Maxine Greene

In Cannabis in the Classroom: The Case for Legalizing Marijuana in Schools, Maxine Greene explores the benefits of introducing cannabis into education, addressing concerns and misconceptions, and providing guidance for implementing cannabis policies in schools.From enhancing creativity and critical thinking to promoting relaxation and stress reduction, this book advocates for responsible use of cannabis in schools while navigating legal and ethical considerations.With a focus on evidence-based research and best practices, Greene provides a comprehensive resource for educators, administrators, and policymakers looking to harness the educational potential of cannabis.

Special 2018 EditionFrom the new Introduction by Michelle Fine, Graduate Center, CUNY :"Why now, you may ask, should I return to a book written in 1988? Because, in Maxine's words: 'When freedom is the question, it is always time to begin.'"In The Dialectic of Freedom, Maxine Greene argues that freedom must be achieved through continuing resistance to the forces that limit, condition, determine, and—too frequently—oppress.Examining the interrelationship between freedom, possibility, and imagination in American education, Greene taps the fields of philosophy, history, educational theory, and literature in order to discuss the many struggles that have characterized Americans’ quests for freedom in the midst of what is conceived to be a free society. Accounts of the lives of women, immigrants, and minority groups highlight the ways in which Americans have gone in search of openings in their lived situations, learned to look at things as if they could be otherwise, and taken action on what they found.Greene presents a unique overview of American concepts and images of freedom from Jefferson’s time to the present. She examines the ways in which the disenfranchised have historically understood and acted on their freedom—or lack of it—in dealing with perceived and real obstacles to expression and empowerment. Strong emphasis is placed on the focal role of the arts and art experience in releasing human imagination and enabling the young to reach toward their vision of the possible.The author concludes with suggestions for approaches to teaching and learning that can provoke both educators and students to take initiatives, to transcend limits, and to pursue freedom—not in solitude, but in reciprocity with others, not in privacy, but in a public space

Special 2018 EditionFrom the new Introduction by Janet L. Miller, Teachers College, Columbia University:"Maxine Greene never claimed to be a visionary thinker. But forty years later, her trepidations detailed throughout 1978's Landscapes of Learning now appear unnervingly prescient. Witness and treasure Landscapes as evidence of her matchless abilities to inspire myriad educators and students worldwide."“I would suggest that there must always be a place in teacher education for ‘foundations’ people, whose fundamental concern is with opening new perspectives on the many faces of the human world.”—Maxine GreeneThe essays in this volume demonstrate clearly that Maxine Greene is herself an example of the kind of “foundations” specialist she hopes to see: someone who can stimulate, inform, and bring new insights to teachers, students, curriculum planners, administrators, policy-makers—indeed all those concerned with education in its broadest sense.These essays, a number of them based on lectures presented to various professional organizations, reveals her dedication to learning and teaching, as it reveals her belief in the potential of each individual person. A philosopher whose orientation is largely existential and phenomenological, she seeks to demystify aspects of today’s technological society, to question taken-for-granted notions of social justice and equality, and to elucidate conflicts between youth and age, the poor and the middle class, people of color and Whites, male and female. As a humanist, she calls for self-reflectiveness, wide-awakeness, and personal transformation within the context of each person’s own lived world—each one’s particular landscape of work, experience, and aspiration.Recognizing the multiple realities that compose experience, the many landscapes against which sense-making proceeds, the essays are grouped in four sections: intellectual and moral components of emancipatory education; social issues and their implications for approaches to pedagogy; artistic-aesthetic considerations in the making of curriculum; and the cultural significance of women’s predicaments today. All are richly illuminated by examples; all are written with grace and passion; all will help readers achieve greater self-understanding and critical consciousness.

From the new Introduction by William Ayers, education activist :“Here is Maxine Greene in full-in her astonishingly distinctive voice she urges us to challenge all the clichés and received 'truths' that clutter our minds and senses, to open our eyes!”For 25 years, Maxine Greene was the philosopher-in-residence at the innovative Lincoln Center Institute, where her work formed the foundation of the Institute's aesthetic education practice. Each summer she addressed teachers from across the country, representing all grade levels, through LCI's intensive professional development sessions.Variations on a Blue Guitar contains a selection of these never-before-published lectures touching on the topics of aesthetic education, imagination and transformation, educational renewal and reform, excellence, standards, and cultural diversity-powerful ideas for today’s educators.

