Emotional Intelligence

Dane Peters interviews Mitchel Adler, Psy.D. The article is published in the 2015-16 winter issue of Montessori Life magazine. Adler will be a keynote speaker at the 2016 American Montessori Society Annual Conference in Chicago this March. 

 

The Longest Runway

“Models have 45 seconds to present the latest fashions to people sitting on either side of the 60-foot runway they walk. With spotlights illuminating every inch of the way, each model’s gait, poses, and gestures help entice retailers to buy. There is another much longer runway—a runway that parents use to model for their children. Instead of displaying fashions, parents present habits, opinions, actions, and life skills for children’s viewing" 

Dane Peters wrote the  Longest Runway in the recent Montessori Life Magazine. It is great advice for all parents. 

Things We Say to Kids That Sound Positive But Can be Detrimental

Alfie Kohn in this recent Washington Post article " Things We Say to Kids That Sound Positive But Can Be Detrimental" sheds new and interesting light on the value of saying "Good job" to children.

“How can we help children grow up to be happy? That’s an important question, but here’s another one: How can we help children grow up to be concerned about whether other people are happy? We don’t want our kids to end up as perpetually miserable social activists, but neither should we root for them to become so focused on their own well-being that they’re indifferent to other people’s suffering. Happiness isn’t a good thing if it’s purchased at the price of being unreflective, complacent, or self-absorbed.” 

Age Appropriate Chores for Children ( and Why They're Not Doing Them)

As Montessori showed, and Montessori teachers witness everyday, children avidly seek real responsibility and are gratified when adults give it to them. Expectations for our children have sunk in recent decades. Indeed in many urban and suburban families the chores we assign them don't add up to much. Check out the chart of "Age Appropriate Chores for Children" and see how your family measures up!
age-appropiate chore

Seven Things Every Kid Should Master

A noted Williams College psychologist argues standardized tests are useful, if they measure the abilities students really need. Psychologist Susan Engels "7 things every kid should master" are based on her review of "more than 300 studies of K-12 academic tests". 

Kid's Talk

Here are some tried and tested parenting ideas from Montessori expert Maren Schmidt 


Schmidt founded a Montessori school and holds a Masters of Education from Loyola College in Maryland. She has over 25 years experience working with young children and holds teaching credentials from the Association Montessori Internationale. She is the author of Understanding Montessori: A Guide for Parents and Kids Talk : an award winning column dealing with child development.

Montessori Kindergarten: Essential & Empowering

Not Knowing

I want to share with you this meditation from the National Association of Episcopal Schools

Not Knowing

The Rev. Daniel R. Heischman, D.D., Executive Director

One of the pleasurable activities our staff has experienced, during this our 50th anniversary year as an association, has been going through past NAES publications, seeing their relevance for today as well as—as is less the case—reflections of a particular period and time. One such article that caught my eye was an interview Peter Sipple did with David Elkind thirty years ago.* As you may recall, Elkind, professor of child psychology at Tufts University, wrote not only timely but prophetic books such as The Hurried Child and All Grown Up and Nowhere to Go.

Elkind was among the first observers to highlight just how fast we expect children to grow up. In his interview with Peter Sipple (as well as in his books), he spoke of the “patchwork self” that young people develop in our culture, a self that is oriented toward external expectations and norms as opposed to one that is integrated and based in the belief that one can be an agent in the world and have an impact on it. The development of a patchwork self, he explained, issues in a lot of passivity, a belief that one either has no choices or is completely vulnerable to chance. Life is a mystery, Elkind observed, and patchwork selves do not deal easily with mystery. 

Fastforward thirty years, to Dave Eggers’ chilling novel, The Circle, which tells the story of Mae Holland, a young adult who goes to work for the world’s most powerful internet company. Gradually, Mae is ushered into a world that seems to take care of her every need, not to mention seeks to address the greatest needs of the world. Throughout the novel, Mae is gripped by a fear of not knowing, and the total transparency the company seeks in the world today is designed so that there will be “no more not knowing.” She buys into the goal of the company completely, regarding “not knowing” as unnecessary and an antiquated phenomenon, something that will be eliminated with the sheer passing of time—and progress!

Elkind seems to have been prophetic—a patchwork self is drawn to a world where there are no unknowns, and may well live in fear of unknowns. Here is where Episcopal (and Montessori) schools have such a great opportunity, indeed advantage. We have the capacity to help young people deal with the unknowns of life, to embrace mystery as one of the great joys of life as opposed to an obstacle to be overcome. As much as we are attuned to the activity and virtues of knowledge, so, too, we embrace the activity of not knowing, something young people need to be prepared to encounter.

*See, Peter Sipple, “Interview with David Elkind,” NAES Journal (Spring 1984), 29-33.

