Emergent Teaching A Path of Creativity, Significance, and Transformation [Hardcover]

As states adopt common core standards and school districts ponder scripted curriculum that allegedly ensures that such standards are met, some classroom teachers have sought alternate routes. Emergent Teaching results from teachers' understanding that they can influence but cannot control what occurs in the classroom. Instead, Crowell and Reid-Marr assert that although teachers may anticipate certain patterns, classroom practice largely involves assisting learners to discover personal significance and creating a sense of belonging. Organized into ten chapters, the book defines emergent teaching and then examines some central tenets of the approach, including the experience of non-separation, event-centric teaching, non-linear instruction, the emergence of understanding, and the roles of play and joy in the classroom. Within these contexts, Crowell and Reid-Marr explore how teachers may encourage creativity, build relevance, and link emergence to the curriculum and other holistic concerns. Clearly written and full of useful examples of emergent teaching in action, the book is a great complement to A. S. Neill and Albert Lamb's Summerhill School (1994) or Maxine Greene's Releasing the Imagination. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.Crowell and Reid- Marr present accessible conversations, reflections and stories that guide the reader through a transdisciplinary approach to teaching. Teachers are offered strategies for emergent teaching that can transform their learning worlds. . . .This work affirms and advances our understanding of transformative education. By interweaving the new sciences, the importance of non-linearity, process, and creativity, Crowell and Reid-Marr offer a significant responsive holistic approach to education that addresses the whole person. . . .The clear style and easily understood ideas make the book suitable for a wide audience, from undergraduates to academics and extends our perspectives to implement transformative learninl“9