We Must Not Be Afraid to be Free: Stories of Free Expression in America
In We Must Not Be Afraid to Be Free, Ron Collins and Sam Chaltain provide authoritative and vivid portraits of free speech in modern America, via a series of engaging accounts of landmark First Amendment cases, including bitterly contested cases concerning loyalty oaths, hate speech, flag burning, student anti-war protests, and McCarthy-era prosecutions. The book also describes the colorful people involved in each case–the judges, attorneys, and defendants–and the issues at stake. Tracing the development of free speech rights from a more restrictive era–the early twentieth century–through the Warren Court revolution of the 1960s and beyond, Collins and Chaltain not only cover the history of a cherished ideal, but also explain in accessible language how the law surrounding this ideal has changed over time.
Seed + Spark: Using Nature as a Model to Reimagine How We Live & Learn
Seed + Spark takes its readers in search of a better understanding of the future of learning—and, by extension, the future of humanity. Believing “the future is already here; it’s just not evenly distributed,” Seed + Spark provides a framework for remaking our schools, our workspaces, and our social structures in ways that align with the design principles of the natural world. The result is an eclectic, provocative series of interviews, ideas, and case studies in which parallel worlds collide, and our basic understanding of our place on the planet is forever altered.
Our School: Searching for Community in the Era of Choice
Almost every major American city is experimenting with school choice—a deeply controversial idea that is dramatically reshaping public education. Will the wider array of school options help parents and educators identify better strategies for helping all children learn? Or will the high stakes of the marketplace end up privatizing this most public of institutions? Sam Chaltain believes that before we can answer these questions, we must put a human face on the modern landscape of teaching and learning. Our School documents a year in the life of two schools in the nation’s capital—one a new charter school just opening its doors, the other a neighborhood school that first opened in 1924. Chaltain weaves together the observations and emotions of the people whose lives intersect there, and the triumphs and the challenges they experience. The result is an unsettling, complex portrayal of American public education. Our School is important reading for educational policymakers, administrators, parents, the media, and anyone who aspires to be a teacher.
Faces of Learning
Everyone has a personal learning story – a time when they were challenged beyond their usual limits, when they actively engaged in the search for meaning, or when they first discovered the power and uniqueness of their own voices. In Faces of Learning, fifty individuals –from well-known public figures to ordinary Americans– share inspirational stories about transformational teachers, powerful learning environments, and pivotal moments of self-discovery. Edited by Sam Chaltain, this important book is designed to engage us all in a thoughtful consideration of what powerful learning, highly effective teaching, and equitable school systems must look like – and what they can provide for children as a result.
American Schools: The Art of Creating a Democratic Learning Community
In American Schools, Sam Chaltain interweaves the leading ideas from the education, business, and scientific communities to outline a framework for leadership that helps educators and organizational leaders create the optimal conditions for transformational change. By pairing a rich theoretical framework with the stories of communities that have, over several years, tried to create more democratic learning communities, Chaltain does what any reader of this book will have to do – provide enough structure to empower people to do their best work, and enough freedom so that each person’s inherent creativity can be unleashed.
First Freedoms: A Documentary History of First Amendment Rights in America
A rich and engaging exploration of the documents that illustrate the origins and development of First Amendment freedoms in American history. Each document is introduced by a historical essay and reproduced in facsimile. Incorporating nearly 40 documents and spanning more than 300 years, First Freedoms is essential for students of American history.
The First Amendment in Schools
What are the First Amendment rights? How do you resolve questions about the rights of students, educators, and parents in a school setting? The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects the most basic and cherished rights of society–religion, speech, press, petition, and assembly. Anyone who wants to know more about those freedoms in the context of schools will find The First Amendment in Schools a rich resource for study and application.