Thacher Montessori School

Letter from the Head of School – Thursday, November 10, 2011

Two weeks ago, I shared some information about the most effective kinds of learning – all of which are integrally part of a Thacher Montessori education for your child. Last week, I began going through the list of 21st century skills, describing the first three (around the common theme of “learning to learn and innovate”), and showing how Montessori education helps develop these necessary skills. This week, I am going through the second set of 21st century skills and showing how Thacher Montessori’s educational environment helps develop these necessary skills.

These come from the renowned book, 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times, written by Bernie Trilling and Charles Fadel. Mr. Trilling runs the Oracle Education Foundation and Mr. Fadel is the global leader for education at Cisco Systems. Both are members of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, which consists of the US Department of Education, AOL/Time-Warner, Apple, Cisco Systems, Dell Computers, Hewlett Packard, Intel, Microsoft, the National Education Association, and many other innovative corporations and non-governmental organizations.

Most of the following comes directly from their seminal work. These are the skills sets they propose and the Partnership endorses for the 21st century student:

Digital Literacy Skills: Our 21st century students need the skills to access appropriately, evaluate, use, manage, and add to the wealth of accessible information and media. These are the knowledge tools and technologies of our times.

Information Literacy – There is an overwhelming stream of information that hits us everyday, and a child today must be able to access appropriately and efficiently, evaluate critically and competently, utilize accurately and creatively, and manage this tsunami of data, all while retaining a sense of the ethical and legal issues surrounding the use of this information.

At Thacher, the children in the toddler and children’s house classrooms develop and enhance their problem-solving skills with the materials and the everyday challenges a Montessori environment places them in. This means that they learn to process through information and determine what the next steps should be. This occurs daily in the practical life and sensorial areas of the classroom where they take in sensory stimuli (information) and have to process and then act upon it. The Montessori method emphasizes the problem-solving development through the elementary and adolescent programs. The information comes in at a manageable pace in the lower elementary as the children begin acclimating to computers for research and keyboarding. Their continuous research work requires them to develop the tools to access and then process through mountains of information. This is a powerful exercise in developing problem-solving skills!

Media Literacy – This skill refers to “the medium of delivering messages, the crafting of the message for a particular medium, and the impact the media message has on audiences.” It is the choosing of the right technological platform for a communication, creating how it looks on a website or screen, and understanding what desired effect one wants to convey to the audience through the technological medium.

In the upper elementary and adolescent classrooms, the students become fully enmeshed in the technology revolution. They must process through a huge store of online information for their research work, they use word processing and other tools to process and convey the information through their own thoughts, and they utilize PowerPoint and other visual media applications to frame their presentations.

Information and Communication Technologies – These are known as ICT skills. The child will need to know how to apply the vast array of technologies usefully, effectively, and efficiently. “Assessing the risks of using personal images and commercial music on a social networking Web site such as Facebook or YouTube often requires critical thinking, sound judgment, and an understanding of potential future consequences.”

In both the areas of media literacy and ICT, there is the need for skills that don’t apply necessarily to technology but to other intelligences, namely emotional intelligence (aka, social skills) and environmental intelligence (aka, common sense). At Thacher, there is constant opportunities for a child to develop these skills which helps him or her understand the crafting and impact of messages on an audience as well as have a better understanding of the consequences of using social networking websites. The young teen is not perfect however. Recent research has shown that teenagers are more reckless than originally believed and so external support and guidance from adults is still of critical importance in this area.

So, Thacher provides an opportunity for a child to develop the skills either directly or indirectly to confront the ever-changing technological world in which we live.

While we’re speaking about technology, let me share an aside. We do not introduce this technological onslaught to the toddler or children’s house students because they live in a concrete world. The computer is a very abstract instrument because a child can push one button (keystroke), the computer does a great deal of hidden (to the child) processing, and there is a result. Soon, the very young child, unable to grasp a concrete connection, sees the computer merely as an entertainment device, which serves to decrease concentration, proactive behavior, and motivation. This “instant gratification” tendency at all age levels in our society is fed by the facile accessibility to information provided by the technology revolution. For our future, it is imperative that the children learn to use these technology devices as tools rather than as entertainment.

Next Week in History:  On November 14, 1851, one of the great American novels, Moby Dick, was published. Herman Melville had written five previous novels before he penned this classic.

Final Thoughts: 

“Montessori taught me the joy of discovery. It showed you can become interested in pretty complex theories, like Pythagorean theory, say, by playing with blocks. It’s all about learning on your terms, rather than a teacher explaining stuff to you. SimCity comes right out of Montessori.”

Will Wright, designer of SimCity, SimEarth, SimAnts, The Sims, Spore, and countless other computer games as well as founder of Maxis computer game company.

Letter from the Head of School –November 4, 2011         by Fred Catlin

In last week’s Notes Home, I wrote about the changing world we’re in (or quickly moving into) and the five most effective kinds of learning to prepare a child for this exciting, dynamic future. At the end of last week’s letter, I listed the set of skills necessary for success in the 21st century. These come from the renowned book, 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times, written by Bernie Trilling and Charles Fadel. Mr. Trilling runs the Oracle Education Foundation and Mr. Fadel is the global leader for education at Cisco Systems. Both are members of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21), a national organization that advocates for 21st century readiness for every student. As the United States continues to compete in a global economy that demands innovation, P21 and its members provide tools and resources to help the US education system keep up by fusing the 3Rs and 4Cs (Critical thinking and problem solving, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity and innovation). P21 advocates for local, state, and federal policies that support this approach for every school.”

The Partnership, founded in 2002, consists of representatives from the US Department of Education, AOL/Time-Warner, Apple, Cisco Systems, Dell Computers, Hewlett Packard, Intel, Microsoft, the National Education Association, and many other innovative corporations and non-governmental organizations.

Most of the following comes directly from their seminal work. These are the skills sets the authors propose and the Partnership endorses for the 21st century student:

Learning to Learn & Innovate: The first three skills all fall under this broad category. The authors cite these three as the “top-drawer” skills sets a 21st century student must have for learning, work, and life.

Critical Thinking & Problem Solving – Recent research has shattered the long-held myth that content must be learned fully before it is put to use. This is the basis of our learning as children in conventional education (and still holds true today as part of the “Taxonomy of Learning” taught to future teachers in education schools). However, it is clear now, through the work of cognitive scientists, that “using knowledge as it is being learned – applying skills like critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity to the content knowledge – increases motivation and improves learning outcomes”. In Montessori, the students do this concurrent work in their manipulation of the materials. At the elementary level, the students learn content while they research and write reports instead of learning large quantities of content and then trying to regurgitate it on a test. Through this research, the child is processing the knowledge as it is being learned. In Montessori at every level, the child is not given the knowledge; rather, the child goes through the work of trial and error with a material. At each point in the process of learning a new concept, the child must use what’s already learned to get through the next stage of completion. Throughout the learning process then, the child must use problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.

Communication & Collaboration – Students need to be able to articulate thoughts and ideas effectively, using oral, in-print, and non-verbal communication skills; listen effectively to decipher meaning; use communication for a range of purposes; utilize multiple media and technologies (and judge their effectiveness); and communicate effectively in diverse environments. They also need to have collaborative skills: to work effectively and respectfully with diverse teams, exercise flexibility and a willingness to be helpful in making necessary compromises to accomplish a common goal, and assume shared responsibility for collaborative work (and value the contribution of each individual in the team).

At Thacher, this is a cornerstone of our methodology at every level. We empower the younger child to verbalize and to listen effectively, to begin understanding that each person is a part of a community and should treat each member of that community with respect. The elementary child delves more deeply into understanding how to communicate with others (which in turn leads directly to the high emotional intelligence scores of Montessori children), how to work collaboratively and effectively, and how to play an integral part in reaching a common goal.

Creativity and Innovation – It is commonly understood by researchers in early childhood studies that the very young are highly creative, in part because they have to learn to adapt and learn in the world around them. However, according to Sir Kenneth Robinson, a thought leader on creativity (and a Montessori proponent), “we do not grow into creativity, we grow out of it – or rather, we are educated out of it.” Conventional education stymies creativity by forcing each student to follow pre-set parameters of how to tackle a new challenge or to process information. Creativity and learning environments can be nurtured by learning environments that foster questioning, patience, openness to fresh ideas, high levels of trust, and learning from mistakes and failures. Students must be able to use a wide variety of idea-creation techniques (such as brainstorming); create novel and worthwhile ideas; elaborate and refine their own ideas; develop, implement, and communicate new ideas to others effectively; be open and responsive to new and diverse perspectives; incorporate group input and feedback; demonstrate originality and inventiveness in work (while also understanding real-world limitations); understand the importance of the trial-and-error process and perseverance through it; and act on creative ideas to make tangible and useful contributions.

In Thacher’s Montessori environment, we foster creativity by allowing the child the independence to find solutions to challenges in the way that works best for that particular child. We allow the child the time and freedom to use trial and error to process and come up with solutions to challenges and, through that, gain self-confidence and positive self-esteem. That freedom extends beyond the classroom in the elementary and adolescent programs through exploration in the art and music studios, through experiential work (where real-life problems must be resolved through creativity and perseverance), and through “going-out” trips (where a child seeks knowledge beyond the classroom walls and, on the way, learns a great deal about how to engage and operate in the real world). The Montessori environment nurtures respect for each person’s ideas, allowing someone to feel emboldened to try something new and imaginative.

Next week, I’ll go through the next set of 21st century skills.

Next Week in History:  On November 6, 1991, twenty years ago from Sunday, Boris Yeltsin disbanded the Communist Party in Russia, ending the final vestige of the Soviet Union.

Final Thoughts: 

“Montessori fosters what great leadership demands. Scholarship today is about more that regurgitating the pronouncements of a professor. One must be able to see the ‘big picture’ without overlooking the critical details. Montessori experience strengthens these skills and makes for a stronger student. Montessori shows great promise for educational reform and provides a foundation for dealing with the university environment.”

Jim Guthrie,
Chair, Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organization
Vanderbilt University.

Letter from the Head of School –October 28, 2011         by Fred Catlin

As if we didn’t already know it, the world around us has changed drastically in the past few years. There is a growing body of research that comes up with surprisingly common assumptions of what skills your child needs in order to succeed in this “brave new world”.

Most observe that the world in the next few years will be fundamentally different:

• A “smaller world” will emerge, more connected by technology and transport. [Thomas Friedman, The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century]
• Technology advances will make information (facts and figures) easily and immediately accessible, eliminating the need for rote memory of a large quantity of facts. [Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams, Wikinomics]
• Global economic changes mean that emerging economies will produce 10-50 times the number of graduates each year with technical/professional degrees (engineers, programmers, physicians, accountants, academics, etc.) than the United States. Moreover, technology is rapidly replacing these traditionally educated professionals. [Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind; David Autor from MIT and Alan Blinder from Princeton, cited in The Economist, September 3, 2011]
• “Older” economies must rely on innovation to be globally competitive.
• Diverse teams, spanning languages, cultures, geographies, and time zones will do more of the work instead of individuals working in a corporation. [John Hagel and John Seely Brown, The Power of Pull]
• There will be a need to develop better ways to manage time, people, resources, and projects.

