About the Book

Dear Readers,
        
I did not write this book for a specialized market.  The issues it explores are relevant for all of us. We have all been shaped by our educational experiences.

If you are a teacher  I want to encourage you to look deeply at the children in your charge, to question what you are doing  and to ask whether you are protecting and nurturing development of their innate capacities or stunting their growth through undue anxiety and stress. I want to encourage all  dedicated, creative and passionately engaged teachers to  use my book to support what you are doing and to extend the learning trajectories that I (and more importantly, you) imagine.

 If you are a parent consider with me what your children really need to become confident and capable and what kind of future you want for them. Then make sure that they receive all of the elements supporting natural, joyful learning that I describe in my book.

 If you are a politician, a bureaucrat or a billionaire involved in school privatization, you may not like what I have to say, but you should read my book anyway.  You have been shaped by your education, but I believe that we are all capable of change because we are all capable of learning something new.

 Finally, if you are a young adult wondering what to do with your “one wild and precious life”, I want you to know that teaching can be the most satisfying of all professions. Also the most fun and the most consistently challenging. I want to inspire you.  Let me know if I do.  

Anne
See Chapter Summaries Below

                                     From The Preface of What Are We Going To Learn Today?
What I learned from my many years in the classroom is tragically at odds with our current educational reform movement and its reliance on a standardized curriculum with computerized assessments to determine the success of children, teachers and schools. . . What Are We Going To Learn Today? is my attempt to address this crisis foundationally by looking at children and how they learn in order to understand why so many of our current schools are failing. I also address what we must do instead to transform our public schools into  places where all children and teachers can thrive, learn and develop the capacities and skills necessary to meet the tremendous challenges that will be facing them in the decades ahead.

Chapter Summaries

Chapter 1

How Children Learn. Children are born ready to learn; their survival depends on it and they respond primarily to elements that have evolved with our humanity, predating civilization. Curriculum and pedagogy change with time, but these basic elements supporting healthy learning do not change.  ​

Chapter ​2

Relationship. Relationship is the crucible for learning. Children learn best from trusted adults who see and respond to them with open minds and hearts.

Chapter ​3

Build Community. Our sense of community was the sheath in which capacities for empathy and a sense of shared responsibility could grow. These qualities are essential to our democratic ideals. ​

Chapter ​4

Tell Them A Story.  Stories are primary to learning; crucial to the development of imagination, they form the scaffolding for our lives.

Chapter ​5

The Arts Are Not Extra:  The arts are essential to education; without them we risk losing our souls as well as our biosphere.​

Chapter ​6

We Learn Through Asking (But Not Necessarily Answering) Questions.
Being able to ask probing questions, listen thoughtfully to others and follow a line of inquiry in a group discussion is an art that merits daily practice. 

Chapter ​7

We Learn By Experiencing. It's way easier to learn things, and to remember and use things, when you learn it by yourself.” Aiden Croft, 7th Grade, Hood River Middle School.​

Chapter ​8

Reconnect with Nature.  Children must learn to love the natural world and its denizens, not on computer screens or in zoos, but in what is left of the wild. Their health depends on it.​

Chapter ​9

Let's Celebrate:  This is the sensibility that I wished to arouse  in myself and in my students– the sense that life is a miracle, absolutely worth saving and defending and that we must participate in life with reverence and gratitude for what we receive.​

Chapter 10

Let Them Play.  If relationship is the crucible for learning, play is the primary catalyst, a basic instinct providing a rehearsal space for life’s challenges and a pathway for children to understand how the world works.

Afterword

Removing Impediments.
Children can overcome challenges if teachers observe closely in order to understand what is sticking and persevere until a remedy is found.  This section offers a list of helpful resources as well as suggestions for teachers and parents.