The Discipline of Hope: Learning from a Lifetime of Teaching

Kohl (36 Children; Should We Burn Babar?), the well-known educational theorist and practitioner, relives four decades of helping children learn. Although he has always worn his progressive credentials on his sleeve, school reform is not his focus here. From his first encounters in New York's embattled Harlem schools in 1962, he describes how he came to champion education ""on the ground,"" the complex interaction of teacher and students, and the ""discipline of hope,"" which sets no limits on what and when a person can learn. Modestly boastful, Kohl recalls the ways he not only ""learned to teach better,"" but the surprising way his students' approaches to new learning challenges enriched him. Kohl never stayed still but always looked for new challenges--even volunteering to teach kindergarten, ""the hardest teaching job I have ever had, and one of the most magical."" Class notes, assignments, school papers and testimony from students of all levels (even kindergartners, whom Kohl taught for free later in life as the fulfillment of a dream), show him to be an imaginative instructor and advocate for kids of every age and background. While most valuable for teachers looking for the instruction and inspiration of ""an ongoing love affair with teaching,"" Kohl's book is also intriguing for anyone interested in how children learn and how we all help and hinder that process. (Mar.)