Unfortunately, conventional American education was designed for the 20th century, the era of production-line manufacture and top-down management, rote learning, following precisely directions from senior management (teachers) without making changes, learning great quantities of facts and figures, and working as an individual unit towards the completion of a greater, corporate goal.

21st century students have grown up surrounded by digital media and learned to be interactive learners. This is the “internet generation” or “net geners”. As Bernie Trilling and Charles Fadel, the authors of 21st Century Skills: Learning For Life in Our Times, write, “A one-size-fits-all factory model and one-way broadcast approach to learning does not work well for these students. New ways to make learning interactive, personalized, collaborative, creative, and innovative are needed to engage and keep net geners actively learning in schools everywhere.”

Simultaneously, there has been a huge upsurge in the past twenty years in understanding how people learn. There are five key findings from research [Bransford, Brown, & Cooking, How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School] in the “science of learning” that point to the most effective kinds of learning in the new era:

• Authentic Learning: Learning that is done in context is much more influential than previously thought. Contextual learning means that a child learns effectively when he or she has a basis of experience, previous knowledge, and memory on which to acquire new knowledge. In other words, don’t teach isolated facts but introduce them in the context of something that draws them together and/or are based on previously acquired knowledge. It also means students need more real-world problem-solving opportunities – internships, experiential or application-based learning, and other authentic learning experiences.

In Montessori, we use a timeline to allow the child a point of reference for learning a new series of historical events. Our constant use of research projects allows a child to acquire information in context to what he or she already knows and to transfer it into long-term memory (versus learning random sets of facts into short-term memory that are soon forgotten). We provide opportunities to problem-solve constantly by allowing the children to manipulate the materials and discover their own way to the solution (after many instances of trial and error!). The students in the elementary and adolescent programs have opportunities to do apprenticeships, work in real-world (authentic) situations (such as going-out trips), or application-based work.

• Mental Model Building: The mind must create frameworks of knowledge and adjust them as it learns more. Humans need to have a concrete image in place mentally on which to build abstractions, and they can only develop these mental models from the real, external world. This is why we begin counting on our fingers. After some time, we can take an image of our fingers counting and use it as a mental model for future computation. Any newly acquired knowledge may amend the original mental model, but having that original, “concrete” mental image is critical to the effective acquisition of knowledge. In addition, after each new sensorial experience, your mind needs time to reflect on the newly received information and assess it against the existing mental model. Building and manipulating external, physical models helps humans initially visualize and later further develop our internal mental models.

In Montessori, we provide the child with a number of these external physical models on which to create a mental model and build further knowledge. The math (including geometry and algebra) materials are specifically for this purpose, but you also have the timelines for history, charts for science, and grammar symbols provide mental models for the child. The beauty of these didactic materials is that they allow the child to manipulate them in the way that works best for his mind to acquire the information (and later use the formed mental model for further knowledge acquisition. Montessori also provides opportunities (time) for reflection and processing of new knowledge (i.e., assessing and updating the mental model).

• Internal Motivation: Trilling and Fadel state that, “a rich literature of emotional intelligence studies and reports clearly show the advantages of being internally motivated to learn, as opposed to learning just for external motivations such as parental approval or performance on tests… Studies of well-designed learning projects geared to student interests and passions also show that internal motivation can contribute a great deal to active engagement, deeper understanding, and a desire to learn more.”

We all know that this is why we do not give grades in the elementary program nor do we offer praise for a child’s performance. Internally motivated learners, Trilling and Fadel go on to say, “have an emotional connection to what is being learned – learning can be sustained longer, understanding can become deeper, and what is learned can be retained longer.”

• Multiple Intelligences: Although Howard Gardner’s original work has been sifted and probed over the years, there are still some resilient truths that bear out: “Encouraging multiple learning approaches to match diverse learning styles and providing multiple ways for students to express their understanding is necessary for effective learning.” [Howard Gardner, Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century]

In Montessori, we provide many means by which the children learn – there are multiple kinds of didactic materials that allow the children to learn the same concept but with different kinds of “intelligences”. Obviously, personalized learning, which best meets the whole spectrum of multiple intelligences, is a foundation of Montessori education.

• Social Learning: Learning that happens through collaboration has “been shown to increase learning motivation, create better and more innovative results, and develop social and cross-cultural skills.” [L. Darling-Hammond, et. al., Powerful Learning: What We Know About Teaching for Understanding]

In Montessori, you see this collaborative learning occur everyday in the elementary and adolescent classrooms. It is one of the distinct characteristics of Montessori education, and is one key reason why its graduates have strong collaborative skills and high emotional intelligences.

So, Montessori provides an ideal educational environment for learning in the 21st century by offering these five means to the most effective education. These methods are and have always been part of the foundation of our pedagogical model. At Thacher however we understand these must be sustained throughout your child’s Montessori experience, and we do not compromise them as your child enters into the Lower Elementary and especially the Upper Elementary classrooms.

There is an increasing realization among psychologists, brain researchers and neurologists, educators, and futurologists that the Montessori Method, developed over a hundred years ago, shows an amazing resiliency and is one of the most – if not the most – applicable means to educate a child in the 21st century.

There is a growing consensus of what are the necessary skills for a child to have in the 21st century world. These include the following:

• Learning to Learn & Innovate
• Critical Thinking & Problem Solving
• Communication & Collaboration
• Creativity & Innovation
• Information, Media, and Communication Technology Literacy
• Flexibility & Adaptability
• Initiative & Self-Direction
• Social and Cross-Cultural Interaction
• Productivity & Accountability
• Leadership & Responsibility

In next week’s Notes Home, I’ll briefly discuss each of these and how Montessori education helps develop these skills.

Next Week in History:  On November 1 in history two governments went out of business. The Continental Congress of the United States existed from 1776 to 1788 and was replaced by the US Congress. The Hapsburg Empire began in 1278 with the acquisition of the Austrian kingdom by a Swiss prince and ended in 1918 with the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire  after World War I. During its time, the ruler of the Hapsburg Empire was also the Holy Roman Emperor and at one time had a European empire that stretched from the Ebro to the Dneistr Rivers, from the North to the Mediterranean Seas.

Final Thoughts:  

“Although Montessori schools are rare at the junior high and high school levels, every school, educator, and parent can learn from its enduring and successful approach.”

Daniel Pink, Drive

Letter from the Head of School – October 21, 2011         by Fred Catlin

Over the past several few weeks, I have been travelling some out of town and have not been able to submit anything for Notes Home. It actually is good timing as we are making a transition in our ongoing quest to make as much information as you want available to you when you want it. We have begun putting a lot more time and emphasis on the school’s website, and you will find future theoretical and pedagogical writings there. I’ll begin using this space for more immediate news items and observations.

2011-12 Thacher Annual Fund:  Thacher relies on gifts from parents, grandparents, alumni, and friends to ensure that the school can continue to offer the high quality program of education. The tuition you pay as a parent does not cover the entire cost of educating your child; much of the difference is made up through contributions to the Thacher Annual Fund. You should be receiving a request in the next week so please consider a generous gift to this important purpose – thank you!

Thacher as a Model:  Some parents may recall that another Montessori school in Massachusetts shut down for a day last spring so that its staff could come to Thacher. The staff used the opportunity to observe and learn from the implementation of our high standard of educational quality, the excellence of our teachers, and our efficient administration.

We have two other schools visiting next week. One is a Montessori school in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts and the other is an Icelandic elementary school that is interested in our Montessori pedagogy, our integration of the arts into the classroom, and our use of the outside in our curriculum.

Assistant Head of School: One of the changes that we made this year was to promote Joy Tardiff to Assistant Head of School. Joy has been working at the school for a number of years in a general administrative capacity. In her new role, Joy oversees a number of administrative responsibilities and works with the senior administrative staff to run the school in my absence. Most of Joy’s work is behind the scenes. You would still contact me if you ever have questions about the school in general.

Let Me Introduce You… A fellow staff member reminded me that I haven’t introduced the new staff to the parents as a whole so let me do so now!

Amy Smith moves from being an UE assistant to lead guide in Upper Elementary B. Amy is a native Miltonian and graduated of Milton Academy and Wellesley College. She has been at Thacher for four years and has an AMI 6-12 certificate from the Montessori Training Center of New England.

Kate Camarano and Lauren O’Neill are registered nurses and share the position of our part-time school nurse. They work every morning from 8:30 to 11:30.

Isadora Howard-Karp is returning to Thacher after having been a lead guide in Children’s House A ten years ago! Isadora is back in CH A again. She has a degree from Lesley University and an AMI 3-6 certificate from the Ohio Montessori Institute.

Blue Playground Materials: With the proceeds from last year’s Thacher Annual Fund, we purchased some wonderful playground equipment that helps spark creativity and imagination in the children. I’ve attached some photographs of children’s house children using these wonderful materials without any adult guidance or direction. This could not have happened without the support of everyone to last year’s Thacher Annual Fund. Thank you again!

Next Week in History: On October 24, 1931, the George Washington Bridge opened. Spanning the Hudson River between New Jersey and New York City, this icon is part of Interstate 95 through New York.

Final Thoughts: 

“The Child is the spiritual builder of mankind, and obstacles to his free development are the stones in the wall by which the soul of man has become imprisoned.”

Maria Montessori, The Child in the Family
 

Letter from the Head of School – September 23, 2011         by Fred Catlin

What’s involved in being a Montessori-certified teacher and are there different kinds of training?

Each of our lead guides is Montessori certified at the age level of his or her classroom. In order to receive Montessori certification, one must have a baccalaureate degree and apply for admission into the training program. There are three models for training.

The first training model is a one-year, intense educational program. The trainees are in class from 8:30 to 2:30 every day, learning about the characteristics of human development, human tendencies, psychological and pedagogical theory, and the results of current brain research. The trainees also receive instruction on how to give lessons on each of the Montessori materials, at what developmental stage to give that lesson, and the purpose in the child’s development for each of the materials. The students then spend another 60-90 minutes at the end of the day working in pairs with the materials, becoming familiar with each material and learning to give lessons with accuracy and precision. In this first training model, the students undertake four weeks of observation in functioning Montessori classrooms and an additional four weeks being a student teacher under the supervision of the trainer and the classroom’s experienced guide. Thacher has done this for many students. Many who take this training option end up taking two more graduate courses during the summer to complete an M.ED. either in early childhood or elementary education. Alice, Deba, Heather, Isadora, Jill, Shannon, Ty, and Zarrin undertook this form of training.

The second training is similar to the first, but it occurs over three summers with classroom observation occurring during the school year between the first and second summers and student teaching between the second and third summers. The M.ED. option is also available in this form. Amy, Carla, Michele, Michelle, Mindy, and I did this form of training. Danny is between his second and third summers.

The third training alternative delves less into theory and more into practical application. In this model, the trainee has one intense summer of classroom training followed by a yearlong internship in a classroom as a student teacher. Deba, Carla, Kristin, Irina, Michelle, Pat, and Ty have certificates from this training mode. Kelley is in her yearlong internship after going through the instructional phase last summer.

There are research papers due throughout each of these trainings as well as material making. At the end, there are both written and oral exams that last for several days.

The adolescent training is a little different because it is still a relatively new area in the Montessori world. The training that Adam and Ty took is very heavily focused on theory, brain and developmental psychology research, and adolescent tendencies. The trainees have the opportunity to see several different models of Montessori adolescent programs (middle and high school) at work in a lab-school setting.

