Grades K - 5 Making It Up as We Go Along is the story of the Albany Free School, a school based on real freedom, real community, real democratic principles, and real affection between teachers and students. There, for over twenty-five years Chris Mercogliano has taught a never-ending variety of children–kids of all ages from every race and social class, from those with developmental and behavioral problems to the so-called "gifted." Thanks to this ongoing experiment in education, one of the longest running of its kind in America, Mercogliano has come to understand how children learn and above all, how important autonomy and authenticity are to the learning process. There is no preset methodology to describe because Mercogliano and his students make it up as they go along. What the author does do is render into words some of the possibilities that abound when teachers and students learn together in an atmosphere of freedom, personal responsibility, and mutual respect. His book debunks many of the misconceptions about teaching and learning, including the belief that education requires a lot of money, sophisticated technology, and extensive specialized teacher training. Mercogliano wrote this book with three broad goals in mind: to provide an in-depth history of the Free School, including a brief analysis of its place in the broader scheme of things; to describe the school in a way that is meaningful to both those who have some point of reference to the various alternatives to conventional schooling and those who do not; and to address certain fundamental subjects that are too often neglected in our national thinking about children: aggression, sexuality, race/class, and spirituality. In the process, he proves that teachers can help all students pursue their genius and their dreams through the union of self-direction, excitement, joy, and emotional honesty.

Making It Up as We Go Along: The Story of the Albany Free School

Education & Teaching

Mercogliano, Chris

Schools & Teaching

Heinemann

We’ve all read the stories about medicating hyperactive (ADHD) kids. The controversy shows no signs of ending, as parents and doctors debate the merits of diagnosing and medicating children at younger and younger ages. Chris Mercogliano has a strong opinion on the matter, and he enters the debate as an educator. In Teaching the Restless, Mercogliano issues an urgent call for a shift in how our society perceives hyperactive children—away from theories of faulty brain chemistry and toward an understanding of children’s lives. Mercogliano codirects the Albany Free School in Albany, New York. There, he and his faculty have developed numerous ways to help hyperactive children relax, focus, modulate emotional expression, make responsible choices, and forge lasting friendships—all prerequisites for learning—without assigning pathological labels to the children or resorting to the use of biopsychiatric drugs. Teaching the Restless profiles a handful of Free School students, six boys and three girls. All were either labeled and drugged in their previous schools, or would have been had they not thrown in their lot with the Free School. While in Mercogliano’s mind there is no such thing as a “typical” child, these nine kids represent the legions of children across the country—estimates currently run as high as 6 million—that have been diagnosed with learning and behavioral disorders and prescribed corresponding drugs. Speaking both to parents who worry that their kids cannot attend classes without drugs and to educators who wonder how to best teach these hyperactive kids, Teaching the Restless should bring new hope into an overcharged debate. “TEACHING THE RESTLESS is a very important book for our time. That we continue to prescribe drugs to our children in such massive numbers is appalling. There are no historical precendents for a society perpetrating such a travesty on its offspring. Chris Mercogliano deserves a medal for his courage and insight, as well as his years of hard work on behalf of America’s children.” —Joseph Chilton Pearce, author of MAGICAL CHILD “Take a ride with master teacher Chris Mercogliano as he writes his way straight into your heart. This powerful tale reflects his work as a master educator and writer and gives us an up-close look at what is possible for America’s school children when we choose not to drug them into silence. The Albany Free School is a hermitage for children, a model to the nation of how a school environment built on love, honor, respect, and responsibility can effect profound changes in kids’ lives.” —Yehudah Fine, family therapist and author of TIMES SQUARE RABBI: FINDING THE HOPE IN LOST KIDS’ LIVES “TEACHING THE RESTLESS is a finely crafted moral commentary on a society that would rather “tranquilize our children than create a more tranquil world for them to grow up in.” Chris Mercogliano is a gifted writer as well as a superb observer of children’s lives. Here, he offers a rich blend of insights and observations based on his own extensive teaching experience. His stories of real kids struggling against the cultural constraints on their lives, including inappropriate labeling and drugging, are deeply moving and convincing.” —Ron Miller, executive editor, Paths of Learning magazine, educational historian, author of WHAT ARE SCHOOLS FOR? “God bless Chris Mercogliano. He has turned his lifelong commitment to the creation of free learning communities for children and families toward a passionate defense against the oppression of children by psychiatry and the schools. May his longstanding drug-free school zone in Albany extend throughout our country and the world.” —John Breeding, clinical psychologist, author of THE WILDEST COLTS MAKE THE BEST HORSES “A wonderful contribution to the growing literature on the sad practice of labeling and drugging America’s “free spirits.” Chris Mercogliano sees past the scientific jargon and deficit-rridden orientation of the ADD/ADHD paradigm, and reveals with great humanistic sensibility the passionate worlds of active kids who don't fit into the tight little boxes of most American classrooms.” —Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D., author of THE MYTH OF THE A.D.D. CHILD

