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Inside This IssueMontessori Representative Invited To Join Oxford Round Table Montessori Teachers Are The Keepers of The Keys Montessori
Behavioral Objectives Do Something That Cannot Be Undone Some Thoughts On Your Art Environment IMC Membership Benefits Expand To Include Video Conferencing And OnLine Professional Development Study Indicates That Many US College Students Lack Skills Tomorrow's Child: The Magazine For Montessori Families
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Montessori, Partnership, and PeaceThe second Annual West Coast Conference on Montessori Education and The Partnership Way
Thursday April 27 Sunday April 30, 2006Post Conference Seminar May 1-3, 2006
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In April of 2006, internationally acclaimed author and speaker,
Dr. Riane Eisler, will once again join with the Montessori Foundation
and the International Montessori Council for our second West Coast
North American Conference on Montessori and Partnership Education
in beautiful ocean-side Monterey, California. 
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. Our aim is not only to make the child understand, and still less to force him to memorize, but so to touch his imagination as to enthuse him to his innermost core. We do not want complacent pupils, but eager ones. We seek to sow life in the child rather than theories, to help him in his growth, mental and emotional as well as physical and for that we must offer grand and lofty ideas to the human mind. Dr. Maria Montessori |
A Message to the Montessori Community from Riane Eisler
My dear friends: 
Much of my life has been devoted to an effort to understand and come to grips the great questions that I raise in my book, Tomorrow’s Children: Partnership Education in the 21st Century:
• What is the meaning of our journey on this Earth?
• What about us connects us with, and distinguishes us from, the rest of nature?
• Why are some people violent and cruel? Why do some of us feel the need to hurt and kill? Is it simply human nature? Is that why violence seems to be infecting so many children? If so, why are some people caring and peaceful? What pushes us in one direction or another?
• What are our ethical and moral responsibilities
as human beings? What impels us to wonder about such things?
Since time immemorial, people have sought answers
to these kinds of questions through religion, philosophy, and the
empirical method of investigation we call science.
In my earlier book, The Chalice and the Blade, I attempted
to show through specific evidence what every Montessori educator
knows through their experience with children: that people are not
inherently greedy, violent, or competitive, and that we are capable
of living together in relative peace. I attempted to document that
human beings actually did live in partnership and relative peace
for tens of thousands of years.
As did Maria Montessori, I also came to the inevitable conclusion that in order to create a peaceful world, we must lay the foundation in our children, beginning when they are very young.
But the connections between my own ideas and Maria Montessori go much deeper. In Tomorrow’s Children, I quote from Montes-sori’s works, and use the great themes in Montessori education to illustrate many of the reforms that I have urged to transform the schools of today into the schools that we need for tomorrow’s children.
I
am not a Montessori teacher, nor am I truly a teacher at all, except
that I have taught at the university level, and my ideas seem to
have inspired many people around the world. But the task of translating
my suggestions into practical application in the classroom has only
begun.
I should add that I am a former Montessori parent, and am today
the proud grandmother of a beautiful Montessori child. For all of
these reasons alone I would feel an affinity to Montessori education.
But I hope that this is only the beginning of a long and mutually
beneficial partnership between us.
Many good teachers are engaged in an effort to develop partnership education in a wide range of classrooms and schools, from those in public settings to holistic schools. My friend, Ron Miller began the first graduate program in partnership education at Goddard College. But I am concerned that this concept of curriculum is so vast that it will overwhelm many teachers who attempt to implement partnership education without both a clearly defined overarching framework for the structure of their classrooms and schools, and a curricular framework of practical resources and suggested lessons and activities.
My fear is that when I die, the impetus to carry my ideas forward into everyday application may die with me, ending up with them sitting on a shelf as an footnote reference to some interesting ideas that someone named Riane Eisler put forward in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. To me, that would be a tragedy, not for me, but for our children and schools.
