Turning Point: Free Education for the Willing

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What has been accomplished by the writers whose stories grace the pages of this book is clear and a tribute to the efforts they have put forth on behalf of children everywhere.

The amazing thing to me is that none of these authors has lost hope, even in the face of schools that had to be closed and criticism from authorities in academia, in traditional education, and in their communities. Several of them have had to put down their dreams for a while, but none has given up. Our young people depend on that hope and on the fact that there are others who follow after us to build on what we have done or to create something new and stronger than has gone before.

This is a book to stir pride in those in the trenches at the same time as it stirs admiration and courage to create on behalf of all children, among those who have yet to join in the effort. I was engaged and fascinated to read about the ways in which so many different people came to their life's work in advocating a vision of education that greatly differs from the teacher-directed, knowledge-fragmented, meritocratic, potential-limiting, standardized education we find in the majority of schools these days.

Their journeys to the point of rejecting the status quo educational system are as varied as their approaches to answering the question of 'How should we educate our youth in this society? We can all pose this question of ourselves, and we can all act, in ways big and small, to try to bring our schools or other educational venues, closer to our ideals than they currently are.

This is an amazing collection of little known facts about famous and lesser-known alternative educators. Often their hopes and aspirations are inspiring as are their philosophies of education and life.

Turning Points

My favorite educational authors did not disappoint me. The strength of education has always and still remains in the relationships between teacher and pupil. Somewhere in that relationship is realized a passion for learning and trust that guidance is near to allow exploration to be natural behavior. All education students, all teachers, all administrators, parents, and political leaders would definitely benefit from reading this highly exciting and informative book. When I noticed the outstanding people and what they did, I saw more deeply, not only 'whys' and 'hows' of powerful schooling and unschooling, but also their difficult to explain inspiration that helps one more clearly see that extensive school transformation may be just around the corner.

After reading this masterpiece, the reader can more easily be one's own authority as well as more easily do what the reader thinks needs doing. The book has surpassed my highest expectations. I found the stories to be deeply affecting. They are personal and honest. There are thousands of people doing great research but who struggle to answer why their research is important," she adds.

Hewitt believes the role of the academic should be more about training people to think, problem-solve, and communicate their subjects effectively in and out of formal education. Achieving impact through greater engagement with communities and colleagues is an idea that is also being reflected through the way new university buildings are being designed. Simon Doody, partner of Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios which designs higher education buildings, says they have seen a noticeable change in the way academic work spaces are being designed: But this development is not always welcomed, he added, and there is still a "prevailing desire for academics to undertake their individual research work in a withdrawn environment, separated from other academics so they cannot be disturbed.

Turning Points – Education Revolution – Alternative Education Resource Organization

Bruton acknowledges that not everyone can or wants to be a flipped academic an idea he describes as being a "potentially disruptive innovation" that many may find threatening and hard to relate to , but he believes that the existing generation of academics "need to understand and ready themselves for a possible changing reality".

One academic who is embracing the need for a shakeup in the way individuals and their institutions see their role in higher education is Tom Fisher, professor and dean of the college of design at the University of Minnesota. He believes the flipped academic is an idea whose "time has come" but that it should not just be limited to the individual researcher, but extend to universities themselves who need to see engagement with communities as their primary role. Welcome to the "flipped academy". As Fisher puts it: It is in that latter role — creating a better future for ourselves and others — that the community engagement responsibilities of academics become most relevant.

Academics also need to do the things that justify their own career progression, says Fisher, including "engaging and communicating with the public in ways that non-academics can understand". Middle Schoolin' and Kick Smokin' also available in Spanish: Please visit his web site: Would you like to tell us about a lower price?

If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support? Whether the reader is, has been, or will become a middle school teacher, or a middle school student or parent, this book provides a close look at life in middle school: How challenges emerge and obstacles are overcome, as well as how one student turned his life and his school around.

The flipped academic: turning higher education on its head

Many middle school students don't see the dangers of not working to their potential. Involuntarily encouraged by social promotion and other factors, they may not reach a turning point until, in some cases, it is too late.

Description

In Turning Point, authors Paul Rallion and Chuck Wong present the reality of many middle school students, some of whom believe that all they have to do is sit pretty in class. Yet, there are other students who show tremendous academic growth.

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