The Power of Positive Language
Parents can struggle to communicate with their children and to get their requests heard, understood and taken seriously. Alicia Eaton, a ‘Children’s Behavioural and Emotional Wellbeing Specialist’ and also a qualified AMI Montessori Teacher and mum, gives her top 10 tips on using positive language in an article in the Montessori Society Magazine.
Technology and Montessori
Mark Berger, US Montessori teacher and administrator reflects on whether the use of technology could add anything to the Montessori approach in the Montessori Society Magazine.
Why dividing us by age in school doesn’t make sense
“Given that people are curious and interested in different topics at different times, we believe that building a flexible class system for students is the best way for them to develop and grow. Forcing a child to study a rigid curriculum throughout the years can be inhibiting.”
https://medium.com/the-exofiles/why-dividing-us-by-age-in-school-doesnt-make-sense-c6d1b5d79f0c
Playful Learning and Montessori Education
Dr Angeline Lillard’s latest research on fantasy: “Regarding children’s love of and need for fantasy, recent research suggests that our tendency to think young children prefer fantasy may be misguided.”
The one question every parent should quit asking
“There’s a big difference between wanting the best for our children and wanting them to be the best.”
Why children should still learn cursive
“The hands are the instruments of man’s writing… …The human hand allows the mind to reveal itself. – Maria Montessori”
Baby-led Adventures – 5 reasons babies need to lead
‘Encouraging a baby to lead play means we must be patient, observant, and responsive in a gentle way so that we don’t interrupt the child’s process. It’s well worth it.’
http://www.janetlansbury.com/2011/07/baby-led-adventures-5-reasons-babies-need-to-lead/
The social world of newborns: A guide for the science-minded parent
‘There’s this myth that self-esteem comes from making everything easy for your children and making sure they never fail. If they never encounter hardship or conflict, the logic goes, they’ll never feel bad about themselves. Well, that’s ridiculous. That’s not even a human life. Kids learn self-esteem from mastering difficult tasks. It’s as simple as that.’
http://montessoriobserver.com/2014/03/01/kingsolver-on-montessori-you-can-do-hard-things/
Angry Birds ‘holds toddlers back’: Children who play touch screen games score lower in verbal tests than those who don’t
‘Just talking to your child is the best way to encourage learning’
Mind-minded parenting: How mental state talk help kids learn about others’ minds
Parents who are “mind-minded” treat their children as individuals with minds. When in doubt, they act as if their children’s acts are meaningful—motivated by feelings, thoughts, or intentions
http://www.parentingscience.com/mind-minded-parenting.html
Children’s Laureate’s plan to get boys back into books
What can we do to get boys interested in reading?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-27061158
Heavily decorated classrooms disrupt attention and learning in young children
Find out why the walls in the a Montessori classroom are not cluttered with children’s work and the colours are muted and calm
http://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2014/may/may27_decoratedclassrooms.html
What really happens when kids are pushed to be more persistent?
Helping children learn to persevere is important but knowing when to give up and move on to something you can be successful at or enjoy is more important it seems – and can lead to a ‘life that’s happy and fulfilling, morally admirable, creative, or characterized by psychological health’
http://www.alfiekohn.org/miscellaneous/grit.htm
Trying to close a knowledge gap, word by word
‘I didn’t know I was supposed to talk to my baby until they could say words and talk to me,’
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/26/us/trying-to-close-a-knowledge-gap-word-by-word.html?emc=eta1&_r=0
Gray Matters: Too much screen time damages the brain
‘Use this research to strengthen your own parental position on screen management, and to convince others to do the same.’
Your baby needs you! Yes, you! Not heaps of baby equipment
Children under the age of three are spending an increasing amount of time in “restricted sedentary positions from where the scope for physical experience is constrained”
Children need to be taught ‘attentiveness skills’ to fight the effects of social media
Children can concentrate when they are babies but lose this capacity due to the fact they keep being interrupted their concentration – good job there is a solution – but it must start way before they become teenagers…
What machines can’t do
In the second computer age we need humans beings who have ‘the voracious lust for understanding, the enthusiasm for work, the ability to grasp the gist, the empathetic sensitivity to what will attract attention and linger in the mind.’ Is this what education should be aiming at then?
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/04/opinion/brooks-what-machines-cant-do.html?emc=eta1&_r=0
What’s the point of school?
School should be about the development of character..this is what we see in our schools …’spontaneous discipline, continuous and happy work, social sentiments of help and sympathy for others.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26127515
Modern life damaging infant brains
This conference has highlighted strapping small children into pushchairs, and the increased use of smartphones and tablets as being particularly
damaging.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-26559872
Want your child to be a success? Quit scheduling and let them play
Dr David Whitebread explains the science behind free play and why parents must give children the chance to choose the pastimes they’re interested in.
