Abintra Montessori's Middle School.

On our immersion trip to the Nashville area we visited Abintra Montessori’s Middle School class. They’re an excellent school, about the same size we are with about a dozen students. Yet every time I visit another Montessori school I’m amazed by the subtle differences and remarkable similarities: they read many of the same books; they cover the same topics in social and natural science (as should be expected since we’re in the same state and are at the same academic level); but, most curiously, their students mirror my own pupils in independence, confidence and sociability.

I find this last congruence most interesting, because I’ve seen it in other places, too. It reflects a shared culture. One developed despite the fact that neither these students (mostly) nor their teachers had never met or even corresponded before.

There is a theory that Scandinavian countries can be more socialist because they are so culturally uniform and it is easier to connect with, and be emphatic to their fellow citizens. There is probably something similar in the Montessori secondary level in particular. Students are expected to display a large amount of independence in how they work and use their time. It’s why Montessori Middle Schools tend to be cautious about taking in students who do not have some Montessori background. It can often take a lot of time for students more familiar with the rigors of more traditional, command-and-control classrooms, to adapt to, and work effectively in, an environment with so much freedom and dependence on individual responsibility.

The differences between our schools are important, too. I’ve been thinking about Frederic Hess’ argument for more educational diversity in the U.S.. Teachers are different, parents’ philosophies of education are different, and students are different, so we should not expect a one-size-fits-all system of education to be the most effective.

Abintra and Lamplighter share the same philosophy, have students with a shared culture of independence and intellectual freedom, and basically the same curriculum. Yet as small, independent schools the teachers have a lot of freedom to adapt and interpret that curriculum based on their own expertise.

It also means that we have a lot to learn from each other.

Citing this post: Urbano, L., 2011. Visiting Abintra Montessori School, Retrieved May 19th, 2012, from Montessori Muddle: http://MontessoriMuddle.org/ .
Attribution (Curator's Code ): Via: ᔥ Montessori Muddle; Hat tip: ↬ Montessori Muddle.

Posted in immersion, SchoolsNo Comments » - Tags: immersion, nashville, nashville immersion, Schools

Alice Waters has been in the news a lot recently with the recent evaluation of the Berkley School Lunch Initiative (full report).

Waters instituted a program that:

… offered cooking and garden classes integrated with selected classroom lessons along with improvements in school food and the dining environment. – Rauzon et al. (2010)

The report, which followed 5th and 6th graders into middles school, found that they knew more about nutrition and had greater preferences for fresh fruit and vegetables than students in comparable schools.

The researchers did not go into all of the ancillary benefits of gardening and cooking in the school, because the lessons tie into science and social studies curricula. Of course these benefits should be familiar to the Montessori community since Montessori advocated the erdkinder farm school for adolescents.

Diagram of squash flowers.

The Hershey Montessori School seems to be a good example of what Montessori was aiming for (as is the glimpses we get of child rearing in Mirable). We do a lot ourselves in our little program. I’ve noted before how our greenhouse and bread baking tie into math, science, social studies and art.

I sometimes think that the progression of education traces the evolution of culture and technology over the course of human history much in the way that embryonic development was supposed to recapitulate the evolutionary history of the species.

Ontology does not recapitulates phylogeny, and my observations are probably just about as accurate, but the psychosocial development of early adolescents, who are just discovering who they are and realizing their place in society and history, parallels the fundamental reorganization of human societies brought about by the emergence of agriculture.

Citing this post: Urbano, L., 2010. The Edible Schoolyard, Retrieved May 19th, 2012, from Montessori Muddle: http://MontessoriMuddle.org/ .
Attribution (Curator's Code ): Via: ᔥ Montessori Muddle; Hat tip: ↬ Montessori Muddle.

Posted in Art, Montessori Philosophy, Natural World, Pedagogy, Schools, Social WorldNo Comments » - Tags: cooking, garden, Montessori Philosophy, my art photos

I ran into the blog Somewhat in the Air by a parent who is doing Montessori style Homeschool for a couple boys (hat tip to Ms. De La Cruz). The kids are in elementary but approaching middle school age and they have some great links to resources that they use for projects that would also work well in the classroom or for individual projects.

The blog also contains some of the students’ work and the author’s reflections on Montessori philosophy. It’s a fascinating read and I’m really looking forward to seeing how it evolves as the kids grow older.

Citing this post: Urbano, L., 2010. Montessori Homeschool, Retrieved May 19th, 2012, from Montessori Muddle: http://MontessoriMuddle.org/ .
Attribution (Curator's Code ): Via: ᔥ Montessori Muddle; Hat tip: ↬ Montessori Muddle.

Posted in Montessori Philosophy, Pedagogy, SchoolsNo Comments » - Tags: Montessori Philosophy, montessori website

Maria Montessori developed her method teaching through careful observation of children and how they learn, which is why her method had held up so well over time and aligns so well with modern pedagogy (see Lillard, 2005). Montessori’s worked early childhood through elementary kids, and while she did some serious thinking and writing about secondary education, she did not put those thoughts into action herself.

Over the last 20 years or so Betsy Coe has developed, at School of the Woods, an exceptional middle school (and now high school) program based on Montessori’s ideas and tied to close observation of early adolescents and our growing understanding of their cognitive and neurological development. Unlike Montessori’s boarding school model (e.g. Hershey Montessori), Dr. Coe’s is primarily a day school but with “land-labs” one week out of every six, where student get to go out and live on the land.

There’s a lot to say about Dr. Coe’s program (which will be well explained in her upcoming book) but you can glean some of her influence from this blog, because I trained with her over the last two summers at the Houston Montessori Center.