Next Week in History:  Thirty years ago on September 25, 1981, Sandra Day O’Connor became the first female U.S. Supreme Court justice.

Final Thoughts: 

“The human hand allows the mind to reveal itself.”

Maria Montessori

Welcome to Thacher! I hope your child is ready for an extraordinary learning experience this year. I read recently that good Montessori education is an example of "active learning" and you will find that at Thacher. Have patience with the first few days of traffic jams at drop-offs and dismissals as everyone establishes their rhythm within the context of the greater community and enjoy the ride as you witness your child's journey of curiosity, independence, and accomplishment!
 
Parent Involvement: Thacher has had a wonderful tradition of parental involvement through the TPA (Thacher Parent Association), the Thacher Annual Fund, and the Thacher Auction. The TPA runs activities throughout the year to support the teachers and the education of your child as well as build community, and we are pleased that Sharon Matulis will be its president once more this year. The Annual Fund and Auction are the means by which we fund important activities and projects at the school. The Annual Fund occurs primarily in the fall and the Auction in the spring.
 
Classroom Orientation Nights: The classroom orientation nights are VERY IMPORTANT events to attend in your child's classroom, whether this is your child's first year in the classroom or third year. We provide childcare for the parents of our elementary students. We do NOT provide childcare for the children's house orientation night because the little ones are just getting acclimated to the school, and we don't want them to face another change to their young lives by putting them in childcare in a new space.
 
Thanks: I want to thank Susan Treichel and Sharon Matulis for all of their work in the last week before school began to weed our gardens - even in the torrential rains of Irene! You guys were awesome!
 
Next Week in History: As a historian, I usually give some nugget from the dustbin of history in this space, but as many of us know, this Sunday is the somber tenth anniversary of an event that all of us remember, so much that each of us vividly recalls where we were at the exact moment when we learned the news. I hope you will have a chance to take a moment on Sunday to remember and reflect on the similarities we have to one another and not on the differences.
 
Final Thoughts: 
 
This is the difference between old [conventional] and new [Montessori] education. We want to help the auto-construction of man at the right time, so that mankind can go forward to something great. Society has built up walls, barriers. These the new education must cast down, revealing a free horizon. The new education is a revolution, but without violence. It is the non-violent revolution. After that, if it triumphs, violent revolution will become forever impossible.
  ~ M. Montessori

Over the next two weeks, the elementary children will be involved in two community service projects.  The Upper Elementary children will be collecting shoes (new or used) to contribute to Haitian refugee children in the Dominican Republic.  This project, run in partnership with the Rotary Club of Milton seeks to collect a "mile's worth of shoes" to enable the shod children to attend school - the Dominican Republic requires children to wear shoes to school.
 
The Lower Elementary children will be raising funds to purchase a new flag for the school, replacing the current one that is faded and worn.  A Thacher family that has a spouse serving in the military in Iraq inspired this project.
 
In both cases, the project was presented to the children, and they have taken it on.  Through the initial inspiration, followed by reflection, and with some encouragement, these children are inspired to do this altruistic work - not to garner adult approval or school credit.  It fits in with the Montessori model of intrinsic motivation for the child's actions.
 
The last, perhaps most important, point is that your child should not ask you to give him or her money to donate.  The child should earn the money they contribute by doing chores or other work around your home.  The idea is for them to value the money they earn and thereby understand the sacrifice involved in giving of oneself or one's money.
 
Next Week in History:  On May 7, 1945, the Second World War ended in Europe with the capitulation of Nazi Germany by its most senior official, Admiral Doenitz.  The generation of Americans who fought in that war is called America's Greatest Generation because of their selflessness and sacrifice.
 
Final Thoughts: 
 
"The child is the spiritual builder of mankind, and obstacles to his free development are the stones in the wall by which the soul of man has become imprisoned."  -Maria Montessori, The Child in the Family

I shared a short story this week with a group of visitors representing most of the private schools in eastern Massachusetts.  I thought I'd relay it to you as well:
 
Over twenty-five years ago a young mother sought out a preschool for her eldest of two boys.  She wanted to find him a program that not only would allow him to develop academically but also help him learn to be independent and levelheaded.  She knew her son would face many challenges and pressures in his life, and she wanted him to be prepared.  Of course, she chose a Montessori school for this boy (and his younger brother when he turned three).  The boy attended this Montessori school for the 3-6 program that set him properly for life and gave him the skills to handle anything, even the serious tragedy that was to befall the family.  You probably know who this boy is; he married Catherine Middleton in Westminster Abbey this morning.
 
IOWA Test Results: All of the students at Thacher Montessori School (from the last year of Lower Elementary through the last year of the Adolescent Program) took the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, a standardized test that is administered throughout the United States to both public and private school children.  I will shortly send the individual results home to parents of the test takers with a letter urging them to not see these tests as a gauge of their child's true abilities.  Alfie Kohn and many other brilliant researchers have written many research papers and books about how these tests track just a narrow slice of a child's intelligence.
 
Nevertheless, I thought you would be interested in the overall results.  There are three measurements I want to share with you: grade equivalent - what grade in school equates to the score, based on national curriculum standards; national student norms - how this group of test takers ranks as a percentile against all test takers at that level (grade); and national school norms - how our school ranks as a percentile against all schools at that level nationally:
 

 
There will be anomalies as one "grade" of test takers may have different results than other groups, but overall these results are very similar to those over the past four years.  The only difference is that the scoring trend has gone upwards, dramatically in some instances, slightly in others.
 
Next Week in History:  On May 5th, 1871, 140 years ago, the first professional baseball game was played between the Cleveland Forest Citys and the Fort Wayne Kekiongas in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
 
Final Thoughts: 
 
"We must learn how to call upon the man which lies dormant in the soul of a child."
-Maria Montessori 

I hope you have a good break and can spend some time with your child.  We look forward to seeing you and your child on Tuesday, April 26.  

Thacher Auction:  The auction was a great success - thank you to the many parents who contributed, worked, and used their creativity to produce a successful auction.  On behalf of all of the children - thank you so much.  Thanks especially to Julie Silva, whose leadership, planning, and commitment of time and energy were critical to the fun and success of the evening.  

Next Week in History:  On April 23, 1891, the composer Sergei Prokofiev was born in Sontsovka, Ukraine (then a part of Imperial Russia).  He is known for his classical pieces, including the opera The Love for Three Oranges, the ballet Romeo and Juliet, the children's work Peter and the Wolf, and the film score for Alexander Nevsky.  He endured censors   hip under Josef Stalin's Soviet regime and ironically died on the same day as Stalin in 1953.  

Final Thoughts:      "The Peace of Wild Things"   "When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free."

                                                                                    Wendell Berry

Our technological advances are wonderful, and I am among the first to utilize them as an adult.  There is a need for us to refrain from using too much technology however with our young children, and I hope the following thoughts are of use to you:
 
Montessori & Computer Apps with Pre-Schoolers:  The technological wave has reached to all age levels in our society, and that is not necessarily a good thing.  Apple now offers a series of Montessori applications for the IPad, and I know some earnest and supportive families have downloaded these apps.  I urge you not to use the Montessori apps with your Toddler/Children's House child!  The mind of the child from zero-to-six years of age is very concrete and needs to experience real things.  Information through the computer is highly abstract and directed only towards the visual sense.  The real, tangible Montessori materials allow the child to learn a new concept through multiple senses (although usually not all at the same time). 
 
The Red and Blue Rods in the classroom help the child understand the concept of 1-10 by seeing the difference in each rod (same as on the app).  The Red and Blue Rods in the classroom have other attributes that the online apps don't have: the child feels the width as s/he runs a hand across the entire length of each rod and senses the weight as s/he carries each rod from the shelf to the rug. 
 
The Sandpaper Letters lesson in our classrooms allows the child to feel the rough sensation of the sandpaper (which helps the child remember the correct way to write the letter), hear the letter both in isolation and in the context of everyday language (available on some of these apps), receive feedback on pronunciation, gain affirmation of contextual use, and have opportunities to memorize the letters in a manner tailored to each child's learning style.  I can't emphasize the importance of the tactile component - it provides another neural pathway that develops in the brain and enhances the child's retention of that letter beyond the neural pathways developed by the visual and aural stimulation.
 
It is for these same reasons that you should shun the newest set of DVDs titled (something like) "My Baby Can Read!" The child doesn't have a concrete experience from his/her own background to associate with a new word that flashes up on the screen, just a visual image that may or may not have some context.  It is another form of rote memory, which retains information into short-term memory but doesn't allow it to have the experiential "hooks" to grab it into long-term memory.
 
By using DVD programs such as these, you are only partially "wiring" the child's neural pathways.  The damage occurs later when the child goes through the proper process towards reading, and s/he has to break down the imperfect neural pathways and create new ones that are more firmly rooted.
 
The area of reading is so critical that I urge you to follow the old-fashioned path: read often to your child and, later, sit with your child when s/he reads to you (and provide feedback or corrections only when requested).
 
Final Thoughts: 
 
"So when we speak of the absorbent mind, the prepared environment, the task of the adult, the four planes of development, the sensitive periods, the necessity of freedom, activity and come upon these terms which we label Montessori, we are not speaking of the terminology invented by Dr. Maria Montessori to explain the principles of the Montessori method.  In reality there is no Montessori method, there are not Montessori principles - what we are speaking of are universal principles guiding the development of man from conception to maturity.  In order to understand Montessori, we need to understand that it is the tendencies of man which govern his development, and that these tendencies must be realized and catered for if there is to be a real change in the structure and content of education, with a consequent answer to the problems facing us today."
 
Margaret E. Stephenson (original AMI teacher trainer sent to the United States by Dr. Montessori 's son, Mario, in the late 1950s

I was in one of the Children's House classrooms the other day conducting a tour for a prospective parent, and the eldest children were in line to go to the library for a rare "field trip".  As the children stood in line, you could see that they were not engaged in anything except waiting, and their bright, active minds were looking for some stimulation - either from the person in front of them in line, the items on a nearby shelf, something on their (or someone else's) clothes, etc.  The adults were trying to get everyone under control, but it was like the little Dutch boy and the dike: they'd plug one "leak" (a child not patiently waiting) and another "leak" or two would occur.  The parent I was with said it reminded her of a typical scene in her child's daycare.
 
It struck me that when any adult tries to control children in a top-down management style (as happens in conventional education with the adults at the top) we end up having great difficulty controlling them for any sustained period of time, and the result is usually chaotic.  It is because the children, like all humans, are naturally curious beings who crave constant stimulation and the opportunity for new knowledge.  We always think that a book satisfies that curiosity, but when one isn't handy (as for the children in the line), the children will go to great lengths to seek new knowledge and satisfy their curiosity (thereby disrupting the order the adults are trying to impose).
 
