William Powell – författare

This fascinating book, written by two experts in school improvement, is for teachers and school leaders who are looking for ways to raise the organizational intelligence quotient (OIQ) of their classrooms and their schools.It is ideal for those who perceive themselves as the facilitators of learning - for students, for colleagues and for themselves. If schools are to be transformed and transformative, teacher-learners will lead the way.Simplistic and superficial approaches to improving student learning simply don't work. School improvement isn't a technical challenge; it is an adaptive one. It requires a change not just in behaviors and skills, but in values, beliefs and even identity.

Many, perhaps even most schools, are not reaching their potential to be places of collective learning. The authors believe that one of the greatest impediments to realizing this vision is the deleterious effect of traditional systems of teacher evaluation. Rather than infantilizing teachers, we need to empower them. Traditional forms of teacher evaluation have failed. They are riddled with negative expectations about teachers and what motivates them. Taken together, these underlying assumptions form a pernicious cloud of counterproductive expectations that many teachers will "live down to". Inadvertently, the traditional system of teacher evaluation has created a vicious cycle of "self-sealing logic." It is now time for teachers to reclaim their profession, the process of which involves a relentless focus on adult learning: professional learning that is self-directed. The more dynamic and stimulating the culture of adult learning, the more dynamic and stimulating student learning will be.

William Powell wrote The Anarchist Cookbook in 1969 at the age of nineteen. It included everything from making bombs to brewing LSD in the bathroom. On publication, it was hailed variously as “outrageous,” “extremely dangerous,” “communist,” and “the most irresponsible publishing venture in American history.” It also became an overnight bestseller. Powell’s memoir chronicles the atmosphere of the 1960’s counterculture—the Civil Rights Movement was at its height and the federal government was engaged in a brutal and entirely unnecessary war in Southeast Asia. The zeitgeist was radicalization, and the watchword was revolution, and Powell left an enduring record of his thoughts and anger in the shape of The Anarchist Cookbook. The Cookbook: Coming of Age in Turbulent Times portrays Powell’s rebellious adolescence, political radicalization, the publication of the book, the firestorm of controversy that followed, and how it shadowed his entire life. He explores his feelings and the lessons learned, and how he went on to help hundreds of children all over the world in education.