Quote

The value of a book about dealing with children is inversely proportional to the number of times it contains the word behavior.

Alfie Kohn

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Alfie Kohn
Age: 67
Born: 1957
Born: October 15
Author
Teacher
Writer
Miami Beach
Florida
Children
Behavior
Number
Value
Numbers
Word
Inversely
Values
Proportional
Times
Contains
Book
Dealing

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Very few things are as dangerous as a bunch of incentive-driven individuals trying to play it safe.
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Educators remind us that what counts in a classroom is not what the teacher teaches it’s what the learner learns.
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When test scores go up, we should worry, because of how poor a measure they are of what matters, and what you typically sacrifice in a desperate effort to raise scores.
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To control students is to force them to accommodate to a preestablished curriculum.
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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.
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In education, parody is obsolete.
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Trying to do well and trying to beat others are two different things. Excellence and victory are conceptually distinct . . . and are experienced differently.
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Grades dilute the pleasure that a student experiences on successfully completing a task.
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Whoever said there's no such thing as a stupid question never looked carefully at a standardized test.
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If children feel safe, they can take risks, ask questions, make mistakes, learn to trust, share their feelings, and grow.
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Someone who thinks well of himself is said to have a healthy self-concept and is envied. Someone who thinks well of his country is called a patriot and is applauded. But someone who thinks well of his species is regarded as hopelessly naïve and is dismissed.
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Most of us would protest that of course we love our children without any strings attached. But what counts is how things look from the perspective of the children
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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.
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If a child is off-task...mayb e the problem is not the child...maybe it's the task.
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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.
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If faculty would relax their emphasis on grades, this might serve not to lower standards but to encourage an orientation toward learning.
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Contrary to what you think, your company will be a lot more productive if you refuse to tolerate competition among your employees.
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If rewards do not work, what does? I recommend that employers pay workers well and fairly and then do everything possible to help them forget about money. A preoccupation with money distracts everyone - employers and employees - from the issues that really matter.
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You have to give them unconditional love. They need to know that even if they screw up, you love them. You don't want them to grow up and resent you or, even worse, parent the way you parented them.
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John Dewey reminded us that the value of what students do 'resides in its connection with a stimulation of greater thoughtfulness, not in the greater strain it imposes.
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