I believe that the answer must include the contributions of today’s Montessori educators, because I am not aware of any other system that provides such a clearly defined overarching framework for the structure of their classrooms and schools, and a curricular framework of practical resources and suggested lessons and activities. I earnestly hope that Montessori educators will play a central role in the translation of the principles and themes of partnership education into something tangible and replicable that can be understood and adapted by schools around the world.
If the idea of the universe is presented to the child in the right way, it will do more for him than just arouse his interest; for it will create in him admiration and wonder, a feeling loftier than any interest and more satisfying. But if neglected during this period, or frustrated in its vital needs, the mind of the child becomes artificially dulled, and henceforth will resist imparted knowledge. Interest will no longer be present if the seeds of learning are sown too late, but at six, children receive all items of culture enthusiastically. As the child grows older, these seeds will expand and grow. How many seeds should we sow? My answer is: "As many as possible!" Dr Maria Montessori |
My dream is that Montessori will create a new framework that others can adopt, which will allow teachers committed to educating in and for partnership to stand on the shoulders of the ‘giants who came before them.’
Further, if you will allow me, I believe that I may have something tangible to offer you and Montessori schools around the world. As I have studied Montessori education, one thing that seems clear to me is that your best minds are hard at work attempting to expand and update the broad curriculum concepts set forth by Dr. Montessori. Many of you have spoken to me about your desire to create a richer more defined program in what you call the areas of the ‘cosmic’ and ‘cultural’ curriculum, especially at the elementary and secondary levels. I believe that our partnership can definitely make a substantial contribution to this effort.
And so, my friends, I hope that more and more of us will begin to work together in partnership, with the twin goals of translating my ideas into something that can be used in classrooms around the world, while at the same time adding further on to a model of education that is already outstanding, establishing Montessori in the minds of educators around the world as a germinal important contributor to the effort to improve education around the world.
I look forward to seeing many of you once again when
we gather in Monterey, California next April.
Riane Eisler
A Brief Biography of Dr. Riane Eisler
Best selling author, Riane Eisler, is a member of The Montessori
Foundation’s board of Advisors and a dear friend of the International
Montessori Council. She delivered the keynote at our 1999 annual
conference in San Francisco, and excerpts from her work have appeared
in Tomorrow’s Child and Montessori Leadership.
Riane Eisler is best known for her international bestseller, The Chalice and The Blade: Our History, Our Future (Harper & Row 1987), hailed by Princeton anthropologist Ashley Montagu as, “the most important book since Darwin's Origin of the Species” and by novelist Isabel Allende as “one of those magnificent key books that can transform us.” This was the first book reporting the results of Eisler’s multi-disciplinary study of human culture spanning 30,000 years, and has been translated into 20 languages, including Chinese, Spanish, Russian, and Japanese.
Dr. Eisler's other books, Sacred Pleasure (Harper Collins 1995), Tomorrow’s Children: Partnership Education for the 21st Century (Westview Press 2000), The Power of Partnership (New World Library 2002), Dissolution (McGraw Hill 1977), and The Equal Rights Handbook (Avon 1978), have also received wide use and critical praise. Her 1995 Center for Partnership Studies work, “Women, Men, and the Global Quality of Life,” documents the strong correlation between the status of women and the general quality of a nation’s life based on statistical data from 89 nations. She has published over 100 articles for publications ranging from Behavioral Science, Futures, Political Psychology, and The UNESCO Courier to Brain and Mind, The International Journal of Women’s Studies, The Human Rights Quarterly, and the World Encyclopedia of Peace.
Dr. Eisler was born in Vienna, fled from the Nazis with her parents to Cuba, and later emigrated to the United States. She obtained degrees in sociology and law from the University of California, taught at the University of California and Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles, is a founding member of the General Evolution Research Group, a fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science and the World Business Academy, and a Commissioner of the World Commission on Global Consciousness and Spirituality, along with the Dalai Lama, Bishop Tutu, and other spiritual leaders.
