Theorist: Alfie Kohn
“We want children to continue reading and thinking after school has ended, yet we focus their attention on grades, which have been shown to reduce interest in learning. We want them to be critical thinkers, yet we feed them predigested facts and discrete skills – partly because of various constituencies to pump up standardized test scores” (Kohn 2001, p. 61).
Alfie Kohn is a theorist with extreme ideas about how a classroom should be run. Kohn's theory involves the idea of no homework and no grades. The student will never learn naturally if they are constantly doing homework and being graded. Kohn also believes that the students should choose the curriculum that interests them. If they are interested in what they are learning then they will learn more, even if they do not follow the standards. Kohn believes that teacher should always show respect for the students while helping the students connect with each other so the classroom can become more like a "family" then a professional work environment. Classroom meetings should happen consistently in an Alfie Kohn classroom so the students and teacher can be on the same page. Kohn is also in disagreement with the idea of competition of reward systems in the classroom. He believes it hinders their learning and reward systems will not work for all students. Alfie has articles that are posted below with other websites. I would encourage reading about his work before disagreeing completely. An equilibrium can be found.
Para más informacíon... busca estos sitios:
http://www.alfiekohn.org/index.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G59KY7ek8Rk
http://alfiekohn.org/articles.htm
Alfie Kohn is a theorist with extreme ideas about how a classroom should be run. Kohn's theory involves the idea of no homework and no grades. The student will never learn naturally if they are constantly doing homework and being graded. Kohn also believes that the students should choose the curriculum that interests them. If they are interested in what they are learning then they will learn more, even if they do not follow the standards. Kohn believes that teacher should always show respect for the students while helping the students connect with each other so the classroom can become more like a "family" then a professional work environment. Classroom meetings should happen consistently in an Alfie Kohn classroom so the students and teacher can be on the same page. Kohn is also in disagreement with the idea of competition of reward systems in the classroom. He believes it hinders their learning and reward systems will not work for all students. Alfie has articles that are posted below with other websites. I would encourage reading about his work before disagreeing completely. An equilibrium can be found.
Para más informacíon... busca estos sitios:
http://www.alfiekohn.org/index.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G59KY7ek8Rk
http://alfiekohn.org/articles.htm