Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us about Motivation and Mastery by Kathleen Cushman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I liked it for the insights into effective learning presented from the students’ point of view. I managed to find new ideas and rediscover nuggets of information that can probably help me frame my teaching (and students’ learning) better and more effectively. The relevant checklists and questionnaires are pretty helpful. Overall I found her book easy to read although a bit repetitive at times (e.g. when she has a quote of the student raising a point and then touch on it again without much to add in her own body of text later on). I found the case studies at the end of the book a little unsatisfying. I would have liked to know a little more about how/if the objectives of the projects have been met (maybe contrasted with how different the results may have been otherwise). This book is definitely worth a read!