One of the key tenets that Coe shares with Montessori is that the primary job of the teacher is to observe the students, their interactions and their environment. You apply the scientific process to the classroom. Observe, hypothesize, test and make the necessary changes. As such, a key part of the training program is the research project.

For the research project teachers in training have to apply the process to some aspect of their class and write it up. My own project was on the utility of my classroom wiki, which I’ve said a bit about previously. My peers did quite a wide variety of excellent projects, and I’ve asked them to share their experiences with me for the blog. I’m one of those people who’d collect bits of string because they might be useful in the future (hence the blog), so I’m loathe to let their experiences and efforts just disappear since it is unlikely that much of this work will be published.

I plan to post summaries of the research projects so there is a record of who did what, and I apologize for any mistakes I make in condensing the work. My goal is to create at least one node for discussion so that we might add these small anecdotes to the collective gestalt as we attempt to not replicate the interesting errors of others but make brand-new errors of our own.

Since most of this work is not formal research I’ll use the tag anecdotal research to help keep track of things.

Citing this post: Urbano, L., 2010. Montessori Middle School Training/Research Projects, Retrieved May 19th, 2012, from Montessori Muddle: http://MontessoriMuddle.org/ .
Attribution (Curator's Code ): Via: ᔥ Montessori Muddle; Hat tip: ↬ Montessori Muddle.

Posted in about, Montessori Philosophy, Montessori training, Pedagogy, Schools, TrainingNo Comments » - Tags: anecdotal research, Montessori Philosophy, science

The training at the Houston Montessori Center for secondary teachers is long and quite intense. Two teachers from a new Montessori school in Lakeland Florida are keeping a blog about their experience to keep the parents and supporters of the school at home updated on what’s going on. It’s a wonderful read.

Ms. Clarke and Ms. De La Cruz are an excellent team. They’re starting up a new program and it’s nice to see the training program from that perspective. I am quite excited to see how their middle school turns out. In their blog, they convey quite nicely the quality of the training program and the impressive quality of the teachers in training.

Citing this post: Urbano, L., 2010. Montessori Secondary Training Blog, Retrieved May 19th, 2012, from Montessori Muddle: http://MontessoriMuddle.org/ .
Attribution (Curator's Code ): Via: ᔥ Montessori Muddle; Hat tip: ↬ Montessori Muddle.

Posted in Montessori Philosophy, Montessori training, Schools, TrainingNo Comments » - Tags: montessori on the web, montessori website, Pedagogy

Education Secretary, Arne Duncan will be the commencement speaker at Clark Montessori in Cincinnati.

“Clark Montessori Jr. and Sr. High School shows an extraordinary commitment to encouraging their students to take responsibility for their education, get involved in their community and go to college,” said Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “I look forward to congratulating them and celebrating their hard work as their 2010 commencement speaker.” – Official Whitehouse Press Release

Citing this post: Urbano, L., 2010. Education Secretary to speak at Clark Montessori, Retrieved May 19th, 2012, from Montessori Muddle: http://MontessoriMuddle.org/ .
Attribution (Curator's Code ): Via: ᔥ Montessori Muddle; Hat tip: ↬ Montessori Muddle.

Posted in SchoolsNo Comments » - Tags: politics, public montessori

This blog is my experiment with how my own small and everyday choices for peace impact my life and others. – Peggy Pate-Smith (2010) in “Peace is a choice”

Everyday choices often have a far-reaching impact because we live in a world that’s so interconnected. I tend to think in terms of the environmental impact of my actions: Do I buy this pair of shoes that may have been made by child labor in China? If I get a new, better cell phone will the old one be recycled properly or will it shipped off to some developing country where its corrosion will contaminate the water supply?

Peggy Pate-Smith from Park View Montessori‘s Middle School in Jackson, TN has been thinking about peace. Her blog, appropriately titled Peace is a Choice, logs her thoughts on small and big matters regarding peace. I’ve found it a great place to find out about peace projects, many with a Montessori link, in which students might be interested in participating.

This year I decided to do an experiment with peace. My hypothesis is that if each day I make at least one conscious decision to choose peace in my life AND blog about it that I will find my life more peaceful. I want to move beyond imagining peace and make a deliberate effort to choose peace. Peggy Pate-Smith (2010) in “Peace is a Choice”.

Ms. Pate-Smith’s master’s thesis, “Implications of Peace in the Montessori Environment” won American Montessori Society’s 2007 Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award.

Citing this post: Urbano, L., 2010. Living in peace, Retrieved May 19th, 2012, from Montessori Muddle: http://MontessoriMuddle.org/ .
Attribution (Curator's Code ): Via: ᔥ Montessori Muddle; Hat tip: ↬ Montessori Muddle.

Posted in Schools, Social WorldNo Comments » - Tags: montessori on the web, montessori website, peace, peace education, peace projects, public montessori

Clark Montessori, a public Junior/Senior High School in Cincinnati, will get a senior administration member, but not President Obama, to give their commencement address. They were one of three finalists for the Presidential visit. I offer them my congratulations on what their students achieved. Their petition was student initiated and organized, the very thing you hope and expect to see in a great school.

Clark’s website has a lot of the links and news articles about the competition, and it’s interesting to trace everything that happened on their Race to the Top Blog.

Citing this post: Urbano, L., 2010. Clark Montessori almost got Obama, Retrieved May 19th, 2012, from Montessori Muddle: http://MontessoriMuddle.org/ .
Attribution (Curator's Code ): Via: ᔥ Montessori Muddle; Hat tip: ↬ Montessori Muddle.

Posted in SchoolsNo Comments » - Tags: public montessori, student driven projects