Tried and True

See the Ellie video.

It was produced by the Oregon Business Council and featured on the web site of the Montessori Northwest teacher training center.

"Maybe school should be like a GPS. We know where we want to go.  With some help in navigation and someone to believe in us, we can chart our own path. Let us learn at our own pace and show you at every step that we're ready for the next."

raising global children

"Global children are curious, open-minded and aware of the world around them, explained Stacie Nevadomski Berdan, during a recent telephone interview. Berdan, an international careers expert, said that following the Sept. 11 terror attacks, many Americans 'contracted,' becoming less accepting and, understandably, more fearful.

'I think there's this element of people who still equate patriotism with putting a fence around our country,' Berdan said. 'That's not possible anymore.'

Today, Berdan added: 'Children need to be appreciative and understand each other and not be afraid of each other.'

The above exerpt comes from an Education Week blog announcing the upcoming publication of the book Raising Global Children.

air traffic control for the brain

"Being able to focus, hold, and work with information in mind, filter distractions, and switch gears is like having an air traffic control system at a busy airport to manage the arrivals and departures of dozens of planes on multiple runways. In the brain, this air traffic control mechanism is called executive functioning..."

Much of this Harvard Ed School video was shot in a Montessori classroom.  Can you tell which clips?

Emily's Blog

Emily is a high school student.  She has begun a long-term internship at the Houston Museum of Natural Science because she loves fossils.  Where else could a high school sophomore be pursuing her interests in a real way?

In the photo above, she is working side-by-side with David Temple, Curator of Paleontology at the Museum.

A successful, typical student

Here's what high school students told High School Director James Moudry:

I asked the students today to give some characteristics they thought described a successful, typical POS student.

 

self disciplined

curious

skilled in time management

self guided

strong will power

leader

hard working

motivated

open minded

patient

good communicator

has integrity

respectful

kind

caring

compassionate

 

 

Innovation, creativity, and independent thinking

Here's the Wired magazine story about the Matamoros teacher, Sergio Correa, who transformed his classroom: "How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses."

RADICAL NEW TEACHING METHOD...you cannot understand what a paradigm shift this implies until you read the reader comments at the end of the article.  They dive right in to the recommendation that "bad teachers" be fired, and the "teachers unions" are the obstacle.

In reality, the obstacle is our commitment to an educational model "fundamentally rooted in the industrial revolution that spawned it, when workplaces valued punctuality, regularity, attention, and silence above all else. (In 1899, William T. Harris, the US commissioner of education, celebrated the fact that US schools had developed the “appearance of a machine,” one that teaches the student “to behave in an orderly manner, to stay in his own place, and not get in the way of others.”) We don’t openly profess those values nowadays, but our educational system—which routinely tests kids on their ability to recall information and demonstrate mastery of a narrow set of skills—doubles down on the view that students are material to be processed, programmed, and quality-tested."

Why are we committed to this model?  Because that's how most of us went to school.  That IS school in the minds of most people.  Change is scary, especially when it comes to our children.  And we accept unquestioningly that achievement test results measure and communicate the true outcome of education.  Perhaps that will be true--as soon as we develop tests that measure innovation, creativity and independent thinking.

Thanks to Post Oak parent Hebe Gutierrez for sending me back to this story.

 

the next Steve Jobs

"Genius is everywhere but we're wasting it.  How to unleash the great minds of tomorrow."

That's the Wired magazine cover story, as reported in Latin Times:

 

"It has long been known that children are more likely to engage in learning material when they are given the freedom to explore and problem-solve independently, to engage in the material in their own unique way. Systems like the Montessori Method, which encourage independent thinking have achieved remarkable results..."

 

Read about Mexican student Paloma Noyola Bueno.