Readers discussed Whatever It Takes (and fired questions at me) this afternoon as part of the Firedoglake Book Salon. Here’s the transcript.
Posts Tagged ‘blogs’
Firedoglake Book Salon
Saturday, November 14th, 2009Firedoglake Book Salon
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009This Saturday, November 14, at 5 p.m. Eastern time, I’ll be answering questions from readers of Firedoglake, which describes itself as a “leading progressive blog,” as part of the site’s regular book salon. Please come by and ask questions!
Virginia Beach Public Library
Friday, October 2nd, 2009“Whatever It Takes” is a staff pick at the Virginia Beach Public Library, and it got a nice review on the library’s VBPL Recommends blog:
Paul Tough capably chronicles some of the stories of those who serve and are served by the HCZ. In introducing the reader to parents, staff workers and children, he demonstrates that reality is as powerful as fiction. When we meet teen parents like Victor and Cheryl (and their baby Victor, Jr.) we discover gripping drama, nail-biting suspense, engaging warmth, and sobering tragedy as the family attends Baby College, HCZ’s enormously popular and carefully designed entrance program.
Good nonfiction provides a flexible read. Whatever It Takes delivers a rewarding experience, whether it is read as a biography of a present-day educational crusader, a treatise on the clash between traditional and charter school models for public education, a blueprint for effective early learning programs, or a touching account of human challenge and triumph in urban America.
Two articles
Monday, September 28th, 2009Two magazine articles I wrote were recently published. The first, in GQ, is about Girl Talk, a DJ, and it doesn’t have much to do with “Whatever It Takes.” The second, in the New York Times Magazine, is about Tools of the Mind, and it’s somewhat more related. You can read the article here, and you can read blog posts about it here, here, here, here, here and here.
Albert Schweitzer Fellows
Thursday, September 17th, 2009The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship has chosen Whatever It Takes as the first book in its Recommended Reading online book club. Here’s an excerpt from the announcement:
Are you thinking that the Harlem Children’s Zone sounds like a Schweitzer project on a grand scale? So are we — and that’s why we’ve made Whatever It Takes ASF’s very first Recommended Reading choice.
Each month on this blog, we’ll highlight books in line with ASF’s mission — eliminating health disparities by developing “leaders in service” who are skilled in and committed to meeting the health needs of the underserved, and whose example influences and inspires others. We’ll facilitate a discussion of those books and how they relate to the work you’re doing as Schweitzer Fellows, Fellows for Life, or other service-oriented individuals on the blog and on our Facebook page.
According to the website, the fellowship is
a national nonprofit that translates idealism into action, supporting 230+ Fellows from the nation’s top health and human service schools as they develop and implement service projects with a direct — and lasting — impact on the health of underserved communities.
The online discussion begins on October 22.
Learning Matters blog
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009On his Learning Matters blog, PBS education reporter John Merrow writes about the recent re-airing of my Baby College piece on This American Life:
The Harlem Children’s Zone is the brain-baby of Geoffrey Canada, and the subject of journalist Paul Tough’s in-depth reportage in a recent book, Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America. The basic idea behind Canada’s program is to combat urban poverty through intensive work with children, particularly during early childhood. …
Last week, This American Life re-aired a piece on HCZ, produced by Tough before the release of his book. If you’re looking to get inspired by Canada and his vision, the radio piece is a great introduction to the theory behind the Zone. Tough hones in on the phase of HCZ’s program called Baby College, where new and expecting parents are trained to think differently about child-rearing.
Some recent links
Saturday, July 4th, 2009- Geoffrey Canada visits the White House.
- Wicked Local Arlington does a stream-of-consciousness transcription of my talk (and a panel discussion) at the MassINC event in Boston.
- PostBourgie, an online “running, semi-orderly conversation about class and politics and media and gender and whatever else we can think of,” chooses Whatever It Takes as its Book of the Month.
- And a professor at Messiah College in Pennsylvania reviews Whatever It Takes from the homeschooling perspective.
Maclean’s blog
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009On his blog at Macleans.ca, the website of Maclean’s, the Canadian weekly, Andrew Potter reviews “Whatever It Takes”:
Tough’s book is the distillation of four years of reporting he did on the HCZ, while working for the New York Times magazine. It traces the evolution of Canada’s efforts, narrating both the wonderful successes (such as the Baby College that teaches even the most inept and unprepared parents how to properly foster their child’s cognitive development) as well as the failures — the most heartbreaking of which is the summary expulsion of an underperforming class of eighth graders from his charter school, the Promise Academy. …
Harlem is one of the most complicated, fascinating, and exasperating neighborhoods in North America. Geoffrey Canada is a remarkable man, and Paul Tough has written a small masterpiece about him and his community.
Education Writers Association
Monday, May 4th, 2009I gave a talk at the Education Writers Association conference in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, and two reporter/bloggers wrote about it. According to Primateyell:
Tough has some worries about cloning the Zone, including that local nonprofits may lack the strict accountability that characterized Canada and his programs, but he sounded largely excited about seeing the plan go forward in an era when big questions such as what makes a good teacher are dominating the education debate.
And Lauren Roth wrote:
Tough realized what essential question his story would be organized around, he told EWA members: “Why is it that poor kids do so badly in school and life? And what can be done?” He said that the debates about education and poverty are beginning to merge, and for the better.
Blog Roundup
Friday, March 6th, 2009On the Flypaper blog, Mike Petrilli comments on Arne Duncan’s recent statements on school vouchers:
“We need to be more ambitious,” Duncan explained. “The goal shouldn’t be to save a handful of children. The goal should be to dramatically change the opportunity structure for entire neighborhoods of kids.”
Wow. On the one hand, that rhetoric is straight out of the Great Society, and in line with the Obama team’s audacious attempt to redefine what’s possible in domestic policymaking. But it’s also a clear reference to Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone, which is trying to remake an “entire neighborhood” of kids.
And on The Plank, a New Republic blog, Seyward Darby adds, “It does appear that Harlem Children’s Zone and similar pioneering programs are informing Duncan’s approach to policy.” Darby quotes from the recent Chicago magazine interview with Duncan, in which Duncan promised to undertake and fund a 20-city Harlem Children’s Zone replication project, and concludes:
That’s pretty bold (and encouraging!) talk, particularly in the face of congressional and union opposition to broadening reform efforts that have only been tested on a small scale–like the Harlem Children’s Zone.