The Passionate Learner : How Teachers and Parents Can Help Children Reclaim the Joy of Discovery

A practical guide for keeping young people''s curiosity alive All children begin life as passionate, curious learners. But in school, too many become alienated from the joy of learning. Filled with stories and specific ideas, The Passionate Learner is a handbook for cultivating kids'' passionate engagement with learning at all ages. ''A wise, realistic treatise on the prospects of reclaiming children''s engagement with learning. . . . Fried is inspirational and practical.'' —Publishers Weekly ''[A] fascinating look at the way children lose their natural ability to learn as they enter and progress through school. . . . [Fried] outlines strategies for parents, teachers, and school systems to enliven the teaching process and recapture children''s natural passion for learning. An inspiring resource for parents and teachers.'' —Booklist ''Should be required reading for all educators committed to reforming classrooms and reviving the spirit of learning.'' —Jacqueline Jordan Irvine, Emory University ''Fried accomplishes here what so few education writers have even attempted—he speaks to parents in the same clear, nonjargon prose he offers to teachers.'' —Seymour Sarason, author of Teaching as a Performing Art ''Fried''s reflections are dead-on.'' —Teacher Magazine ''Accurate and thought-provoking analyses of what we believe and what schooling actually promotes.'' —Principal Magazine Robert L. Fried is associate professor of education at Northeastern University in Boston, and works with teachers and parents in schools around the country. Author of The Passionate Teacher: A Practical Guide, he lives in Concord, New Hampshire. A practical guide for keeping young people's curiosity alive

All children begin life as passionate, curious learners. But in school, too many become alienated from the joy of learning. Filled with stories and specific ideas, The Passionate Learner is a handbook for cultivating kids' passionate engagement with learning at all ages.

"A wise, realistic treatise on the prospects of reclaiming children's engagement with learning. . . . Fried is inspirational and practical."
—Publishers Weekly

"[A] fascinating look at the way children lose their natural ability to learn as they enter and progress through school. . . . [Fried] outlines strategies for parents, teachers, and school systems to enliven the teaching process and recapture children's natural passion for learning. An inspiring resource for parents and teachers."
—Booklist

"Should be required reading for all educators committed to reforming classrooms and reviving the spirit of learning."
—Jacqueline Jordan Irvine, Emory University

"Fried accomplishes here what so few education writers have even attempted—he speaks to parents in the same clear, nonjargon prose
he offers to teachers."
—Seymour Sarason, author of Teaching as a Performing Art

"Fried's reflections are dead-on."
—Teacher Magazine

"Accurate and thought-provoking analyses of what we believe and what schooling actually promotes."
—Principal Magazine

Robert L. Fried is associate professor of education at Northeastern University in Boston, and works with teachers and parents inschools around the country. Author of The Passionate Teacher: A Practical Guide, he lives in Concord, New Hampshire. This book is a guide to reclaiming students' passionate engagement in learning. It uses stories from classrooms; the voices of teachers, parents, and students; and practical suggestions to advocate a view of curriculum as a web of relationships. There are 16 chapters in four parts. Part 1, "The Promise of Passionate Learning," includes (1) "The Promise" and (2) "The Chasm: How the Promise Gets Broken." Part 2, "Reclaiming the Promise," includes (3) "What Teachers Can Do to Reclaim the Promise"; (4) "Revisiting the Chasm: Misbehaving Kids, Boredom, and Wasting Time"; (5) "What Parents Can Do to Reclaim the Promise" and (6) "What Schools and Systems Can Do to Reclaim the Promise." Part 3, "The Practice of Passionate Learning," includes (7) "Curriculum as Relationships"; 8)"Curriculum? Who Cares?";(9) "Parents and Curriculum: A Partnerships with Students and Teachers"; (10) "Words of Power"; (11) "A `Good Enough' Literacy Program"; and (12) "Lift Every Voice." Part 4, "Passionate Teaching and Learning in an Era of Standardization," includes (13) "A Passion for Excellence--and How We Undermine It"; (14) "Celebrating `Inconsistent Excellence'"; (15) "Education at the Millennium: The Bad and the Good"; and (16) "Passionate Teaching and Learning in an Era of Standardization." (SM) This book is a guide to reclaiming students' passionate engagement in learning. The author starts with vivid portraits of young children as passionate learners, invoking the voices and hopes of parents and teachers. He shows us how a "chasm" develops between the initial promise of every child and the reality of life in school. Then, step by step, he shows how teachers--and parents as allies--can encourage and develop passionate learning in all kids Looks at the forces that inhibit learning and discusses how parents and teachers can instill a student's passion for learning.