Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Better Together : Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam



"Reweaving [social webs] will also depend on our ability to create new spaces for recognition, reconnection, conversation and debate."

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"One often underestimated technique for creating new identities and bridging social distance, as well as for helping to create social capital in other ways, is telling stories."

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"A community of practice-- refers to informal groups of people who share knowledge and support one another in their common work. These are relationships with a purpose."

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"A good third place makes few demands on the people who gather there... A third place is a neutral ground where people from different walks of like in the community can meet and get to know one another, having in common perhaps only their desire to frequent this particular place."

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"Managing the spirit of the program and the close connection and constant communication that characterize it now will become harder as the program expands."

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A Case Study on Do Something:

"Everyone has experienced the supposedly open discussions manipulated toward a predetermined outcome, the supervisor who welcomes all ideas as long as they coincide with his own, the language of empowerment used to disguise control....

When you start coaching in Do Something you have to back off. That's the hardest part if you're a teacher and used to being in charge.... Let young people lead is the mantra repeated again and again...

adults... contribute... from the sidelines rather than from the field."

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Find details here.

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Books someone told me about that I'd like to read, a running list:

  • A Pedagogy for Liberation: Dialogues on Transforming Education by Ira Shor
  • A Sense of Wonder by Rachel Carson
  • Arts for Change: Teaching Outside the Frame by Beverly Naidus
  • At the Same Time: Essays & Speeches by Susan Sontag
  • Book of Questions by Pablo Neruda
  • Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives by Christakis & Fowler
  • Deep Play by Diane Ackerman
  • Dry Bones Rattling: Community Building to Revitalize American Democracy by Mark R. Warren
  • From Here to There: A Curious Collection from the Hand Drawn Map by Kris Harzinski
  • Good Mail Day: A Primer for Making Eye-Popping Postal Art by Jennie Hinchcliff
  • Habits of Goodness: Case Studies in the Social Curriculum by Ruth Sidney Charney
  • Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media by Mizuko Ito
  • Happiness and Education by Nell Noddings
  • Hope in the Dark: The Untold History of People by Rebecca Solnit
  • How Animals Grieve by Barbara J King
  • How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough
  • In Dialouge with Reggie Emilia: Listening, Researching and Learning by Carlina Rinaldi
  • John Dewey and the Philosophy and Practice of Hope by Stephen M. Fishman and Lucille McCarthy
  • Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World by Margaret Wheatley
  • Learning to Trust: Transforming Difficult Elementary Classrooms Through Developmental Discipline by Marilyn Watson
  • Leavings: Poems by Wendell Berry
  • Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists’ Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art by Liza Kirwin
  • Living the Questions: Essays Inspired by the Work and Life of Parker J. Palmer by Sam M. Intrator
  • Magic Moments: Collaborations Between Artists And Young People by Anna Harding
  • One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry
  • One Line a Day Journal
  • Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative by Ken Robinson
  • Picture This: The Near-sighted Monkey Book by Lynda Barry
  • Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future by Peter Senge & others
  • Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
  • Storycatcher: Making Sense of Our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story By Christina Baldwin
  • Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership by Joseph Jaworski
  • Tender Hooks: Poems by Beth Ann Fennelly
  • The Call of Stories: Teaching and the Moral Imagination by Robert Coles
  • The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait by Frida Kahlo
  • The Englishman Who Posted Himself and Other Curious Objects by John Tingey
  • The Everyday Work of Art by Eric Booth
  • The Fire Starter Sessions: A Soulful + Practical Guide to Creating Success on Your Own Terms by Danielle LaPorte
  • The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property by Lewis Hyde
  • The Great Good Place by Ray Oldenburg
  • The Marvelous Museum: Orphans, Curiosities & Treasures A Mark Dion Project
  • The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times By Pema Chodron
  • The Power of Community-Centered Education: Teaching as a Craft of Place by Michael Umphrey
  • The Power of Their Ideas: Lessons for American from a Small School in Harlem by Deborah Meier
  • The Search to Belong: Rethinking Intimacy, Community, and Small Groups by Joseph R. Myers
  • The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet by Reif Larsen
  • The Tao of Personal Leadership by Diane Dreher
  • The Three Marriages: Reimagining Work, Self and Relationship by David Whyte
  • The Truly Alive Child by Simon Paul Harrison
  • This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life by David Foster Wallace
  • Walking on Water by Derrick Jensen
  • We Are All Explorers, Learning and Teaching with Reggio Principles in Urban Settings by Karen Haigh
  • Willing to Learn: Passages of Personal Discovery by Mary Catherine Bateson
  • Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
  • Women's Ways Of Knowing: The Development Of Self, Voice, And Mind by Mary Belenky, Blythe Clinchy, Nancy Goldberger , Jill Tarule