DOUBLE TAP TO ZOOM WITH PHONE OR TABLET Introduction to the Second Edition them. The teacher who most affected me in my undergradu- ate years made a similar comment to Mead’s in his existen- tial philosophy course. “This course,” he was known to say, “attracts those who want a podium. If you have something to say . . . it best be said in a way that my great-aunt Gertrude, who has only a third-grade education, can read it and under- stand it.” A good rule of thumb for sharing important informa- tion is to use simple, direct language. The mistake I made was assuming that the piece of my contract that said I would be willing to update as needed would ever be “called in.” It is a source of some humor both at Redleaf and my house that I had quite intentionally chosen theorists who were quite dead. I figured if I was able to state the theorists’ perspective in a clear, straightforward manner, offering classroom examples . . . what more could be done? It’s not like there would be additional work to discuss. Today this seems extraordinarily naive to me. The 1990 National Teacher of the Year, Janis T. Gabay, told audiences, “I offer my students as many ideas as I can by showing them through literature that there is nothing that has not already been felt, experienced, or thought, but much to be discovered in a new way” (Council of Chief State School Officers [CCSSO], accessed 2012). The technological changes alone to our daily lives in the past decade are astounding. Then there are changes in science, medicine, educational psychology, women’s stud- ies, and family studies. Over the past thirty years, children have been driven from the natural world by the advances of technology, fear (for example, “stranger danger,” natural disasters), and even classroom messages meant to raise their concerns about the world’s future (for example, global warm- ing). This phenomenon has been termed “nature-deficit dis- order.” In his book Last Child in the Woods, author Richard Louv writes, “Nature-deficit disorder describes the human 2 COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL