Big Ideas

Chiaravalle faculty continually engage in professional development on issues of education, child development, and brain research. When we find provocative resources that support the Montessori approach or challenge and inspire us, we will share share weblinks, podcasts and other media sources which might be of interest.

Trevor Eissler

Trevor Eissler is father of three Montessori students, a business jet pilot, children’s book author, and international speaker. His book, Montessori Madness! explores how Montessori education best prepares children for the real world. He has recently released this short explanation of what makes Montessori schools different.

Dr. Stephen Hughes

This promotional video for www.MariaMontessori.com — a project from the Montessori Administrators Association — features Dr. Stephen Hughes, neuropsychiatrist, who was our annual guest lecturer in 2009-2010. He addresses the question, "Why Montessori?"
 

Interesting Links:

wikisori.org
Where Montessorians contribute, share, collaborate. The blog is part of a larger wiki whose goal is to facilitate collaboration among Montessorians to allow the creation of the collective sum of all Montessori knowledge in one convenient location, available to the global Montessori community for free.

danesedblog.blogspot.com
Dane Peters is Head of Brooklyn Heights Montessori School in New York (BHMS). An avid writer and educator, Dane posts to his education blog every few days. He characterizes it as ". . . insights on children and parenting and a resource for educators and parents on children, teaching, and learning."

rickackerly.com
Rick Ackerly is author of the book The Genius in Children. He shares his views with parents and educators. “…our number-one job as parents and educators is to notice the children in our care and to delight in them.” — Rick Ackerly, The Genius in Children

kidstalknews.com
Kids Talk
is a column dealing with childhood development issues written by Maren Stark Schmidt. Parents may receive Kids Talk e-mail updates directly through a free subscription.

http://open.salon.com/blog/holly_robinson/2011/10/31/how_much_homework_is_too_much
A parent of four children, the youngest of whom went to  Montessori, wrestles with the idea of how much homework is appropriate for students. 

 

Podcasts

NPR: California Commonwealth Club

Education Beyond Talk: The Amazing Impact of Learning by Doing (10/17/12)
This hour-long panel discussion features educational experts exploring "experiential education" or learning by doing. Hear about innovative work that could hold the key to transformational impact to the American educational system.  


Links to recent articles:


The Atlantic

Why Parents Need to Let Their Children Fail
Published on January 29, 2013

Briefings on Talent & Leadership

What Do P.Diddy, Sergey Brin, and Peter Drucker have in Common?
Published Q1, 2013 by the Korn/Ferry Institute

Psychology Today

What We Don't Know About Our Students - And Why We Don't Know It
Published on September 2, 2011 by Alfie Kohn in The Homework Myth

The Economist

Now You Know: When should you teach children, and when should you let them explore?
Published from the print edition: May 26, 2011 


Harvard Business Review
  

by Ambiga Dhiraj

Published: January 25, 2012 

How Do Innovators Think?
By Bronwyn Fryer

Published: September 28, 2009

The Globe and Mail

THE CREATIVITY GAP
Maria Montessori: Guru for a New Generation of Business Innovators
It's not just Montessori grads who see the Montessori method's value to the business world.

New York Times on the web 

OPINIONATOR
Fixes: The Power of Talking to Your Baby
The amount of language children hear in their first three years plays an important role in their future learning: the more talk from parents, the better.

OP-ED COLUMNIST
Need a Job? Invent It
Finding a job is so 20th century. That is why young people today need to be more "innovation ready" than "college ready."

SCIENCE
Scientific Inquiry Among the Preschool Set
While playing, preschoolers are actually behaving like scientists, according to a new report: forming hypotheses, running experiments, calculating probabilities.  

SCIENCE
Insights From the Youngest Minds
Elizabeth S. Spelke studies infants and toddlers to understand how the brain works by determining what, if anything, humans are born knowing.  

NY/REGION
Making Education Brain Science
By JENNY ANDERSON
Published: April 13, 2012
Neurology informs the approach at a Manhattan institution founded by members of the Blue Man Group for children from pre-kindergarten through third grade.

OPINION
Your Brain on Fiction
By ANNIE MURPHY PAUL
Published: March 17, 2012
Stories stimulate the brain. Metaphors like "He had leathery hands" rouse the sensory cortex.

OPINION
Building Self-Control, the American Way
By SANDRA AAMODT and SAM WANG
Published: February 17, 2012
Rather than emulating the strict discipline of child-rearing in other cultures, it's more useful to consider the science of successful parenting in all countries. 

NY/REGION
With Blocks, Educators Go Back to Basics
By KYLE SPENCER
Published: November 27, 2011
The wooden toys, created in the early 1900s, are making a comeback as some elementary schools focus on unstructured play.  

MAGAZINE
What if the Secret to Success is Failure?
By Paul Tough
Published: September 14, 2011
Why our children's success — and happiness — may depend less on perfect performance than on learning how to deal with failure. 

SCIENCE
Can a Playground Be Too Safe?
By JOHN TIERNEY
Published: July 18, 2011
Efforts to regulate playground equipment to prevent injuries may stunt emotional development, a new study suggests. 

OPINION
David Brooks: More Tools For Thinking
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: March 29, 2011
Science can help us beyond advising what we should believe about the world, our existence, and our health. It increasingly supplies tools for our everyday choices.

YOUR MONEY
Teaching Children to Help Neighbors, With or Without Reward
By ALINA TUGEND
Published: January 28, 2011
Doing chores for the neighbors can help teach a child about the value of work, but sometimes the lesson is when to work free.

BUSINESS DAY
How to Shape the DNA of a Young Company
By ADAM BRYANT
Published: January 22, 2011
Former Montessori student, Jeremy Allaire of Brightcove, says leaders of new businesses must make the right initial hires, as they will set the foundation for growth. He discusses the habits of mind and qualities of an ideal employee.

U.S.
As Bullies Go Digital, Parents Play Catch-Up
By JAN HOFFMAN
Published: December 4, 2010
Parents trying to protect their children from Internet bullying are scrambling to catch up with the technology.

WEEK IN REVIEW
A’s for Good Behavior
By PEG TYRE
Published: November 27, 2010
Should students be rewarded for citizenship, hard work and organization? Or should grades represent only a mastery of the material?

TECHNOLOGY
Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction
By MATT RICHTEL
Published: November 21, 2010
The constant stream of stimuli offered by new technology poses a profound new challenge to focusing and learning.

OPINION
Scientifically Tested Tests
By SUSAN ENGEL
Published: September 19, 2010
Standardized tests don’t truly measure the qualities of well-educated children.

OPINION 
The Effort Is the Prize
By PETER ORSZAG
Published: September 9, 2010 
It's the nature and intensity of practice that matters.

PERSONAL HEALTH
Empathy’s Natural, but Nurturing It Helps
By JANE E. BRODY
Published: February 16, 2010
The capacity for empathy seems to be innate, but parents can encourage it in children by teaching them to relate positively to others and by modeling it themselves.

HEALTH
Well: Play, Then Eat: Shift May Bring Gains at School By By TARA PARKER-POPE
Published: January 25, 2010
A simple scheduling switch -- moving recess before lunch -- may improve children's eating habits and behavior in school.

BRAIN POWER
Studying Young Minds, and How to Teach Them
By BENEDICT CAREY
Published: December 21, 2009 New research on when young brains are best able to grasp fundamental concepts could reshape early education.