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The 12 Powers of Mentoring: The Story of MOBOC, a Prototype for Schools of the Future

by Craig McEwen

221 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #04-0976; ISBN 1-4120-3149-4; US$22.00, C$26.00, EUR18.00, £12.50

Educator John Goodlad, and futurist Buckminster Fuller, praised the Mobile Open Classroom of 1970's Los Angeles for being radically innovative yet educationally excellent. Craig McEwen finally reveals MOBOC's secrets.

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about the book      about the author      Table of Contents and excerpts      catalogue info

About the Book This book is a story of how two teachers gave twenty students recognition for being the cause of their learning, for making the choice to learn for themselves, for being independent, capable, responsible, and powerful. It is a day-by-day description of a revolutionary five-day orientation that happened each year at the Mobile Open Classroom (MOBOC) in Los Angeles from 1971 to 1983. It is a true story of a real school (not a technical lesson plan), which (1) demonstrates timeless MOBOC concepts in action, (2) educates the reader in respectful and motivating behaviors toward middle schoolers, and (3) creates both a longing for this kind of success with teens and a sense of urgency for educational reform. It is a book for parents, educators, and activists, and extraordinarily relevant to public education today. The story opens with Chris, a student who has been kicked out of five schools, and it follows him as he is transformed by being given his personal power to learn. Like most students, those in this story believed that learning was demanded by somone else - a parent, a teacher, or some other external authority. They were not "learning for themselves," but rather for those others or for the grades. They had lost their identity as self-motivated learners, and school had become impersonal, a place where teachers didn't get to know them as individuals. MOBOC changed all that and this book tells us how. At the end of each year MOBOC students were tested on the same battery of tests used by schools across Los Angeles, and they met or exceeded the highest scores of all other schools, dispelling the fear that such a radical departure from traditional schooling and teaching will result in irresponsible behavior and low grades. Thes kids started out feeling rejected by the system and finished as "winners". Letters from former students (included in the appendix) who are now adults attest to the life-changing experience of MOBOC. Woven throughout the story are the creative writings, social action projects, performances, and personal insights developed with great personal pride by the students. Open to all, this small private school was able to reach students who were intellectually and culturally gifted as well as those academically and socially troubled. MOBOC found that both groups needed help. Closed by its teachers in 1983, MOBOC's story has never been tod - until now. In this book, Craig McEwen, MOBOC's head teacher and long time director, lays out the secrets of his pedagogic techniques. In an easy to read series of stories, he reveals how MOBOC got its students to take on responsibility for their own education while not falling into the "anything goes" pitfalls of free choice schools. In 1980, Buckminster Fuller praised MOBOC as being "twenty years ahead of its time." This book will help prove that its time has come.

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About the Author Aside from being head teacher, director, heart, and soul of one of the most amazingly far-sighted yet educationally sound schools in the history of schooling (MOBOC), Craig McEwen has been a professional writer for thirty years, creating both prose and poetry extolling the freedom to think and feel for oneself. This theme is also at the core of his teaching and allows him to relate powerfully and personally with his students. Over the years, he has taught students in almost every age group from Montessori pre-school to adult education. He taught at MOBOC for twelve years. He is one of those rare consummate teachers, permanently etched into his students' memories, and he is a gifted writer as well.

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Table of Contents and Excerpts

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Catalogue Information

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