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= = = = =What is Seductive Teaching? =

This page is intended as a resource for educators and is based on information gleaned from Denny Wolfe and Joseph Antinarella's text entitled //Deciding to Lead: The English Teacher as Reformer// and will provide an overview of the key points that Wolfe and Antinarella explore.



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 * Chapter 1: "Seductive Teaching (English and Otherwise)"**

Wolfe and Antinarella state that teaching is caring and that to teach well is to arouse, to attract, and to lead. The idea of "seduce," as they use it, is to win over or to attract and lead. Seductive teachers will inspire their colleagues in the same ways they will their students. More importantly, the seduce subtly; they are more indirect than direct, and they have high expectations. Their classrooms belong mutually to them and to their students.


 * Chapter 2: "Moving Deck Chairs Around on the //Titanic//**" [|Origins of Phrase]

The authors point out that "many school improvement initiatives have tended to reflect a disturbing recklessness, desperation, and misplaced focus" (Wolfe, D. & Antinarella, J., 1997, pg. 20). This affects all youth, especially in low socioeconomic situations. Perhaps this is where seductive teachers are needed the most. In this chapter the authors advocate for mediation. They discuss teaching students to solve their own disputes through an objective third party. They go on to suggest surrounding students with psychologically and emotionally powerful adults with healthy habits--seductive teachers. Schools and seductive teachers must teach students to read--not just books, but films, commercial ads, gestures, situational events, etc.--and write through all mediums--art, composing, dance, etc. In seductive teachers' classrooms, students are willing to take risks (with reading and writing). They help students acquire a tolerance for failure by showing them that they, and professionals too, fail often before succeeding. In these classrooms, minds are always moving. Students and teachers openly interrogate texts, each other, and themselves. Seductive teachers teach teachers and seek to understand the cultures of their schools and classroom to use this information to promote change.


 * Chapter 3: "Models for School Reform"** The National Writing Project and Language Across the Curriculum

The message of the Writing Projects Success is that significant and lasting change is based on...
 * teachers knowing what they are doing
 * teachers being able to articulate what they are doing
 * collegial relationships
 * including everybody
 * putting egos and "us vs. them" attitudes aside
 * working hard everyday
 * not giving up
 * people striving openly to achieve common goals

Teachers as school reformers.....
 * listen to their colleagues with empathy and a belief in their desire to help students succeed
 * relate to their colleagues as they relate to their students
 * ask questions
 * listen intently
 * share their own stories
 * demonstrate what works for them
 * constantly reevaluate what they do and know
 * "possess and obstinate and obsessive faith"


 * Chapter 4: "The Subject/Object Factor"

Seductive teachers are interested in making the pot boil. They integrate students and their experiences into the curriculum. Freedom is important in the classroom. They embrace possibilities for changing minds, conditions, and even truths. **


 * Chapter 5: "Schooling for Self-Efficacy"**

//**Self-Efficacy: is the synthesis between self-esteem and achievement**// (helping students achieve this synthesis should be the goal of all educators.)


 * The seductive teacher's focus is on the learner rather than on the process and curriculum. They work to teach students to think in different ways. Seductive teachers win students' trust and give students more authority. They teach and allow students to monitor their own learning. Most importantly, they allow students to do work that matters (to them and to their lives). **

Neil Postman: //Thermostatic// view of education
 * schools should only work at doing these for students that are not being done in society (i.e. If society teaches students to compete, schools should teach them something different.)


 * Chapter 6: "Becoming a Master Teacher and School Reformer"**

Wolfe, D., & Antinarella, J. (1997). Deciding to Lead: The English Teacher as Reformer. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook.