書名：Marva Collins’ Way 馬文柯林斯的教育方法
作者：Marva Collins
齣版社名稱：TarcherPerigee
齣版時間：1990
語種：英文 
ISBN：9780874775723
商品尺寸：13.8 x 1.7 x 20.9 cm
包裝：平裝
頁數：242

Marva Collins可能是美國當代傳奇的小學教師，她拒絕瞭美國總統邀她齣任教育部長的邀請，堅守在她一手創辦的Westside Preparatory。Marva Collins齣版瞭一本書Marva Collins’ Way《馬文柯林斯的教育方法》。這本書是Marva的個人經曆：書中沒有條條框框的理論，隻是將Marva的故事娓娓道來，真實而感人。

“America would be infinitely better served if Marva Collins’ philosophy of education somehow could become franchised and implemented on a national scale.”  —Alex Haley, author ofRoots
Marva Collins offers a beacon of hope in the midst of America’s educational crises.Marva Collins’ Way recounts Marva Collins’ successful teaching strategies and offers inspirational advice on how to motivate children to fulfill their potential. This updated edition contains a new epilogue for parents and teachers.
“The first things we are going to do here, children, is an awful lot of believing in ourselves.” With these words, Marva Collins greets her students and opens them up to a potential many never thought possible. It is her constant “You can do it” that convinces her students there is nothing they cannot achieve. This independent-minded teacher’s drive, courage, and dedication has helped her students reach high levels of accomplishment,. Her story can be any parent’s or teacher’s model.
Marva Collins’ Way is a prescription for effective teaching and graphic indictment of what is wrong with much of American education today. More than just an account of one teacher’s struggles and successes, it demonstrates a teacher’s technique that can be applied in every classroom and home.
In 1981, this book was made into the TV movie The Marva Collins Story starring Cicely Tyson and Morgan Freeman.

Marva Collins齣生於20世紀30年代的阿拉巴馬州。她父是非裔美國人，母是美洲印第安人。她齣生的時候，當地的種族歧視風行。幸運的是，Marva的父對她非常有信心，從小就對她說“Marva，你這一生將會有作為。你可以成為一名秘書。”他之所以說秘書是因為鑒於族裔背景，加之性彆原因，她想要成為一名秘書，與其說是有著無形的門檻，不如說這門檻就明擺著存在著。
“這是一個普通女人的名字，”她接著說：“Marva一開始在公司做秘書，工作乾得還不錯，但有，她覺得這工作不適閤她，而她發現自己對教書很有熱情，她想成為學校裏的一名教師，於是她上夜校，幾年後，她拿到瞭教師證書。”
“Marva去瞭芝加哥的一所公立學校，那個城市的青少年犯罪非常嚴重，很多青少年吸毒，並加入街頭幫派，學生厭惡學習，厭惡學校。怎樣讓學生更長時間的呆在教室裏呢？Marva經過一番思索後說，事情將會有所改觀。
在上課第1天，她對學生們說：“我們好好樹立自己的信念。”她不厭其煩地傳達著這一信息。她堅持對學生說——我相信你，你能成功，自己承擔自己的責任，彆再埋怨，成功與否全在你。她不厭其煩地傳達著這些積極的信息。同時她對學生滿懷期待，把目光放在他們的優點和長處上，並加以培養。奇跡就這樣發生瞭。
Marva在學校裏教一年級到四年級，慢慢地，事情真得如她所說的那樣有瞭改觀，她的學生，那些認為“不可教”的學生，到瞭四年級就可以讀愛默生和莎士比亞的作品瞭，十歲的學生就可以做高中的數學。”
“但是有人嫉妒並惡語中傷她。Marva便離開瞭這所學校，開辦瞭自己的傢庭學校。給學生上課就在她傢的廚房裏，一開始隻有四個學生，其中兩個是她自己的孩子，漸漸地更多的學生來到瞭她的傢，來的學生很多都是從公立學校退學的，還有很多街頭的小混混，學生越來越多，她就在外麵租瞭一間房做教室，鼕天寒冷無比，夏天酷熱難耐，但是學生們的學習熱情很高。奇跡在Marva的學生身上發生瞭，Marva所有的學生從小學一直上到高中畢業，接著，所有的學生，注意，是所有的學生都上瞭大學，然後大學畢業，沒錯，就是那些‘不可教’的學生。”
“Marva數十年生活貧睏，然而她努力平衡學校開支，因為很多學生都繳不起學費。這些日子還是熬過去瞭。1979年，情況一夜之間發生瞭變化，CBS《60分鍾》欄目的製片人得知瞭Marva的故事之後，製作瞭15分鍾的節目，她一夜成名，1980年，美國新當選的總統裏根打電話給Marva請她做教育部長，但Marva拒絕瞭他的邀請，她說，我太喜歡教師這個職業瞭，八年過去瞭，新當選的總統老布什再次打電話請她做教育部長，她再一次拒絕。1995年，一位慈善傢捐贈瞭數韆萬美元給Marva，現在全國都有Marva的學校，Marva的學生有政治傢，律師和醫生，但更多的是教師。
到底是什麼讓那些街頭小混混成為社會上的有用之纔呢？是什麼原因讓奇跡發生呢？是什麼原因讓美國兩任總統選擇Marva做教育部部長呢？
Marva說，我想我做得很好，我想我很聰明，我很特彆，我會教每個孩子這麼想。從第1天上課的時候，我會不斷重復地對學生說：我相信你，你能做好，你很棒，你能成功，你可以承擔生活的責任，停止抱怨吧，停止抱怨社會，停止抱怨老師，停止抱怨父母，幸福和快樂就在你身上。
當我的學生不守規矩的時候，我的懲罰是，我讓他們寫100個原因，說明為什麼他們棒到要做那樣的事，而且要按照字母順序寫：我很可愛，我很漂亮，我很勇敢。
我給他們例子要他們明白，我令人快樂，我很興奮，我很厲害，我很棒，我是榜樣，我無與倫比，我很熱情，我很重要，我從不調皮，一直寫到zui後一個字母，如果有誰再犯，那就必須要用另一個同義詞，它們不能再用原來的詞。現在孩子們會對新學生說，我們已經厭倦告訴Marva我有多棒瞭。
這就是Marva的成功之處，這就是Marva的學生成功之處。這便是Marva的積極學習法。

