Montessori material

Montessori material

Friday, August 16, 2013

Montessori In Mountain View - How Italy's Famed Educator Shaped Silicon Valley

Montessori In Mountain View - How Italy's Famed Educator Shaped Silicon Valley

Exactly 100 years ago, the renowned Italian educator first landed in America with a method that pushes independent thinking. Today, the results are everywhere -- notably at Google HQ.

The life stories of great people who have changed America can often be traced back to a common starting point: a boat from Europe sailing into the New York harbor with a salute toward the Statue of Liberty and an obligatory passage with the immigration officials at Ellis Island.
But for an elegant Italian signora who arrived on the Cincinnati yacht exactly 100 years ago, the landing told a different story, with journalists and photographers awaiting her arrival on a Manhattan pier.
In 1913, renowned Italian educator Maria Montessori received a queen’s welcome, setting the groundwork for the future diffusion of her pedagogical method throughout the United States. In no other country have Montessori schools spread so widely or been so successful as they have in the USA. 
A century after that initial landing, entire generations of “Montessori kids” have made a name for themselves in American society, permeating it with the ideas of the teacher from the central Italian town of Chiaravella. Among these well-known names, a large number of Internet prodigies stand out: Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon; Jimmy Wales, creator of Wikipedia; and above all, Larry Page and Sergey Brin who, from Mountain View in California, lead the digital incarnation of the Montessori method: Google.
The road that leads from early 1900s New York to Silicon Valley today has been shaped by the teachings of the studious Italian. Montessori’s reputation preceded her, and over 100 schools inspired by her methods had already sprung up across the country in the few years before her first visit.
In an era when teaching was dominated by a rigid authoritarianism emanating from the teacher’s desk, many Americans would wind up being won over by Montessori’s ‘play’ pedagogy which provided space for children’s innate creativity to emerge, acknowledging differences in each child’s personality and rate of learning.
Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, was one of the first people to speak out in favor of the Montessori method: an endorsement that appears to confirm that, a century before Amazon and Google, it was a method that struck a chord with the imagination of creators and inventors even then.
Upon her arrival in Manhattan, Maria Montessori found entire pages of the New York Times dedicated to debates about her, with columnists and readers divided between extravagant praise and severe criticism. The New York Tribune defined her as “the most interesting woman in Europe,” while the Brooklyn Daily Eagle presented her to their readers as the woman who had "revolutionized the education system" across the world. Montessori returned to the United States many times during the next two years, and travelled extensively around the country, holding conferences and training courses for those who wanted to apply her teaching methods.
And yet, soon after, the enthusiasm died down and the Italian’s critics, many of whom were followers of the influential John Dewey, successfully attacked the foundations of her methodology.
By the time Montessori died in 1952, she had been almost completely forgotten in the United States. Then, a decade later, school reform was placed firmly back on the agenda and America launched itself into the rediscovery of the Montessori method, and the number of schools dedicated to her approach exploded.
When Montessori kids meet at Stanford
Today, of the 20,000 Montessori schools all over the world, more than 5,000 are in the United States. They are almost always private schools, often rather expensive, and they conquer American parents’ hearts with the originality of their approach: mixed-age classes, an emphasis on experimentation and play, little time for marking and testing, and strong encouragement to challenge the teachers and question everything.
And this is the fertile sandbox that gave life to Google. Larry Page went to Montessori Radmoor in Okemos, Michigan; Sergey Brin to Paint Branch Montessori in Adelphi, Maryland. When they met for the first time at Stanford, they recognized each other straight away.

