A Reason to Teach is written for teachers who want to bring democratic
teaching to their classrooms and schools. The book not only explains why
teachers should choose this point of view, but tells how, offering a wide
range of practical resources for classrooms and schools at all levels, including
tools for:
- involving students in planning and assessing their work
- embedding social issues in classroom content
- arranging projects and collaborative activities
- organizing integrative curriculum units
- building classroom communities.
All of these ideas are illustrated with vibrant examples from real classrooms
around the country, including an extended case study of how one teacher and his
students in a large city organized their curriculum around the goal of getting a
new school for their neighborhood. Throughout A Reason to Teach, Beane
offers specific guidance on instructional strategies that emphasize students'
choice, participation, and critical inquiry. The book offers suggestions on how
to get started in the classroom, how to think in new ways about what we already
do, and how to reach out to colleagues for support.
Eminently practical and thoroughly principled, A Reason to Teach shows
the how, the why, and the power of the democratic way. In a time when national
educational policy is drifting away from its founding principles, James Beane
takes us back to the real basics, building upon the long history of progressive
education with insights, encouragement, and hope for renewing our commitment to
it in the classroom and the nation.