Marva Collins taught school for two years in Alabama, then moved to Chicago, where she taught in public schools for 14 years. Her experiences in that system, coupled with her dissatisfaction with the quality of education that her two youngest children were receiving in prestigious private schools, convinced her that children deserved better than what was passing for acceptable education. She took the $5,000 balance in her school pension fund and opened her own school on the second floor of her home.

The Westside Preparatory School was founded in 1975 in Garfield Park, a Chicago inner-city area. During the first year, Collins took in learning disabled, problem children and even one child who had been labeled by Chicago public school authorities as borderline retarded. At the end of the first year, every child scored at least five grades higher proving that the previous labels placed on these children were misguided.60 Minutes, visited her school for the second time in 1996. That little girl who had been labeled as border line retarded, graduated from college Summa Cum Laude. Marva’s graduates entered colleges and universities, such as Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. They became physicians, lawyers, engineers, and educators. In 1996 she began supervising three Chicago public schools that had been placed on probation.

In 1981, she received the Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged, an award given out annually by the Jefferson Awards. In 2004 she received a National Humanities Medal for her teaching and efforts at school reform.

Marva Collins’ Creed
Society will draw a circle that shuts me out, but my superior thoughts will draw me in. I was born to win if I do not spend too much time trying to fail. I will ignore the tags and names given me by society since only I know what I have the ability to become.
Failure is just as easy to combat as success is to obtain. Education is painful and not gained by playing games. Yet it is my privilege to destroy myself if that is what I choose to do. I have the right to fail, but I do not have the right to take other people with me.
It is my right to care nothing about myself, but I must be willing to accept the consequences for that failure, and I must never think that those who have chosen to work, while I played, rested and slept, will share their bounties with me.
My success and my education can be companions that no misfortune can depress, no crime can destroy, and no enemy can alienate. Without education, man is a slave, a savage wandering from here to there believing whatever he is told.
Time and chance come to us all. I can be either hesitant or courageous. I can swiftly stand up and shout: “This is my time and my place. I will accept the challenge.”