Getting the Role of the Teacher Right

"The fundamental role of a teacher is not to deliver information, it is to guide the social process of learning. ..The job of a teacher is to inspire, to challenge, to excite their students to want to learn.  The most important thing a teacher does is make every student feel like they are important,to make them feel accountable for doing the work of learning." Computers can't do that ! the role of the teacher

To buy or not to buy?

The NAMC (North American Montessori Center) is a great resource for Montessori teachers and parents. Find out what they have to say about gift giving To buy or not to buy?

Is Montessori the Origin of Google and Amazon

In this Forbes Leadership article
Steve Denning pulls together a lively discussion on some education theories (including Montessori)
Forbes

Must Toys be "Educational"?

 At the recent "Journey and Discovery" parents asked for guidance as to what to provide for Montessori children at home. Here is some advice from a Montessori Educational consultant at Montessori Services who has has been providing beautiful material for schools and homes for years.

Appreciating Unity in Diversity

Andrew Solomon was one of the keynote speakers at the recent American Montessori Society Conference in Dallas. Here he speaks out about the role of Montessori education in promoting  unity in diverse environments.
Unity in Diversity

Why we need handwriting

Many schools are moving away from teaching handwriting after 1st grade and focusing on keyboarding skills.  This is a mistake.  The New York Times published an article on June 2, 2014 titled, What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades read it here

What is lost when we skimp on handwriting skills?  According to psychologists and neuroscientists, there is a link between handwriting and broader educational development.  Children learn to read more quickly when they first learn to write by hand.

Montessori always taught writing skills before reading, or simultaneously.  When learning sounds that letters represent, we use sandpaper letters.  Students trace the letters while hearing the sound and seeing the letter.  The tracing reinforces muscular memory.  Hearing, seeing, touching, uses three senses to learn letters.  Experts say that handwriting has links to working memory – a skill linked to long term success in school.

Praying on there Past Year

I must confess, I breathed a sigh of relief as the school year came to an end. There were definitely some challenges along the way; many obstacles to overcome. At the same time I began to remember some of the wonderful highlights that brought joy and my praise and thanks to God. I was looking for a prayer that would represent my mixture of feelings and came across this article  by the Rev. Daniel R. Heischman, D.D., Executive Director of NAES.  Praying-on-the past-year He refers to a book by Anne Lamott Help-Thanks-Wow-Three Essential Prayers

The Case for Arts Education

Southwest School of Art and San Antonio Symphony leaders say explosing children to arts leads to smarter, happier and more successful adults. Read more in the San Antonio Magazine July 2014 edition.

SAM-July-2014

Elementary students from St. Paul's Episcopal Montessori School work on the back drop for their musical presentation " The Lost Boy". Students participated in the SAS Young People's concert series. Art and music are the backdrop 
                                                                                    to the curriculum!

How Children Succeed

Why do some children succeed while others fail? The story we usually tell about childhood and success is the one about intelligence: success comes to those who score highest on tests, from preschool admissions to SATs. 
But in How Children Succeed Paul Tough argues that the qualities that matter more have to do with character: skills like perseverance, curiosity, optimism, and self-control.
“Drop the flashcards—grit, character, and curiosity matter even more than cognitive skills. A persuasive wake-up call.”—People

The Whole-Brain Child

Dr, Tina Bryson, co-author (with Dan Siegel) of the best selling
The Whole-Brain Child will be a keynote speaker at the Southwestern Association of Episcopal Schools in Fort Worth in June.
Bryson is a pediatric and adolescent psychotherapist and the School Counselor at St. Mark's School in Altadena, CA.
In the book The Whole Brain Child, Bryson and Dan Siegel introduce parents and other caregivers to practical strategies based on cutting-edge brain science. A central principle of the book is that the strategies can help parents not only survive difficult moments with their children, but  these moments can actually be used to help their children thrive.

Temple Grandin at AMS Conference in Dallas

3,000 attendees at the recent American Montessori Society (AMS) Conference in Dallas enjoyed an informative keynote speech by Temple Grandin. Three members of staff from the school were fortunate to be in attendance and listen to the remarkable speaker. 

       Temple Grandin was diagnosed with autism as a child. She talked about how her mind works — sharing her ability to "think in pictures," which helps her solve problems that neurotypical brains might miss. She made the case that the world needs people on the autism spectrum: visual thinkers, pattern thinkers, verbal thinkers, and all kinds of smart geeky kids.


You can hear some of her talk at the conference by listening to this TED talk

Trevor Eissler "Montessori Madness!" -321 FastDraw

Trevor Eissler is not an educator. In fact by profession, he's a pilot. But for many parents and Montessori school educators, Eissler is a bit of a cult hero. Why? Because he is passionately spreading the word about Montessori education. He - and parents like him - believe it's the most innovative form of education that has existed for more than a century. In this video Eissler puts forward his argument for Montessori education.
Montessori Madness