Overhauling the Transmission Model – (Lecture Topic)

OVERHAULING THE TRANSMISSION MODEL  Students are not receptacles to be filled with knowledge, or clay to be molded. They, like all of us, are active meaning-makers. The implication, as one educator put it, is that teaching is mostly listening, and learning is mostly telling — a dictum that requires us to rethink the use of lectures, worksheets, textbooks, and, for … Read More

Performance Vs. Learning – (Lecture Topic)

PERFORMANCE VS. LEARNING:  The Costs of Overemphasizing Achievement  Educational researchers have discovered that there is a significant difference between getting students to think about their performance (that is, how well they are doing) and getting them to think about the learning itself (what they are doing). These orientations often pull in opposite directions, which means that too much emphasis on performance … Read More

The Deadly Effects Of “Tougher Standards”: Challenging High-Stakes Testing and Other Impediments to Learning – (Lecture Topic)

THE DEADLY EFFECTS OF “TOUGHER STANDARDS”:  Challenging High-Stakes Testing and Other Impediments to Learning The main effect “of the drive for so-called higher standards in schools is that the children are too busy to think,” said John Holt in 1959. Today, an ill-informed version of school reform has been embraced by politicians, corporate executives, and journalists, all demanding “accountability,” which … Read More

The Illusion of Discovery

October 1, 2014 The Illusion of Discovery Student-Centered on the Surface, Teacher-Centered Down Below By Alfie Kohn It’s not hard to recognize an utterly traditional classroom. If the teaching is heavily scripted and focused mostly on getting students to memorize right answers and practice skills by rote; if those students are sitting in rows, hunched over worksheets or being lectured … Read More

What Waiting for a Second Marshmallow Doesn’t Prove (##)

EDUCATION WEEK September 10, 2014 S’More Misrepresentation of Research What Waiting for a Second Marshmallow Doesn’t Prove By Alfie Kohn [This article, which was published in Education Week under the title “The Deferred Gratification Myth,” is adapted from The Myth of the Spoiled Child, which contains references to the relevant research.] Traditional schooling isn’t working for an awful lot of students.  We can respond to that … Read More

Common Misconception

We’ve long been eager to believe that mastery of a skill is primarily the result of how much effort one has put in. Extensive practice “is probably the most reasonable explanation we have today not only for success in any line, but even for genius,” said the ur-behaviorist John B. Watson almost a century ago. In the 1990s K. Anders … Read More

Perfect, It Turns Out, Is What Practice Doesn’t Make (##)

July 25, 2014 Perfect, It Turns Out, Is What Practice Doesn’t Make By Alfie Kohn We’ve long been eager to believe that mastery of a skill is primarily the result of how much effort one has put in. Extensive practice “is probably the most reasonable explanation we have today not only for success in any line, but even for genius,” … Read More

Trophy Fury: What’s Behind Claims that Kids Are Coddled and Overcelebrated?

NEW YORK TIMES May 4, 2014 Trophy Fury What’s Behind Claims that Kids Are Coddled and Overcelebrated? By Alfie Kohn [This is an expanded version of the published article, which was titled “Do Our Kids Get Off Too Easy?” and adapted from The Myth of the Spoiled Child.]   The last time I checked, a web search for the phrases “everyone … Read More

The Downside of “Grit” (Commentary)

WASHINGTON POST April 6, 2014 The Downside of “Grit” What Really Happens When Kids Are Pushed to Be More Persistent? By Alfie Kohn [This is an expanded version of the published article, which appeared in the Post‘s Sunday “Outlook” section.  It has been adapted from chapter 7 of The Myth of the Spoiled Child: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom about Children and Parenting.] … Read More