
Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom
bell hooks
How do you effectively serve a group of young people who all strive to make a unique impact on the world? Teaching to Transgress, a groundbreaking book by bell hooks, explores this question through the lens of “education as the practice of freedom.” Hooks focuses on the education practices she personally found most effective in creating a learning environment that celebrates the individuality of every young person she served. And, in doing so, she has seen how a young learner, empowered by their personal freedom, can explore far beyond what shows up on a test.
Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community
Alfie Kohn
Opportunities to control others can be found almost anywhere. Older siblings might be tempted to control younger ones. Bosses might be tempted to control their employees. And, of course, educators might be tempted to control young learners. When people comply to our wishes, it feels like chaos has left the building. However, as Alfie Kohn explores in his book, Beyond Discipline, this feeling is often fictional. Those who are being controlled feel oppressed, disempowered, and limited. What if we changed our thinking around power and control in a learning environment? What if we instead cultivated community and collective leadership, regardless of age or conventional titles? Explore these questions in depth with this transformative book.
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