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In From Socrates to Summerhill and Beyond: Towards a Philosophy of Education for Personal Responsibility, Ronald Swartz offers an evolving development of fallible, liberal democratic, self‐governing educational philosophies. He suggests that educators can benefit from having dialogues about questions such as these: 1). Are there some authorities that can be consistently relied upon to tell school members what they should do and learn while they are in school? 2.) How should the imagination of social theorists be both used and checked in the development and implementation of innovative educational reforms? 3.) How can teachers in personal responsibility schools help their students learn? These questions are representative of problems that Swartz raises in his book. Swartz identifies four educational programs as personal responsibility schools. These are Little Commonwealth (Homer Lane); Summerhill (A.S.Neill); Orphans Home (Janusz Korczak) and Sudbury Valley School (Daniel Greenberg). Swartz then suggests that these learning environments create social institutions that are liberal, democratic, and self‐governing and therefore endorse the policy of personal responsibility. This policy states: All school members, students included, are fallible authorities who should be personally responsible for determining their own school activities and many policies that govern a school. Schools which incorporate this policy can interchangeably be referred to as personal responsibility, self‐governing, or Summerhill style schools. In providing an historical and philosophical understanding of Summerhill style schools, Swartz suggests that these educational alternatives have intellectual roots in the ideas associated with Socrates as portrayed in Plato's Apology. Specifically, in personal responsibility schools teachers are not viewed as authorities who attempt to transmit wisdom to their students. Rather, self‐governing schools follow the Socratic tradition which claims that teachers can be viewed as fallible authorities who attempt to engage students in dialogues about questions of interest to students. The interpretation of Plato's works used by Swartz can be found in Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies. Swartz has also been significantly influenced by the educational writings of Bertrand Russell and Paul Goodman. Goodman's Compulsory Miseducation makes it clear that schools which follow in the tradition of Summerhill compete with the educational programs that are an outgrowth of John Dewey's writings. In summary, Swartz's book aims to engage educators in dialogues that will lead to improved educational theories and practices.

In this book, Erik M. Francis explores how one of the most fundamental instructional strategies—questioning—can provide the proper scaffolding to deepen student thinking, understanding, and application of knowledge. You'll learn: Techniques for using questioning to extend and evaluate student learning experiences. Eight different kinds of questions that challenge students to demonstrate higher-order thinking and communicate depth of knowledge. How to rephrase the performance objectives of college and career readiness standards into questions that engage and challenge students. Francis offers myriad examples of good questions across content areas and grade levels, as well as structures to help teachers create and use the different kinds of questions. By using this book to fine-tune your approach to questioning, you can awaken the spirit of inquiry in your classroom and help students deepen their knowledge, understanding, and ability to communicate what they think and know.

What type of questioning invigorates and sustains productive discussions? That's what Jackie Acree Walsh and Beth Dankert Sattes ask as they begin a passionate exploration of questioning as the beating heart of thoughtful discussions. Questioning and discussion are important components of classroom instruction that work in tandem to push learning forward and move students from passive participants to active meaning-makers. Walsh and Sattes argue that the skills students develop through questioning and discussion are critical to academic achievement, career success, and active citizenship in a democratic society. They also have great potential to engage students at the highest levels of thinking and learning. The extent to which this potential is realized, of course, depends on individual teachers who embrace these practices, make them their own, and realize that this process requires a true partnership with students. With that in mind, Questioning for Classroom Discussion presents and analyzes the DNA of productive discussions—teacher-guided, small-group, and student-driven.

Sokratische Gespräche gemäß der von Leonard Nelson und Gustav Heckmann praktizierten Tradition enthalten Stärken für den Philosophie- und Ethik-Unterricht sowie diverse andere Lernkontexte. Das Paradigma dieser Dialog-Form stellt die Verfasserin in seinen konstitutiven Elementen dar und reflektiert es unter philosophischen, fach- und allgemeindidaktischen Aspekten. Erfahrungsbezogenes Philosophieren, Überwindung von Sprachlosigkeit und gedankliche Primärerfahrungen tragen unter gegenwärtigen gesellschaftlichen Bedingungen bei zur Stärkung des Selbstvertrauens in vernünftige Denktätigkeit. Die gegenseitige maieutische Denkhilfe in einer Lerngemeinschaft durchdringt auch andere Unterrichts- und Lernformen. Schließlich werden Reflexionen, Einblicke und Anregungen für die Praxis Sokratischer Gespräche gegeben, die vor allem in der Lehrerbildung ihr didaktisches Potential entfalten können.

“If you are serious about improving your knowledge about questions and your skill in using them, this is the book for you. Putting some time and effort into the suggested practice will be personally rewarding, and your students will benefit greatly from your effective use of questions.”—Lawrence F. Lowery, Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Education, University of California at Berkeley“Esther Fusco gives a microphone to the voices of the many teachers within this book who build communities of questioners in their classrooms. Amid vivid stories, the reader finds the scaffolding for how to construct a classroom built on children's thinking.” —Jacqueline Grennon Brooks, Hofstra University“Teachers and school administrators can gain great insights into how students learn and grow cognitively as they analyze the sequence of questioning in the classroom using the rich variety of tools provided here. For those interested in promoting life-long learning, this book offers the guidelines for creating classrooms for tomorrow's needs.” —Lorna R. Lewis, Superintendent of East Williston UFSD“From veteran teachers and administrators to pre-service and alternatively-certified practitioners, this book reads like a blueprint for transformative teaching and belongs on every educator's desk.” —Margaret-Mary Sulentic Dowell, Louisiana State University“The tips, tools, and dialogue in this book will lead pre-service and practitioners alike to more effective questioning in their classrooms to empower students to wonder, reason, and develop critical thinking skills.” —Heather Leah Ryerson Fountain, Kutztown University of PennsylvaniaQuestions are the most important tool a teacher can use to build a community of thinkers. This practical guide provides teachers with a step-by-step process for implementing a set of questioning strategies known as the Questioning Cycle. This strategy supports teachers in planning and asking questions, assessing students'responses, and following up those responses with more questions to extend thinking. In this book, you will see students become more curious and actively involved with learning because they are allowed to use their skills to question, examine, and argue about different aspects of a topic. K–8 teachers across all disciplines can use this book to create a challenging learning climate and lively class discussions. Book Features: In-depth guidance for using and developing effective questions. Reflections from teachers. Scripts of teacher questions and student responses. Suggested activities at the end of each chapter. Support material for teachers, including evaluation checklists and forms.Esther Fusco is an associate professor and Chair of the Department of Teaching, Literacy and Leadership at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York.