Marissa Mayer – one of Google’s first employees and now CEO of Yahoo! – still tells, with a mixture of horror and admiration, how Larry and Sergey seemed to compete at public events to see who could challenge protocol the most. During a dinner at St James’s Palace in London, they scandalized Prince Phillip by drinking the fruit coulis which was to be served as a topping for the soufflĂ©. When Mayer tried to explain how to eat it correctly, the two founders replied, as they have done in many other similar circumstances, with the proverbial Says who? "We're Montessori kids," Mayer recalled. "We've been trained and programmed to question authority."
Page and Brin told their favorite biographer, Steven Levy, how the Montessori method influenced their choices when creating a company different from any other. And also when it came to decorating. There can be no doubt that the Mountain View Googleplex is a giant Montessori nursery for adults, with colored pilates balls spread throughout, fridges filled to the brim to satisfy any gastronomic desire, and paid time-off to “invent things”. “Montessori really teaches you to do things kind of on your own, at your own pace and schedule,” Brin told Levy. 
Pointing to the Googleplex's pool tables and astronaut suits, he adds:  “It was a pretty fun, playful environment -- as is this." And from this sunny campus, the two most famous Montessori kids in the world continue to build a company worth $100 billion that has forever changed America, and the lives of us all.
All rights reserved © Worldcrunch - in partnership with LA STAMPA

 

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Playful Learning and Montessori Education - Dr Angeline S. Lillard


Playful Learning and Montessori Education - Dr Angeline S. Lillard

 

Supporting Your Child’s Budding Independence at Home 4. 5. 6. 7.

4. Small chairs and tables facilitate independent snack time and organized playtime.  Provide some buckets, sponges, rags, and child-sized brooms, and your child can even clean up after himself.

 5. Facilitate getting dressed independently.  Low open shelves, low racks, a mirror and a bench with brush or comb can enable even 2- or 3-year-olds to begin to dress independently, especially if you pre-select an outfit the night before, or lay out two simple choices for a younger child. 

6. Consider a floor or other low bed.  Some Montessori parents never have cribs; instead, they baby-proof an entire room and let even infants sleep on a floor bed.  While this may not work for every parent, a low bed or a twin mattress on the floor can be a great step up after a crib, instead of a toddler bed.

7. Make books accessible and create cozy reading areas.  The more that books are all over your house, the easier it is for your child to grab a book instead of asking for your iPhone or the TV when you are not available to play.

Supporting Your Child’s Budding Independence at Home 3.

3. Organize and simplify the play area.  Fewer toys, displayed on open shelves, are preferable over lots of toys in boxes that the children can’t see.

Supporting Your Child’s Budding Independence at Home 2.

2. Make your kitchen accessible to your child.  Find a low shelf or drawer to store cups, placemats, and utensils within your child’s reach.  Buy glass cups and inexpensive ceramic plates (IKEA is great!) that you don’t mind getting broken.  Invite your child to set his own place at the table.  A bigger step stool, or a learning tower can be a great help to little people who want to join you in the fun cooking activities at counter height.  And, of course, when it comes time to sit down and eat, encourage your child to feed himself:  Even young toddlers can eat finger-foods on their own, and start using a spoon; this is what they do in their Montessori classrooms, too.

Supporting Your Child’s Budding Independence at Home

Supporting Your Child’s Budding Independence at Home

 

When toddlers and young preschoolers start in Montessori, parents are often amazed at the sudden spurt in independence and skill their children display.
If your child is starting in a Montessori toddler or preschool program, and you want to witness this incredible development in your own child, it helps if you are able to prepare your home environment in ways that support your child’s new skills and desire to be independent.
Here are some ideas to consider:
  1. Provide simple storage spots for belongings right inside the front door.  A small rug to place shoes or a basket to put them into and some hooks to hang jackets are a great start.  This can help your child get out of the house and back in more independently, and maybe prevent some meltdowns!  A little stool to sit on helps, as well.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Dr Steve Hughes: Montessori and the Future of Education



Dr Steve Hughes: Montessori and the Future of Education


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faYco1b-IJI

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Our Study - How We Montessori


 Our Study - How We Montessori


http://www.howwemontessori.com/how-we-montessori/2013/05/my-entry.html




Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Montessori Method - Reportage on France 2

Montessori Method - Reportage on France 2


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4l25swx1i4