Are You Trapped in a 'Compliance Culture'?

Are You Trapped in a 'Compliance Culture'?
Education Week

Our book club discussion with Kathleen Cushman, author of Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us About Motivation and Mastery, is going on all this week. Here's a sampling of some of the topics that have come up so far:

• Are teachers weighed down by a "compliance culture" in schools, and how do they balance curriculum demands with deeper, more student-centered learning models?
• What "small decisions" can you make as a teacher to spark students' engagement in a lesson?
• Do we overestimate the amount of direction students need from adults?
• Do prescriptive lessons diminish student creativity and motivation?
• How important is relevance in lessons? How do students develop the intellectual discipline to stick with assignments that don't seem relevant or exciting to them?
Sounds interesting, doesn't it? Share your ideas, experiences, and questions. Join the discussion. (You don't have to have read the book.)