Kingsolver on Montessori: ‘You can do hard things’
Kids learn self-esteem from mastering difficult tasks. It’s as simple as that.
http://montessoriobserver.com/2014/03/01/kingsolver-on-montessori-you-can-do-hard-things/
School ditches rules and loses bullies
“Children develop the frontal lobe of their brain when taking risks, meaning they work out consequences. “You can’t teach them that. They have to learn risk on their own terms. It doesn’t develop by watching TV, they have to get out there.”
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/school-ditches-rules-and-loses-bullies-5807957
The mysterious workings of the adolescent brain
Adolescent brains continue to develop into their 20’s – is it any wonder they need a different form of education than we are offering at present – Montessori Secondary school to be offered in the UK by 2017
http://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_jayne_blakemore_the_mysterious_workings_of_the_adolescent_brain.html
This really happy 13-year-old hacks his education!
Doing Prekindergarten Right
‘,,,neuroscientific evidence demonstrates that all learning is based on emotional responses and social experiences. Therefore, social and emotional intelligence need to be developed as carefully and as thoughtfully as IQ.’
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ruth-bettelheim/doing-prekindergarten-rig_b_4684452.html
Inflated praise can harm kids with low self-esteem
Children only need the kind of praise that helps them judge their own abilities
Children at Montessori schools are better educated
‘…schooling method that focuses on personal development rather than exams produces more mature, creative and socially adept children, scientists have revealed.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-407528/Children-Montessori-schools-better-educated.html
Hildegard Solzbacher, AMI Trainer talks movingly about the benefits of Montessori.
Sadly she passed away in 2014. The world lost a great Montessorian.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3fbwNij3X0
Teacher as Learner
Montessori said: ‘What matters is to mix the ages, our schools show that children of different ages help one another…there is a communication between the two that one seldom finds between the adult and the small child.’
http://baandek.org/blog/2013/11/18/teacher-as-learner
Repetition in a Montessori infant community
‘Why does repetition irritate adults so much when children so obviously need to do it’ – Putting on and talking off socks, putting on and talking off socks, putting on and talking off socks, putting on and talking off socks…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g89Z86c9jAY
Building the Pink Tower – A project to promote Montessori education for all
A documentary film that reimagines schools and learning through the lens of Montessori education.
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/building-the-pink-tower
Baking in a Montessori class in Sweden
The Unlimited Potential of the Child under Three!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3kTUFRjgGM
Brain research: Three principles for the 21st century classroom
Brain-based learning – intuited from observation by Montessori, confirmed by neuroscience today
http://www.learningfirst.org/brain-research-three-principles-21st-century-classroom
Children aged two need to develop through play and not begin schooling
In response to the suggestion by Baroness Morgan that children from poorer families should start formal school at 2, Sally Goddard-Blythe writes that ‘The problem will not be solved by putting children into formal settings at ever younger ages. The solution is to educate future parents better about the needs of the developing child.’
Presence, Not Praise: How to cultivate a healthy relationship with achievement
‘Nowadays, we lavish praise on our children. Praise, self-confidence and academic performance, it is commonly believed, rise and fall together. But current research suggests otherwise — over the past decade, a number of studies on self-esteem have come to the conclusion that praising a child as ‘clever’ may not help her at school. In fact, it might cause her to under-perform. Often a child will react to praise by quitting — why make a new drawing if you have already made ‘the best’? Or a child may simply repeat the same work — why draw something new, or in a new way, if the old way always gets applause?’
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/05/23/stephen-grosz-examined-life/
For poor schoolchildren, a poverty of words
‘there is strong evidence that increasing the general knowledge and vocabulary of a child before age 6 is the single highest correlate with later success. Schools have an enormously hard time pushing through the deficiencies with which many children arrive.’
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/nyregion/for-poor-schoolchildren-a-poverty-of-words.html?_r=1&
Successful parenting without spending money: a mother’s story
This mother sets a great example – opting out of ‘kiddy consumerism’ just makes sense for our children.
Using the Montessori method to combat dementia
Someone is diagnosed with dementia every 4 seconds. Can the Montessori approach help promote a better quality of life for sufferers? This project certainly suggests it might.
10 reasons why handheld devices should be banned for children under the age of 12
Paediatric occupational therapist, biologist, speaker and author, Chris Rowan, explains why exposure to handled devices should be avoided to children under the age of 12.