Ordinary Gifted Children

by Davis, Jessica Hoffmann

• ISBN13: 9780807750964
• ISBN10: 0807750964
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-06-15
• Publisher: Teachers College Pr

Summary

This is the remarkable story of the Hoffmann School for Individual Attention, where the principal believed in a diverse, challenging, and challenged group of students-with extraordinary results. With a definition of gifted that included all children, Ann Hoffmann embraced students that other schools had failed, and she helped them not just to learn, but to learn to love learning. Written with candor and humor by renowned arts educator (and Ann Hoffmann’s daughter) Jessica Hoffmann Davis, this portrait will resonate with anyone who has known or been a champion of children. Ann Hoffmann’s example will inspire and delight the reader, reminding us of what matters most in education and that if we love what we do, anything is possible. This fascinating narrative addresses the timeless features of teaching and learning with important implications for how we think about curriculum, instruction, and classroom life. The story of the Hoffmann School is an insider’s view of a place in time that is more importantly a vision and set of beliefs that can reoccur in anyone’s classroom or adult life

Author Biography

Jessica Hoffmann Davis is a cognitive developmental psychologist and founder of the Arts in Education Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is the author of Why Our Schools Need the Arts and Framing Education as Art: The Octopus Has a Good Day. Visit the author's website at jessicahoffmanndavis.com.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Ordinary Gifted Children	p. 7
Consciousness	p. 7
Diversity	p. 15
Empathy	p. 22
Pain	p. 29
School as Home	p. 39
Porous Boundaries	p. 39
Home Schooling	p. 46
Familial Arts	p. 53
Mother-in-Charge	p. 60
Destiny and Transition	p. 67
This Is America	p. 67
Change in Leadership	p. 74
Reframing the School	p. 82
Parents and Property	p. 92
Ordinary Gifted Educator	p. 100
A Knowledgeable Friend	p. 100
The Child's Champion	p. 111
Deceptive Simplicity	p. 119
She Was the School	p. 127
Behind the Door	p. 138
Her Warm Nest	p. 138
Social Roots	p. 144
The Question of Religion	p. 151
My Noble Friend	p. 159
Making Sense	p. 165
Personal Matters	p. 165
Ann's Imprint	p. 177
Sitting Among Children	p. 182
The Dream	p. 187
Notes	p. 193
About the Author	p. 195
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.