Language: English

Abstract/Notes: "To prove that the Montessori system of education is both practical and available for the poor children of the tenements as well as for those who have every advantage that can be had for money, is the purpose of the Montessori Educational Association, which has just established a school for poor children in the upper East Side in one of the most thronged of the tenement sections of New York. The Montessori idea of education is diametrically opposed to the system in vogue. All the time commonly spent in training children to be passive is in the Montessori schools spent in awakening activity and encouraging initiative. Dr. Montessori, the founder of the new system of education, says that one of the most important tasks of the teacher lies in 'seeing that the child does not confound the idea of good with immobility, and evil with activity.' Instead of devoting months of arduous labor drilling the alphabet and elements of reading and writing into the heads of the little children, Montessori methods develop the various senses which give them control of the apparatur through which they must get all their knowledge of the world. One of the most remarkable things notied by the observers of the new school was the spontaneity with which the children learned to write. From tracing sand-paper letters and building of words by the aid of blocks, many of the children took up bits of chalk and began to write, not a few, but many words. The children learn to observe, to reason and to use their senses rather than clog their memoriy with useless rules. The school furnishes the little tots with luncheon, but even in this they are stimulated to activity. They have little waitresses who learn to move about freely and gracefully, to carry things without breaking them, and to avoid clumsiness and awkwardness. When the meal is over the children will all go into their small kitchen, roll up their sleeves and wash the dishes from which they had been eating. The picture shows Mrs. Ernest Thompson-Seton, the wife of Ernest Thompson-Seton, the Canadian author and naturalist, who is one of the trustees of the Montessori Educational Association, telling a little waitress to pose for the picture."

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: Benefits of multi-age grouping include continuity for children and teachers, a sense of community, the possibility for peer tutoring, and an incorporation of developmental differences. This study explored the development of a non-graded program in a New York City public school, particularly the attitudes of teachers, students, and parents to the new program. Twenty subjects in each category completed a survey or an interview. Results indicated that not only were parents and students relatively uninformed about mixed-age grouping before the program began, but teachers also felt that the support and training they received were inadequate. Teachers did have positive attitudes about the benefits of mixed-age grouping, however, and students seemed to have made a positive adjustment. About half of the parents held positive attitudes toward mixed-age grouping, but parents overall appeared to reserve judgment because of a perceived lack of information.

Language: English

Published: [S.I.], 1996

Abstract/Notes: A booklet by the New York chapter of the Montessori Educational Association which outlines a plan to open a Montessori school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan (New York City). The booklet also includes an "Application for Membership in the Montessori Educational Association" (for the New York chapter).

Language: English

Extent: 15 p. booklet

Archive: Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections for the Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles (Los Angeles, California)

Language: English

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Abstract/Notes: Rambusch Lectures by Jonathan Kozol and Fred Rogers

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040