| Alfie Kohn writes and speaks widely on human behavior, education, and parenting. The latest of his eleven books are THE HOMEWORK MYTH: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing (2006) and UNCONDITIONAL PARENTING: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason (2005). Of his earlier titles, the best known are PUNISHED BY REWARDS: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes (1993), NO CONTEST: The Case Against Competition (1986), and THE SCHOOLS OUR CHILDREN DESERVE: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and "Tougher Standards" (1999). Kohn has been described in Time magazine as "perhaps the country's most outspoken critic of education's fixation on grades [and] test scores." His criticisms of competition and rewards have helped to shape the thinking of educators -- as well as parents and managers -- across the country and abroad. Kohn has been featured on hundreds of TV and radio programs, including the "Today" show and two appearances on "Oprah"; he has been profiled in the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, while his work has been described and debated in many other leading publications. Kohn lectures widely at universities and to school faculties, parent groups, and corporations. In addition to speaking at staff development seminars and keynoting national education conferences on a regular basis, he conducts workshops for teachers and administrators on various topics. Among them: "Motivation from the Inside Out: Rethinking Rewards, Assessment, and Learning" and "Beyond Bribes and Threats: Realistic Alternatives to Controlling Students' Behavior." The latter corresponds to his book BEYOND DISCIPLINE: From Compliance to Community (ASCD, 1996), which he describes as "a modest attempt to overthrow the entire field of classroom management." Kohn's various books have been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, German, Italian, Swedish, Dutch, Bulgarian, Portuguese, Arabic, Hebrew, Thai, and Malaysian. He has also contributed to publications ranging from the Journal of Education to Ladies Home Journal, and from the Nation to the Harvard Business Review ("Why Incentive Plans Cannot Work"). His efforts to make research in human behavior accessible to a general audience have also been published in the Atlantic Monthly, Parents, and Psychology Today. His many articles on education include a dozen widely reprinted essays in Phi Delta Kappan from 1991 to 2008. Among them: "Choices for Children: Why and How to Let Students Decide," "How Not to Teach Values: A Critical Look at Character Education," "Test Today, Privatize Tomorrow," and "Why Self-Discipline is Overrated." Kohn lives in the Boston area with his wife and two children. |
Speech Titles for Educators:
THE DEADLY EFFECTS OF "TOUGHER STANDARDS":
Challenging High-Stakes Testing and Other Impediments to Learning
PERFORMANCE VS. LEARNING: The Costs of Overemphasizing Achievement
OVERHAULING THE TRANSMISSION MODEL
ON BRIBING STUDENTS TO LEARN:
Second Thoughts About A's, Praise, Stickers, and Contests
CHOICES FOR CHILDREN: From Coercion to Community
FROM DEGRADING TO DE-GRADING: Basic Questions About Assessment
THE CASE AGAINST COMPETITION
TEACHING CHILDREN TO CARE
THE (PROGRESSIVE) SCHOOLS OUR CHILDREN DESERVE
CHALLENGING STUDENTS . . . AND HOW TO HAVE MORE OF THEM
THE HOMEWORK MYTH
Longer Workshops for Educators:
MOTIVATION FROM THE INSIDE OUT:
Rethinking Rewards, Assessment, and Learning
THE DEADLY EFFECTS OF "TOUGHER STANDARDS"
BEYOND BRIBES AND THREATS:
Realistic Alternatives to Controlling Students’ Behavior
Speech Titles for Parents:
UNCONDITIONAL PARENTING: Beyond Bribes and Threats
RAISING REBELS: Helping Kids to Challenge the Status Quo
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