Montessori Resources
We have gathered some of our favorite resources on Montessori education, Montessori parenting, and educational inspiration for today’s world.
Please let us know what you find useful!
• American Montessori Society video collection -
NBA star Stephen Curry, scientist and autism activist Temple Grandin, best-selling author Andrew Solomon and others explain the many facets and strengths of Montessori education. Click here to explore the whole collection, but just to wet your whistle, here's Stephen Curry and family:
NBA MVP Stephen Curry: "Montessori helped me become the person I am today." from American Montessori Society on Vimeo.
• Montessori Madness: A Parent-to-Parent Argument for Montessori Education
A fast-draw explanation of Montessori from Montessori dad Trevor Eissler
• Montessori = Creativity Unleashed
Judi Bauerlein, a 40-year veteran in Montessori instruction, helps us explore the beauty that Maria Montessori brought to the world of education, from the logic of a trained doctor and the heart of an attentive watcher. The value of being attentive, imbuing one's work and learning with worth, and honoring self and others creates a clear channel through which creativity can flow.
• American Montessori Society
For an introduction to Montessori education, go here: http://amshq.org/Montessori-Education
Then continue on to AMS’s Family Resources page, full of rich resources for supporting and understanding your child’s experience at school: https://amshq.org/Family-Resources
• Montessori Services
We are blessed to have this amazing Montessori resource right here in Santa Rosa. This is their collection of articles and information for parents and educators alike.
A catalog of books aimed at parents, to help them better understand the Montessori approach both at school and at home.
• Maren Schmidt - Kids Talk Blog
Maren offers essays, consultations, and webinars on Montessori schooling, parenting, and Montessori in the home. Sign up for her blog!
Traditional American schooling is in constant crisis because it is based on two poor models for children’s learning: the school as a factory and the child as a blank slate. School reforms repeatedly fail by not penetrating these models....One hundred years ago, Maria Montessori, the first female physician in Italy, devised a very different method of educating children, based on her observations of how they naturally learn.
- Angeline Lillard
Resources from Dr. Angeline Lillard, author of The Science Behind the Genius:
• “Playful Learning and Montessori” - American Journal of Play (2013)
• “Mindfulness Practices in Education: Montessori’s Approach” - Mindfulness (2011)
• “Evaluating Montessori Education” - Science (2006)
• Interview for Parents Journal, a weekly National Public Radio broadcast:
Other Research:
• Does it Work? What Research Says About Montessori and Student Outcomes - A compilation of research studies selected by the National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector
• “Optimal Developmental Outcomes: The Social, Moral, Cognitive, and Emotional Dimensions of a Montessori Education” - Extensive information on planes of child development for ages 0-6 and 6-12 and 12-18.
Maria Montessori’s books and teachings:
- Education and Peace
- The Montessori Method
- The Secret of Childhood
- The Absorbent Mind
- The Discovery of the Child
- Dr. Montessori’s Own Handbook
More books:
- Implications for Peace: Montessori Elementary Education - Peggy E. Pate-Smith (2014)
- Learning How To Learn: An American Approach to Montessori - Nancy McCormick Rambush (2013)
- Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work - E.M. Standing (1998)
"The Montessori Comeback" - Forbes Magazine (2019)
"Montessori, long a favorite of wealthy families, struggles to expand its reach" - The Washington Post (2018)
• “The Future of Education Was Invented in 1906” - Forbes Magazine (2014)
“The reason why everything is the way it is in a proper Montessori classroom is simple: it has been shown through repeated experiment to work, in countless classrooms, across cultures, etc.”
• “The Montessori Mafia” - Wall Street Journal (2011)
• “Montessori Builds Innovators” - Harvard Business Review (2011)
“The main thing I learned [in Montessori school] is that the world is a really interesting place, and one that should be explored. Can there be any better foundation for an innovator in training?”
• “Don't Just Stand there, Think: New research suggests that we think not just with our brains, but with our bodies” - Boston Globe (2008)
“While embodied cognition remains a young field, some specialists believe that it suggests a rethinking of how we approach education. Angeline Lillard, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia, says that one possibility is to take another look at the educational approach that Italian educator Maria Montessori laid out nearly 100 years ago, theories that for decades were ignored by mainstream educators. A key to the Montessori method is the idea that children learn best in a dynamic environment full of motion and the manipulation of physical objects. In Montessori schools, children learn the alphabet by tracing sandpaper letters, they learn math using blocks and cubes, they learn grammar by acting out sentences read to them.”
• “Montessori, Now 100, Goes Mainstream” - Washington Post (2007)
• Montessori and Creative Discovery
Will Wright invented a genre of computer games - including SimCity and Spore - that involves neither winning nor shooting. He thinks of himself as a maker of creative toys that help children and adults learn through their own process of discovery. He attributes his ideas and designs to his Montessori education through sixth grade.
• Changing Education Paradigms
Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence.
• First Person: Inventor Saul Griffith
Part of KQED Forum’s series on leading Bay Area innovators and citizens, this interview explores the importance of innovation and tactile, project-based learning in today’s world.
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