Montessori works because each child has the freedom to engage with the materials in his or her own way.  Through this freedom, the child develops creativity, self-motivation, problem-solving skills, and independence.  This cannot happen to an optimum extent unless there is minimum adult interference with the children in the classroom.  Let me explain this seemingly illogical notion:
 
The Pursuit of True Montessori: Why Thacher Has Large Numbers of Children in a Classroom
 
Large classroom sizes and other true Montessori principles seem counter-intuitive to everything we read in books and magazines about educational best practices, but traditional schools do not necessarily succeed with small classroom sizes or low ratios.  Part of the reason Montessori is the fastest growing form of education in this country is because it succeeds when a school practices true Montessori principles, which are identified in part by large classroom sizes and high student-teacher ratios.  The 28-30 children in a Thacher classroom is ideal for the following reasons:
 
Positive Social Dynamics and a Diversity of Personalities
It allows us to have 4-5 children in each age/gender group (for example, four-year-old boys or three-year-old girls) instead of three children, allowing more variety in friendships and avoiding the sometimes dangerous two-against-one scenarios found when there are only three in a age/gender group.
More children means each has more and varied opportunities to practice social interaction skills with peers in the classroom.  These include learning conflict-resolution skills, being a leader, working collaboratively in a group, and developing empathy and patience with others.  These are the "21st Century skills" your child's future teachers and employers will love to see!
 
Development of Independent Thinking and Responsibility in Your Child
The child is not "controlled" by the lead guide and is able to work independently to satisfy his/her intellectual curiosity.  We as adults have a tendency (despite our best attempts to curb ourselves!) to interfere too greatly in the child's own natural development by offering assistance or direction when it is not needed or wanted.  Even well trained Montessori lead guides and assistants can fall into this trap if there are not enough children in the classroom.  This hampers a child's ability to learn optimally, leads to the child being controlled by adults, and ultimately results in a frustrated, unhappy learner.
The large classroom means that each child has more opportunity to learn the delicate balance between freedom and responsibility.  A child receives more freedom when he/she shows the ability to be more responsible for his actions.  He/she cannot learn responsibility if he/she doesn't have freedom, and freedom is curtailed in a classroom with fewer children per each adult.  The adult has a natural propensity towards trying to control the child.  In a large classroom, this cannot happen, and each child develops the inner discipline necessary for his/her success in later life.
A child has a tendency to go to adults for assistance, even when he/she doesn't need it.  In a large class, each child learns to do more on his/her own, and this is a powerful benefit of Montessori education.  He/she works longer and learns to overcome temporary obstacles as opposed to seeking out immediate adult assistance (thus enhancing problem-solving skills), and he/she learns to ask for help from a classmate (or provide the same).  This is empowering in and of itself!  Most importantly, he/she fulfills the driving need of the 3-6 year old for independence, one we hear every time the child says, "I can do it myself!"
 
National Montessori Standards
The national Montessori organizations stress the importance of larger classrooms with fewer adults.  The American Montessori Society (AMS) has standards that include classroom sizes of up to 30 children and a 1:15 ratio of adults to students.  The Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) sets a standard of 28-35 children in a classroom (children's house or elementary).  Maria Montessori's first classroom in 1907 had over fifty children and one adult!
 
Better Academic Environment
The Montessori curriculum was designed for a large number of children, so when there are not enough children, a lead guide may end up giving too many lessons to each child and inadvertently interfering with the child's own natural process of learning.  Too few children in a classroom hampers each child's independence and love of learning.
It is the quality and not the quantity of lessons that is critical.  This is why we are working constantly to improve the quality of the lessons presented to the children so that the lessons engage them more in substantive, stimulating work - the kind of work that leads to the "flow" espoused by Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his best-selling book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.  Thacher has nationally renowned consultants such as Shannon Helfrich help our guides move their lessons to deeper, more engaging levels for the children.  So, quality matters over quantity of lessons, and we are constantly striving to improve the quality of our school, to move from very good to great.
It creates more lesson groups in the elementary classrooms, providing the children with more opportunities to come and join in a particular lesson.
The greater opportunities for collaborative work among a large group of children gives your child more opportunities to develop his creative thinking skills, another quality your child's future teachers and employers will love.  The greater level of social interaction found in a large group provides greater intellectual stimulation and a wider variety of ideas and thoughts for your child.
 
Why have classrooms with more students?  You can see the reasons in these points about true Montessori practice.  Why is true Montessori practice important?  These practices help our children develop the values and skills that we as parents know will provide a foundation for your child to reach his fullest potential.  The most definitive studies that show the benefits of Montessori education come from true Montessori schools.  For example, an exhaustive longitudinal study (over 10+ years) of Milwaukee area children in three different schools - public Montessori, conventional public, and private school - showed that the Montessori children had much stronger cognitive and social skills than their non-Montessori peers when judged in second grade and eighth grade.  In this study, the researchers only looked at true Montessori schools with classrooms of 28-35 children (look under "Research" on the www.Montessori-AMI.org website for more details).
 
Our goal for each Children's House classroom is to limit enrollment to 28-30 children.  The admissions process is admittedly imprecise, and we sometimes have 27 or 31 in the classroom.  The "flow" of the classroom and the comfort of the other children and the guide determine what the precise number will be at any given time.  Once we begin the midday transitions (11:30 pick-up, lunch, and recess), we add a second assistant to each Children's House classroom who stays through the rest of the afternoon.  That second assistant helps with the transitions and with the nappers in the classroom.  Our enrollment limit for the elementary classrooms is the same 28-30.  In each of these classrooms, we have one lead guide and one assistant.
 
Epilogue
There is an epilogue to this story.  The parent and I went back to the classroom about thirty minutes later.  The five-year olds had come back from the library, and all of the children had gotten back into the materials.  There was the same old peaceful hum of productive work taking place with all of the children.  The lead guide was giving a lesson, and the assistant was sitting quietly in a chair observing.
 
Someone later said to me (when I related my impressions to her) that most parents only see the classroom during transition times (morning drop-off, pick-up from aftercare, lunchtime, or recess).  It is why I urge you to visit your child's classroom and observe: sense the flow of work during the morning period when there are a large number of children, see how they are engaged and focused, witness how the children are independent and don't need constant adult interaction, and experience the children's satisfaction as their curiosities are met through the Montessori materials.
 
Next Week in History: On February 6, 1930, Charles Birdseye introduced frozen foods to the American consumer for the first time.
 
Final Thoughts:
It is necessary for the teacher to guide the child without letting him feel her presence too much, so that she may always be ready to supply the desired help, but may never be the obstacle between the child and his experience.
                                                                                                                        --Maria Montessori
  

Letter from the Head of School  February 11, 2011   
 
This is the third in a three-part series about Montessori at the next level for your child.  This week, I am focusing on children staying for the final year of the children's house (kindergarten).
 
The last year of the children's house program is an extraordinary experience for your child.  The growth in that last year is not incremental (as one might consider the growth from the first to the second year); it is exponential.  There are two ways one sees this exponential growth in the child:
 
Opportunity for Leadership: By the time a child reaches the third year in the children's house, he or she has an understanding of the classroom's procedures, qualities, and especially rhythms.  This child knows the most materials and has developed the confidence to share his or her knowledge with others.  This third-year child becomes a mentor for the three- and four-year olds.  This helps develop leadership skills in your child as he or she learns to become a role model.  Through this, the third-year child develops self-confidence and, by mentoring a younger child with the materials, learns the concepts in each material more thoroughly.  Any parent who is a teacher knows that you have to know the concept/knowledge cold before you can teach others.
 
Explosion Into Learning: The three- and four-year olds learn amazing things in a Montessori classroom, but the amount of knowledge acquired by the child in the final year of the children's house cycle is astounding.  The child in the last year of the cycle moves from a functional writer/reader to a full reader and expressive writer, from a knowledge of numbers and some of the four math operations to working with numbers abstractly and all of the four math operations, from an understanding of land and water forms and the continents to an understanding of the countries and cultures on different continents, from a tentative understanding of the arts to a refinement of artistic interests.  The lead guide works in the afternoon especially with the children in the last year when they work with the more complicated, more abstract material.  The child in the last year of the cycle gains a deeper, more extensive understanding of academic knowledge.
 
Summary:  The child in the last year of the children's house cycle has an amazing experience.  It truly is a culminating year - one in which everything comes together for the benefit of the child.
 
Next Week in History:  On February 14, 1946, the University of Pennsylvania unveiled the first all-electronic computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer or ENIAC.  It weighed thirty tons, stood ten feet tall, and calculated a ballistic trajectory in thirty seconds.  ENIAC was the brainchild of mathematician Alan M. Turing, who developed the concept nine years earlier.
 
Final Thoughts: 
 
The first duty of an education is to stir up life, but leave it free to develop.
 
--Maria Montessori

Letter from the Head of School  February 4, 2011
 
 Last week, I went over some salient aspects of the Thacher Montessori elementary program so that you have an idea of what to expect (if you're child is younger) or experiencing (if older).  I'm going to write this week about the adolescent program [AP], which is the name for our middle school (7th and 8th grades).
 
Nature of the Adolescent:  Maria Montessori saw the twelve-year old as entering the "third plane" of development, shedding himself/herself of childhood and entering adulthood.  It is at this point that the physical development and introduction of hormones changes the human from a child into the adult form.  The adolescent feels that he or she is capable of doing great things (and wants the freedom to do so) but also wants to be sure that home and family are still available when he or she wants them (not the opposite!).  This adolescent wants to do great physical work, think great thoughts, and be a contributor to the community (local or global) but only if it's meaningful work.
 
Normally, the middle school years are the worst years of our lives because we have no self-identity.  We've shed our childhood persona but haven't determined yet who we are as adults.  It is the time we try different persona to see which one "fits": a hippie, a Rasta, a Goth, a jock, a brainiac, etc.  This leads to a loss of self-confidence as we stumble along in our struggle towards adulthood.  We are extremely sensitive, insecure, lethargic (not daring to try new things) and vulnerable to peer pressure.  What a terrible time!
 
Thacher's Adolescent Program:  Although there wasn't a great deal written by Maria Montessori about her pedagogy for the adolescent (only a small series of lectures later in her life), there has been a great deal of work by senior Montessori intellects that fleshed out a program, based on Montessori theory, psychology, and brain research.  Thacher follows the precepts laid down by David Kahn and others who have a deep knowledge of Montessori and/or worked with Maria or Mario Montessori.  Both Ty and Adam have received intensive training in the adolescent Montessori program David Kahn has developed over the past 15-20 years - a precursor to the first AMI 12-18 training certificate.
 
The purpose of the Montessori program at the adolescent level is to prepare the student for the academic rigors of high school and college but also to help develop an adult identity and self-confidence.  This is at the core of Thacher's AP.
 
Academics: The academic program for the first time does not have the three-hour blocks of uninterrupted time.  Instead, the students have a class schedule ("block" format) similar to any high school.  The students begin the day with up to an hour for self-reflection, study, carrying out their business, or socializing.  At 9:00, half of the students go to 45-minute math class with Sally while the rest have Spanish I with Elisa.  At 9:45, the two groups switch.  The adolescents use math texts that allow each student to go independently and at his or her own pace and appropriate math level.  There are five different math texts to reflect any of the five different levels of math (pre-algebra through algebra I and geometry to algebra II) at which a student could be working.  After math/Spanish, there are long blocks of time for art/PE/music, science, or an integrated program of social sciences/humanities/language arts, all centered on a theme that provides a context for learning.  Even though these blocks may include parts of or the whole class in lectures or seminar discussions, the program still has the capability to adapt somewhat to each child's interests and needs.  In other words, the AP is a transition from the Montessori environment found in an elementary classroom to a typical high school classroom environment while maintaining key components necessary for the development of the young adolescent.  There are also longer blocks during the year for the production of a play or the undertaking of a major project on the adjacent Wakefield property.
 
