One school experience which I have come to appreciate this school year is the full-time employment of a school guidance counselor, Beth Jenkins. In my prior experience, school guidance counselors had very little opportunity to support a student body beyond administering tests and guiding placement of students with special needs. What J. Allen Axson has now is a school guidance counselor who provides monthly lessons to students throughout the entire school. All of the children are having an opportunity to get to know her and see her as a person who is helpful and caring. We are fortunate, twice over, that Mrs. Jenkins has been a Montessori parent and teacher, as well. I wish to direct you to Mrs. Jenkins’ blogspot: http://montessoricounselor.blogspot.com/ . There are many resources in the blogesphere (is that a word :-?), however, I think that this one helps provide a sense of community for our school.
Good at Doing Things: Montessori Education and Higher Order Cognitive Functions
I have come across an excellent lecture on Montessori Education by Dr. Steve Hughes, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology at the University of Minnesota Medical School. He communicates very clearly a vision I find inspiring. So, if you have the interest and nearly two hours(1), connect with the lecture here: Good at Doing Things: Montessori Education and Higher Order Cognitive Functions.
http://web.mac.com/stevehughesphd/GoodAtDoingThings/Good_at_Doing_Things.html
Spatial Thinking
Sometimes children have difficulty following or giving directions because they don’t really understand the meaning of prepositions. I am posting here ideas from an article which I think offers many useful suggestions to help children understand spatial thinking. Click on the document below for more...
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Spatial Thinking.doc Size : 43 Kb Type : doc |
Grit
I have recently been introduced to the writings of Jonas Lehrer, science commentator. At present, most interesting to me are his observations about the importance of “grit,” as compared to IQ, when considering success. This is of particular interest as I grapple with how to best evaluate students. Teachers generally compare student abilities against a standard expectation of knowledge content. Lehrer suggests that perseverance in pursuit of a long term goal is a greater indicator of achievement than innate intelligence. In short, students praised for hard work often outperform those praised for being smart. I understand and agree that we have standards of knowledge expectation. However, in practice with each child, I believe that whether a child is receiving an “E” or an “S,” he or she benefits from the expressed expectation to work hard.
Here is the link to the article:
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/08/02/the_truth_about_grit/?page=1
