Voices in Montessori Podcast
Voices in Montessori podcast shares interviews with seasoned Montessori educators and leaders, as well as learning specialists, and other experts to inspire and support you. Our podcast is a resource for Montessori educators and leaders packed with actionable ideas to elevate and support your practice. Hear from Montessori elders about real-world classroom tools and school management strategies. How do I offer positive discipline in my Montessori classroom? How do I get the support that I need as a first year Montessori teacher? How do I change the culture of my Montessori school community? We will explore these questions and more on the Voices in Montessori podcast. Topics include supporting learning differences in the Montessori classroom, positive discipline strategies, the neuroscience of learning, creating school cultures of belonging, and Montessori for elders and dementia. Tune in and subscribe to deepen your Montessori practice and join a revolutionary community of Montessori educators and leaders who are shaping the future of education. View the show notes at https://greenspringcenter.org/podcast/ Join the conversation on our Facebook community at https://www.facebook.com/greenspringcenter Learn more when you follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/greenspringcenter/
Episodes
Tuesday Feb 06, 2024
Educating Families About the Four Planes of Development for Closer Partnership
Tuesday Feb 06, 2024
Tuesday Feb 06, 2024
Junnifa Uzodike and Simone Davies join the podcast to talk about how we can educate families about the Planes of Development to facilitate closer partnership. As Montessorians, we know how vital our understanding of the Planes of Development is in shaping how we approach and respond to children, yet families don't often have this same understanding. The Planes of Development can serve as a "guidebook" for families, helping them to understand the characteristics and needs of their children, manage their expectations, and how better to respond to their children. Junnifa explains that when we give our families the gift of this knowledge, we empower them to be partners and collaborators in supporting children to their full potential.
Junnifa and Simone share the most important characteristics, tips, and tools they share with families about children in each Plane of Development.
Tuesday Jan 23, 2024
Tuesday Jan 23, 2024
Jen Cort joins the podcast to discuss how to approach diversity, equity, and inclusion conversations with our students. Jen begins by helping to reframe (and detoxify) the terms bias and privilege. She also offers strategies specific for having conversations with children at different ages and how these can be woven into the fabric of our classrooms (rather than designating certain blocks of time to discuss DEI). She also offers some themes we can introduce to our students (i.e., same and different, equity detectives, etc.) and suggests scripts for how to respond to certain questions that may make us feel uncomfortable. Jen's book, Help Us Begin: Strategies and mindsets for meaningful conversations with kids, especially when you are challenged by the topic, is an excellent resource for more tips.
Thursday Jan 18, 2024
Thursday Jan 18, 2024
Andrew Faulstich joins the Voices in Montessori podcast to discuss resisting the push toward standardization in our current educational system. Andrew discusses how this trend emerged in the 1980’s and continues today. He contends that the question, “What works?” is not the right question to be asking. Andrew argues that standardized education is aimed at an imaginary child “in the middle,” which means it isn’t actually meeting the needs of anyone. And instead of asking, “Are students proficient at x, y, and z skills?”, he wonders why we aren’t instead asking, “What do we want for our students? What kind of society are we creating?”So what is the alternative? Andrew makes a case for an alternative model (such as Montessori) that honors what students can do with real-world work. Andrew describes humanistic methods of assessment, such as student self-assessments and goal setting, student-led conferences, and portfolio-based evaluations. The focus of these methods, rather than a numeric score, is actually preparing students for life. In light of the current trends of anxiety and depression in teens, is it not our moral responsibility to better serve the needs of our students? Join us for this fascinating discussion!
Tuesday Jan 09, 2024
Supporting Early and Emergent Readers in the Lower Elementary Classroom
Tuesday Jan 09, 2024
Tuesday Jan 09, 2024
Shelley Cruse joins the Voices in Montessori podcast to discuss supporting emergent readers in the Lower Elementary classroom. Rarely does every child entering Lower Elementary come in as a fluent reader. Shelley discusses normalizing that fact that learning to read begins in the toddler and children's house classrooms and it continues in Lower El.
How do you know which students need additional support? Which Montessori materials are appropriate for the Elementary child (and which aren't)? What other activities can you create for emergent readers in the second plane of development? How do you monitor their progress? How do you discuss their progress with parents and guide parents how to help (or not) at home? Shelley shares her expertise as Montessori Guide and reading specialist.
Tuesday Dec 12, 2023
5 Anti-Racist Learning Goals
Tuesday Dec 12, 2023
Tuesday Dec 12, 2023
Dr. Nicole Evans and Carly Riley join the podcast to share five goals that can support you in developing the stamina and skills for effective anti-racist learning, awareness, and action in your teaching practice and beyond!
