Ideas Without Boundaries: International Education Reform Through Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking

Contributors to this book detail their experiences as participants in the Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking project, a joint effort of IRA, the Open Society Institute, and the University of Northern Iowa that provides faculty development materials and workshops led by volunteers in countries throughout Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The chapters describe classroom experiences that challenge teachers at all levels around the world to consider how changes in pedagogical practice have implications in larger cultural contexts. You’ll also get an inside view of one of the largest educational reform movements in the world the remaking of schools in former Communist countries. BACKCOVER Educators from nine former socialist countries gathered in the summer of 1997 with volunteers from the United States and Canada to launch a new international school improvement project called Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking, RWCT. They based their efforts on two major (1) Schools can contribute to the formation of open societies and democratic cultures by helping students to become individuals who create, question, and apply knowledge responsibly; and (2) Educators across vast cultural divides can work together to bring about educational reform when they concentrate on classroom practice. In the years since its origin, the RWCT project has become a wellspring of human stories about teaching and changing, about reaching across cultural and language divides to find deep conceptual and interpersonal harmonies that lead to reform. Ideas Without International Education Reform Through Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking describes the past, present, and future of the RWCT project in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and its implications for educational reform in the United States and other Western countries. This volume presents chapters written by educators who have participated in RWCT since its beginnings in 1997-explaining first-hand the lessons learned by those involved and offering a truly cross-cultural perspective. A must-read for all who are interested in international education issues and global education reform, Ideas Without Boundaries conveys the RWCT story-a tale about teachers and teaching, and about the human capacity for joy, risk-taking, dedication, and success when cultures meet to bring about positive change.