Creating Democratic Classrooms

When I taught in public schools I noticed that many well-meaning educators, myself included, used bribery, coercion, and punishment in order to maintain control of the students in a classroom. This did not work well. Many children continued to misbehave because they became sneaky in order to continue behaving a certain way without being caught. Some children began to dislike school and learning because they felt like every move was being judged. All in all these techniques were sort term solutions at best.

As I observed this pattern repeat each school year, it dawned on me that things did not have to be this way. We can foster a love of learning and manage classroom behavior without bribery, punishment, and coercion. We can work as a team with our students instead of as adversaries.

I chose to create a GoFundMe page to help pay for the expenses associated with completing and publishing this book. Together we can raise a new generation that does not have to recuperate from what was done to them. Instead, they will flourish by learning peaceful, democratic problem solving strategies.