Nicole and Carly see anti-racist education as the lever for social transformation. Through their organization, Embracing Equity, they work alongside educators and leaders to co-create authentically equitable organizations through:
Individual learning so people themselves raise their knowledge, awareness, and action when it comes to identifying, analyzing and knowing what to do in the face of oppression.
Interpersonal action because anti-racism work is community-building work, and we have to do it together.
Institutional transformation in order to create new systems and structures that center equity.
In this episode, Nicole and Carly focus on individual learning - specifically, five anti-racist learning goals you can do RIGHT NOW to build a sustained anti-racism practice in your classroom.
Tuesday Dec 05, 2023
Developing a Culture of Writing in the Primary Classroom
Tuesday Dec 05, 2023
Tuesday Dec 05, 2023
Jennifer Shields joins us to talk about creating a culture of writing in the Primary classroom.
Jennifer explains how Montessori Guides first build up children's ability to express themselves orally by talking to them, singing, reciting poetry, and maybe most importantly, by listening to them. In a Montessori setting, children can explode into writing when their hands and minds are indirectly and directly prepared through practical life, sensorial, and through spoken language. The key lessons in sound games, sandpaper letters, and movable alphabet get a child on the road to writing.
Jennifer then details all the ways Guides can encourage writing through a variety of modes from modelling, creating important opportunities to write (e.g. thank you notes, invitations), using a class journal, and more. She encourages us to use our intimate knowledge of each child to create experiences of writing that are personalized and joyful!
Tuesday Nov 21, 2023
Tuesday Nov 21, 2023
Linda Englehart joins the podcast to talk about supporting children's connection to nature. She talks about how the child's experience of nature has changed over time. Today’s children are “containerized” (examples: playpens, bouncy seats, car seats, strollers, spending more time indoors in general) and cut off from the natural contact that generations past had. Yet physicians, educators, psychologists, sociologists, and others have all discovered many benefits in nature immersion, as well as detriments to health and well-being from nature-deficit disorder.
Linda reminds us that humankind’s first prepared environment was the natural world. Montessori materials--in our second prepared environment, the classroom--were designed with the assumption that children had hands-on experiences in the first prepared environment. So what can educators do to help mitigate this deficit that many children are experiencing?
Linda gives practical suggestions for things to do in the classroom and ways to partner with parents to support children in developing biophilia, a love of nature. Our host, Tamara Sheesley Balis, also shares ways we can support our staff in developing their own connection to nature.
Tuesday Nov 14, 2023
Deconstructing Montessori to Increase Access
Tuesday Nov 14, 2023
Tuesday Nov 14, 2023
Tatenda Blessing Muchiriri joins the podcast to tell the story of how his non-profit organization, Rungano Montessori on Wheels was born. Tatenda's goal is to move education liberation forward by co-creating Montessori-based learning environments within Black and Brown communities, ensuring that children and families can learn, play, and dream together. Tatenda chose to put the classroom on a bus, because as he explains it, "Equity is bringing a service to the families, who otherwise would not have access."
MoW offers parent-partnership programs, small group Montessori experiences, and small group tutoring with trained Montessori guides. Tatenda describes how important it is to demystify the term "Montessori," instead emphasizing the aspects of hands-on materials, individualized learning, and storytelling. Tatenda explains that by exposing families to Montessori, even in small doses, parents are able to see their children as learners, see themselves as educators, and become empowered to advocate for their children's education.
Tuesday Nov 07, 2023
Setting and Maintaining Limits in the Montessori Classroom
Tuesday Nov 07, 2023
Tuesday Nov 07, 2023
Chip DeLorenzo joins the podcast to discuss setting and maintaining limits in the Montessori classroom. First Chip distinguishes between setting and maintaining limits, and then share guiding principles for these practices. Chip also describes some roadblocks that teachers encounter when attempting to maintain limits with children, and most importantly, a few effective and respectful tools that help encourage and develop cooperation and follow-through.
One tool that Chip discusses in depth is "the power of silence." So many times, teachers overexplain when maintaining limits. Instead, Chip recommends giving nonverbal prompts (or at least limiting our words) and then stepping back, remaining present, warm, and silent. Chip delves into how and why this technique works so well, and what to do when it doesn't.
Tuesday Oct 24, 2023
Starting a Dual Language Montessori Program
Tuesday Oct 24, 2023
Tuesday Oct 24, 2023
Gabrielle Kotkov joins the podcast to discuss starting a dual language Montessori program. She explains the different models of bilingual education and why the enrichment model is her recommended program structure. Gabrielle describes things to consider when starting a dual language Montessori program, and how to transition an existing monolingual Montessori environment into a dual language environment. Tamara describes Greenspring's journey in creating its own dual language program.
About Greenspring Center for Lifelong Learning
The mission of the Greenspring Center for Lifelong Learning is elevating and supporting the emerging generation of Montessori educators, leaders, and schools.
View the show notes at https://greenspringcenter.org/podcast/
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