Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us About Motivation and Mastery

Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us About Motivation and Mastery
Kathleen Cushman | 2010-01-01 00:00:00 | Jossey-Bass | 208 | Non-fiction
In Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us About Motivation and Mastery, Kathleen Cushman reveals that kids have lots to tell us about motivation and mastery. She skillfully draws on the collective wisdom of 160 young people, weaving together their words and insights into a vivid exploration of "what it takes to get really good at something." It's impossible to choose just a few highlights from this book because it's filled with over 200 quotes from the students who participated in the Practice Project, each one contributing a valuable perspective on the journey towards expertise.

As one of the teachers who participated in the Practice Project, I was captivated by Kathleen's approach to this collaborative meaning-making process. She spent two intensive days and two follow-up days with 20 twelfth-graders and me at The International School of the Americas in San Antonio, Texas. She interviewed the students, had them interview each other, coached them in interviewing the adult experts they knew, and facilitated rich, thought-provoking discussions about the essential questions that inspired Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us About Motivation and Mastery.

Listening intently and gently prompting students to "tell me more," Kathleen drew them deeper and deeper into the examination of their own experiences, as well as their observations of adult experts and teachers. Through these conversations about the development of expertise, Kathleen guided the students to uncover rich insights into the process of learning and shed new light on what teachers can do to facilitate that process.

Kathleen's gift to us in Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us About Motivation and Mastery is her thoughtful analysis of what these 160 students' comments, taken together, tell us about motivation, practice, learning, and achievement. Throughout the book, she offers reflection questions, checklists, and activities for teachers and students to connect their own experiences to the ideas being discussed. This book brings student's voices into an important conversation about motivation and mastery, and invites educators to join the conversation by asking themselves and their students "what does it take?"
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