As part of this transition, Thacher's AP assigns homework, and there are measured assessments (grades) used for the first time.  The quality of Montessori education culminates with this program, and it is reflected in such measurements as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills ("Iowas") we give each year from third year on up through eighth year.  Our adolescents on average test out about three grades or so above the national norms.
 
Self-Identity: Thacher's AP is more than the academics however because this is a time for nurturing the adolescent's fragile psyche.  We provide an environment that is supportive so the teen can step out boldly into the world but be assured of the safe base left behind.  It is also an environment that allows time for and supports self-reflection because this is a necessary step in the adolescent's development of his or her fledgling adult self-identity.
 
Self-Confidence: Thacher's AP also provides time and resources to its "occupations" curriculum.  This includes activities that allow the teen to make a meaningful contribution to his or her world.  This part of the curriculum also includes the creation and sustainment of student-run businesses.  As you may know, Thacher AP students run the pizza delivery business on Wednesday and a coffee business everyday, and they raise chickens and vegetables at Wakefield for the eggs and produce that are available most Friday afternoons.  The eighth years also undertake a two-week internship in a business in the greater community.  All of these activities build a sense of purpose and accomplishment in the adolescent, leading to a growth in self-confidence and self-worth.
 
Transition to High School:  Despite the unique and wonderful nature of Montessori education, parents still worry about how well their children will transition to a conventional public or private high school.  We have been pleasantly surprised at how well our adolescents have done in admissions to select schools at the next level and how well all of our students have done in a wide range of high school environments.  Our alumni come back and tell us unanimously how well they were prepared for the next level, how easy the transition was, and (of course) how much they miss Thacher's AP!
 
Admissions: Our students do remarkably well in the interview stage of private high school admissions because our students are confident, articulate, imaginative, independent, and community-conscious.  As a former admissions officer at an elite prep school, I can't tell you how often I conducted interviews with morose, unexpressive students who didn't feel confident enough to shake your hand or look you in the eye, let alone express their views articulately and intelligently.  Thacher AP students are well beyond their peers in this area.  They also have some extraordinary experiences to share about running a business, demonstrating independence, and helping others.
 
Although their admissions staff will try to convince parents to come earlier, an overwhelming number of the private schools in this area have a large number of openings at ninth grade because that is the traditional transition point to high school.  When a child enters a high school environment in sixth or seventh grade, he or she comes into an environment catering to 17- and 18-year olds and with that older group's more mature perspective influencing the school's whole atmosphere.
 
Last year, we had graduates go to a wide diversity of schools: two chose public school, two attended the Boston Academy of the Arts (out of all the applicants, only a small number were selected from a private middle school like Thacher), and one each attended Beaver Country Day School, Newman School, Catholic Memorial School, Cardinal Spellman High School, and Xaverian Brothers School.
 
High School Life:  Our alumni come back and tell us that the transition to high school was very easy.  They cite their self-confidence and knowing who they were as young adults as reasons why they were able easily to make friends and adapt to the high school environment - no matter how strict or "traditional".  They felt the confidence to try new things, and they were academically prepared and had the organizational and planning skills to prosper.
 
Summary:  Thacher's Adolescent Program is a wonderful program because it helps prepare the student on academic and personal levels to be ready for the rigors of high school.  It provides the students with unique experiences and a safe, nurturing environment from which to step out and explore the world around them.  They serve as leaders and mentors for our younger students and are a model for us all.

Letter from the Head of School  January 28, 2011
 
Early next week we plan to send out progress reports as well as re-enrollment contracts for 2011-12.  Please let us know if you have not received either by Tuesday, February 8.  We will guarantee spaces for all children for whom we have received re-enrollment contracts and deposits by February 28.
 
The Thacher Elementary Program: This is the first part of a three-part series about the strengths of Thacher Montessori at the elementary level, at the adolescent level, and at the "kindergarten" level.
 
As you may recall from your admissions tour, the children in the elementary years are different creatures than the children's house students.  The 3-6-year olds are driven by a strong need for order, are able to see thing concretely, and are mostly focused on themselves ("egocentric").  The elementary children are able to abstract and see more easily the inter-connectivity of things.  Thus, elementary children ask more "why" and "how" questions.  This drives the elementary children to explore everything in the universe with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge - a phenomenon Montessori called cosmic education.
 
The elementary classroom environment at Thacher allows the children to satiate that thirst for knowledge in the manner that works best for each child.  The lead guide still introduces the child to a material and, by manipulating that material, the child learns the new concept.  There is more of a carry-through to doing the work eventually on paper and then learning it in his or her head.  We give the child the tools and the freedom to explore new knowledge and record it through research.  The child learns how to learn through this frequent research work, learns how to write research reports in an expository style, and develops his or her own unique style.  There is frequent practice of these skills as well as an opportunity to hone public speaking skills as he or she presents the report to the class.
 
I mentioned in the first paragraph that the 3-6 child has a powerful sense of order.  This is an artificial ability, temporarily bestowed on the child by nature, and it wanes by five or six years of age.  At that point, the elementary child is on his or her own and must begin to develop the skills of organization and planning.  It is a long, slow process however because the part of the brain where organization and planning occur are not completed until the early twenties!  In order to help each child develop these skills, we have each one use a work journal, where he or she writes down everything he or she is working on during the course of the day.  At the end of the week (for most children, some may meet more or less frequently), the lead guide will go over each child's journal with him or her in a mini-conference as another form of assessment.  This process helps the child develop the necessary planning and organizational skills for life.
 
In the elementary classroom at Thacher, the child can choose to learn when and how it best suits his or her way of learning.  Because the child can do it in this manner, the child learns the material more deeply (allowing knowledge to go from short-term to long-term memory) because the child learns the material in a context that works for him or her.  Research by such cognitive scientists as Dan Willingham (author of the highly regarded Why Children Don't Like School) and educators stress the importance of contextual learning as the most effective means for knowledge retention and motivation for learning.
 
The elementary lead guides have more assessment tools than their peers in the children's house or in conventional elementary classrooms.  They have the ability to review written work, quiz work, and research reports, but they also can assess the child through observations of the child's style of work, with whom the child works, and how the child interacts with the materials and other children.  Teachers and administrators at conventional schools are astounded by the level of understanding our lead guides have of our students.  Our guides keep copious records in each area of the curriculum.
 
Thacher's elementary classrooms add to the development of independence and initiative in each child.  By nurturing independent thinking and action (and the commiserate responsibility that go along with them), the child is motivated to want to learn.  In his recent book, Drive, Daniel Pink talks about motivation and what leads to "drive" in humans.  It is not a learned skill that can be taught (and the more one tries to force it through rigid structure, the weaker the drive one develops).  It is nurtured through the ability to choose, to pursue independently, to enjoy the sensation of satisfaction and self-confidence, and to want to drive further.  If the child is not motivated, there are natural consequences that are reasonably represented and limit a child's freedom.  The key is that the child has a sense of control over his or her own destiny.  This is the reason that Daniel Pink at the end of his book recommends Montessori education.
 
The greatest strength of Thacher's elementary program is its nurturing of emotional (also known as social) intelligence because recent research by such famous psychologists as Daniel Goleman (Emotional Intelligence) have found the greatest determinant of future success of a person is not the school he or she attends, birth order, or even cognitive intelligence - it is the level of emotional intelligence that person has.  In other words, the person who has high skill levels in interacting with other people, collaborating with other people, and resolving conflicts with other people has the greatest chance of future success.   These are the root of the oft cited "21st century skills" that futurologists say are key for the next generation's success.
 
Thacher Montessori children have high emotional intelligences - it is one of the reasons why our children interview well when applying to their next school.  The elementary child has a natural drive within him or her towards emotional intelligence, through the development of a sense of social and moral order. This "order" takes over in the child, aged 6-12, and replaces the lost personal order and routine that the pre-six year old artificially had.  The child has a powerful need to determine how to interact appropriately with other children.  The classroom environment at Thacher nurtures this drive for moral and social order.  This is why the classroom is set up with large tables with four or more seats around each table.  The child can do his or her academic work while practicing collaborative work, honing his or her social skills, and learning to work within a community.
 
By the end of the six elementary years, the twelve-year old is a confident, responsible, motivated, and socially adept individual - ready to face the challenges of becoming an adolescent!
 
Next Week in History:  On February 1, 1790, the U.S. Supreme Court convened for the first time.
 
Final Thoughts: 
 
"We must begin our work by preparing the child for the forms of social life, and we must attract his attention to these forms."

 
--Maria Montessori

I hope you had a restful holiday with your family.  As I walk around the school this week, I am amazed at how quickly the children get back into the "flow" of work.  There were some big works out in the children's house classrooms, and I saw a number of children at the elementary level beginning research projects.  Kristyn had a large group in art studio on Wednesday, and Victor had several nascent "garage bands" forming with children looking to pick up a new instrument to play.
 
Although it is a slow month because of the cold and dark, there are a number of activities that make the period fly by in some respects.  We have skiing beginning this Friday for the adolescents, and skating begins at all levels next Thursday and Friday.
 
For the further education of parents, we have a number of events for you in the next few weeks:

• There is a parent forum next Tuesday afternoon at 5 pm.  We will have some brief videos to show - one by Sir Ken Robinson about the evolution of American education and what is needed in the 21st century.
• Thacher is co-sponsoring a 7 pm talk on January 19 at Thompson Hall on the campus of Thayer Academy by noted professor, neurologist, and pediatrician Steven Hughes about parenting in these modern times.
• There is a Thacher Parents Association meeting on Thursday, January 20 at 5 pm.
• We have a morning coffee scheduled for Tuesday, January 25, at 8 am, continuing our exploration of language, especially at the elementary level.
• Finally, on Wednesday, February 2, we have a Parent Education Night at 5 pm.
   
  We also have progress reports that will be mailed around January 28 so you should have them by early February.  Around the same time, we will be sending out re-enrollment contracts.  If you have not received one by Friday, February 11, please let us know; it may have been lost in the mail (which occurred to several families two years ago!).
   
  Next Week in History:  On January 12, 1992, the fictional computer HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey was "born".  In real life, this was also the date when the world wide web was made available.
   
  Final Thoughts: 

The secret of good teaching is to regard the child's intelligence as a fertile field in which seeds may be sown, to grow under the heat of flaming imagination.
- Maria Montessori

As we prepare to shut down Thacher for the next two weeks, I want to pass on my wishes to you and your family for a peaceful, joyous time with your children and with friends and family.
 
Reflections of a Traveler: I just returned from visiting my son who is a public school teacher in the Mississippi Delta, an area of the state that is famous as the home of Delta Blues.  In fact, the town he is in is the birthplace of B.B. King and within a few miles of Robert Johnson's famous crossroads.  It is also the area made famous by the recent movie, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"  It is a very rural, poor, depressed area of our country.
 
While I was there, I had a chance to visit his school and attend two of his high school math classes.  I came away with some strong impressions about conventional American education and its juxtaposition to our education at Thacher Montessori School - not as a public school to a private school, but as a conventional school to a Montessori school.  The first impression was how little diversity there was in the classroom - ethnically, socio-economically, and sadly, educationally.  I compared it with the rich diversity we have at Thacher and felt blessed. 
 
