I would recommend using Rick Wormeli and Robert Marzano as resources,
through their writings and perhaps their presence.
I would recommend using Dennis Littky, both in person and through a visit
to the Met Center.
The writings of Alfie Kohn, Stephen Krashen, and Ted Sizer. And one thing
by Howard Gardner (they're hard to slog through).
"How Girls Thrive." "Raising Cain."
"Understanding by Design." Anything by Carol Ann Tomlinson.
The Online School for Girls.
If we're talking middle school level, a visit to Radnor Middle School
outside of Wayne, PA to meet with Mark Springer and view their integrated
programs Crossroads for 6th graders, Watershed for 7th graders. RMS also
has one of the two premier middle school democratic classroom programs I
know of, Soundings for the 8th graders, with the Alpha Team in the
Shelburne Community School in Vermont being the other. Anything John
Lounsbury has ever written. "This We Believe," published by NMSA. Rick
Wormeli's middle school-specific books. Honestly, too, I think any of these
resources has the possibility to infuse and instruct education at other
levels as well.
A good many people on ISED-L and at ISENET.
I would throw in a visit to the Sudbury Valley School, to see perhaps the
ultimate in a school-based democracy. Not necessarily to follow their
model, but to keep you thinking.
That should make for a decent start. ;-)
Take care,
Bill Ivey
Stoneleigh-Burnham School
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