Abstract/Notes: I explore democractic communities using the classroom community as a metaphor. I suggest that democracies do justice to individuals as well as groups, because of the democratic focus on the interconnected, interdependent, interactive relationship that exists between selves and communities. However, the concept of ‘community’ has problems and contradictions as well. Through the examples of Summerhill and Montessori schools it is easier to see a necessary quality of democratic communities that needs highlighting. That quality is caring. Making the connection between democracy and caring is what this article uniquely offers to the lively discussion on communities and selves.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1007/BF00368491

ISSN: 1573-191X, 0039-3746

Abstract/Notes: This study documents a Montessori teacher education program in three Nicaraguan villages. In each village, the researcher observed the implementation of a teacher education program designed by Montessori Phoenix Projects, and carried out research conversations with local participants. The data collection process spanned a period of one and one-half years. The resulting framework is designed to inform the implementation of grassroots teacher education courses serving resource-limited communities. The framework presents learning points essential for teacher education programs appropriate to childhood education within the Montessori tradition in resource-limited communities. These points include creating context, identifying breakdowns, generating possibility, and using a mimetic construct of time in curriculum development. Additionally, the results of this research offer insights for evaluation, arguments for the essential incorporation of tradition in socioeducational development, and methods in which collaboration with community members, NGOs, and educational authorities can move beyond the limitations of traditional forms of development. The works of Arendt, Gadamer, Geertz, Habermas, Herda, and Ricoeur inform the research and analysis. The research framework is comprised of the theoretical constructs of breakdowns (Arendt 1961), mimesis (Ricoeur 1984), and dissipation (Janstch 1980). Within this framework ontological resources are brought to light and serve as the progenesis to make new the old environment and bring imagined worlds of possibility to life. By converting breakdowns into new, recognizable forms through everyday language, options carrying hope for the future become visible. A critical aspect of these options involves understanding another's world. This study presents a unique model for making a difference in the lives of people who live in culturally diverse communities. Moreover, the model is not burdened by the traditional budget and personnel restraints associated with most development models. The framework presented in this dissertation may assist education reform consultants who work in developing countries and who are committed to give a voice to those people who commonly are not heard.

Language: English

Published: San Francisco, California, 2002

Language: English

ISSN: 2215-1249, 2772-7319

Abstract/Notes: Tom Wessel's view of interdependent local ecologies lays out a conceptual framework for human communities and corporations. His rich examples of biodiversity provide great metaphors for how competition and negative conditions can be transformed by natural cooperation and can lead to self-organized, self-managed natural communities that are sustained by emergent systems and can co-evolve. [This talk was presented at the NAMTA conference titled "Nature and Human Development," Seattle, WA, March 10-13, 2011.]

Language: English

ISSN: 1522-9734

Abstract/Notes: Preparation for Life: Infant-Toddler Communities takes you inside three renowned Montessori infant-toddler programs in St. Louis, Missouri, Chicago, Illinois and White Plains, New York to see how the Montessori approach nurtures the emotional, physical and intellectual growth of small children. Sensitive periods, the need for movement, order, language development, the prepared environment, separation and the role of the adult in the classroom are all covered. Filmed at Hope Montessori Infant Toddler Community, Monessori Children's Center at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, and Seton Montessori Infant Toddler House.

Language: English

Published: Yellow Springs, Ohio, 2009

Language: English

Language: English

ISSN: 0519-0959

Abstract/Notes: Montessori Children's Foundation

Language: English

ISSN: 1470-8647

Abstract/Notes: This article is about Mooseheart, Illinois.

Language: English

Language: English