Alfie Kohn

should focus more on their academic knowledge in education. Alfie Kohn, the author of “The Dangerous Myth of Grade Inflation”, describes students are losing the focus and knowledge of what the opportunities are provided for them to pursue in education. In agreement, the loss of academic knowledge continues to plague high school students as they prepare for college. With enormous amounts of study work, students become stressed out and nervous to study for their tests and exams. Students must finalize their studies from their institutions and teachers during their short time in…

Alfie Kohn once said, “...the fact is that kids learn to make good decisions by making decisions, not by following directions.” Following directions is always the best decision. But what if it’s okay to be inaccurate? As children, we always make mistakes. That’s why there’s something called a lesson to guide us along the way. To teach us right from wrong. As parents, the words “because I am your parent” are used about an extreme amount to prove a point. And it usually works.. But children are…

Alfie Kohn, the author of “Poor Teaching for Poor Children…In the Name of School Reform,” is also the author of many other books regarding education and human behavior. His article, published in Education Week magazine, discusses his belief that standardized tests justify sub-par teaching methods and that they are counter-productive in closing the education gap between urban and middle-class students. Although no reader will disagree that poor children should suffer sub-par teaching, certain…

According to Kohn, if student are allowed to learn what they want to when they want to they will have no reason to misbehave. In respect to a standard based classroom in 2016, the most useful aspects of Kohn’s theory is it takes students ideas and thoughts into consideration. The downfall of Kohn’s theory are that there are no consequences in place if misbehavior were to occur and the teacher does not have 51% of the power in the classroom. Personal Philosophy of Discipline My name is Jess…

centered around the issue of students receiving homework and whether or not it is fair. According to Martha Brockenbrough in “Support Your Kids By Letting Learning Happen” and Erika A. Patall in “Help Children Form Good Study Habits”, students should have homework and parents should allow them to make mistakes, its part of the learning process. They shouldn’t be there to do the homework but to teach good study habits. H. Richard Milner wrote the article “Not All Students Have Access to Homework…

Alfie Kohn, an author and lecturer, contends that “competition by its very nature is always unhealthy.” The author believes that the cost of competition is incalculable. Kohn illustrates his point with explaining on how you can never enjoy real satisfaction when you compare yourself to others. Kohn says “[he] is perpetually insecure and… perpetually anxious”. I respect Kohn’s point, but disagree. Thought history, competition has been a driving force. In the humble beginnings of Rome there was a…

The first chapter of Beyond Discipline by Alfie Kohn was about the nature of children and their motives and abilities. It discussed many negative theories and programs that characterize children as untrustworthy, incapable, and lack self-control. However, the author provides a different point of view where children are not seen as horrible human beings. He believes educators must look carefully at how they are teaching and the assumptions and predispositions they may bring about on their…

are usually given extra assignments to complete at home when they could be spending that crucial time with family. There are said to be both positive and negative aspects of this topic. The article I chose to analyze was “Rethinking Homework” by Alfie Kohn. This article talks about the so called pros and cons of homework. It also talks about the teacher's responsibility whether or not to assign homework but overall the principal's job to help their facility understand the impact homework is…

curriculum map was designed for 3rd grade math. When I originally designed this map, math was entirely outside of my comfort zone. I did fairly well at math in elementary school; however, I have tried to help my younger brother with his math since then and I no longer excel in it. This affected my ability to feel confident when designing the units. Fortunately, this did help my perspective as an educator because I can understand how some students might struggle. Nonetheless, reflecting on my…

grades that make up a too large portion of a student’s final grade. When a grade is large enough that students who do not understand subject material but talk a lot in class are achieving the same marks as students who have a good grasp of the content but struggle with speaking up, the grade overall does not show an accurate representation of a student’s proclivity for a subject (Klein). Another potentially detrimental example of class participation is the use of ‘cold-calling’ in the classroom.…