At a time when American urban public education is under broad attack, and in which America is perceived as a nation at risk that is losing the race to the Top, educators and politicians from across the spectrum are promoting increased emphasis on standardized testing, business models of school reform, zero tolerance, no excuses, promoting cultural assimilation, and building a standardized curriculum. Ginsberg argues that in the effort to reduce the achievement gap and mitigate the pejorative label of "at-risk," we are in danger of eliminating risk from education entirely. This is especially the case in urban schools with large numbers of poor and minority students. Ginsberg explores alternative approaches to student achievement at four dynamic Philadelphia public schools. This book provides a grounded, close look at alternative and innovative pedagogies which embrace risk through an emphasis on critical inquiry, cultural diversity, global awareness, project-based learning, collaboration, community partnerships, and student activism. The result? Schools which can nurture a new generation of students who are not only smart and literate, but can help preserve American Democracy while furthering the quest for peace, unity, equity, and social justice.

At a time when American urban public education is under broad attack, and in which America is perceived as a nation at risk that is losing the race to the top, educators and politicians from across the spectrum are promoting increased emphasis on standardized testing, business models of school reform, zero tolerance, no excuses, promoting cultural assimilation, and building a standardized curriculum. Ginsberg argues that in the effort to reduce the achievement gap and mitigate the pejorative label of "at-risk," we are in danger of eliminating risk from education entirely. This is especially the case in urban schools with large numbers of poor and minority students. Ginsberg explores alternative approaches to student achievement at four dynamic Philadelphia public schools. This book provides a grounded, close look at alternative and innovative pedagogies which embrace risk through an emphasis on critical inquiry, cultural diversity, global awareness, project-based learning, collaboration, community partnerships, and student activism. The result? Schools which can nurture a new generation of students who are not only smart and literate but can think help preserve American Democracy while furthering the quest for peace, unity, equity, and social justice.

Volatile Knowing refers to the potential for positive change that can result when parents and teachers talk with each other about the politics and policies of externally defined accountability mandates in education. This text tells the story of twelve teachers and parents who breached the unofficial but deeply inscribed home/school divide to discuss the current accountability-for-uniformity movement that has overtaken the nation's educational agenda at federal, state, and local levels. This kind of volatile knowing offers hope for progressively-minded citizens: that together, parents and teachers can ignite a new, child-centered movement for accountability and creativity in America's public schools. Volatile Knowing is based on a qualitative case study of a particular group of parents and teachers who studied and discussed information about the accountability movement that is typically censored in mainstream media coverage. The themes that emerged in this study are presented through the lens of Foucault's analysis of the workings of modern power. By making the exercise of hierarchical power visible to readers, it is hoped that Volatile Knowing will prompt an expanding conversation and ongoing study of the ways in which the people's definitional authority in their schools and society can be both lost and found.

Originally Published with Teachers College Press in 1992Are teachers ever given the credit and respect they deserve? Is there a place where they can go to be treated as intelligent professionals rather than as underpaid tools of school administrations or the government? For some teachers the answer to these questions is, finally, yes! The focus of A Place for Teacher Renewal is the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching, a statefunded university-based program, located in the Western North Carolina mountains, and designed to renew and retain teachers of all kinds. As an exemplary teacher renewal and staff development program, NCCAT strengthens teachers' commitment to their practice by offering outstanding teachers the opportunity for intensive personal investigation into topics inside or outside of their specialties. This hands-on study—extensive, concrete, and engaging—is just what many teachers need. After the tediousness and hectic pace of classroom life, they need a chance to use their intellect just for themselves. Teachers given a chance to express their full adult selves, a chance to be renewed by intellectual challenge, a chance to be valued as competent professionals, are more likely to stay in the profession. Chapters provide the reader with an historical perspective on the Center, arguments for the rationale of the Center, an overview of the programs offered, the roles of administration and evaluation in the creation and continued success of the Center, and NCCAT’s future role in teacher renewal. Many chapters are written by NCCAT staff members, all of whom are also experienced educators. A foreword by Maxine Greene and a chapter by Gary Griffin, as respected educators not affiliated with NCCAT, offer objective and very supportive comments on an idea, and a program, that is long overdue. Staff developers and anyone interested in teacher retention and renewal will find this case study of the finest teacher renewal program in the nation to be an invaluable resource.