Based on her work as a cultural historian and evolutionary theorist over the last twenty years, she introduced the ‘partnership model’ and the ‘domination model’ as two underlying possibilities for structuring beliefs, institutions, and relations that transcend categories such as religious vs. secular, right vs. left, and technologically developed or undeveloped. Her pioneering work in human rights expanded the focus of international organizations to include the rights of women and children. She co-founded the Spiritual Alliance to Stop Intimate Violence (SAIV) with Nobel Peace Laureate Betty Williams, and serves on many boards, commissions, and advisory councils, including the Scientific Advisory Board of Pluriverso, the Editorial Board of World Futures, the International Editorial Board of The Encyclopedia of Conflict, Violence, and Peace, and the Board of Advisors of The Montessori Foundation.
Riane Eisler is president of the Center for Partnership Studies, a nonprofit organization founded to apply her findings to all spheres of life through research and education. She is a charismatic speaker who keynotes conferences worldwide, and a consultant to business and government. She was honored as the only woman among twenty great thinkers including Vico, Hegel, Spengler, Adam Smith, Marx, and Toynbee featured in Macrohistory and Macrohistorians, in recognition of the lasting importance of her work.
Keynote Presentations:
Lauralee Alben — Designing Sea Changes in Business, Society, and the Environment Known for bringing the values to the forefront in the fields of design and technology Ms. Alben is a pioneer in using interactive media, and, is committed to defining a new role for design in helping to solve the formidable economic, social and environmental issues we face today. Lauralee Alben is the President, Alben Design, a company that assists individuals, teams, and organizations in proactively designing positive change and innovation; author and internationally aclaimed speaker.
Dr. David Loye—The Darwin Project: Telling the New Story Dr. Loye will discuss the new perspectives on Darwin's work, identifying connections to Montessori’s theory, and exploring ways in which this information can be shared with Montessori students at different levels.Dr. Loye is an author, psychologist, and is the founder of The Darwin Project and Benjamin Franklin Press
Dr. Riane Eisler—Weaving the New Tapestry Of the Montessori Curriculum Updating and enhancing Montessori's Cosmic Curriculum with the lessons from Tomorrow's Children: A Blueprint For Partnership Education For the 21st Century. Riane Eisler is a social historian, attorney, internationally aclaimed author and speaker, Founder, The Center for Partnership Studies
Jerry Mintz—Where Montessori fits in the spectrum of Learner-Centered Alternatives: What does Montessori have to learn from the others and vice versa? The Alternative Education Resource Organization has a database of 13,000 educational alternatives of which Montessori has nearly 5000. We will explore who the others are and what Montessori educators might have to learn from them, and how Montessori education might influence the other alternatives. In other workshops we will specifically look at how democratic process has recently been used by Montessori schools in other countries, and how it might be used here. Jerry Mintz has been a leading voice in the alternative school movement for over 30 years. He is the founder of the Alternative Education Resource Organization which he continues to direct, and is Managing Editor of its networking magazine, The Education Revolution.
Tim Seldin—Tomorrow’s Children/Tomorrow’s Schools: Montessori Education & The Partnership Way An exploration of the connections between Montessori and The Partnership Way and what specifically needs to be done as we move to expand our curriculum in the areas of Cosmic, cultural, partnership and peace education. Tim Seldin is the President, The Montessori Foundation, Chair, The International Montessori Council.
Workshop Presentations:
The Global Village School & Montessori Families:
Partnering for Peace — Sally Carless How can Montessori
families provide their older children with an education aligned
with these methods and values when there is often a scarcity of
local programs at the middle and high school levels? This homeschool
diploma program that strives to empower students to cultivate their
gifts and passions by engaging them in an education grounded in
the principles of peace, justice, diversity, and sustainability.
Learn how we partner together by enrolling in Global Village individually
or as local groups, through the use of some of the curriculum GV
has developed, or in other ways we might imagine as we explore the
possibilities together.
Meditation and the Spiritual Preparation of the Teacher
— Tim and Karen Donovan Maria Montessori called upon teachers
to develop their own inner awareness and spirituality for the good
and benefit of the students in their care. To Montessori, an aware
insightful, spiritually evolved teacher committed to his or her
own inner growth and development was an essential part of the prepared
environment. Such a person would be better able to observe the children,
anticipate their needs, and communicate clearly and compassionately
with them. Teachers who understand peace at the deepest level are
most able to guide their students along the path of peace education.