The other strong impression was how much my son had to "teach to the test".  Although he had just won the district's teacher of distinction award, he spent as much time that day in his algebra II classes giving students shortcuts (strategies and tricks) for answering the multiple choice questions on their interim MCAS-comparable tests as he was reviewing the content itself.  This was the accepted teaching practice, but it only emphasized the students' retention of the information into short-term memory, to be forgotten soon after the test.  It made me thankful once again for the emphasis Thacher places on allowing the child to learn in a way that stores new wisdom into the child's short- and long-term memory.
 
In this season of giving, I want to acknowledge that you have made a wonderful gift to your child by enrolling him or her in a Montessori school, giving your child the opportunity to develop the academic and life skills about which Dr. Sternberg talks below.
 
2011-12 Tuition:  The Thacher Board of Trustees met and approved the tuition for next year.  In its decision-making process, the Board identified costs that they know will remain the same for 2011-12 (building mortgage) and those that will rise (energy, health insurance).  In addition, the Board wanted to increase staff salaries (the single largest cost for the school) to ensure our competitiveness in the job market and retain staff.
 
After receiving parent feedback, the administration also recommended to the Board that we roll any miscellaneous class fees into the tuition so that families would no longer have these mandatory extra fees "tacked on" at some point during the year.  These include fees for camping trips, field trips, and cooking fees.  The Board accepted this recommendation in their deliberations.
 
Tuition costs for 2011-12 are below.  The drop-off and pick-up times have not changed:

Toddler - $17,000
Children's House (Morning Only) - $9,200
Children's House (Full Day) - $12,900
Lower Elementary - $14,100
Upper Elementary - $15,125
Adolescent - $16,700

Before School Care - $2,490
After School Care (to 4:45) - $2,760
Late After School Care - $4,985
Toddler After School Care - $3,275
Toddler Late After School Care - $4,985
 
Small Hands Catalog: Remember, if you wish to order from this catalog, please put Thacher School Customer Number (120408) in the lower left corner of the order form.
 
Next Week in History:  On December 18, Keith Richards, songwriter and guitarist of the Rolling Stones, will turn 67.  His continued existence points to the wondrous mysteries of life and leaves us all incredulous.
 
Final Thoughts: 
 
In our society, in part as a result of the No Child Left Behind Act, we place so much emphasis on narrow abilities and knowledge that often students who are the 'best' academically have had little incentive to develop the emotional intelligence, practical intelligence, and wisdom-based skills that are needed to lead the institutions of society.  Hence one can end up with particular leaders who are educated at elite institutions - who are very smart in the SAT sense - and then sometimes prove unable to connect with the rest of the population and who create financial and ethical messes because their analytical skills were never adequately complemented by the creative, practical, and wisdom-based skills they need truly to succeed as leaders.

Even though it feels like the year just started, we are already in the holiday period - as evidenced by the Christmas and Hanukkah paraphernalia strewn about stores and malls.  I thought I would use this week's issue to talk about some odds 'n ends.
 
2011-12:  Even though the year is only about a third done, we are already beginning the budget process for 2011-12.  We don't anticipate any significant changes for next year, but we will provide parents with an opportunity to learn of any updates or ask any questions at a parent forum on January 11.  Again, at this point, we do not anticipate any changes in the academic program, just a continuation of the good work done now by the guides, specialists, and assistants.
 
Thacher Support to Haitian Families:  The Thacher community had the opportunity this fall to welcome to the school two families that lost everything in the Haitian earthquake last January and came to the United States as refugees.  The three children are doing well at Thacher (even though English was not their main language), and we are honored to have them here.
 
Parent Speaker Series: We are trying to nail down a series of talks for parents this winter and spring about parenting since that is the top request for information from Thacher parents as a whole.  We have already lined up the first in the series: Steven Hughes will speak on January 19 on the issue of modern parenting.  Dr. Hughes is a Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology at The University of Minnes
ota (and a Montessori parent!).
 
State Anti-Bullying Law:  The Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed a law last spring as a result of the tragic bullying incident in a central Massachusetts high school.  The law requires every school in the Commonwealth to have an anti-bullying policy in place by December 31, but the Attorney General's office did not decide on parameters for compliance until September.  Since that time, schools have been scrambling to comply, and Thacher is no different.  We have a task force of representative staff members who are preparing a comprehensive policy, and they will be sharing it shortly with the parent body so that they can garner your feedback.  We commend the Commonwealth for taking steps to protect the children of Massachusetts and look forward to getting your feedback.
 
Thacher Annual Fund:  This is the time of year that Thacher asks every family to consider a gift to the Annual Fund.  We use the proceeds from the annual fund to underwrite visiting artists, to fund experts to speak to you the parents (or to the children), and to provide financial assistance to families who would not otherwise be able to attend Thacher.  If we receive enough through the Annual Fund, we want to use the additional proceeds from this year to purchase revolutionary new playground material designed to spur imagination and creativity in CH and LE children as well as build a boardwalk with science stations in the adjacent wetlands, thereby enhancing the science curriculum for our older students.
 
We strive to keep our tuition low, which means we don't have the ability to meet all of the school's needs through that end.  We must rely on contributions to fund these small but significant items.  Please consider this and give generously when you receive your solicitation envelope.
 
Next Week in History:  One hundred years ago on November 20, Penn Station opened in New York City.  It soon became the hub for commuter rail traffic from New Jersey and Long Island as well as the regional Pennsylvania Railroad, which ran throughout the eastern United States.  In the 1960s, workers removed the above-ground portion of the station and built the fourth version of Madison Square Garden on top of the underground portion.
 
Final Thoughts: 
 
Our teaching must only answer the mental needs of the child, never dictate them.
- Maria Montessori
 

I hope you have a good conference with your child's guide next week.  It is a time to learn a bit more about how your child is doing in the classroom academically, faring socially and emotionally, and developing as an independent, resourceful learner.

I wanted to share some news with you that pertain to the parents of children's house students.  We have made some slight adjustments in the administrative tasks carried out at the school.  Deba is going to focus more on her responsibilities in admissions and with the financial aids program and will no longer be the children's house/toddler education coordinator.  The children's house and toddler lead guides have asked me to serve as their interim program coordinator, and I have enthusiastically agreed, effective immediately.  While I have 3-6 Montessori training and twelve years of experience with toddler and children's house classrooms, I will continue to rely at times on Deba's accumulated wisdom.

I look forward to speaking with you should you ever have any questions pertaining to those two programs!

Next Week in History: 

One hundred years ago, on November 1, 1910, W.E.B. Dubois published the first issue of Crisis, the magazine of the NAACP.  On this same day in 1945, the first issue of Ebony was published.

Final Thoughts: 

"Children are human beings to whom respect is due, superior to us by reason of their innocence and of the greater possibilities of their future."

-Maria Montessori

Thacher hosted a Montessori consultant this week who spent some time with the Children's House guides. Thanks to the support we receive from families through the Annual Fund, we had the financial means to make this possible. The consultant spent two days observing the guides in their classrooms and giving each guide personalized feedback and suggestions for improving the classroom environment.

The consultant's visit inspired me to write this week about the importance of observation in Montessori education. Montessori pedagogy uniquely permits the adult in the classroom to spend a significant part of the day observing the children and indeed encourages it.

When Maria Montessori graduated from medical school in the late 19th century, prejudices against professional women at that time prevented her from starting a traditional medical practice. Instead, she worked at a children's health asylum and undertook research that fed her interests in anthropology and psychology. Unlike other researchers of the day, Montessori followed the precepts of the Scientific Method, which called for careful observation. Montessori undertook extensive observations of children in the asylum and recorded her findings in the best scientific style of the day. She soon realized that traditional methods of education were ineffective for these children, and she began developing what would eventually become the Montessori Method (actually, she called it the "Scientific Method for Education"). The bases of her work were the findings that came from her extensive observations.

As Montessori began training other adults in her method of education, she also gave training for how to observe children in a scientific and precise manner. That tradition continues down to today as Montessori teacher training includes a component on how to observe correctly and effectively to the benefit of the children in the classroom environment.

Observations are important to the Montessori guide because it is our primary assessment instrument. The guide is able to assess each child's academic progress and performance as well as his or her social and emotional development: interaction with friends, how the child handles challenges (academic or social), progress towards self-control, self-discipline, and independence, etc. The teacher in a Montessori environment will know much better your child than a teacher in a conventional school because we don't have to be lecturing all day and can take the time just to observe the nuances of your child's growth and development. When our guides go to assessment conferences, the public schools teachers and administrators are amazed at the depth of knowledge our guides have about each particular child. The guide's observations are also important because they give the guide a sense of the overall flow of the classroom and to "step back" and gain some perspective on the whole class.

The observations go hand-in-hand with the extensive record keeping that we keep on each child. While the lead guide is chiefly responsible for the creation and maintenance of these records, you will often find the classroom assistant sitting and doing observations and recording information for the lead guide about the classroom as a whole or about individual children.

We begin opening the classrooms next week to observations by current and prospective families. We wait for at least five weeks after the beginning of school so that the children become normalized to their environment. I urge you to come observe your child (or to observe classrooms at the next level). Contact Maureen at the front desk to schedule an observation time (so we don't have two sets of parents in one classroom at the same time). While we prefer having just one parent at a time, we also recognize that sometimes a couple need to come together, and we will accommodate that. When you observe, we'll give you some simple instructions beforehand and have you take a designated seat in the classroom. You can spend up to an hour in your observation, and you may schedule observations up to once a month. Afterwards, if one of us is available, Deba, Alice, or I will be happy to have an informal conversation with you about your observation and answer any questions you may have. If you schedule it with Maureen, I would also be happy to sit in the observation with you for part of the time to answer any immediate questions. When you observe, you'll get a feel for your child's work as well as the flow of the classroom.

Observations are an important part of what we do. I hope you'll partake of the opportunity to observe your child and see the magic of your child in a Montessori environment.

Next Week in History

On October 19, 1605, Sir Thomas Browne was born in London. A physician by trade, Dr. Browne is best known today as the author of some immortal sayings, including "charity begins at home" and "there is no road or ready way to virtue".

Final Thoughts:

"The environment itself will teach the child, if every error is manifest to him, without the intervention of a parent or teacher, who should remain a quiet observer of all that happens."

Maria Montessori, The Child in the Family

As you are aware, Thacher Montessori School will be closed this upcoming Monday, October 11, for Columbus Day. I hope you can enjoy the long weekend with your family.

The Importance of Language

Earlier this week, I gave a brief introduction to the children's house parents on language in a Montessori 3-6 classroom as part of our parent education program. I am repeating some of that information in this letter that is centered on the toddler and children's house child.

What is Language? The answer is very simple - it is our means to communicate facilely with one another. Language allows us to convey complex thoughts, emotions, and abstractions through a commonly accepted set of vocal patterns (spoken words) or symbols (letters and words).

Sensitive Period for Language

Biologists have identified innate abilities by animals and plants to acquire more acutely stimuli from their surroundings at certain times in their existence. You usually see sensitive periods in very young creatures who do not have intricate abilities to do otherwise. Humans have these sensitive periods, and one of the most pronounced between birth (actually pre-birth) and six years of age is language. The human brain is especially attenuated to acquire language in these early years. The fetus begins hearing and distinguishing sounds in the womb. The newborn reacts to sound. Within the first few weeks (after learning to focus eyes), the child looks at the adult speaking to him or her - notice the month-old looks at the adult's mouth (to see how the sounds are formed), not at the adult's eyes.

