- June 2010
21.90 Euro
2010. 208 Pages, Hardcover
ISBN-10: 0-470-64603-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-470-64603-8 - John Wiley & Sons






Sample Chapter

Detailed description
Teens talk to adults about how they develop motivation and mastery

Through the voices of students themselves, Fires in the Mind brings a game-changing question to teachers of adolescents: What does it take to get really good at something? Starting with what they already know and do well, teenagers from widely diverse backgrounds join a cutting-edge dialogue with adults about the development of mastery in and out of school. Their insights frame motivation, practice, and academic challenge in a new light that galvanizes more powerful learning for all. To put these students' ideas into practice, the book also includes practical tips for educators.
* Breaks new ground by bringing youth voices to a timely topic-motivation and mastery
* Includes worksheets, tips, and discussion guides that help put the book's ideas into practice
* Author has 18 previous books on adolescent learning and has written for the New York Times Magazine, Educational Leadership, and American Educator

From the acclaimed author of Fires in the Bathroom, this is the next-step book that pushes the conversation to next level, as teenagers tackle the pressing challenges of motivation and mastery.

From the contents
Foreword (Dennis White).

1. What Does It Take to Get Good?

Young people are developing mastery in ways we easily overlook.

2. Catching the Spark.

Kids tell what draws them in and gives them confidence in learning.

3. Keeping at It.

When do young people stick with something and make it their own?

4. Asking the Experts.

Looking at how experts work, students make sense of their own process.

5. Exploring Deliberate Practice.

Young people look closer at what makes practice effective.

6. Practice and Performance.

Demonstrating mastery also helps students improve.

7. Bringing Practice into the Classroom.

Students imagine the classroom as a community of practice.

8. Is Homework Deliberate Practice?

Whether, when, and how to give kids practice after class.

9. School Projects That Build Expert Habits.

Students talk about their most compelling curricula.

10. Making School a Community of Practice.

Kids suggest ways that schools can foster expert habits.

Appendix A: The Practice Project: A Five-Day Curriculum Outline for Secondary Teachers or Advisers.

How to help students investigate the expert process.

Appendix B: Resources That Help Light Fires in the Mind.

Inspiration, tools, organizations, and other resources.

The Student Contributors.

Acknowledgments.

About the Author.

About What Kids Can Do.

Index.