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We learn most readily, most naturally, most effectively, when we start with the big picture - precisely when the basics don't come first.

Alfie Kohn

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Alfie Kohn
Age: 67
Born: 1957
Born: October 15
Author
Teacher
Writer
Miami Beach
Florida
Learn
Basics
Firsts
Readily
Come
Effectively
First
Precisely
Naturally
Picture
Start
Bigs

More quotes by Alfie Kohn

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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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When was the last time you spent the entire day with only 42 year olds?
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When we do things that are controlling, whether intentional or not, we are not going to get those long-term outcomes.
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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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What can we surmise about the likelihood of someone's being caring and generous, loving and helpful, just from knowing that they are a believer? Virtually nothing, say psychologists, sociologists, and others who have studied that question for decade
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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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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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Unconditional parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason.
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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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Students should not only be trained to live in a democracy when they grow up they should have the chance to live in one today.
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Saying you taught it but the student didn't learn it is like saying you sold it but the customer didn't buy it.
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Children learn how to make good decisions by making decisions, not by following directions.
Alfie Kohn
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If I offered you a thousand dollars to take off your shoes, you'd very likely accept--and then I could triumphantly announce that 'rewards work.' But as with punishments, they can never help someone develop a *commitment* to a task or action, a reason to keep doing it when there's no longer a payoff.
Alfie Kohn
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Whoever said there's no such thing as a stupid question never looked carefully at a standardized test.
Alfie Kohn
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We can't value only what is easy to measure measurable outcomes may be the least important results of learning.
Alfie Kohn
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Assessments should compare the performance of students to a set of expectations, never to the performance of other students.
Alfie Kohn
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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.
Alfie Kohn
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Punishments erode relationships and moral growth.
Alfie Kohn
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Educational success should be measured by how strong your desire is to keep learning.
Alfie Kohn