Alfie Kohn’s
Beyond Discipline
About Alfie Kohn:
- A former teacher who is now a full-time writer and lecturer.
- Wrote several influential books and published numerous journal articles relating to motivation, grading, discipline, and developing caring people.
- Recognized as one of the most original thinkers in education
- www.afliekohn.org
Kohn’s Contributions:
- Instruction should be based off constructivist theory.
o Constructivist Theory holds that students cannot receive knowledge directly from teachers but rather from experience.
- Developing a sense of community which develops caring, responsible students.
o Community brings about purposeful activity and concern for others, which teachers normally hope to achieve through discipline techniques.
Kohn’s Central Focus:
- Focused on helping teachers develop caring, supportive classrooms in which students pursue in depth topics of interest to them and participate fully in solving class problems.
- Has criticized teaching and approaches to discipline that do things to students rather than involving students as partners in the process.
- Attack discipline schemes that involve rewards or punishments.
o These are counterproductive and produce side effects such as mistrust, avoidance, and working for rewards only.
- Work toward developing a sense of community where students are continually brought into making judgments, expressing their opinions, and working cooperatively toward solutions that affect themselves and the class.
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