A (Mercifully) Short and (Altogether)
Boring Snapshot of Yours Truly
The person who has
nothing for which he is willing to fight,
nothing which is more important than his own personal safety,
is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept
so
by the exertions of better men than himself.
[John Stuart Mill, 1806 - 1873]
Honor to those who in their lives
are committed and guard their
Never stirring from duty;
just and upright in all their deeds,
but with pity and compassion too
And they merit greater honor
when they foresee (and many do foresee)
that Ephialtes will finally appear,
and in the end the Medes will go through.
[Cavafy, circa 1911.]
The 300 Spartans knew
they would die at
But they also knew their duty. They stopped the Persians
long enough for the rest of
Some jobs I’ve had.
Teacher and director in
the Autism Program at
Professor in the Department of Sociology at
Behavioral Specialist for Wayne County, Michigan, and Unit Director at the
Plymouth Center for Human Development in Northville, Michigan, 1976.
My work between 1967 and 1996 was developing educational programs for children
with autism and other severe disabilities, and training programs for their
families.
I decided to move south in
1995 (tired of
Education professors invent elaborate, fanciful (and bizarre)
theories of learning and methods of instruction (e.g., whole language, fuzzy math); rarely test these beforehand, but pass them
on to new teachers and to schools; and rarely evaluate them to see if they work,
but stubbornly support them even when research says they are harmful.
Ed schools infantilize and stupefy ed
students with useless “projects” and “activities” such as making “personal
literacy philosophies,” but seldom teach education students exactly how to teach
anything.
I started to work alone or with a few like-minded colleagues. [Ironically, most education
students--undergraduate and graduate--share my criticisms and are willing to
assist my direct work in schools.]
Helping schools to
implement field-tested and effective curricula in language and reading; namely,
Direct Instruction (Language for Learning, Reading Mastery, and Corrective
Reading) and Precision Teaching.
Teaching undergraduate and graduate students exactly how to
teach reading and history effectively.
Ridiculing fads: "brain-based
learning" (Is there some other organ involved that we don't know about?),
multiple intelligence (Substitute "skill." Does it make any
difference?), whole language, portfolio assessment, discovery learning, multicultural
social studies, “child-centered” methods.
Developing, testing, and disseminating
effective forms of assessment, curricula, and instruction for children with
developmental disabilities (autism, mental retardation).
Providing training to teachers in the schools.
Helping states to implement Reading First programs and to reform schools of
education.
Not that it much matters, but I have a B.A. (Psychology, 1966), M.A. and
Ph.D. (Sociology, 1969),
I have also written some books.
Kozloff, M.A. (1998). Reaching
the autistic child (revised edition).
Kozloff, M.A. (1994). Improving educational
outcomes for children with disabilities: Principles for assessment, program
planning, and evaluation.
Kozloff, M.A. (1994). Improving
educational outcomes for children with disabilities: Guidelines and protocols
for practice.
Kozloff, M.A. (1988). Productive
interaction with students, children and clients.
Kozloff, M.A. (1979). A program for families of
children with learning and behavior problems. NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Kozloff, M.A. (1974). Educating
children with learning and behavior problems. NY: John Wiley
& Sons.
Kozloff, M.A. (1973). Reaching
the autistic child.
Hamblin, R.L., Buckholdt,
D., Ferritor, D., Kozloff, M., & Blackwell, L.
(1971). The humanization processes.