Book: Math, Writing and Games

I discovered this wonderful little gem of a book called Math, Writing and Games in the Open Classroom by Herbert Kohl (1974). Kohl has such a frank way of describing his time in Harlem - I was drawn in by his sharing of his journey from the disastrous by-the-book teaching at the beginning to the brainstorm of asking the kids to write about themselves and their experiences. The way in which he is able to tease out what he was feeling and expecting from what actually happened makes his account so much more compelling in its honesty.

Kohl's book is clearly a deeply introspective prescription for what makes good teachers wherein he outlines a sort of hippocratic oath of teachers. Teaching 'by the book' was harming his ability to connect with the kids, and was essentially not only wasting everyone's time but was fundamentally damaging to the kids' sense of self. This isn't the sort of thing that is obvious, then or now, under the rubric of a standardized educational system and an intensely hierarchical structure of 'learning'.

I may report more of my thoughts as I keep reading - I've only just started the book!