Alfie Kohn
on classroom management
About Alfie
Thoughts From Mr. Kohn
- We shouldn't tell kids "good job" to reinforce good behavior. We are creating praise junkies, manipulating children, stealing their pleasure, reducing their achievement, and making them lose interest (Kohn, 2004)
- Clutter, student chatter, "missing" teacher lost in student activity, and student decor are all signs of a good classroom. Chairs in straight rows, teacher front and center speaking, sterile walls and decor, hand raising and silence are signs of a bad classroom (Kohn, 1998).
- Homework has no beneficial value to the student especially when given as prefabricated busy work. Teachers should only give homework that they have created, and that they have involved the students in. Teachers should be emphasizing decision-making and checking for understanding rather than rote memorization (Kohn, 2007).
- Grit and self-regulation aren't necessarily attributes that correlate with good students or good learners. Encouraging self-discipline is actually limiting a students mental exploration in favor of receiving praise form the people in power (Kohn, 2015).
Some Books by Alfie Kohn
Beyond Discipline
From Compliance to Community
The Homework Myth
Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing
Schooling Beyond Measure
And Other Unorthodox Essays About Education
Feel-Bad Education
And Other Contrarian Essays on Children & Schooling
The Myth Of The Spoiled Child
Challenging the Conventional Wisdom About Children and Parenting
Punished by Rewards
The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and Other Bribes
"The real problem is not the number of students who get A’s but the number who are taught that getting A’s is the point of school" (Kohn, 1998).
Resources
Kohn, A. (1993). Punished by rewards: The trouble with gold stars, incentive plans, A's, praise, and other bribes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Kohn, A. (2004). What does it mean to be well educated? and more essays on standards, grading, and other follies. Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press.
Kohn, A. (2006). Beyond discipline from compliance to community (10th anniversary ed., 2nd ed.). Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Kohn, A. (2006). The homework myth: Why our kids get too much of a bad thing. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Life Long.
Kohn, A. (2007). Rethinking Homework. Principal
Kohn, A. (2014). The myth of the spoiled child: Challenging the conventional wisdom about children and parenting.
Kohn, A. (2015). Schooling beyond measure and other unorthodox essays about education.