Education & Anarchy [Paperback]

Bill Engel (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0761820523 | ISBN-13: 978-0761820529 | Publication Date: August 15, 2001

Education and Anarchy sets in motion a way of thinking about, questioning, and responding to what we can do in the face of chaos, which, whether we acknowledge it or not, animates and drives our relation to learning and teaching. Each chapter addresses different aspects of how we can learn to live creatively with this potential for losing control over what we would master, by providing practical examples and lesson plans involving both traditional literary approaches and also more experimental non-verbal modes of expression across the curriculum and disciplines. Education and Anarchy concludes by reaffirming that each student can provide you, the teacher, with ample opportunities to remember, and to learn from, how you learn best. In the end: education is about letting students learn. Despite pressures from above, teachers---of whatever rank and working in no matter what discipline or field of study-- are the ultimate guardians of this truth.

Editorial Reviews

Review

How people go about conceptualizing and discharging their duties as teachers and how they devise and implement methods of delivery and assessment are central, Engel argues, to how people define and play out their roles as educators. Stressing how educators can participate deliberately and reflectively in the process by which they let learning happen, 'Education & Anarchy' expands ways of thinking about teaching and learning. . . . RECOMMENDED for pre- and in-service teachers.... (L.R. Baxter Choice )

Using examples ranging from Faulkner to Plato to the sport of fencing, Engel traverses a wide range of educational settings, from college classrooms to grade school to continuing education, as he encourages teachers and administrators to understand ways in which chaos can be an ally in 'letting learning happen.>>> (Trinity Reporter )

. . . offers some practical lesson plans and creative assignments to help students find their way. . . (The Spenser Review )

[Engel] shares his passion and devotion to teaching. ...The strength of this work is that he presents several projects and assignments that he has developed for his literature students with apparently positive results. Those who read the book may directly borrow or be inspired by them.>>> (Sixteenth Century Journal )

[Engel] shares his passion and devotion to teaching. ...The strength of this work is that he presents several projects and assignments that he has developed for his literature students with apparently positive results. Those who read the book may directly borrow or be inspired by them. (Sixteenth Century Journal )

Using examples ranging from Faulkner to Plato to the sport of fencing, Engel traverses a wide range of educational settings, from college classrooms to grade school to continuing education, as he encourages teachers and administrators to understand ways in which chaos can be an ally in 'letting learning happen. (Trinity Reporter )

How people go about conceptualizing and discharging their duties as teachers and how they devise and implement methods of delivery and assessment are central, Engel argues, to how people define and play out their roles as educators. Stressing how educators can participate deliberately and reflectively in the process by which they let learning happen, 'Education & Anarchy' expands ways of thinking about teaching and learning. . . . RECOMMENDED for pre- and in-service teachers. (L.R. Baxter Choice )

About the Author

Bill Engel has taught and lectured at various schools in the United States and abroad, most recently at the University of the South in Sewanee. An educational consultant and independent scholar, he continues to teach literature and intellectual history. Links to his current projects can be found at www.engelwood.net.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: University Press Of America (August 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761820523
• ISBN-13: 978-0761820529
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,512,317 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book for people who are not finished learning...., December 26, 2001

By 

Bill Engel "37215" (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Education & Anarchy (Paperback)

This is a book for people who sense they are not finished learning, and who want to do something about it. Because EDUCATION & Anarchy both promotes and is cautiously critical of constructivist educational practices, this book will be useful to professors in colleges and universities, to teachers at technical and vocational schools, graduate students, and advanced undergraduates. It will also appeal to K-12 teachers, especially specialists in art, drama, and physical education, because it provides practical examples and sample lesson plans showing how to use non-verbal modes of expression across the curriculum and in different disciplines. Because my approach to constructivist, student-centered learning is grounded in the classics and looks to "Great Books" for models of character building, it will appeal to administrators and curriculum planners, and to teachers and student-teachers, who favor traditional humanistic instruction; and yet, because it is broadly critical of standardization and teacher-centered learning, it will also appeal to the more liberal educators, scholars interested in contemporary theory, and advocates of school reform.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING about EDUCATION & Anarchy

William Engel is a gracious and inspiring guide and a charismatic teacher. His "revolutionary" system is solidly grounded in both deep and wide learning and strikingly successful classroom experience. His proposals are ingenious, vital, revelatory, and will be as exciting for the instructor as for the student. -- Stephen Orgel, J. E. Reynolds Professor in Humanities, Stanford University

In the current climate of educational reform, which is obsessed with more testing and vouchers, Dr. Engel provides a much-needed voice to the debate. -- Ken Simon, Middle Grades Coordinator, Minneapolis Public Schools

Engel remains steadfast in his efforts to shake up the stale and staid, tried and true failings of traditional education. I'll take his "anarchy" over the anachronisms of textbook education any day. Engel is more interested in the organic than the cosmetic. --Dave Winans, Fifth Grade Teacher, Gulf Stream School, Florida

EDUCATION & Anarchy is an important antidote to the seemingly irresistible craze for testing and standardization that is transforming education into a top-down mind numbing enterprise. -- Professor Emeritus, Charles B. "Bud" Schultz, Trinity College, Hartford

I will adopt some of its ideas (I like the idea of making each of my students be an expert on one of the cantos of [Spenser's] Faerie Queene). --Stephen Greenblatt, John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University

Education & Anarchy empowers students to learn in ways that make sense to them. When students work together on mnemonic games like the "capers" Engel describes, the medium is part of the message: they realize learning can be creative, cooperative, and, yes, enjoyable. -Dr. Cal Fuller, Theater Director, Montgomery Bell Academy, Nashville, TN