Record Keeping for Administrators — Hannelore Engelman
The highly individualized Montessori program requires constant and
accurate record keeping for each student. This Excel program is
designed for Primary classes but can easily be extended for Lower
and Upper Elementary classes. It encompasses all areas of focus,
including Music, Art, and Movement. Color-coded entries makes it
possible to use one record set for the entire length a student attends
a Montessori school. The same program may also be used for group
lesson planning, giving an easy overview of an extended time period.
This workshop is suitable for Administrators and Teachers.
Meeting the Needs of Young Children with Exceptionalities
(two sessions) — Dr. Ann Epstein How can teachers and administrators
meet the varied (and often complex) needs of young children with
exceptionalities? This workshop will focus on designing accommodations
for specific types of learning differences offered by participants.
We will discuss exceptionalities that teachers and administrators
are seeing in their classrooms and create as many appropriate accommodations
as our time allows. We will use a planning format that begins with
identifying the child’s present level of performance, clarifying
appropriate goals, and then utilizing the child’s strengths within
the Montessori environment. We will also address how to work in
effective partnerships with parents.
The First Pilot Partnership Montessori Schools:
A report to the conference — Dr. Paul Epstein and Andrew KuttPaul
and Andrew will report on the steps that they have implemented at
their pilot schools on the Partnership Education project launched
after last year’s conference.
Understanding Gender Differences (Two sessions) — Dr. Paul
Epstein Are there significant learning or developmental
differences between boys and girls? How prepared are our environments
for these differences? Is there gender bias in the classroom? What
accommodations can teachers make to facilitate better relationships
between boys and girls? This double session presents information
from recent brain discoveries and facilitates conversation among
participants about classroom activities that respond to gender differences.
Creating Your Own Positive Outdoor Places
— Chris Gallagher Bring your sketchbooks, measuring tapes,
cameras and hiking boots we’re going outside! And bring a site
plan of your school. First we will do some visioning about the ideal
garden, walkway, or courtyard the one that you’ve always wanted
to create at your school (or home). Then we will march outside and
explore the possibilities on the ground using a participatory process
to create a place that will serve to comfort, delight, and ennoble
both you and your joyful young scholars. You will acquire the basic
skills and the confidence to lead the next project at your school.
Cross-cultural Peace Programs — Dennis Hart
This is an audio and video presentation with follow-up Q&A regarding
a number of on-going peace programs that involve collaboration between
youth from around the world. These programs have a special emphasis
on learning about the differences between cultures and learning
to embrace diversity as a way of life. The youth work together as
activists to bring about environmental and social change.
Kids, Adults, Montessori, Parenting, and Adult Power: A
Dialogue — Dr. Ken Jacobson Most pedagogical systems
are premised on adult authority. Is the Montessori system in fact
also premised on adult authority as well, or are children truly
in partnership with adults? How do Montessori graduates approach
the world as adults? Does their Montessori experience fundamentally
change the way they parent, or do most simply follow the model under
which they themselves were raised?
Panel of Montessori Middle School Students, Dr. Ken Jacobson and the students of Freemont Montessori School Dr. Jacobson will lead the students in a thoughtfuyl discussion of their experience, and the level of partnership they experience wilth parents and other adults at home and school.
The Mona Foundation — Mahnaz A. Javid
The Mona Foundation is an international charitable organization
dedicated to supporting grassroots educational initiatives and raising
the status of women and girls in the United States and abroad. The
work of the Mona Foundation is inspired by the example of Mona,
a 16-year-old high school girl who was devoted to service to humanity
and who was executed in 1983 because she was a Baha’i, a minority
Faith during the revolution in Iran. The foundation has projects
around the world, several of which involve the establishment of
Montessori programs in communities that have tremendous needs. Mona
works to provide quality education to all children, raising the
status of women and girls, build strong communities, and promote
collaboration and nonviolence. This presentation will offer an overview
of the Mona Foundation's objectives, Mona's common goals with Montessori,
history and growth of our three Montessori schools in Haiti, Swaziland
and Panama, and the differences the Foundation is making.
