Teachers, parents, school administrators: listen up. Gender biases and stereotypes start EARLY, and you are the key people who can help us raise a new generation with fewer prejudices, more freedoms, and happier lives. Read how - and why - combatting gender bias helps us all. Montessori Leadership Q3 2020.
July 2018 Update on all the girls - and the Sisters.
Dining For Women Knowledge is Power Conference May 4-5 US Institute of Peace, Washington DC Over 300 chapter members, leaders, grantees, staff, and volunteers gathered in Washington to celebrate DFW's 15th Anniversary and help plan the future. The energy, sharing, laughter, and learning could not be beaten! Safe to say we all wanted the weekend to continue - how many conferences can you say that about? See more on DFW's Facebook and website and, if you're not a member already - find a Chapter near you and join now! As one wonderful grantee said at the beginning of her panel remarks,…
Believe it or not, Chris Hedges wrote this in 2011, when our current political climate was nowhere on the horizon. When you think about education and what it should do, contemplate this afresh: The truly educated become conscious. They become self-aware. They do not lie to themselves. They do not pretend that fraud is moral or that corporate greed is good. They do not claim that the demands of the marketplace can morally justify the hunger of children or denial of medical care to the sick. They do not throw 6 million families from their homes as the cost of…
Here's a perfect collaboration: one of my favorite schools - New Gate Montessori IB in Sarasota, Florida - and one of my favorite causes - Cities for CEDAW. What a team! The New Gate students created a PSA about our local CEDAW initiative. They did a brilliant job explaining exactly how this global topic applies directly to Sarasota residents. Take a look and stay tuned for more on the Cities for CEDAW initiative. And thanks to all these 11th-year students who donated time to help the local Chapter of UN Women-USNC.
It was a total delight to visit Alpha Montessori this past April. The first class of nine students just graduated in an emotional and inspiring ceremony. (See photos below or watch the ceremony here.) Many of these children started in the very early days of the school when Alpha Montessori was not much more than a concept, a vision of what education could bring. Yet all have now been accepted into English medium upper schools, a fantastic accomplishment. They are stunning examples of how confident, competent, self-directed, and articulate Montessori children can become, regardless of background. The students presented individually chosen and…
For the record, I am a big fan of alternative education programs. I’m opposed to the thrust and consequences of both No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, especially their emphases on extensive standardized testing and connecting teacher assessments to student test scores. The Montessorian in me fully recognizes that all students learn differently, that there are many paths to success, and that there are multiple measures of knowledge. I want to see students encouraged to develop individual strengths and not penalized by failure on narrow, inappropriate skill assessments. But are there limits here, folks? Are there NO…
Does A Mighty Girl (www.amightygirl.com) really have the world's largest collection of books, toys, music, and movies for "smart, confident, and courageous girls"? Well, I can't prove that 'world' claim, but it's the best compilation I've seen in a long, long time. For those of you who go nuts at the still prevalent stereotypical female roles in movies and wonder why entirely pink aisles in toy stores persist or wish there were more books about girls doing interesting things - and not just forced pedantic bios of Marie Curie - this website is a godsend. In addition to all those books, toys,…
An article in today's New York Times, Reporting Rape and Wishing She Hadn't, is one of many recent print and online pieces addressing campus rapes and sexual assaults. These incidents are both disturbing and yet not at all surprising – the tea leaves have all been in place for a very long time. Our forthcoming play, “Spoiled,” explores masculine self-images behind gender violence in the USA and India. In preparation, I would love to get comments on this topic. For example: Why do some men come to see these type of assaults as acceptable? What really are the cultural influences shaping young…
Thank you Walter Dean Myers. You are a godsend to a teacher. All those reluctant readers? All those boys who couldn't find ANYTHING they wanted to read? All those topics - war, families, race - that needed a good shared book to get the conversation started? I knew I could always find something in your voluminous portfolio that would fit. I have used Fallen Angels repeatedly - always with success - and then been able to offer Sunrise Over Fallujah right behind it. I've been able to offer up books on sports figures, history, ballet, teen pregnancy, jazz, the Old Testament, cowboys, Somali…