Teaching the Restless: One School's Remarkable No-Ritalin Approach to Helping Children Learn and Succeed

Beacon Pr

ducator Chris Mercogliano has been working with hyperactive (ADHD) children for many years at the Free School in Albany, New York, and has developed numerous ways to help these students relax, focus, modulate emotional expression, make responsible choices, and forge lasting friendships-all prerequisites for learning. In Teaching the Restless, Mercogliano uses the stories of six boys and three girls to share valuable lessons, offering a way to work with these children without assigning them labels or resorting to the use of stimulant drugs like Ritalin.

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Mental Health

Beacon Press

In Defense of Childhood: Protecting Kids' Inner Wildness

As codirector of the Albany Free School, Chris Mercogliano has had remarkable success in helping a diverse population of youngsters find their way in the world. He regrets, however, that most kids' lives are subject to some form of control from dawn until dusk. Lamenting risk-averse parents, overstructured school days, and a lack of playtime and solitude, Mercogliano argues that we are robbing our young people of "that precious, irreplaceable period in their lives that nature has set aside for exploration and innocent discovery," leaving them ill-equipped to face adulthood. The "domestication of childhood" squeezes the adventure out of kids' lives and threatens to smother the spark that animates each child with talents, dreams, and inclinations. There is plenty that those involved with children can do to protect their spontaneity and exuberance. We can address their desperate thirst for knowledge, give them space to learn from their mistakes, and let them explore what their place in the adult world might be.

Psychology & Counseling

The pressures of modern life are increasingly squeezing the adventure, the wonder, the physicality-the juice -out of children's lives. Virtually every arena of kids' experience is now subject to some form of outside control, and this is a serious threat to the unique spark that animates every child. Lamenting risk-averse parents, overstructured school days, and a lack of playtime and solitude, this book is a clear and compelling plea to save childhood.

In My Brother's Words: The Memoir of Susan Mercogliano: The Memoir of susan Mercogliano

Parenting & Relationships

Oxford Village Press

The World's Goin' to End at Loonchtime: Poems of the Free School Community

Ost, Nancy

Therrien, Charlene

Down-To-Earth-Books

Book by Gatto, John Taylor, Mercogliano, Chris

Challenging the Giant: The Best of SKOLE, the Journal of Alternative Education, Vol. 3

Gatto, John Taylor

Book by Leue, Mary M. (editor), Potter, John, Gatto, John Taylor, Mercogliano, Chris

Challenging the Giant: The Best of SKOLE, the Journal of Alternative Education, Vol. 4

Leue, Mary M. (editor)

Potter, John.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Mercogliano, Chris. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Mercogliano, Chris

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Mercogliano, Chris. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Making It Up as We Go Along: The Story of the Albany Free School

Teaching the Restless: One School's Remarkable No-Ritalin Approach to Helping Children Learn and Succeed

Teaching the Restless: One School's Remarkable No-Ritalin Approach to Helping Children Learn and Succeed

In Defense of Childhood: Protecting Kids' Inner Wildness

In Defense of Childhood: Protecting Kids' Inner Wildness

In My Brother's Words: The Memoir of Susan Mercogliano: The Memoir of susan Mercogliano

The World's Goin' to End at Loonchtime: Poems of the Free School Community

Challenging the Giant: The Best of SKOLE, the Journal of Alternative Education, Vol. 3

Challenging the Giant: The Best of SKOLE, the Journal of Alternative Education, Vol. 4