The Humanistic Teacher: First the Child, Then Curriculum » (New Edition)

Jerome S. Allender is a retired Professor of Education at Temple University. His two most recent books are Imagery in Teaching and Learning: An Autobiography of Research in Four World Views and Teacher Self: The Practice of Humanistic Education.

Donna Sclarow Allender cofounded the Project Learn School in Philadelphia in 1970. She taught there for 20 years and is currently a member of its administrative committee. She is also a practicing psychotherapist.

The Humanistic Teacher: First the Child, Then Curriculum supports teachers and parents in their quest to provide the best possible education for each and every child. Meeting the needs of every child is the basic tenet of humanistic education, and this text explores both theory and practical methods for achieving this difficult goal.

Using examples from their fifty years of experience as teachers, administrators, and researchers, the authors explain the importance of humanistic methods such as study of one’s own teacher practice, working together with other teachers, and establishing realistic boundaries with children of all ages. The Humanistic Teacher enables teachers to meet the different needs of individual students and to become the educators they want to be.

Prologue     xi
Acknowledgments     xiii
A Case Study     1
Project Learn: A Humanistic School     3
The Beginning     3
A Letter for Dylan from Donna     4
A School Community     7
The Curriculum     11
P. L. Paper     14
Evaluation     16
Establishing Boundaries     22
Two-Sided Report Cards     27
Staff Development     27
Training for Ease     31
The Good Enough Teacher     34
A Historical and Personal Context     39
Student Needs     41
Manifesto     41
Personal History     44
Historical Context     48
Who Unbolted the School Desks?     53
Teacher Needs     57
Taking Risks     57
The Theoretician and the Practitioner     61
Beginning to Teach     65
Collaborative Conversation     69
The Psychology of Teaching and Learning     73
Teaching and Learning Together     75
Lessons from the 1960s     76
Humanistic Theory     83
Open Teaching and Learning     88
Traveling the World     91
In Search of Humanistic Teachers     92
Living in Japan     92
Tomoe: A Humanistic School in Tokyo     97
The Challenge to be Humanistic in Japan and the Soviet Union     100
The Academic Context     109
The Possibility of Humanistic Research     111
Unbolting the Scientific Framework     111
Research in Four World Views     116
Donna, the Researcher     123
Hegemony or Partnership?     126
The Self-Study of Teaching Teachers     129
The Vision of the Self-Study Community     129
Donna's Postcards from the Herstmonceux Castle     133
Jerry's Teacher Self     135
Finding Power in Practice     138
Global Impact     146
The Evidence     146
Donna's Rant     148
Academic Hope     150
The Word     154
The Need to Act     158
Everyday     161
Local Action     163
Expectations and Quandaries     163
Inner Conflict     165
Project Learn: An Evolving School     170
A Letter for Dylan (and His Teachers) from Donna     173
References     177
Index     183
About the Authors     193