Bridging the Gap: Building Educational Partnerships for
the Future — Andrew Kutt
The Waldorf and Montessori philosophies draw upon a common source.
However, the movements have developed different pathways towards
the holistic growth of the child. This workshop will trace the common
heritage of these two progressive, educational movements and their
modern manifestations with a special focus on how a bridge of partnership
can be built between them.
Special Session on the California Initiative of Universal
Preschool — Michael Leahy
Michael will hold a special session on the California Initiative
of Universal Preschool. Universal Preschool is on the California
ballot in June, 2006. This session for California school administrators
is on the "Preschool for All Initiative” and how you can be involved
in mobilizing your parent communities and writing letters to their
local newspapers.
The Darwin Project: Telling the New Darwin Story to Children
David Loye
In this session, David Loye will explore in greater depth specific
suggestions for lessons and activities that Montessori teachers
can develop to help children to discover for themselves the implications
of our new understating of Darwin theories of evolution as it applies
to humanity.
How the Education of the Whole Child Promotes the Evolution
of Human Consciousness: A Spiral Dynamics Analysis of Montessori
Education — David Marshak
This session provides an introduction to Spiral dynamics, a very
usable model that describes the evolution of human consciousness
from our species origins to present day. Once the model has been
explained, the session will explore how Montessori education promotes
the evolution of human consciousness toward higher, more complex
levels that we need to move toward a more just and sustainable society.
Common Visions: What Rudolf Steiner, Sri Auro-bindo,
& Hazrat Inayat Khan Offer to Montessori Educators David Marshak
Steiner, Aurobindo, and Khan were contemporaries of Montessori,
and although they never met in person, they were colleagues in the
same great work. Their teachings constitute a common vision of human
nature and human enfoldment that both agrees with Montessori's methods
in many profound ways and, in several significant ways, extends
beyond it into the realms of heart and soul.
Making Montessori Schools More Democratic — Jerry Mintz
Here we will specifically look at how democratic process has recently
been used by Montessori schools in other countries, and how it might
be used here.
From Goddard College to Morning Light School:
Bringing Together the Philosophies of Partnership Education and
Reggio Emilia — Diane Nichols Diane Nichols graduated
with a Masters Degree in Partnership Education from Goddard College.
She is currently creating Morning Light School, a partnership-based
elementary school North of Seattle, Washington that also incorporates
the philosophies of the Reggio Emilia schools of Italy. Diane will
discuss the program at Goddard as well as the beautiful integration
of partnership and Reggio Emilia in this new school. The workshop
will end with a short, hands-on project by participants.
The Montessori Board — Malcolm Roberts
A discussion among board members, school administrators, teachers,
parents, and friends of our schools about the experience of board
service, best practice, what drives peoples’ behavior, and riding
the waves of the occasional surprises and ambushes, shared from
Malcolm’s experience as a management consultant and parent working
and living in both Australia and America.
Open Forum for Heads of Schools — Malcolm Roberts
Bring your most pressing questions and situations to this forum
for Heads of School, seasoned and new. Brain-storm ideas and leave
the conference knowing you are not alone.
Finding The Perfect Match: Recruit and Retain Your Ideal
Enrollment (Three sessions) — Tim Seldin
A Montessori child can never be replaced! This course will help
you to attract not only children who will blossom in your school,
but parents whose values and commitments are in line with your school’s
vision. This workshop will take a look at how you can communicate
your school's unique identity • build a stronger school community
• get the most out of your promotional dollars • learn how to get
positive PR on a shoestring • understand the recruitment secrets
of the most successful schools • turn your school’s “limitations”
into assets • develop highly effective school brochures • make direct
mail strategies work for your school • design and learn how to effectively
use direct mail pieces • get free publicity for your school • design
slide shows and videos • make your school newsletter your single
most effective PR tool • organize effective open houses and special
events • motivate your present families to help, • find the perfect
match between family, child, staff, and school • keep your vision
alive • develop effective parent education programs • organize monthly
community and class meetings • work with parent volunteers • make
new families feel at home • give children "bragging rights" through
a strong extra-curricular program • Organize a Financial Aid Program
• and develop a more family-friendly school.
