| Volume 25 Number 2
Spring 2000
N·A·M·T·A
J 0 u
Montessori Education:
Positive Psychology
for Today's Challenges
R N… |
| MONTESSORI' S POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY:
A LASTING IMPRINT
by David Kahn
Often it is difficult to create a cohesive… |
| We have to change the knowledge base; we have to look at things
differently so we understand them differently.
And the second… |
| Q: If there's a Flow, does this also suggest that there's an ebb, and how
do we prepare and strengthen ourselves for… |
| Q:Then, as teachers, how do we counteract that, if that's the kind of home
they're growing up in?
A: Well, I think… |
| I think Flow is so useful in education because most children don't
want to go to school. They want to learn on their own… |
| MONTESSORI IN EARLY CHILDHOOD:
POSITIVE OUTCOMES ALONG
SOCIAL, MORAL, COGNITIVE, AND
EMOTIONAL DIMENSIONS
by Annette M.… |
| itself according to the shape of that world. The logical process of
structuring the personality must orient that personality… |
| At birth all babies are pretty much alike; babies everywhere babble
at six months, walk around twelve months, and talk around… |
| Moreover, some unexpected tastes emerge from the social life of a
Montessori classroom. The children come to prefer one… |
| to Montessori' s plan, around the age of two and a half or three, children
would enter a Casadei Bambini or Children… |
| activity, children seem refreshed and satisfied. They demonstrate
"higher social impulses" (Montessori,… |
| • Children choose their own activities after they have been
introduced to a certain material or procedure.
• Since there is… |
| ognize each other as individuals and "have a reciprocal feeling for
each other's worth" (Montessori,… |
| Conclusion
Social outcomes of the first phase of life (birth to three) include:
• individuation, the "birth"… |
| an "animating
human spirit"
driven to take human form "in or-
der to act, to express itself in… |
| fear of disturbance by an unreasoning creature, combined with a
proprietary sense where objects are concerned that might be… |
| If the environment is warm and safe, however, and if adults deal
"sweetly and kindly" with them (Montessori… |
| active experience upon their surroundings was permitted,
and where free exercise of their powers could nourish their
minds.… |
| improves: Digestion gets better, nightmares disappear, "greediness
subside[s]" (Montessori, Absorbent Mind… |
| those which are termed acts of obedience" (Montessori, Spontaneous
Activity 104).
To ensure a continuation of such… |
| children; it is a technique human beings use to live together harmoni-
ously. As such, it is a form of adaptation to social… |
| • internalization of ethical behavior patterns, empathic
attitudes, religious and positive cultural values, etc.
In the next… |
| to think lies at the heart of our very humanity (Stephenson, "First
Plane" 21). The creation of intelligence… |
| speech reflects the characteristic intonation, pronunciation, or dialect
of a region. The infant memory, Montessori said, is… |
| But at two and a half or three, the little child's mind is in a state
of "heavy chaos" (Montessori,… |
| assist them in sequencing, classifying, and organizing their impres-
sions into frameworks for learning.
Montessori believed… |
| Absorbent Mind 104). Through the repetition of such experiences,
perception, thought, and expression are integrated (… |
| surable experience, neither frustrating nor burdening" (Mario M.
Montessori, "Psychological Background&… |
| The unconscious absorbent mind, paired with the sensitive peri-
ods, creates the very mind of the human being in the first… |
| opment. As she remarked, in the embryos of mammals, "the first organ
to appear is the heart" (Secret 14) and… |
| Mario M. Montessori, "Psychological Background" 17). They "become
like the things they love&… |
| At this later stage, children continue to be led towards maturity by
the unconscious intelligence of the sensitive periods,… |
| detaches himself from the world in order to attain the power to unite
himself with it." (Montessori, Absorbent Mind… |
| thing, saying: I did it all alone, you did not think I could have done that; I
did it better today than yesterday" (… |
| • an anxious concern for life
• love for people and things
• emotional wellness
• warm, expressive, outgoing, and optimistic… |
| Montessori, Maria. "Child's Instinct to Work [Lecture,
London, 1939]." AMI Communications (1973, #4): 6… |
| Montessori, Mario M.,Jr. Education for Human Development.
NY: Schocken, 1976.
Montessori, Renilde. "Human Education… |
| DEVELOPING A POSITIVE VISION
FOR THE WHOLE SCHOOL
by Sharon L. Dubble
Dr. Dubble features one of the pivotal methodologies… |
| The current challenge is to
create a more cohesive,
integrated school. As we enter
a new century, Montessori
schools
are… |
| In many cases, the pattern mirrors the way Dr. Montessori herself
gradually broadened and connected her understanding of the… |
| The Cycle of Evaluative Inquiry
Ac:t"um/V~
'Refl,ect"t,0t1,t
Figure 1
In our schools we often short-… |
| Child/Child with Teacher
Montessori classrooms have many materials with a built-in
control of error to encourage the natural… |
| <lures, and plans. She guides, but does not control, the school's
development.
