«In this lively, provocative volume, Ben Graffam asks, “What would happen to education if we allowed students to choose, not only the subjects they studied, but also the way they were taught and evaluated?” Guiding us step by step through several choice-based learning scenarios, Graffam envisions a learner-centered, community-connected curriculum where students pursue their interests, design their studies, and share their progress with teachers, peers, and authentic audiences beyond school. Once student choice is freely at play, everything else changes, including the schedule, teacher and student roles, the relationship to the community, the configuration of learning spaces, and processes of assessment. Students emerge as self-directed learners, and teachers function as guides who regard their own disciplines, not as bodies of content to transmit, but as powerful lenses for understanding the world. The book offers a valuable resource for educators who wish to take concrete steps to put student voice and choice at the center of their practice.»

Rob Riordan, President Emeritus, High Tech High Graduate School of Education

«Graffam's book reminds us that powerful and authentic learning is always contextually-based. As an arts educator, I am particularly interested in how the Student Choice Curriculum fosters the problem-solving skills that the art-making process promotes. His notion of "choosing to learn" will resonate with many educators who've grown frustrated with a top-down/standardized-sanitized approach to public education.»

Daryl Ward, Principal, Harrison School for the Arts, Lakeland, FL

«Ben Graffam’s Reimagining the Educated Mind reads less like a jargon filled prescription on education and more like a chat with a friend over coffee. Through his conversational tone, hypothetical student-teacher conversations, and exploration into what the modern education system could be, Graffam invites readers to explore how their own teaching would be impacted by giving students the ability to choose their own learning pathways. Instead of presenting readers with a cure all for the ills of the modern education system, Graffam begins with the simple question: What if we let students choose how they learn? This book is a must read for any teacher struggling to make learning interesting for their students. »

Nicholas Johnston, M.A., English Teacher -Haines City High School, FL

«In this important book, Ben Graffam reanimates the legacy of John Dewey’s Lab School by crafting pedagogy as the purposeful extension and elaboration of student interest. Beginning with the kernel of a child’s interest, often not fully formed or refined, Graffam’s teaching provides the child the necessary guidance, support, and activities to grow outward into the community in order to contribute to a democratic society. In an era of stale educational accountability that too frequently forgets the child and standardizes the complex social art of teaching, Graffam’s book brings us wonderfully and wisely back to why we became educators in the first place. »

Scot Danforth, Professor of Education, Chapman University

«At a time when education is being debated in economic and political terms, Graffam’s substantive proposal for a student choice curriculum is refreshing and challenging. His well-written, grounded, and thoughtful work deserves the serious attention of educators and education policymakers. By challenging the philosophy and structure of the “top-loaded” curricula, he reminds us that “…schools ought to be places where students learn … (how) to investigate and imagine different methods and outcomes for their world.”»

James Paul, Professor Emeritus, author of Introduction to Philosophies of Research and Criticism in