Updating The Cosmic Curriculum — Tim Seldin
Montessori’s Cosmic curriculum is perhaps its most important element.
But thousands of Montessori educators who have read the work of
Dr. Riane Eisler, especially her book Tomorrow’s Children: A Blueprint
For Partnership Education In the 21st Century, were inspired by
her up-to-the-minute connection to current research, and the elegant
way she weaves the tapestry of a new and much more current telling
of Montessori’s great lessons. In this presentation, Tim Seldin
will begin to show how Montessori educators are using Eisler’s work
to develop a fresh and exciting approach to the story of the universe,
the evolution of life on Earth, and the story of human beings told
from the partnership perspective. This is truly a celebration of
life, and a great contribution to future of Montessori education
at every level from early childhood through high school.
Cognition and Creativity — Dr. Sheryl Sweet
Participants will explore the intricate connections between cognition
and creativity through an experimental engagement between mind and
matter (clay).
It All Begins with You - Strategies for A Healthier, More
Effective You! Creativity — Dr. Sheryl Sweet
Participants will learn how stressors determine their personal levels
of stress/distress; practice some means of healthy stress management;
develop personal stress management strategies; and prepare a plan
to utilize their stress management strategies in their professional
work arenas with co-workers and/or employees.
The Power of Educational Partnership: Cultivating the Relationships
That Support the Child (Two sessions) — Jonathan Wolff
Montessori educators are exemplary in facilitating the growth and
development of the child. But often we struggle in our relations
and communications with parents, our teaching colleagues, support
staff, administration, board members, and key people in our local
communities. When we are able to make these supporting relationships
strong and enduring, we enhance the child's educational experience.
If we are unable to nurture these vital relationships, the child's
learning and our Montessori programs suffer. This workshop will
focus on how Montessori educators and school leaders can establish
sustainable partnerships with these key constituencies.
The Inner Curriculum (Two sessions) — Margaret Wolff
Each of us have specific core values written in our hearts-a micro
cosmic curriculum that fuels our unique contribution to the world
and determines what we are to learn during our journey. Identify
your unique note in the symphony and chart a life course that is
rich in meaning, passion and purpose.
Nienhuis, Go Montessori, EGAMI Recording and The Montessori Foundation
will all have exhibit tables for your shopping pleasure.
IMC (International Montessori Council) members with current
membership status receive a generous discount for the weekend
which includes breakfast and lunches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Use meal periods to build your own bridges by networking with this
diverse group of people.
Not a member of the IMC? As long as you are a member by March 24, 2006 you will be eligible for the discounted conference rate. You may join online through our online publication center http://www.montessori-foundation-books.org. School-level members ($250 per year) may take advantage of the disocount rate for all parents and staff attending the conference.
Coastal Monterey, California is located south (approx 120 miles)
of San Francisco and west (approx 120 miles) of San Jose. Shuttle
service is available for a fee. Car rentals are available through
either airport. If you fly right in to Monterey airport the Hilton
offers a FREE shuttle.
The newly modeled Hilton is extending a generous discount to those
who book their room before midnight April 4, 2006. Call them directly
at 831-373-6141 and use the code MFG.
Because of limited seating at this conference those registering
for the entire conference will be given preference. We will try
to accommodate those coming for a single day as best as we can.
There are no scholarships available for this conference so make
sure you’ve budgeted for several of your staff members to attend.
Look for the brochure which will be emailed out soon
and snail mailed to all Montessori schools in the United States
in our database shortly, or check our website (www.montessori.org)
for the entire brochure which will be in a PDF in the next few weeks.
You may also call our conference coordinator, Margot Garfield-Anderson
to get added to the mail list. 1-800-632-4121 EST Monday Friday,
9:00 AM -5:00 PM.