Montessori Education.

   



       Maria Montessori, an Italian educator, developed an approach to education known as Montessori Education. This type of education emphasized freedom within limits, respect for children and their natural development, and independence. There are 5 main elements of the type of education. The first is mixed age classrooms, generally age 3 to 9. The seonc id the choice of activity students have, withing a set of options the teacher provides. The third is a "discover" model, where students work with materials in order to learn, instead of being given direct instruction. The fourth is uninterupted sets of time working. The last one is specialized educational material,which Moterssori developed.
       Montessori educartion is a model of education with respect to fundamental human development. There are two basic elements; children and adults enganging in self-construction through interaction with their environment, and children having an innate path of development. One of the key concepts of Montessori education is the child's freedom to choose what they learn about, from sets of options teachers provide. She believe that their choice to act freely and choose in a school environment would produce the best outcome in regards to education and development.
       Montessori belived that there were certain innate characterisrtics that we all shared; order, exploration, repetition, abstraction, self-preservation, communication, and orientation to the environment, to name a few. She thought that it was important to take these into consideration when creating a model for education.
       There are a variety of dirrent programs that favor Montessori Education. In Montessori Infant/Toddler Programs there are "nests", which are classrooms of a few children ranging from a few months old, to 15 months. The next step is classrooms called "Young Child Community", which have more children from ages 15 months to about 3. Montessori Preschool and Kindergarten classes are often reffered to as "Children's Houses". They have roughly 20-30 children, of mixed age groups between 3 and 6. Elementary Classrooms have varying amounts of students, and mix age groups between 6 and 9, and 9 and 12. Highschool Classrooms are frmo age 12 up.
       Overall, the Montesorri model of education is very open-minded, and allows the student a lot of freedom and choice in their own education. I really like this model of education. I think that if you give students a choice and let them choose what they want to do, they will be more open to learning. I know when I was in school I used to hate when teachers assigned specific books. I never read them. But when we had a choice of a few books, I could pick what I wanted to do, and I always did those assignments. I think this model of education allows children to feel like they have some control over that, and it makes them more apt to want to learn.


http://www.michaelolaf.net/1CW312MI.html
http://www.akgmag.com/article/The_Montessori_School_Philosophy.htm
http://www.nndb.com/people/189/000108862/

Teaching Columbus Day and Thanksgiving

"In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue...." I'm sure we've all learned this poem about Columbus, I know I have. When I was in elementary school I was taught that Columbus was brave explorer who sailed the world looking for new land, and when he found it in America, helped the Native Americans, and treated them with kindness and respect. This poem even says that. It says he rejoiced at the sight of the Native Americans. According to the article "We Have No Reason To Celebrate An Invasion", that wasn't the case. The article states that Columbus' invasion of American caused the Native Americans much demise, and still destroys they're people today. The Native Americans agree that Columbus did give them some useful things, such as horses, which they use to high military art, and beads, which they used to a high art as well. Despite those things, the Native Americans claim that Columbus is the reason they are the poorest people in America, have the highest teen suicide rate, and are ill-housed and in poor health. Obviously, this stuff isn't taught in schools. When I looked up lesson plans online I couldn't find any that taught these types of things. A few briefly states that the Europeans and Native Americans had opposing views some times. For the most part, they all told the same story, the one I remember learning in elementary school. I would teach Columbus Day in a way that showed both sides of this. I would obviously use age appropriate books and activities. 

When I was taught about Thanksgiving in elementary school we did many things. We made turkeys with outlines of our hands, made pilgrim hats out of construction paper, and put on plays about the first Thanksgiving; which showed pilgrims and Native Americans sitting at long tables, happily passing side dishes around, laughing and smiling together. A lot of the lessons plans I found online showed many similar activities. However, the article "Rethinking Thanksgiving" showed some new and interesting ways to teach about Thanksgiving. One idea that could be used to show the different sides and opinions of the pilgrims and Native Americans would be to read stories that explain how Native Americans may be offended by the celebrations and Thanksgiving. Some other ideas for new ways to teach Thanksgiving would be to have students research harvest festivals from different countries, and compare them, read stories, poems, ect. from Native American authors, and having students look for stereotypes of Native Americans in advertisements and bulletin boards. As a teacher, I would try to incorporate some of these ideas into teaching about Thanksgiving. 

Socially Just Curriculum

In the first article, the section about how textbooks and children's literature generally value the lives and standpoints of the most dominant groups. One of the examples was about Columbus, and how textbooks taught children that Columbus' goals and dreams, and his side of the story, but failed to show the Native American's side, and made it seem as thought they had no rights. I've seen this a lot in textbooks. When I was in high school we had to read a chapter about slavery for my history class. It was from the perspective of the slave owner, and told the stories from his side. It never told us the story from the slave's side, or perspective. I agree with this article and see how many times history lessons can disregard the lives and opinions of women, people of color, and working class individuals. History lessons also often teach students to see things from the side of the dominant group. I think that needs to change. The sides of the story that are not told in history books are just as important as the ones that are told. The side of the Native Americans in the story of Columbus is just as important as his side. The side of the slaves is just as important as the side of the owners. I think that textbooks and curriculum need to open up and share these sides with students more. If they did, it would not only be socially just, but if both side were presented to the students, it would allow them to form their own opinions about things that happened in history, and they wouldn't have to only see the opinion of the person who wrote the textbook or taught the lesson.

Existentialism

My topic for this week will be Existentialism.

What is it? 
Existentialism basically means that every person is the subject of their own reality, and no two realities are the same. Existentialists believe that in the importance of choice. People make their own choices in regards to who they will be and where their life will go. They also believe that we are free to make our own decisions regarding those things.

 What does it mean for education?

The goal of existentialist education is to develop individuals who exercise their freedom of choice and take responsibility for their actions. The students are encouraged the develop independence  self-discipline, set challenges, and solve problems. The teachers encourage students to philosophize about life and recognize and fulfill their personal freedom. The teaching methods most commonly used within existentialist education are discussion, analysis, and examination of choice making in the student's lives as well as the lives of others. The subjects studied through this type of education are Art, History, Social Studies, Literature, and Drama.

*I searched online to find information about my topic, but in all honestly, couldn't find anything helpful. None of really explained how it was put to use in a classroom; it all just summarized it and said that a lot of teachers use it. So, I got all of my information from our textbook, because it was the only source that went into any amount of depth about the subject.