How to Write Your Life Story by Ralph Fletcher

How to Write Your Life Story by Ralph Fletcher

The history of education can easily be described as theme and variation on one motif: reform. From Plato's critique of the Sophists in Protagoras to John Henry Newman's considerations of education in The Idea of a University in 1854, from the educational projects of Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner, and Loris Malaguzzi in the 20th century to Kieran Egan's call for a reimagination of education in the 21st, educators and philosophers have regularly turned to two fundamental questions: What is the purpose of an education? and How is it to be achieved? This is the essence of Friedrich Schiller's letters On the Aesthetic Education of Man.

For Schiller, the salvation of education--and of man--lies in the realization of Beauty. Only Beauty, in his thought, has the ability to ennoble both thinking and sentiment, and only Beauty can allow the human person to awaken what he calls the play impulse, which manifests itself as the extinction of time in time and the reconciliation of becoming and absolute being, of variation with identity (Fourteenth Letter). Play is important to Schiller because play returns the human person to himself: For, to declare once and for all, Man plays only when he is in the full sense of the word a man, and he is only wholly Man when he is playing (Fifteenth Letter).

It is important in times such as ours that we turn to philosophies of education that emphasize not the utilitarian desires of governments and corporations but the simultaneously transcendent and immanent qualities that reveal to us what it is to be human. Friedrich Schiller's letters On the Aesthetic Education of Man is such a text. Schiller does not provide us with a pedagogical strategy, nor does he offer us a definitive answer as to what such an aesthetic education would look like. But he does indicate where we should seek the right kinds of questions. (From the Foreword.)

Fletcher, Ralph: -

Ralph Fletcher is a friend of writing teachers everywhere. Born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, he received his bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College and his master's degree from Columbia University.

A former member of the Teachers College Writing Project, he is currently an author and consultant. He is the author or coauthor with his wife, JoAnnn Portalupi, of numerous professional books and videos.

It has been said that a writer needs to specialize. Alas, I never did that, says Ralph about his prolific writing career. He has written all kinds of books for kids, including poetry, picture books, and chapter books. I am a restless kind of person, he admits. I don't want to feel confined to any one genre or audience. I guess I am a prolific writer, but I'd rather be remembered as an author of quality than quantity.

Ralph speaks at national conferences around the United States and abroad. He also conducts his own one-day seminars and does occasional author visits to schools.

Ralph and JoAnn have four sons. He grows orchids and giant pumpkins, enjoys reading, travel, movies, dark chocolate, and oaky chardonnay. He says, I was a Boston Red Sox fan long before it was trendy to be one.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780060507695
ISBN 10	0060507691
Title	How to Write Your Life Story
Author	Ralph Fletcher
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	HarperCollins Publishers Inc
Year published	2007-07-01
Number of pages	102
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable