Abstract/Notes: Children from Montessori Lyceum Amsterdam

Language: English

DOI: 10.1386/tear.9.2-3.197_1

ISSN: 1477-965X, 1758-9533

Language: English

ISSN: 1073-5836

Abstract/Notes: This article describes practical strategies for promoting inclusion in religious programs. Strategies are provided for including children with mental disabilities, mild mental retardation, moderate mental retardation, and severe to profound mental retardation, and older students with mental retardation. Strategies are also provided for preparing peers and working with families.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1177/004005990103300508

ISSN: 0040-0599, 2163-5684

Language: English

DOI: 10.1080/1047621950070215

ISSN: 1047-6210, 1470-1286

Abstract/Notes: This article presents findings from a qualitative case study of a public Montessori magnet school in the United States. It focuses on two teachers' experiences, identifying how their teaching is situated in school scripts, that is; ways of speaking about teaching and learning within particular school micro-cultures. The focal teachers utilized contradicting school scripts for a variety of purposes and to incorporate diverse practices. This article describes the teachers' experiences of and responses to contradicting scripts. Findings suggest that teaching is contextualized in particular school micro-cultures and that school scripts present contradictions that have the potential to be both indoctrinating and transformative forces for teacher preparation and professional growth.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1016/j.tate.2008.11.007

ISSN: 0742-051X, 1879-2480

Language: English

ISSN: 1073-5836

Abstract/Notes: More than a century before modern controversies over scripted instruction, the Froebelian kindergarten--the original kindergarten method designed by Friedrich Froebel--and Maria Montessori's pedagogy were criticized for rigidly prescribing how teachers taught and children learned. Today, scripted methods such as Direct Instruction and Success for All are condemned for limiting teachers' autonomy and narrowing students' learning, especially that of students from low-income backgrounds, for and with whom scripts are often designed and used. Proponents of scripted instruction counter that it is helpful for teachers and effective with students. Comparing historical and modern scripts offers an opportunity to explore teachers' reactions to this hotly debated approach to school reform and to think about some possible implications for teacher education. I examine how teachers reacted to four different models of scripted instruction. I chose to compare the Froebelian kindergarten, Montessori, Direct Instruction, and Success for All because of their longevity, wide use, and the amount of information available about them. I focus on the scripts' theory and research base and teacher training, and on teachers' assessments of the scripts' effectiveness, and ask how these factors might influence teachers' autonomy, fidelity, and resistance when using scripts. Research Design: Using historical methods, I summarize the history of scripted instruction; selectively survey research on teacher autonomy, fidelity, and resistance; and interpret primary and secondary sources on the Froebelian kindergarten, Montessori, Direct Instruction, and Success for All. Teacher autonomy, fidelity, and resistance varied in these four scripts. Froebelian kindergarten and Montessori teachers autonomously chose to receive scripted, lengthy, intensive, pre-service training and professional development in closed professional learning communities. Direct Instruction and Success for All teachers receive scripted, relatively limited pre-service training and ongoing professional development in schools in which teachers often do not autonomously choose to teach. Despite the scripted training, most Froebelian kindergarten teachers, and many Montessori, Direct Instruction, and Success for All teachers modified these scripts at the classroom level; some Froebelian and Montessori teachers made very overt, substantial changes when the social class backgrounds of the students changed. Many Froebelian and most Montessori teachers seemed to believe that these scripts helped their students learn. Direct Instruction and Success for All teachers express more mixed views of these scripts' effectiveness. Some say that the scripts "work "for their students but that as teachers they feel constrained, a situation I see as a professional dilemma. Anecdotally, some new teachers with little pre-service training say that they feel limited by scripts but daunted by the task of creating curricula and instruction on their own. My research raises questions about teachers' reactions to scripts. The examples of Froebelian kindergarten, Montessori, Direct Instruction, and Success for All teachers I studied suggest that there may be unpredictable contradictions in scripted instruction. Scripted, autonomously chosen, intensive training may strengthen teacher fidelity and resistance, by giving teachers a deep repertoire of pedagogical skills that some continue to use and others use to autonomously modify scripts in response to students' perceived needs. Scripted, externally imposed, less extensive training may give some teachers a sense of security but also create tensions between the scripts 'perceived effectiveness and the teachers' desires for autonomy, and, for new teachers, between autonomy and the difficulty of independently designing curricula and methods. I argue that these reactions suggest that educators in traditional pre-service teacher education programs may want to experiment with offering an autonomous choice of distinctly different instructional models, including scripted ones such as Direct Instruction and Success for All, in which teachers in training in professional learning communities may become deeply skilled. I also argue that script developers may want to experiment with giving teachers more explicit autonomy, both in choosing scripts and in modifying them, and more extensive pre-service training. I recommend more comparative research on teachers' reactions to scripts, especially on new teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Language: English

ISSN: 0161-4681, 1467-9620

Abstract/Notes: This is an essay review of Lillard's book 'Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius'

Language: English

DOI: 10.1016/j.tate.2007.01.008

ISSN: 0742-051X, 1879-2480

Abstract/Notes: Montessori education has flourished as an alternative approach to schooling for a hundred years. In the century since the first Montessori school opened in the slums of Rome, the movement has undergone sustained growth while simultaneously enduring efforts to modify the method in order to reach a wider audience. Despite Montessori’s endurance and reach, the movement remains largely unstudied by educational researchers. This article presents a historical treatment of the method and the movement by treating Montessori as a case study of enduring and ambitious educational reform. This article is an examination of the American Montessori movement as it has evolved over the course of the past one hundred years. Situated within an international context, the study traces the development of the movement from its failed introduction to the United States in 1991, to its rebirth in the 1960s, to its current resurgence as a time-tested alternative to conventional public schooling. Key questions revolve around Montessori’s ongoing status as an influential yet marginal force in American educational reform. This is a historical case study drawn from archival data, interviews with Montessori leaders and practitioners, and secondary sources (biographies, memoirs) generated between 1906 and 2007.

Language: English

ISSN: 0161-4681, 1467-9620

Language: English

ISSN: 0161-4681, 1467-9620