The infant is especially focused on the acquisition of sound and the ability to move muscles in order to copy these speech patterns of adults, thereby learning to communicate. As this process continues, the child begins picking up words at a prodigious rate. At two, the child knows 200 words; at six, the child knows 10,000-15,000 words! The child also picks up style, tone, inflection, and syntax of his or her native language.

The child's brain is more than just a receptor of sounds; it is also the receptor of images. Part of the human brain, the cerebellum, works to filter all of the stimuli fed to the brain. However, the cerebellum is not completely operational at birth (up to age three) in order to allow the infant to take in the whole totality of stimuli received by the child's senses. The child's brain therefore adapts itself to take in the onrush of sensorial stimuli (one of the reasons for another sensitive period - that of order). As the child takes in all this sensory stimulation, the brain stores it as images in memory.

Language as a Retriever

How does the child retrieve all these images in his or her brain? Language. The purpose of words is to be a link to an image. In the brain, different areas link together in language. The part of the cortex where memories are stored connects with the spatial reasoning part of the brain (which deciphers the word visually), the occipital lobe (which either sees or hears the word), the brain's limbic system (associated with emotions), and the temporal lobe (formation of language), but the link to all of this is the word. For example, when I say "baseball", you don't think b-a-s-e-b-a-l-l. You visualize the ball itself or the game and that triggers memories about baseball or its sounds that in turn trigger emotions about the memories - all of this in a nanosecond. In this example, as with all of our language, the words we use convey our set of experiences (memories), and the words we hear also conjure up experiences that share enough familiarity with the speaker as to allow communication to occur.

Montessori & Language

So how does Montessori fit in? The brain has to make judgments of the information it receives from the senses. This reflects intelligence because intelligence is the ability to interpret and distinguish (or arrange) the sensory data; therefore, one must have mental order (again, order is another sensitive period for young children). The Montessori classroom nurtures the young child's natural predilection for order. The Montessori classroom is designed to isolate aspects of language in order for the child to concentrate on developing a particular skill. At first, it's the ability to discern sounds accurately. This evolves to the acquisition of symbols that reflect the sounds (our system of letters) and then the blending of sounds to form words. Ultimately, this leads to writing, then reading, then the merging of imagination and skill to develop creative writing. Each of these is done in a way that allows the child to isolate the activity in order to concentrate better and acquire the "skill" more easily.

While I talk about the ability to learn each part on its own, the other strength of the Montessori method is the ability to use the child's whole mind and to understand the holistic approach to learning. Montessori allows the child to actively use different parts of the mind involved in language, and intelligence in the child flourishes. Noted psychologist Robert Sternberg states that intelligence involves analytical, creative, and practical aspects of the brain: "The analytical aspect is used to solve problems, the creative aspect to decide what problems to solve, and the practical aspect to make solutions effective." All of them come into play in the process of acquiring language in a Montessori classroom - the analytical (understanding the formation of words through oral language activities in the classroom), the creative (first, associating the sandpaper letters with a variety of words that start with that letter and then later, using a child's burgeoning imagination to help learn the parts of speech), and the practical (the moveable alphabet, the child's means to encode his or her thoughts into our symbolic language - words!).

Language and the Home

There are a number of things you can do to help your child in this evolution from acquisition to mastery. The first is to read often to your child so that he or she sees the blending of sounds and associates the sounds to the symbols (letters) on the page. The second is to engage your child in conversation so that he or she utilizes expressive skills. Include your child in social situations so he or she can pick up style, tone, inflection, and syntax. Find a place for your child to read that is near where you read or relax. Help your child learn how to turn a page correctly in a book, carry a book, and put a book back on the shelf. Read together. Expose your child to lots of experiences to help build her "bank" of memories - take her out for nature walks, go to museums, visit farms and zoos, go to the grocery store - in each case give him or her words to describe the objects you see. Finally, play games that support language development (Simon says, name objects, guess what I'm thinking, question game) and invent rhymes and poems with your child to help stimulate his or her creative side.
You should avoid television and other video media (computers, video games, etc.) because of the harmful impact on the child's progression towards language acquisition - but that's a talk for a different week!

Next Week in History

On October 13, 1903, the Boston Pilgrims beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in the very first World Series. The Pilgrims later became our beloved Red Sox.

Final Thoughts

To be able to distinguish, classify, and catalogue external things on the basis of a secure order already established in the mind - this is at once intelligence and culture.

-Maria Montessori, The Advanced Montessori Method, v.I

I thought I would present this week some basic information about the school and updates for both new and returning families.

Thacher Board of Trustees

First of all, Thacher is a non-profit school run by a Board of Trustees. We have eleven Board members, consisting of four current parents, six parents of alumni, a Montessori guide at another school, and the former superintendent of schools for Milton. The Board meets in the evening seven times a year and has responsibility to oversee the administration's running of the school, establish the school's strategic direction, and ensure the school's financial health and stability. A Board member usually attends morning coffees and parent forums. The chairperson of the Board is Jeff Goolgasian. Jeff has served on the Board since 2006, and his daughter went to Thacher for many years and now attends Thayer Academy. The current parent members are Nitanya Andrews (AP), Nina Bowman (LE), Lisa Martin (UE & AP), and Siri Panday (Toddler).

There are five committees of the Board

Audit, Development, Executive, Finance, and Governance.The Audit Committee only meets once or twice in the fall and consists of Finance Committee members (without staff). We invite parents to participate as non-Board members on the Development and Audit/Finance Committees. If you're interested in serving on one of these, please let me know - we can never have too many committee members!

The Board works very hard to maintain its strategic focus and not overstep its boundaries by becoming involved in operational issues. Therefore, if you ever have any concerns or issues about the school, please come address them with me first. If we cannot resolve them, then the Board will schedule a time for you to address them with the Board. If your concern relates to me as head of school, you can communicate through Bob Southard, the business manager.

Thacher Accreditation

Thacher Montessori School is accredited by the Association of Independent Schools of New England (AISNE) and the American Montessori Society (AMS). We also strive to follow Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) standards. We are not accredited by AMI however because they require that every lead guide has an AMI Montessori certificate. All of our toddler, children's house, and elementary guides have Montessori teaching certificates at the appropriate level from AMI or AMS. Our Adolescent Program guides, Ty and Adam, have NAMTA 12-15 certificates, which AMI recognizes since AMI doesn't yet offer a certificate at that level. To be accredited, we also had to have Montessori-trained administrators. Our elementary/adolescent education coordinator (Alice) has an AMI 6-12 certificate and is a consultant for AMI. Deba, our toddler/children's house education coordinator, has an AMI -3-6 and an AMS 6-9 certificate. I have an AMS administrator's certificate and an AMI 3-6 teacher's certificate.

We just had a AISNE/AMS visiting team come to the school to conduct an interim review of Thacher, and they praised the quality of the school and its educational mission. Our accreditation is in place for another five years.

2010 Strategic Plan

As part of our accreditation process in 2006, we conducted a self-study and a strategic planning process. Since that time, we have enhanced our programs, added new levels (toddler and fully enrolled adolescent programs), and expanded the building by adding the second floor. The Board, recognizing these changes since 2006 and understanding its strategic, long-range responsibility, initiated a self-study and strategic planning process last year. While it began in the late spring of 2009, the bulk of the work occurred in the winter and spring of 2010. Thanks to the many hours of work and guidance by Nina Bowman, the process was a success. We had many parents, all of the staff, alumni, Board members, and even the students participate in the process.

Thanks to feedback from parents and staff last spring, we have already implemented some changes: We have developed a consensus on the school's pedagogical values (the Characteristics of a "True Montessori School") that I shared with you in this space two weeks ago; you've received Tomorrow's Child as a means of helping you understand Montessori better, and we arranged our parent events to occur earlier this year and have childcare and food available for your children here at Thacher. These are just some of the results directly from the self-study and strategic planning process of last spring.

The Board will review the strategic plan in its finality at its October meeting and approve the recommended implementation steps for 2010-11. I will share that information with you in November after their approval.

Let me end by thanking the parents who participated in the process last year - either in the feedback sessions or by serving on one of the task forces. The work was exhaustive but important, and it has helped make our school even better.

Next Week in History

On October 1, 1908, Henry Ford introduced the first Model T automobile. The "Tin Lizzie" was the first car to be built on an assembly line, and it revolutionized the industry. To ensure efficiency, there were no options on the car. Mr. Ford said that you could get the Model T in any color - as long as it was black.

Final Thoughts

The children in our schools are free, but that doesn't mean there is no organization. Organization, in fact, is necessary, and if the children are to be free to work, it must be even more thorough than in the ordinary schools...Free choice is one of the highest of all the mental processes.

Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind

There was an article in the New York Times earlier this month titled, "Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits". The author interviewed some leading cognitive scientists from around the country and discovered that there have been some major leaps and changes in how they view cognition. Some parents asked me how these discoveries mesh with Montessori pedagogy so I thought I'd give it a try.

The author begins controversially by trashing the notion that there are certain kinds of learners ("visual" learners, etc). To a certain extent, he's right - just as there is no "right-brain thinker" or "left-brain thinker" (the corpus callosum prevents this). We are all "total-brain" learners. As with everything with the brain, the answer is not so black and white however. Each of our brain's neural networks is wired differently so that each of us processes information in different ways. We may receive visual information better than someone else because our neural network is wired to interconnect our spatial reasoning and mathematical reasoning areas better with our five senses. It doesn't mean that we have a "super" visual sense (or lack the abilities in the other areas). It means that one person's use of his or her neural wiring is different from another person.
The author goes on to cite scientists' recent findings that long periods of study in one place don't augment retention; rather, mixed locations work better. I certainly find this to be vindication for all the times my mother made me go to my room to study ("You see, Mom, I was right!"). I have a terrible time sitting down and memorizing! Yet, I can spout off trivia and have a pretty good knack for retaining historical events and the precise date on which each event occurred. There are two reasons: learning works best when more of the brain is involved in the study (more neural pathways formed) and when learning occurs within a context for the student (and I learned all that trivia in context).

In Montessori, we provide the child the opportunity to move around the room when he or she learns. This is important because it isn't just a change of scenery. The movement requires the use of more of the brain to make a connection to the new piece of information. The act of movement, the assessment of one's new position in the classroom (or outside of the classroom), the position we're in when learning, and the friends with whom we learn all create experiences that translate into neural pathways in the brain, and they are all tied to the new piece of learned information. The more neural pathways we form to a piece of learned information, the more easily we can retrieve it.

We also provide the child the opportunity to learn virtually everything in context. In history for example, the elementary child uses a timeline and physically places event cards along the timeline (requiring movement). That work might create a spark of interest for the student in another subject area that he has the freedom to pursue. The new work will be retained better (as will the original history work) because it was learned at a time when the child's mind was receptive to the work (He chose it.) and there are additional neural pathways connecting the two pieces of information. This is why the author goes on to say that diverse information is better retained than a singular focus on one subject. The connection follows the child's natural learning process in Montessori. Forcing the connection on the child as in conventional education ("Learn this, now learn that.") is not nearly as effective because the child doesn't come by the connection naturally and the neural pathways are not nearly as solidified or efficient.

