13 Nov 2011, Posted by Daniel in General, No Comments.

What Do We Believe?

Do we believe that all children (black, white, brown, yellow, red) can

• Create companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook
• Invent a job, not just find a job
• Be recruited for their innovation skills, rather than their entertainment, athletic or manual skills?

If yes, then shouldn’t our schools be places where

• Questions are just as important as answers
• Failure is a promising beginning, not a distressing end
• Learning is a labor of love, not just labor.

What schools are like that?

Montessori schools.

Isn’t Montessori for rich kids?

NO! There are over 300 public Montessori schools in the USA that children can attend absolutely free and that number is growing.

The Milwaukee NAACP noted in a July 2011 report:

“Prospects for educational achievement are brightest for Milwaukee Public School students who are enrolled in Montessori Schools.”

In Dallas, East Dallas Community Schools use the Montessori method with these results:

“In a neighborhood where the high school graduation rate is less than 50% (and the majority of families are low-income), 94% of our third-grade alumni have graduated from high school; 88% of those have gone on to college.”

Alief Montessori Community School was recently ranked by the Houston Chronicle 7^th out of 1000 Houston public elementary schools while having one of the lowest per-pupil spending amounts in Houston.

Anne Williams-Isom, the COO of Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone (Canada was prominently featured in the documentary “Waiting for Superman”) states:

“Somehow Maria Montessori understood differential learning long before it became a fancy term. …I agree that the Montessori Method could have many positive implications for the education of children who grow up in economically disadvantaged families and underserved communities…there are also countless benefits to having a calm and peaceful environment [that Montessori provides] – especially for children who live in stressful situations. For those children who may to be growing up in chaotic circumstances, calm and order can actually have a profound and healing effect.”

Superwoman Was Already Here and her name was Dr. Maria Montessori.

10 Sep 2011, Posted by Daniel in General, No Comments.

September 11, Ten Years On

It is hard to believe that it has been 10 years. Like most New Yorkers (no matter where I call home or live, I will always be a New Yorker, born and bred), I have a 9/11 story and remember it like it happened yesterday.

But since I was lucky enough to be spared the unfathomable grief and horror of losing someone close and dear to me, today is not the day to tell that story.

Today is for remembering and cherishing the lives of the victims of that awful and tragic day.

And for saluting and honoring the thousands of individuals, uniformed and civilian, well-known and anonymous, who performed extraordinary acts of courage and strength in the face of unspeakable death and destruction.

Two of the most famous sayings of the ancient Jewish sages from two millennia ago are

“Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world.”

“Whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.”

When I reflect on that day, I recall these words of wisdom which echo the belief that each human being is of infinite worth and value, created in the image of G-d.

And I think about the Hebrew terms,

Kiddush Hashem, a sanctification of G-d’s name

and

Hilul Hashem, a desecration of G-d’s name.

There have been few days in my life where each of these phenomena were so powerfully present in a single time and space.

Over the years, there have been countless articles, stories, reports, images and videos that movingly capture the events and emotions of September 11, 2001.

For me, however, the item that continues to resonate and remain lodged in my brain is ironically from the satirical newspaper The Onion, which ran an article shortly after that day entitled, God Angrily Clarifies ‘Don’t Kill’ Rule. The article concludes,

“Upon completing His outburst, God fell silent, standing quietly at the podium for several moments. Then, witnesses reported, God’s shoulders began to shake, and He wept.”

G-d Bless.

08 Sep 2011, Posted by Daniel in General, 1 Comment.

Superwoman Was Already Here! – Now Animated for Your Viewing Enjoyment!

18 months ago, I encountered this wonderful animation of a lecture given by author Dan Pink, based on his superb book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.

As I watched this amazing video, I thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we could do an animation like this to promote Montessori?”  After a year of periodic, half-hearted and futile searches for a creative partner that could pull this off, I stumbled upon 321 FastDraw via FaceBook. (I was a reluctant, extremely late adopter to FB, signing up only last winter. I believed I did not need or have time for another Internet distraction. I confess that I should have joined the party a lot sooner. For better or worse, not being on FB is like not having a cell phone at this point. But I digress.)

321 FastDraw has been a dream to work with and I am extremely grateful for all the hard work and enthusiasm of Diane, Ricky, Sal, Ken and the rest of the 321 FastDraw team.

When I asked my fellow Montessori caped crusader Trevor Eissler about being a sponsor for my project, he instantly, in classic Montessori style, turned the question back on me and asked if he should do a FastDraw of his own based on his excellent book, Montessori Madness: A Parent to Parent Argument for Montessori Education. I thought this was a great idea and today, tens of thousands of views later, Trevor’s video is circling the globe and has been translated into multiple languages.

Many thanks to Trevor and each of my other terrific sponsors who saw the power of this technique immediately and have been deeply supportive from my initial pitch to the final release of the video.

Please spread the word, spread the love, spread the video…Superwoman Was Already Here!

03 Sep 2011, Posted by Daniel in General, 1 Comment.

Montessori Featured on Important Education Blog by Two Awesome Moms

The internet is truly a miracle. It takes you places and connects you with people that would have been simply impossible 20 years ago.

A google search of the term “Pedro Noguera Montessori” led me to this great blog called “Ground Control Parenting (GCP).” Run by two amazing African-American Moms, Lisa E. Davis and Carol Sutton Lewis, it is a vital forum for “information and resources on what works to spark the love of learning for our boys, keep them engaged in school from nursery through high school and ensure that they excel.  We also want to support and inspire parents, as we all go about the challenging business of guiding our sons through these school years.”

(more…)

02 Sep 2011, Posted by Daniel in General, 1 Comment.

Montessori will not prepare children for the 21st Century

Because that is not good enough.

“Our job is not to prepare our children for the 21st century. Our job is to prepare our children to transform the 21st century.” –Dr. Howard Fuller.

Montessori is a great educational method to give children the skills and mindsets to transform the 21st century.

MASSIVE thanks and shout out to Montessorian Sara Cotner for this quote.  Check out Sara’s writings here.

Remember the name Sara Cotner, it is one you will be hearing again and again and not just here.