Authors to Cite (in addition to John Holt)

Thomas Armstrong
Armstrong details the importance of allowing children time and space to play and figure things out in their own ways. He also describes how to use multiple intelligences in everyday practice, both at home and in school, and why we need to be extremely careful about labeling learning difficulties in exuberant children with the slippery concept of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).  Some of my favorite books of Armstrong's are:

• Awakening Your Child's Natural Genius 

•  The Myth of the A.D.D Child: 50 Ways to Improve Your Child's Behavior and Attention Span Without Drugs, Labels, or Coercion

• Neurodiversity: Discovering the Extraordinary Gifts of Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, and Other Brain Differences.

• In Their Own Way:  Discovering and Encouraging Your Child's Multiple Intelligences

 
John Taylor Gatto
Gatto, an award-winning New York City public school teacher, is highly skeptical of academia's claim that only education can level the playing field for the poor and others to participate in the fruits of our democratic republic. Gatto, citing lots of history and personal experience, has decided our schools are intentionally dumbing us down to accept whatever the captains of capitalism want to get from conventional schools. Gatto's writing will, at the least, make you rethink why school is, for so many people, an empty ritual. You can watch and listen to John's speech, Weapons of Mass Instruction, in its entirety to learn more about him and his work. Other books by John Taylor Gatto:

• A Different Kind of Teacher

• Dumbing Us Down

• The Underground History of American Education  

• Weapons of Mass Instruction

Peter Gray
Gray is a retired research professor of psychology at Boston College who now writes for Psychology Today. He has conducted and published research in comparative, evolutionary, developmental, and educational psychology; published articles on innovative teaching methods and alternative approaches to education. His current research and writing focuses primarily on children's natural ways of learning and the life-long value of play. His latest book is Free to Learn: : Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life (Basic Books, 2013).

Alfie Kohn
One of the best researchers and writers about how schools and parents can change their practices when they help children learn. Here are some of my favorite books by Alfie Kohn:

• Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community

• Feel-Bad Education: And Other Contrarian Essays on Children and Schooling  

• No Contest: The Case Against Competition 

• Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and other Bribes

• The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and "Tougher Standards" Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason        

Chris Mercogliano
A founding teacher of the Albany Free School in upstate NY, Chris has started a blog dedicated to remodeling, not reforming, modern education. Chris' books include:

• Making It Up As We Go Along: The Story of the Albany Free School

• In Defense of Childhood: Protecting Kids’ Inner Wildness

• Teaching the Restless, One School's Remarkable No-Ritalin Approach to Helping Children Learn and Succeed

• How to Grow A School: Starting and Sustaining Schools That Work 

In addition to those already mentioned, here are some books about teachers and schools that learn without curriculum.

•   John Holt Bibliography
•    Free At Last, Dan Greenberg
•    The Way it Spozed To Be, Jim Herndon
•    The Open Classroom, Herb Kohl
•    The Lives of Children, George Dennison
•    Totto Chan: The Little Girl in the Window, Tetsuko Kutoyanagi
•    We Have To Call It School. A documentary film about Danish schools.
•    Organic Education: Teaching without Failure, Marietta Johnson