| Volume 23 Number 3
Summer1997
N· A·M·T·A
J 0 u
L
The First
Adolescent
Colloquium
In cooperation with
the Association… |
| WHAT Is MTEC?
The Montessori Teacher Education Collaborative
(MTEC) operates the Ohio Montessori Training
Institute (… |
| THE ADOLESCENT COLLOQUIUM
OCTOBER 3-6, 1996
CLEVELAND, Omo
SUMMARY OF THE PROCEEDINGS
0 Im Montessori Teacher Education… |
| PREFACE
The Adolescent Colloquium was planned by the Montessori
Teacher Education Collaborative about six months before it… |
| The record, as reported in the following summary, speaks for
itself. Erdkinder was established as a worthy goal and, as… |
| Adolescent Colloquium participants, front row, seated: John Long, Larry Schaefer,
Joan Bettmann, Pat Schaefer, Allyn Travis,… |
| THE ADOLESCENT
COLLOQUIUM
OCTOBER
3-6, 1996
SUMMARY OF THE PROCEEDINGS
compiled and edited by Renee Pendleton
This… |
| FIRST PRACTITIONER: JOHN LONG
In a subsistence-level, agricultural society, the 13- or 14- or 15-
year-old is not quite an… |
| as a member of a community. This is, according to Montessori, a
sensitive period for finding one's place in society.
As… |
| A very important Montessori principle
ls the idea of true responsibility-not
doing an assigned chore but respond-
ing to… |
| must "touch those issues that are key to them at this point in their
lives."
Linda Davis asked about… |
| After the nurturing of the Primary and Elementary years, the
young people we get in Montessori adolescent programs are very… |
| The city-the civilization in which the young people live-is an
important environment. They need to be led into the city to… |
| There needs to be a basis, a framework of knowledge that builds
on the Primary and Elementary experiences. I would never just… |
| dance (these are the principles that everyone-students
and adults
alike-has to follow):
1. No cliques;
2. Function on the… |
| Too often I ask teachers,
"Have you dohe the Great
Lessons?," • and they re-
spond, "No, not yet… |
| generosity of spirit, and was too directive. Pat Schaefer pointed out
that as the students get older, the demands on the adult… |
| Tom added that the naturalist/ microbiologist who works with
his students is also a good writer and works with the students on… |
| I believe the child is a living organism, not someone to be graded
or classified. The goal is not to fill the child with facts… |
| Family is also important. In spite of conventional wisdom, ado-
lescents need to be intimately tied to their families. They… |
| says two or three lan-
guages, she is implying
that the adult should
know two or three lan-
guages.
FIFTH PRACTITIONER:… |
| In terms of specific expectations, one was that our students had
to take a state-required American Constitution test. We… |
| and discovery. When I did that, it worked like magic. Their interest
took off.
What was interesting to me was that if there… |
| Parents are more inclined to let go of their children in the summer
(many go to camps, etc.), so we were talking about more… |
| The adolescent needs to see
somet~ing of substance and
something of ,character in the
adult. They need models of ex-… |
| between the family and the school. Do the students stay on the farm
for the entire two years of early adolescence? How long… |
| exercise in freedom a self-disciplined will and judgrnent, unperverted
by prejudice and undistorted by fear." This… |
| I don't think Dr. Montessori had in mind that we gather adoles-
cents who are ready from all around the country and bring… |
| don't think the cosmic plan can be fully explored at the second plane.
It is too vast. That is why Montessori tells us to… |
| Linda Davis recalled a 13-year-old boy who spent weeks re-
searching World War I and produced only a half-page report. A few… |
| Montessori children, at 12, have done things that high school stu-
dents haven't even touched. That's what she'… |
| American society, that is to say, by: the educational
authorities; parents; potential staff or personnel; and
the potential… |
| Figure 1
N
"Urban
Compromise"
AMI
e
ane
volume. Clearly this would have to be done in
cooperation… |
| Mike proposed an addition to the chart, an arrow leading from
within the "urban compromise" box to the blank… |
| sense of ownership of the place.
