Alfie Kohn writes about education and human behavior. His work clearly articulates much of the philosophy that drives our decision.
Positive Discipline is a parenting and classroom management model based on the work of Alfred Adler and Rudolf Drieker. Applied in the school setting, Positive Discipline educates teachers about the importance of belonging and significance, respect for all people, encouragement, strategies for reducing misbehavior, and the development of problem solving and communication skills for students and staff.
8 to Great is part of Innovation Academy’s social emotional curriculum that teaches responsibility and restores hope.
The Responsive Classroom approach is a widely used, research- and evidence-based approach to elementary education that increases academic achievement, decreases problem behaviors, improves social skills, and leads to more high-quality instruction.
Collaborative Problem Solving – This conflict resolution model sets forth two major tenets. First, social, emotional, and behavioral challenges in kids are best understood as the byproduct of lagging cognitive skills in the domains of flexibility/adaptability, frustration tolerance, and problem-solving (rather than as attention-seeking, manipulative, limit-testing, or a sign of poor motivation). Second, these challenges are best addressed by collaboratively resolving the problems that are setting the stage for challenging behavior (rather than through reward and punishment programs and intensive imposition of adult will). See the videos linked above for how we work best with our students at Innovations.
The National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) advances quality education and equal opportunity by promoting fair, open, valid and educationally beneficial evaluations of students, teachers and schools. FairTest also works to end the misuses and flaws of testing practices that impede those goals.
Edutopia publishes the stories of innovative teaching and learning. At this site, you’ll find detailed articles, in-depth case studies, research summaries, short documentary segments, expert interviews, and links to hundreds of relevant resources. You’ll also be able to participate as a member of an online community of people actively working to reinvent schools for the twenty-first century.
The Center for Nonviolent Communication is a global organization helping people connect compassionately with themselves and one another through Nonviolent Communication language, created by marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D.
International Mind, Brain and Education Society’s mission is to facilitate cross-cultural collaboration in all fields that are relevant to connecting mind, brain, and education in research, theory, and/or practice.
The Buck Institute for Education is a non-profit, research and development organization dedicated to improving the practice of teaching and the process of learning.
Indigo Village is a community resource that invites us all to connect, learn, grow, and take care of ourselves through personal development and community involvement.
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Interesting Articles:
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Three Huge Mistakes We Make Leading Kids, found in Growing Leaders by Tim Elmore
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Three Words I Wish All Parents Would Remember, Huffington Post article by Michelle Rose Gilman
Influential Authors:
- Maria Montessori – The Absorbent Mind
- Adele Faber – How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk
- Benjamin Zander and Rosamund Stone Zander – The Art of Possibility
- Jane M. Healy – Endangered Minds
- Drs. Brock Eide and Fernette Eide – The Mislabeled Child
- John Holt – How Children Fail
- John Taylor Gatto – Dumbing Us Down and other books
- Alfie Kohn – The Homework Myth and other books
- Steven Johnson – Everything Bad for You is Good
- Jack Stack – The Great Game of Business: Unlocking the Power and Profitability of Open Book Management
- Roger Schank – Coloring Outside the Lines
- Ron Berger – An Ethic of Excellence