Recommended Reading Material

One of my favorite things about the internet is the way it allows me access a wide array of articles and ideas, along with sharing my own.  I’m constantly bookmarking and sharing the treasures I dig up during my web wanderings.  With this in mind, I’ve created a “Recommended Reading” section on the right side of this blog, which I’ll be updating regularly with blog posts and articles related to Montessori education.  

The articles I refer to here are just a few examples of the great ideas being shared about Montessori education. Each holds an important message that I encourage you to pass on to your friends, family and colleagues to aid in their understanding of the Montessori philosophy. 

Do you have any recommendations?  Please post them in the comments section.  

• “Montessori: The Missing Voice in the Education Reform Debate” by Laura Flores Shaw
  This blog post, written by a fellow Montessori head of school, refers to the ongoing conversation about school reform in the United States, how the solutions being sought are right in front of our noses – rather than in other countries or in digital models of education.
• “Clara Lazen, 10, may be the youngest in history to discover a new molecule” published in Belle News
  This article offers a perfect example of what happens when you are in a school that allows you to follow your interests, imagine, think innovatively and gives you the time and freedom to concentrate.  Ten-year-old Clara Lazen was piecing together over-sized atoms from an educational model in her Montessori classroom when she composed something her teacher had never seen before.  The teacher reached out to a chemistry professor who determined that the formation looked real, just previously unheard of. Now, Clara is a co-author on a major scientific journal article, and scientists are working to synthetically create “her” molecules.  Children enter school with limitless imaginations, believing that anything is possible.  Montessori schools encourage children to explore what others might deem “impossible” ideas, which results in amazing discoveries like this one.
  
• Steve Denning’s blog on Forbes.com
  Steve Denning, whose blog “Radical Management” focuses on innovative and creative leadership and management, has had a lot to say about Montessori education and how it prepares children to be the leaders of the future.  Here is just one of many posts I particularly enjoyed:
  
  Is Montessori the Origin of Google & Amazon? In this post, Denning refers to the Montessori Mafia – i.e., the creative elite spawned by a Montessori education – including Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, videogame pioneer Will Wright, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, cook Julia Child and rapper Sean “P.Diddy” Combs, and the ways in which Montessori education creates lifelong learners who lead their organizations in creative and innovative ways from those with a more traditional educational background. 

Happy reading!

Interactive Learning Tools Offer Opportunity for Rich Dialogue with Children

As one of our preschool teachers compiles portfolios of her students’ work on tiny flash drives, our 9-12 students research forms of government online, our teachers respond to emails from parents, and I type this blog, it’s clear that technology has become interwoven in our daily routine at Wilmington Montessori School. The world is “going digital” – or, arguably, has already “gone” – and while our staff and parents may remember a time when this wasn’t the case, our children will not.

It’s strange to think that objects we grew up with – the calculator, rotary phone and floppy disk, to name a few – are on their way to becoming artifacts like the abacus and quill pen. What other objects will become obsolete in our lifetimes and in the lifetimes of our children?

A German digital creative agency has utilized the new interactive capabilities of YouTube to share their answers to some of these questions in their Museum of Obsolete Objects.

The well-designed online museum allows viewers to take a nostalgic trip back in time. Yes, some of the creators’ conclusions are debatable – The fax machine became obsolete in 1999? The radio transmitter in 2004? – but that’s part of what makes this quirky site so intriguing. The Museum of Obsolete Objects serves as an amazing conversation starter, particularly between members of different generations. A discussion with your children or students could include the following:

• Which of the objects does your child remember? How about you?
• Do you agree that these objects are indeed obsolete?
• Which new innovations made each of these objects obsolete?
• What do you notice about the pace at which objects are becoming obsolete?
• Discuss some current objects and when you believe they might become obsolete or what type of technology could eventually replace them.
• If you have any of these obsolete objects available, allow children to interact with them and compare them with their newer replacements.

Interactive learning tools like this one provide an opportunity for rich dialogue between people of all ages. Want to check out some other virtual museums? Here’s a list of a few, courtesy of Teacher Tap (a free professional development resource that helps educators address common questions about the use of technology in teaching and learning). For a different outlook on the obsolete, here’s a list of obsolete skills.

