Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us about Motivation and Mastery

ISBN-13: 9781118160213 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 208 str.

Kathleen Cushman

Opis

Teens talk to adults about how they develop motivation and mastery Through the voices of students themselves, Fires in the Mind brings a game-changing question to teachers of adolescents: What does it take to get really good at something? Starting with what they already know and do well, teenagers from widely diverse backgrounds join a cutting-edge dialogue with adults about the development of mastery in and out of school. Their insights frame motivation, practice, and academic challenge in a new light that galvanizes more powerful learning for all. To put these students' ideas into practice, the book also includes practical tips for educators.

• Breaks new ground by bringing youth voices to a timely topic-motivation and mastery
• Includes worksheets, tips, and discussion guides that help put the book's ideas into practice
• Author has 18 previous books on adolescent learning and has written for the New York Times Magazine, Educational Leadership, and American Educator

From the acclaimed author of Fires in the Bathroom, this is the next-step book that pushes the conversation to next level, as teenagers tackle the pressing challenges of motivation and mastery.

Spis treści

Foreword
by Dennis White  ix

1. What Does It Take to Get Good?
Young people are developing mastery in ways we easily overlook1

2. Catching the Spark
Kids tell what draws them in and gives them confidence in learning 11

3. Keeping at It
When do young people stick with something and make it their own? 31

4. Asking the Experts
Looking at how experts work, students make sense of their own process  55

5. Exploring Deliberate Practice
Young people look closer at what makes practice effective71

6. Practice and Performance
Demonstrating mastery also helps students improve 87

7. Bringing Practice into the Classroom
Students imagine the classroom as a community of practice97

8. Is Homework Deliberate Practice?
Whether, when, and how to give kids practice after class 117

9. School Projects That Build Expert Habits
Students talk about their most compelling curricula 135

10. Making School a Community of Practice
Kids suggest ways that schools can foster expert habits 153

Appendix A: The Practice Project: A Five–Day Curriculum Outline for Secondary Teachers or Advisers
How to help students investigate the expert process 159

Appendix B: Resources That Help Light Fires in the Mind
Inspiration, tools, organizations, and other resources165

The Student Contributors 173

Acknowledgments 177

About the Author 181

About What Kids Can Do 182

Index 183

Blurb

Praise for Fires in the Mind

"What a refreshing book! Rather than asking the timeworn question ′How can we motivate these kids?′ Kathleen Cushman performs a lovely act of conceptual jujutsu and instead asks ′What can the kids tell us about motivation?′ The answers are smart and thoughtful and brimming with good advice." Mike Rose, author, Why School? Reclaiming Education for All of Us

"The best school reform creates schools that kids want to go to, where learning is meaningful and engaging. This wonderful book builds on the concept that education should be ′asset based,′ not based on telling kids what they don′t know and can′t do. Read Fires in the Mind and connect to the voices of students about how they learn most eagerly." Paul Houston, executive director emeritus, American Association of School Administrators

"′Become passionate′ is easy to say, hard to do, impossible to compel. Drawing on the insights of young persons, parents, teachers, and experts, Kathleen Cushman reveals the paths to passionate pursuit of something worthwhile." Howard Gardner, Harvard Graduate School of Education; author, Five Minds for the Future, Multiple Intelligences, and The Unschooled Mind

"An immensely useful, insightful, and indispensable guide to tapping the immense potential in every child. Essential reading for teachers, coaches, and parents alike." Daniel Coyle, author, The Talent Code

"Every educator would like for students to develop a passion, but many are unsure of how to light that fire. Kathleen Cushman had the wisdom to ask students, and they tell us with clarity what motivates them and how school might be made more inspiring. Anyone who cares about schooling or children should read this book." Daniel T. Willingham, author, Why Don′t Students Like School?