Therefore, she questioned the
possibility of a national model
using children drawn from all… |
| Mike clarified that Mr. Grazzini had proposed both a national
model and a coordinating body, and that Miss Stephenson's… |
| Mike suggested that two complementary paths seem to be emerg-
ing: the national model and the regional projects. Miss… |
| programs have to offer to the emerging Erdkinder. Mr. Grazzini
added that these programs are a base on which to build.
Pat… |
| between practitioners and philosophers is essential for the eventual
development of an Erdkinder.
Returning to the chart, Mr… |
| 34
Montessori Teacher Education Collaborative |
| the time and the circumstances must be right. Someone joked that we
must therefore be in labor, and that is why it is so… |
| On the one hand, all of the
designated pieces have to be in
place for the Erdkinder to suc-
ceed, but on the other hand,… |
| common elements that make them Montessori. Even so, each pro-
gram reflects the culture of its locality and the personalities… |
| position, the AMI trainers present seem to be leaning toward
Erdkinder only.
Monte said he had a bit of a problem with the… |
| standard, as Monte discussed. What help can we provide for these
schools so that they do not hurt the good name of Montessori… |
| F'or the third plane, the
exploration is even wider,
encoms:>assing the farm
and the community of the
rural… |
| hand, we have the visiting specialists, etc. Are these parallel or are they
integrated?
Kay replied that this issue needs… |
| Peter Gebhardt-Seele returned to the question of needs. There are the
needs as expressed by the adolescent as well as the… |
| sense of history. Kay added that studying history and gaining a sense
of time links with the adolescents' need to know… |
| Another issue is about the needs
of the adolescent: What are these
needs, as opposed to wants, and
as opposed to to the… |
| urgent need to come up with a model and a training concept for that
model. But if it is not carefully designed, we would be… |
| So our methodology should include looking back at all the
experience that has gone before us in adolescent programs run by… |
| 3. Age Level
• The third plane is 12-18. I don't think Maria Montessori
said there would be two different models for 12-… |
| • Involvement in professional work.
• Social activities, contact with other age groups.
• Academic subjects: What percentage… |
| QUESTIONS
David Kahn asked whether a decontextualized, component-by-compo-
nent analysis is really how Montessorians operate… |
| the work that has already been done but instead to work with the
whole-the complete Montessori plan.
Bob Fleischhacker: If… |
| that unimportant details are emphasized. She wondered how we
could minimize this in the Erdkinder.
GENERAL 01scuss10N
Tom… |
| (Montessori Adolescent Project Meeting, October 1994)
Developing ~~sonal Identity
,,,
' • " time to reflect· (… |
| sori. Furthermore, all the new "mushroom" programs are looking to
these distinguished programs for guidance… |
| Figure 6
54
Montessori Teacher Education Collaborative |
| Alcillia Clifford-Williams suggested that, to some participants,
the main obstacle to Erdkinder might be financial. She asked… |
| Figure 7
COMBINATIONS FOR ADOLESCENT EDUCATION
I
2
3
4
5
6
"Compromise"
"Compromise&… |
| Strilli asked him to consider
a child who has never been in a
Montessori school but is "the
manifestation of what… |
| training, saying that his aim had been to do the former. His interpre-
tation of what Montessori is saying could be integrated… |
| Miss Stephenson suggested that Primary or Elementary training
would be a good foundation; people with both diplomas would be… |
| Monte Kenison stated that we do not compromise our Primary
and Elementary classrooms according to what parents are willing to… |
| Tom Postlewaite said that
we have a plan and it is time to
"concretize that plan." Yet ques-
tions remain… |
| so many buts" and so many questions about how to start. But from
what I've seen here, I think we are "… |
| As for the "three years
ahead," there is a difference be-
tween expectations, which are
temporal, and… |