What websites do you enjoy sharing and discussing with your children? Please share them in the comments!

Facing the 21st Century Through Labs Without Walls

Last Thursday, I had the pleasure of attending an event at which Ellen Kullman, chairwoman and CEO of E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co, gave a powerful speech with some very clear messages.

As I sat listening, I was struck by many parallels to the world of education. When she speaks about DuPont, Ms. Kullman describes a company in transformation as it moves into its third century, noting that DuPont cannot continue to function as it did 50 years ago but must respond to the changing needs and problems of the world community. One such program – and one DuPont believes it has the scientific knowledge base to address – is the need to create an adequate world-wide food supply by the year 2050.

Kullman shared personal experiences with farmers and communities with scarce access to food in an October 13 press release. “I’ve walked through fields with farmers on four continents. I now understand many of the concerns they have and their hopes for the future for their families and communities,” Kullman said.

In order to meet this lofty challenge, Ms. Kullman knows that DuPont needs to work collaboratively with others throughout the global community. She describes “labs without walls,” where we learn from each other rather than existing in competitive isolation. Ms. Kullman emphasized the need for people to think creatively and innovatively as they use science to address world problems. Collaboration, a global perspective and use of science to solve important problems were the main themes throughout the address. Ms. Kollman described the importance of this collaboration: “At the end of the day, no one country, company, government or foundation can meet the global food security challenge alone ... Together, we can accomplish what no one can do alone.”

Find out how something as small as a seed can make an enormous change in the lives of farmers, their families and communities:

So, how does this parallel the educational world?

Clearly, just as DuPont cannot function as it did 50 years ago, neither can the schools that are preparing a new generation to do the work Ms. Kullman envisions. Research shows us that schools that foster and support global thinking, cooperation and innovation are child-centered schools encouraging risk-taking and new ideas – Montessori schools fit this description perfectly. More importantly, as Montessori teachers and parents, we need to serve as “labs without walls,” sharing what works in our schools with a broader community so that more children will be prepared to solve world problems – even world hunger.

The Five I's of Innovation- Part I

In President Obama’s State of the Union address this past January, he called for a nationwide education emphasis on innovation. The requirements for emphasizing innovation indicate a curriculum which highlights the Five I’s: Imagination, Inquiry, Invention, Implementation, and Initiative- the latter being the supporting trait that facilitates the other four.

In past blogs, I have noted that the Montessori Method is recognized as an educational method that supports the development of innovative thinking (November 12, 2009 posting). Through a series of reflections, I would like to discuss the multitude of ways in which the Wilmington Montessori Community develops each student’s human potential through emphasizing the
Five I’s of innovation.

Part I –Imagination

The Montessori Method calls attention to the significance of the development of imagination. The formation of the imagination is embedded in the sensorial experiences provided in our early childhood environments. The opportunities for creative expression and exploration in our elementary programs further enhance and encourage the power of imagination.

During the early years of a Montessori education the child sees, hears, smells, tastes, and touches specifically designed apparatus. These early, concrete interactions are the rudimentary foundation from which the child’s imagination will grow. As the child advances through Montessori’s first plane of development (birth to 6), their ascent toward abstract thinking is actualized in their ability to picture these concrete objects or experiences in their absence. In other words, the child begins to make ‘pictures’ in their mind.

During the second plane of development (ages 6-12) children posses an immense capacity for imagination. This imagination plays a key role in the learning process by providing both meaning to experience and understanding to knowledge. This second plane also brings a keen interest in making sense of the world, as well as storytelling. A basic training for the imagination is listening to the vast stories inherent in Montessori’s Cosmic Curriculum.

With older students, creative expression of the imagination can be stimulated through many sources of writing experiences such as creative writing, poetry, research, editorials, and myths. In addition, our special’s classes such music, art, technology, and French provide yet another avenue for the continued exploration and development of imagination.

To awaken each child’s spirit and imagination is a principle goal of our community at Wilmington Montessori School.

"Human consciousness comes into the world as a flaming ball of imagination. Everything invented by human beings, physical or mental, is the fruit of someone's imagination.”
-Maria Montessori