Research Catalog

Title

Letters of recommendation / Maxine McClintock.

Author

McClintock, Maxine Bookstaber

Publication

• New York, NY : The Reflective Commons, [2013]
• ©2013

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

174 pages; 23 cm.

Summary

"Emilia, a girl who seemingly has it all, asks an admired teacher, Doc, for a letter of recommendation supporting early admission to a top college. Emilia withdraws the request, beginning to doubt what she's doing, and why, and what she really wants in life. Doc senses her unease. Letters result, back and forth through the school year, with subtle attention to the girl's emerging sense of self and the teacher's presence, both humane and professional. The year ends, the exchange stops; life's externals appear settled for now, with the larger questions deepened, but still open, as they always are. Letters offers no easy steps, no how-to's, no magic methods. Instead, it heightens awareness of what goes on as good education takes place. It affirms a student's self-reliance in the face of felt uncertainties and a teacher's trust that her presence as a full, human person has value and meaning in the work of education."--Page 4 of cover

Subject

• Student-centered learning
• Transformative learning
• Reflective learning
• Learning strategies
• Effective teaching
• Enseignement axé sur l'apprenant
• Apprentissage transformateur
• Apprentissage réflexif
• Stratégies d'apprentissage
• Enseignement efficace

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Emilia starts the school year with writer's block and second thoughts -- Doc offers a not-so-modest proposal -- Emilia regards teachers as persons of interest -- What are we talking about when we talk about education? -- Emilia rereads Randolph Bourne's essay and writes one of her own -- The tale of a queen bee and a double life -- Emilia launches a campaign to pop the bubble at Alden -- Doc lays the groundwork for a teachable moment -- Blind-sided by good intentions -- Cultivating the fine art of detachment -- Emilia is definitely not in a holiday mood -- To move on, Emilia is advised to let go -- Emilia stands her ground : independent study proposal William James -- Learning to love the questions themselves -- The year ends with a rapprochement and a walk -- Investigating the octopus that threatened Harvard -- Doc recommends thinking like a historian -- The world turned upside down and inside out -- Attending to the "fall of Icarus" -- Emilia follows her nose -- Doc gives citizen Emilia something to ponder -- Becoming acquainted with the young man from Wisconsin -- Nuts and bolts : independent study schedule Emilia Carlyle -- For For Emilia the issue is one of character -- Doc counsels Emilia to keep complexity in mind as she investigates character -- Character's corrupters, or bigness and the club opinion -- Doc draws an analogy between working-out and exercising reason -- To know a good man when you see one -- Occupying interstices to raise democracy's tone -- On the outs with the Cancún contingent -- Doc makes the case for solitude -- Conversation about a community activist and other dinner party illuminations -- Emilia voices reservations about utopian visions -- 'Having it all' and Russian roulette -- Crossing a finish line -- Emilia finds some words -- Finding intimations of the possible in a well-formed ankle and a polka-dotted cravat

ISBN

• 9781937828004
• 193782800X

OCLC

• 906129958
• SCSB-11810345

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library