• The administrator leads by… |
| A VISION OF CHILDHOOD TO ADOLESCENCE:
THE SCHAEFER TRILOGY
I
nterpreting the changes in children as they progress toward… |
| THE GENIUS OF MONTESSORI HISTORY
by Larry Schaefer
This keynote will focus on two things: Maria Montessori and her
pedagogy… |
| her powerful imagination, and her quick intuitive insights (that make
up her unique feminine mind); but also ethnic "… |
| But pedagogy ... has disdained to accept any contribution
from anthropology; it has failed to see man as the mighty
wrestler… |
| This documented history was so absorbing that the chil-
dren became entirely possessed by the situations. They
started… |
| We must present the human story, and this goal is the central and
overarching history theme of any Montessori adolescent… |
| In October, 1939, Maria and Mario, her son, landed in Madras,
south India, guests of George Arundale, President of the… |
| The Greek word cosmic has four
complementary and interwoven
meanings. On its basic level, it means
order and harmony; then… |
| photons, electrons, and their antiparticles. There were
some protons and neutrons. But the universe was in
chaos-particles… |
| The utter amazement of this life form, bacteria, their greatness,
their generosity, their Herculean and transforming labors,… |
| [Interview with Donald Brownlee]. [Minneapolis] Star
Tribune February 5, 2000.
Jaynes, Julian. The Origin of Consciousness in… |
| gogy as Applied to Child Education in "The Children's Houses."
1909. Trans. Anne E. George. New York:… |
| adolescent so easily observable. For we are a small Montessori school
of three hundred children, some thirty of w horn are… |
| numinous dynamics of our solar system" (31 ). The word numinous is the
key here,for it means filled with a sense of… |
| INNOVATION wrmm LIMITS:
How Is IT PossIBLE?
A SUMMARY OF THE PROCEEDINGS
by David Kahn
On Februan; 14, 2000, NAMT A… |
| Now a little bit about the challenges I have come across. I
find that not having these very powerful two people, our
founders… |
| this person we may want to call a genius. It is this feedback
circle that produces the ideas or works that the genius
comes… |
| that's the way to apply the ideas. But one should also
continue that process of discovery that Montessori was
involved… |
| to what was essential to doctrine, what should be consid-
ered dogma, what should be considered optional, what
was binding.… |
| Furthermore, liberty in the Montessori sense means freedom to
choose, to become self-regulating through mastery of one's… |
| limits established by the originator? In these circumstances is
it possible for the integrity of the idea to survive in the… |
| NAMTANEWS
NAMT A OPENS ITS 2000-2001 CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
WITH A BANNER CONFERENCE
NAMTA's 30th Anniversary Salute will… |
| CLASSIFIEDS
Arizona
Montessorilnt. School seeks AMI
directresses/ directors for primary
and infant/ toddler program. Please… |
| successful candidate should have
comprehensive tea clung and adm.i.n-
istra ti ve experience, preferably in a
Montessori… |
| on the east side of San Francisco Bay
(north of Oakland and south of Ber-
keley). Our second campus is in San
Mateo,… |
| Litchfield Country School,
founded in 1972, is accepting appli-
cations for qualified Montessori
teachers (AMI or AMS) at… |
| THE
MONTESSORI INSTITUTE
OF ATLANTA
Primary Teacher Training Course
certified by the
ASSOCIATION MONTESSORI INTERNATIONALE… |
| Georgia
Decatur Montessori School is look-
ing for an AMI teachertoheadanew
primary classroom. Decatur is a
small, family… |
| School is a small school of two (2)
rooms each with 28 children, 3 to 6' s
and each with a full time aid. We are
a non-… |
| resume to: Sophia McCarthy, Ad-
ministrator, Alta Vista Montessori
School, 1850 W. Winchester Road,
Libertyville, IL 60048;… |
| looking forcertified3-6and 6-9 teach-
ers. Our newly constructed school
has eight classrooms with the maxi-
mum class size… |
| Accelerator Laboratory. Wearecur-
rently looking for Montessori trained
teachers who share our commitment
and vision to add… |
| Board of Directors, which is com-
posed. of the Administrator/ Elemen-
tary Directress & Business Manager.… |
| Elementary Montessori Teacher
for Fall 2000-2001. Needed for 9-12
yr. class. School established 1966, 22
acres of developed… |
| tact GordonMaas by telephone (978-
465-0065), E-mail (Mogomaas@
aol.com), or facsimile (978-465-
0119), or mail to 2 Perry… |
| and enthusiasm about leading an
exceptional community-based
school, please send a letter, resume,
and three references to:… |
| Persons involved in teacher train-
ing are also invited to contact Prairie
Hill for infonna tion regarding spon-
sorship… |
| Montessori Community School,
established in 1982, anticipates a
position for a lower elementary
teacher for the fall of 2000… |
| Ohio Montessori Training lnsfiMe
Now ACCEPTltG APPLICATIONS FOR THE 2000-2001 ACADEMIC YEARI
• Primary level (ages 3-6)
•… |
| Montessori education to a diverse
group of mostly low income families
in a beautifully remodeled facility
that is owned and… |
| Charlottesville, VA. Seeking ex-
perienced 3-6 Primary teachers. Full
time with opportunity to assume
Curriculum Director… |
| Montessori curriculum and peda-
gogy. The district strongly supports
Montessori education. All class-
rooms have a full… |
| ative and dedicated AMI primary
and elementary teachers for the 2000-
2001 school year. Ville-Marie
Montessori School,… |
| England
Montessori Elementary Directress
Wanted in North London, England.
We are an established AMI
Montessori school in… |
| rience a plus. Montessori training
preferred. Please send resume and
cover letter to: Jeff Pettit, c/ o VI
Montessori, 6936… |
| -------------------------------------~---
The Children
Deserve The Best
Working with Montessorians for over 65 years, we… |