So, in a Montessori classroom, there are more neural pathways formed to a piece of information, and it makes it much more likely the brain can retain and retrieve it.

Finally, the author makes another bold statement - there is a benefit to tests. Much like his comment on visual learners, there is some over-simplification here. There are a lot of things wrong with standardized tests, which the author lumps in with all other tests. The problems with standardized tests are too myriad to discuss here, and the author misses the main point by lumping all tests together. The research says that a student who learns information and then takes a test is more likely to do well on a second test than a student who studies the same information twice over before the test. This is because a test is really just an exercise in the retrieval of information from our brain along established neural pathways our brains have created. If I get a chance to check those neural pathways by retrieving them, then my brain has a chance to determine where the obstacles in the neural pathways exist and amend them (by creating new pathways). When I take the test a second time (like the first student above), I've already refined the neural pathways I need to use to retrieve the information and will therefore perform better.

In Montessori, there are a lot of opportunities for the child to be "tested" in a low pressure manner to hone his or her retrieval skills in the most optimum manner (because it is low pressure). This is the basis of the third part of the three-part lesson - a basis for Montessori education at the younger levels. The child is provided the chance to retrieve the information after having the chance to learn it in context.

It ultimately boils down to establishing as many neural connections in your brain between a piece of information and other stimuli or pieces of information. All of those various pathways will make the retrieval of that one piece of information much easier.

Next Week in History

On September 28, 551 BCE, the famous Chinese philosopher Confucius was born in Shantung province. Like Socrates, he never wrote down any of his thoughts. His students wrote down his thoughts and had them circulated.

Final Thoughts

"The life of the spirit prepares the dynamic power for daily life, and, on its side, daily life encourages thought by means of ordinary work."

Maria Montessori, The Child in the Family

We have completed the first full week of the school year. The toddlers are settling in, the children's house children are beginning to find their rhythm within the classroom, the elementary children are already getting into research projects, and the adolescents are enjoying a wonderful experience in their four-day camping trip to central Maine.

Arrival and Departure Thoughts

As everyone knows, it is very important for your child to arrive on time in the morning. If they arrive after the class has begun, it is difficult for your child socially because everyone else is already at work and no longer interested in a morning chat. It is also disruptive to the classroom when children arrive late.
We understand that Boston traffic may impede you, but here are some thoughts to help move along a slow starter in the morning:

• Prepare and plan so you can avoid the usual morning obstacles: have your slow starter lay out his or her clothes the previous night, establish a set routine for when breakfast occurs and the car leaves and establish appropriate natural consequences when the routine is not followed (consequences that evening), and pack all bags and backpacks the previous night.
• Aim to arrive at Thacher halfway between the start and end of drop-off. This gives you a seven-minute cushion on either end. This same point holds true for pick-up in the afternoon. The car line is longest at the beginning of the appropriate drop-off/pick-up window and it dissipates quickly thereafter.

For next week, children's house pick-up will be between 2:40 and 3 pm. After next week, the children's house guides will bring the children out at 2:45.

If you arrive after the designated pick-up time, simply park and come in. We'll help you locate your child so that you can be on your way quickly and effortlessly.

What We Mean When We Say Thacher Practices "True Montessori"

There are characteristics of a true Montessori school to which we aspire and hold ourselves accountable. I have listed below the characteristics for children's house and elementary children for your information. Please feel free to talk with Alice, Deba, your child's guide, or me if you have questions about any of them!

Characteristics of a True Montessori 3-6 Program

Work of the Child

• depth of work, not breadth - inspiring the child to develop new and more complicated means by which to use the material
• maintenance of flow/normalization
• integration of language into all aspects of the child's work
• freedom of choice for work, self-directed activity
• hands-on learning
• spontaneous activity

Work of the Adult

• model appropriate behavior
• engage the child with the environment
• humility and respect for the child's work
• avoid unnecessary assistance to the child
• love and acceptance of the child
• emphasize intrinsic motivation, not external rewards/motivations
• firm at the edges, empathetic at the center
• observe frequently
• clear and precise instruction and guidance

Environment of the Classroom

• artworks, wall hangings, cultural artifacts, and plants - changed frequently to stimulate the child's curiosity
• large number of children (rec. 28-35) and one lead guide
• individualized lesson presentations
• one set of each classroom material, developmentally age appropriate
• furniture and educational materials composed of natural materials and sized to fit the children
• educational materials designed to teach a specific concept
• educational materials are auto-correcting

Nature of the Day

• 2-3 hour uninterrupted work periods
• 1-1/2 hour lunch and recess
• minimal time in circle/gatherings or in lines

Nature of the Child's Community

• art, cultural activities done within the context of the child's interests and explorations in the classroom
• emphasis on grace and courtesy

World Outside the Classroom

• Integration of the outdoor world into the curriculum
• Use of outdoor world to inspire and motivate the child to the classroom materials

Child's Record of Progress

• allow the child to feel an ownership of his work
• lead guide keeps meticulous record of daily/weekly plans and results

Nature of the Child

• encourage the development of responsibility
• encourage the development of independence in thought and action
• emphasis on cooperation and collaboration, not competition
• social responsibility
• emphasis on freedom within limits, to ensure responsibility for one's own actions
• stewardship of the earth

Characteristics of a True Montessori 6-12 Program

The Work of the Child

• attend lessons chosen by the child or by the guide for him - lessons are an introduction to a concept, an experiment, a procedure or a story
• choose work to practice based on responsibility and interest - "work" is the child's investigation of the lessons presented; the products of the child's work vary: oral presentations, written reports, drawings, models, etc.
• act with grace and courtesy; make positive contributions to the community
• know responsibilities as a part of his own education; the child is taught to recognize strengths and weaknesses, and he is provided with tools and opportunities for self-evaluation (keeping a daily work journal, regularly scheduled conferences with the teacher, an introduction to the public school curriculum/state standards)

The Work of the Adult

• give lessons from albums (Montessori curriculum)- impart key concepts in every subject area to every child
• instruct by demonstration, observation, guidance, rather than dictation - instruction becomes collaborative
• tell stories to give children context - "Cosmic Education" is grounded in the study of history; true stories the children's imagination and create a profound respect for the human beings who have come before us
• engage children by inspiring them across subject areas; "touch the child's imagination so as to enthuse him to his innermost core"
• prepare the classroom environment - including the personal preparation of the adult
• provide opportunities for exploration beyond the classroom
• encourage students to do what Montessori called "Great Work;" children should be creating large, complicated, detailed, engaging projects and working on them with groups of peers - children learn to make a plan and carry out a process, as well as develop their conflict management skills
• observe with the purpose of identifying obstacles to the child's learning
• guide children to learn to make good choices, not just to acquire facts
• have a solid foundation in theory so as to plan appropriately, self evaluate, and be able to guide parents to partner in their child's education
• meet regularly with each child to confer about progress, suggest work he might do, make agreements about work yet to be done, and collaborate with the child as he moves through his development - help the child develop good time management and organizational skills
• communicate with parents, keeping the child's best interests at heart
• Montessori's advice (from Cosmic education lecture, theory album):
  Prepare the environment, ensure that the child's natural tendencies can operate in that environment, let the child be free to act in the prepared environment, observe this child behaving in appropriate, normal ways, remove obstacles as they are identified.

The Prepared Environment in the Classroom

• clean, calming, organized, attractive, limited
• layout affords freedom and choice, but also encourages respect for peers
• provides routine as well as flexibility
• materials are limited and purposeful, no materials that are not present in the albums from training without the consultation of the education coordinator

The Prepared Environment Outside the Classroom

• The universe is the child's environment; he should know something of the context in which his life and learning occur
• "Going Out" - the classroom is limited so that the child must seek additional information outside the classroom in order to satisfy his curiosity; the guide lends support to the child as he seeks adults/resources from the larger community for advice, knowledge, and mentoring

Community

• peers, adults, additional adults (in the school and out)
• an environment of respect is maintained; all community members acknowledge and put into practice the ideas of grace and courtesy - conducting oneself with grace while extending courtesy to those around you
• children and adults express their ideas respectfully and listen to the opinions and ideas of others
• there is a wide range of opportunities for students to be both leaders and followers; they are encouraged to share, negotiate, compromise, be patient, and take initiative

Framework of Montessori

• mixed age groups
• freedom and limits
• environment prepared for the specific developmental period

Curriculum

• "Cosmic Education" - give the child tools to access to the whole world, near and far, past and present, and offer him opportunities for exploration in areas of interest
• there are "must-knows" in every subject area
• experiential learning when appropriate (Going Out, cooking, playing instruments, etc.)
• interdisciplinary, not as a buzzword, but in practice and attitude

Recorded Progress

• child's own work record, regular conferences serve as check to freedoms
• written and verbal reports to parents
• daily record keeping by the adult

Next Week in History

On September 23, 1518, Henry VIII of England established the Royal College of Physicians to protect citizens from medical charlatans and quacks. Of course, this was at a time when one of the "legitimate" medical practices was blood-letting and the use of leeches to cure all manner of afflictions!

Final Thoughts

"Certainly there is something that compels the teacher to advise very young students continually; ultimately she must be resigned to quelling every bit of vanity, or she will obtain no results. The teacher's skill in not interfering comes with practice, like everything else, but it never comes easily for even to help can be a source of pride."

Marie Montessori, The Child in the Family

Welcome to the fortieth year of Thacher Montessori School! We are pleased to have started off the year so well (despite the thunderstorm on Wednesday morning at drop-off!).

Nature of This Letter

If you are new to Thacher, let me explain a little about this letter. You will find a letter from me in most issues of Notes Home, which is emailed to you every Friday during the school year. Notes Home will give you updates about events happening at the school so you should be sure to read it as soon as you get it. My letter will provide more detail on upcoming events or delve into some aspect of Montessori educational theory or trends in American education. There will sometimes be "guest" letters by Alice Catlin, our elementary and adolescent education coordinator. If you ever have any thoughts about a topic you'd like me to tackle, please let me know.

This Year's Evening Activities for Parents

If you are a returning parent, you may have noticed a change on the calendar you received this summer. We have scheduled most evening activities to begin at 5 pm. We did this in order to make life easier for you. We will provide childcare with pizza (for Thacher students only) to participating families.

The only exception will be this Tuesday's children's house parent orientation. We will not offer childcare because we felt it was too early in the year for your child to experience yet another change as he or she gets acclimated or re-oriented to the school environment.

Parent Orientation Nights

It is extremely important for every parent to attend the Parent Orientation Night for your child's classroom. Even if it is the second or third year for your child in that classroom, it is still necessary for you to attend. The guides cover important information about classroom protocol, changes, and general parent information. The times and dates are as follows:

*childcare and pizza available for Thacher students - please
RSVP to the Front Desk (mogrady@thacherschool.org)

Next Week in History: On September 13, 1916, Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff, Wales. He was the author of many internationally acclaimed children's books, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factoryand James and the Giant Peach.

Final Thoughts

The activity of the child has always been looked upon as an expression of his vitality. But his activity is really the work he performs in building up the man he is to become. It is the incarnation of the human spirit.

--Maria Montessori