Alfie Kohn

In the modern age of No Child left(a) Behind and similar mandates, in that respect has been an increased counsel placed on what schools must do in order to improve the reproductional offsprings of each(prenominal) and every student. It has finally become app bent that the conventional method of cultivation is not as effective as once believed.Evidence of this fact corporation be found within the test scores of individual schools as hygienic as entire school districts. Alfie Kohn is a leader in school reform and he focuses on non handed-down commissions to make grow students so they are excited and eager to lease.Despite the idea held my many Americans that on-line(prenominal) methods do not work, the vast majority of schools continue to rely on back to basics strategies for instruction (Kohn, 1999, 2). While back to basics may cave in worked for previous generations it is not working for the current generation.Kohn emphasizes the need to shake focus extraneous from tralatitious methods of school in favor of non traditional methods in order to motivate students to want to watch over. A biography of Kohn is offered as well as a discussion based on his private pieces to the electron orbit of education and schoolroom management.BiographyAlfie Kohn is one of the to the highest degree vocal critics of the profound focus placed on standardized tests and test scores (Kohn, 1998, 1). His theories and ideas have motivated many educators and administrators to brush up the vogue that students learn and the way that teachers teach.Kohn began his move as a high school teacher and enjoyed making improvements to his programme and lesson plans in order to provide the best educational experiences for his students.After Kohn left the classroom he realized that using the equivalent curriculum in the same way for each mathematical group of students is not the most effective way to motivate students to learn. Instead, he realized that adapting the co urse material to each group of students was a more than effective way to provide authentic nurture experiences that left students wanting to know more (Kohn, 1998, 1).Kohn also spent a great deal of time observing other teachers and engaging in dialogue with education experts in order to present a adhesive view of the education system in America. Kohn is most well cognize for his stand against teaching to the test and relying on test scores as adequate measures of educational progress.Kohn also is known for his idea that the ultimate military issue of education is not that each child receive all As because this is not the point of school. Finally, Kohn is known for his idea that current estimation measures are not adequate and do not give a clear representation of what really happens in classrooms (Kohn, 1998, 1).Contributions to EducationThe most serious contribution that Alfie Kohn has made in the field of education is the shift in focus that has occurred from ratement meas ures such as standardized tests to a more general view of education that is primarily concerned with students ability to learn and obtain on learning (Kohn, 2004, 27).Kohn emphasizes that the intense focus placed on scaling and mind has taken away the potential for authentic learning experiences that really benefit students rather than simply teach them how to take a test.Further, teachers take place so much time worrying about what amount or level of work constitutes what grade when their focus should be on enable students to make significant progress in their understanding of certain subjects unheeding of what grade they end up with (Kohn, 2004, 28).This contribution is essential within the education field because it has allowed teachers to question the traditional methods of instruction and begin to consider non traditional methods that may motivate students to learn more than what is possible through traditional education.It has also motivated many educators to begin to wo rk with experts and policy makers in the field in order to discover chute ship canal to assess student progress that does not rely solely on the outcome of standardized testing (Kohn, 2004, 28).A similar idea that has stemmed from the idea that alternate testing measures must be discovered is the idea that grades cause students to do as little as possible and still get a great grade. In this way, grades actually disable the desire to learn more because students quickly find out how little they can get away with and still receive an acceptable grade (Kohn, 2004, 28).At the same time, the motivation to learn more decreases as student desire to receive a good grade increases. Students who receive grades based on performance are disinclined to try challenging things because of their business organisation of failing and/or receiving a deplorable grade.On the other hand, students who are encouraged to think for themselves and explore topics that interest them without the fear of bein g graded are more likely to recall the cultivation that they learn as well as continue to seek opportunities to learn new things (Kohn, 2004, 28).While this certainly does not mean that schools are going to get out handing down grades to students this idea has allowed many educators to reexamine the way they assess their students in order to provide ample opportunity for students to learn without the fear of failure.Another important realization that has come from Kohns view of traditional assessment models is that there must be an educational goal behind assessing students.In other words, assessment must be used to enhance the educational opportunities for students. Instead, assessment is most a good deal used to categorize students and determine who is smarter than whom or as a technique to motivate students to work harder in order to get the A (Kohn, 2004, 28).Therein lies the problem with standardized tests. Kohn emphasizes that standardized tests do not truly project how m uch teaching or learning has taken place. Instead, they simply manifest how well a child can do on a test on any given day and/or how well a student is able to guess on questions they do not know (Kohn, 2004, 28).Kohn has opened the eyes of educators and allowed many of them to see the error of their ways in relying solely on the outcome of standardized tests in metre student progress. Kohn has also forced many experts and policy makers within the field of education to realize that perhaps there is a better way to determine how well Americas students are doing in school.Contributions to classroom ManagementKohn has questioned the use of traditional discipline strategies that focus on getting students to do what the teacher wants them to do. Traditionally, the teacher creates a set of classroom rules and expects students to obey them.These rules often include detailed consequences that accompany them in order to show students what depart happen to them if they break one of the rul es (Kohn, 2006, 1). Similar to his work with standardized tests and assessment measures, Kohns work with classroom management has forced many teachers to reexamine how they approach classroom management.Obviously, it is necessary that students be taught to how to behave appropriately in the classroom in order to create an environment conducive to learning. However, Kohn feels that classroom management is significantly more effective if students take part in creating caring environments rather than being expected to follow the rules decided upon by the teacher (Kohn, 2006, 1).In other words, Kohn has shown teachers that not all discipline problems are because students are naughty but rather because a caring community has not been created that encourages students to work together to learn and grow.