Alfie Kohn
Alfie Kohn
Alfie Kohnis an American author and lecturer in the areas of education, parenting, and human behavior. He is a proponent of progressive education and has offered critiques of many traditional aspects of parenting, managing, and American society more generally, drawing in each case from social science research...
ProfessionNon-Fiction Author
Date of Birth15 October 1957
ideas giving long
In a word, learning is decontextualized. We break ideas down into tiny pieces that bear no relation to the whole. We give students a brick of information, followed by another brick, followed by another brick, until they are graduated, at which point we assume they have a house. What they have is a pile of bricks, and they don't have it for long.
people intelligence rewards
Do rewards motivate people? Absolutely. They motivate people to get rewards.
people community workplace
People will typically be more enthusiastic where they feel a sense of belonging and see themselves as part of a community than they will in a workplace in which each person is left to his own devices
kids feelings important
How we feel about our kids isn't as important as how they experience those feelings and how they regard the way we treat them.
thinking ideas understanding
We have so much to cover and so little time to cover it. Howard Gardner refers to curriculum coverage as the single greatest enemy of understanding. Think instead about ideas to be discovered.
children order feet
Sometimes we have to put our foot down, ... but before we deliberately make children unhappy in order to get them to get into the car, or to do their homework or whatever, we need to weigh whether what we're doing to make it happen is worth the possible strain on our relationship with them.
stupid tests said
Whoever said there's no such thing as a stupid question never looked carefully at a standardized test.
teacher moving kids
Each time I visit such a classroom, where the teacher is more interested in creating a democratic community than in maintaining her position of authority, I’m convinced all over again that moving away from consequences and rewards isn’t just realistic - it’s the best way to help kids grow into good learners and good people.
teaching taught students
Saying you taught it but the student didn't learn it is like saying you sold it but the customer didn't buy it.
children mistake feelings
If children feel safe, they can take risks, ask questions, make mistakes, learn to trust, share their feelings, and grow.
strong educational desire
Educational success should be measured by how strong your desire is to keep learning.
teacher classroom educator
Educators remind us that what counts in a classroom is not what the teacher teaches; it’s what the learner learns.
school kids differences
The difference between a good educator and a great educator is that the former figures out how to work within the constraints of traditional policies and accepted assumptions, whereas the latter figures out how to change whatever gets in the way of doing right by kids. 'But we've always...', 'But the parents will never...', 'But we can't be the only school in the area to...' - all such protestations are unpersuasive to great educators. If research and common sense argue for doing things differently, then the question isn't whether to change course but how to make it happen.
teacher talking listening
In outstanding classrooms, teachers do more listening than talking, and students do more talking than listening. Terrific teachers often have teeth marks on their tongues.