The Resistant Learner

Addressing the emotional and academic needs of kids in grades four through twelve, Lawrence Greene examines the counterproductive behaviors and attitudes that undermine academic performance, diminish self-esteem and limit educational and career options. Each chapter focuses on a particular deficit area and offers accessible, hands-on methods for parents to guide and mentor their struggling child. Parents learn how to: * Help their child identify natural talents and use them when learning * Choose a democratic or autocratic approach to modifying behavior * Use the DIBS system to solve problems * Open an effective dialogue with their child * Express positive expectations and affirm and praise effort and progress * And much more

Alcorn examines qualities of student resistance to new and uncomfortable information and proposes methods for teachers to work productively with such resistance. Drawing on research from numerous disciplines showing how emotion grounds human reason, he outlines an agenda that makes emotional experience central to educational practice.

This book examines the human proclivity to resist changing our beliefs. Drawing on psychological, neurological, and philosophical research, and integrating topics as wide ranging as emotion, cognition, social (and physical) context, and learning theory, Lao and Young explore why this resistance to change impedes our learning and progression. They also suggest that failure to adapt our beliefs to available and informed evidence can incur costs that may be seen in personal growth, politics, science, law, medicine, education, and business. Resistance to Belief Change explores the various manifestations of resistance, including overt, discursive, and especially inertial forms of resistance. As well as the influential factors that can impact upon them, the book also examines how the self-directed learner, as well as teachers, may structure the learning experience to overcome resistance and facilitate progressive and adaptive learning. Lao and Young find that the impediments to learning and resistance to change are far more prevalent and costly than previously suggested in research, and so this book will be of interest to a range of people in cognitive development, social psychology, and clinical and educational psychology.

However personally committed faculty may be to helping students learn, their students are not always as eager to participate in this endeavor, and may react with both active and passive resistant behaviors, including poor faculty evaluations. The purpose of this book is to help faculty develop a coherent and integrated understanding of the various causes of student resistance to learning, providing them with a rationale for responding constructively, and enabling them to create conditions conducive to implementing effective learning strategies. In this book readers will discover an innovative integrated model that accounts for student behaviors and creates a foundation for intentional and informed discussion, evaluation, and the development of effective counter strategies. The model takes into account institutional context, environmental forces, students’ prior negative classroom experiences, their cognitive development, readiness to change, and metacognition. The various chapters take the reader through the model’s elements, exploring their practical implications for teaching, whether relating to course design, assessments, assignments, or interactions with students.The book includes a chapter written entirely by students, offering their insights into the causes of resistance, and their reflections on how participating on this project has affected them. While of great value for faculty, this book is also useful to faculty developers advising future and current faculty, as well as to administrators, offering insight into how institutional values impact teaching practice and student attitudes.

This book explores various frameworks within which post-school education is situated and the practice that actually happens in classrooms and lecture theatres, especially when things go wrong. Examining how and why some students choose to resist learning whilst undertaking tertiary education, this book provides practical tips and guidance for educators on how to work through difficult situations where learning isn’t a student’s priority. Considering both theory and practice, the book offers a range of practical solutions to difficult circumstances, such as the greater emphasis on distance learning, the growth of predatory or fake journals to the challenges of too much screen time, ghostwriters and plagiarism, speaking out of turn, consistent lateness, absenteeism and even violent behaviour. Looking at contexts and behaviours where learning is rejected or ignored, through students’ indifference or resistance, from a range of perspectives, this book is ideal reading for anyone working or involved in tertiary education, including teacher trainees, tutors, teacher educators, managers, administrators and lecturers working at universities and colleges, as well as students who may benefit from discussions of the problematic nature of learning.

The Path of Least Resistance: Learning to Become the Creative Force in Your Own Life, Revised and Expanded discusses how humans can find inspiration in their own lives to drive creative process. This book discusses that by understanding the concept of structure, we can reorder the structural make-up of our lives; this idea helps clear the way to the path of least resistance that will lead to the manifestation of our most deeply held desires. This text will be of great use to individuals who seek to use their own lives as the driving force of their creative process.

Teaching Resistance is a collection of the voices of activist educators from around the world who engage inside and outside the classroom from pre-kindergarten to university and emphasize teaching radical practice from the field. Written in accessible language, this book is for anyone who wants to explore new ways to subvert educational systems and institutions, collectively transform educational spaces, and empower students and other teachers to fight for genuine change. Topics include community self-defense, Black Lives Matter and critical race theory, intersections between punk/DIY subculture and teaching, ESL, anarchist education, Palestinian resistance, trauma, working-class education, prison teaching, the resurgence of (and resistance to) the Far Right, special education, antifascist pedagogies, and more. Edited by social studies teacher, author, and punk musician John Mink, the book features expanded entries from the monthly column in the politically insurgent punk magazine Maximum Rocknroll, plus new works and extensive interviews with subversive educators. Contributing teachers include Michelle Cruz Gonzales, Dwayne Dixon, Martín Sorrondeguy, Alice Bag, Miriam Klein Stahl, Ron Scapp, Kadijah Means, Mimi Nguyen, Murad Tamini, Yvette Felarca, Jessica Mills, and others, all of whom are unified against oppression and readily use their classrooms to fight for human liberation, social justice, systemic change, and true equality. Royalties will be donated to Teachers 4 Social Justice: t4sj.org

The widely used STEM education book, updated Teaching and Learning STEM: A Practical Guide covers teaching and learning issues unique to teaching in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines. Secondary and postsecondary instructors in STEM areas need to master specific skills, such as teaching problem-solving, which are not regularly addressed in other teaching and learning books. This book fills the gap, addressing, topics like learning objectives, course design, choosing a text, effective instruction, active learning, teaching with technology, and assessment—all from a STEM perspective. You’ll also gain the knowledge to implement learner-centered instruction, which has been shown to improve learning outcomes across disciplines. For this edition, chapters have been updated to reflect recent cognitive science and empirical educational research findings that inform STEM pedagogy. You’ll also find a new section on actively engaging students in synchronous and asynchronous online courses, and content has been substantially revised to reflect recent developments in instructional technology and online course development and delivery. Plan and deliver lessons that actively engage students—in person or online Assess students’ progress and help ensure retention of all concepts learned Help students develop skills in problem-solving, self-directed learning, critical thinking, teamwork, and communication Meet the learning needs of STEM students with diverse backgrounds and identities The strategies presented in Teaching and Learning STEM don’t require revolutionary time-intensive changes in your teaching, but rather a gradual integration of traditional and new methods. The result will be a marked improvement in your teaching and your students’ learning.