Volatile Knowing refers to the potential for positive change that can result when parents and teachers talk with each other about the politics and policies of externally defined accountability mandates in education. This text tells the story of twelve teachers and parents who breached the unofficial but deeply inscribed home/school divide to discuss the current accountability-for-uniformity movement that has overtaken the nation's educational agenda at federal, state, and local levels. This kind of volatile knowing offers hope for progressively-minded citizens: that together, parents and teachers can ignite a new, child-centered movement for accountability and creativity in America's public schools. Volatile Knowing is based on a qualitative case study of a particular group of parents and teachers who studied and discussed information about the accountability movement that is typically censored in mainstream media coverage. The themes that emerged in this study are presented through the lens of Foucault's analysis of the workings of modern power. By making the exercise of hierarchical power visible to readers, it is hoped that Volatile Knowing will prompt an expanding conversation and ongoing study of the ways in which the people's definitional authority in their schools and society can be both lost and found.

Maxine Greene, one of the leading educational philosophers of the past fifty years, remains "an idol to thousands of educators," according to the New York Times. In The Public School and the Private Vision, first published in 1965 but out of print for many years, Greene traces the complex interplay of literature and public education from the 1830s to the 1960s--and now, in a new preface, to the present. With rare eloquence she affirms the values that lie at the root of public education and makes an impassioned call for decency in difficult times, once again a key theme in education circles. A new foreword by Herbert Kohl shows how the work resonates for contemporary teachers, students, and parents.

This revised edition of the classic text explores the complexity of what learning to teach means.While the research on teacher education continues to proliferate, Practice Makes Practice remains the discipline's indispensable classic text. Drawing upon critical ethnography, this new edition of this best-selling book asks the question, what does learning to teach do and mean to newcomers and to those who surround them? Deborah P. Britzman writes poignantly of the struggle for significance and the contradictory realities of secondary teaching. She offers a theory of difficulty in learning and explores why the blaming of individuals is so prevalent in education.The completely revised introduction presents a refined and further developed theoretical framework and analysis, discussing why we might return to a study of teaching and learning. Also included in this updated edition is an insightful "hidden chapter" that comments on the methodology of the study and some of the dilemmas the author continues to face as her own thinking develops around the issues of representing teaching and learning for those just entering the profession.

"The Mission of the Scholar: Research and Practice - A Tribute to Nelson Haggerson "is a collection of essays that examines the multiple definitions and descriptions of the scholar's work. This book reflects on what constitutes scholarly work and highlights the important perspectives of each scholar's beliefs and practices in conducting research. "The Mission of the Scholar" serves as a mentor for the next generation of scholars.

The Constructivist Leader provides educational leaders at all levels with a conceptual framework for leadership defined as reciprocal, purposeful learning in community. The updated Second Edition of this best-selling book enables readers to carry this constructivist vision and purpose forward, while effectively implementing standards-based reform, authentic assessment, and constructivist-based accountability. This new edition features: - An expanded theory of Constructivist Leadership reflecting the most recent thinking in leadership, learning, and ethical communities. - A comprehensive approach to issues of equity, diversity, and multiculturalism. - Additional strategies for the implementation of constructivist leadership practice. - Principles and examples to guide new approaches to accountability. - And much more!

Now in Paperback "This remarkable set of essays defines the role of imagination in general education, arts education, aesthetics, literature, and the social and multicultural context.... The author argues for schools to be restructured as places where students reach out for meanings and where the previously silenced or unheard may have a voice. She invites readers to develop processes to enhance and cultivate their own visions through the application of imagination and the arts. Releasing the Imagination should be required reading for all educators, particularly those in teacher education, and for general and academic readers."--Choice "Maxine Greene, with her customary eloquence, makes an impassioned argument for using the arts as a tool for opening minds and for breaking down the barriers to imagining the realities of worlds other than our own familiar cultures.... There is a strong rhythm to the thoughts, the arguments, and the entire sequence of essays presented here."--American Journal of Education

Now in Paperback "This remarkable set of essays defines the role of imagination ingeneral education, arts education, aesthetics, literature, and thesocial and multicultural context.... The author argues for schoolsto be restructured as places where students reach out for meaningsand where the previously silenced or unheard may have a voice. Sheinvites readers to develop processes to enhance and cultivate theirown visions through the application of imagination and the arts.Releasing the Imagination should be required reading for alleducators, particularly those in teacher education, and for generaland academic readers." --Choice "Maxine Greene, with her customary eloquence, makes an impassionedargument for using the arts as a tool for opening minds and forbreaking down the barriers to imagining the realities of worldsother than our own familiar cultures.... There is a strong rhythmto the thoughts, the arguments, and the entire sequence of essayspresented here." --American Journal of Education