From the Organizations
Montessori Initiative Starts UN Program
By Judith Cunningham
The first Montessori Model United Nations (MMUN) workshop for educators was held on Nov. 1 and 2 at the United Nations and Pace University in New York City.
Seventy-five teachers from across Canada, USA and Mexico attended the two day workshop to learn how to implement the MMUN program for their upper elementary and middle school students.
Their students will meet in New York March 1-2 to host their Montessori Model UN that concludes with their General Assembly at the United Nations.
That assembly coincides with the American Montessori Society conference, and there will be space for observers interested in having their classrooms enroll in future Montessori Model UN activities.
This will be the first in a continuing series for the Montessori Model UN program. This year the program will have about 400 students mentoring incoming students, who, in time, will become leaders of the Montessori Model UN program. They will assume positions within the organization, such as Secretary General, President of the Assembly and committee leaders.
Model UN was originally designed for high school and university students, to learn about the work of the UN by replicating the actual work of the member states, as well as learning important life skills such as negotiation, public speaking and consensus building.
The Montessori Initiative and M: The Magazine for Montessori Families, in association with Pace University, have partnered with the United Nations to create the Montessori Model United Nations so that students in a sensitive period for reason, justice and morality can participate in a life changing experience.
Nov. 2 and Beyond
At the Nov. 2 and 3, MMUN workshop,the participants:
— Received the Montessori Model United Nations Handbook with links to the Montessori curriculum.
— Learned how to participate in the Montessori Model United Nations through classroom or after school
activities.
— Observed a live UN simulation by Pace University’s MUN team.
— Toured the United Nations
— Met Ambassadors and other UN leaders
— Participated in their own UN simulation
Following the workshop, participants were mailed their Professional Development Certificates along with other UN materials.
Back in their classrooms, the teachers are preparing their students for their simulation of the actual UN committees. Each school delegation has selected a country and in turn, each individual delegate is assigned a specific UN committee for the country based on the MMUN Agenda items. Delegates in each committee are expected to research the specific topics in their committee with regard to their country’s position on the topic and thoroughly understand their country’s position on the topics.
Through the role-playing, MMUN students will become diplomatic ambassadors and debate current issues on the agenda of the United Nations. Students will prepare original resolutions that they present and debate in council sessions and in front of the MMUN General Assembly, which will be held at the United Nations. Through diplomacy and negotiation, students seek out solutions to complex global concerns such as those facing the environment, economic development, refugees, AIDS, conflict resolution, disarmament and human rights.
Through participation in MMUN, these future leaders learn, not only about specific issues facing the world, but also about the complexities of politics in a multilateral setting. They develop the skills of becoming a negotiator by learning how to listen, to persuade and to sense when to step back and when to push for agreement. These skills are acquired more readily through lifelike simulations than classroom work.
Montessori and the UN
The MMUN is a natural outgrowth of the work of Maria Montessori, who supported of the League of Nations and its successor, the United Nations, as a forum where peace could be created. She recognized that the hope for peace lay in the education of children. Together, we are building the foundation for a Science of Peace.
She understood that children learn about moral development by working on real life tasks. Their energy, commitment and intelligence—when focused on real work towards a common goal—can help transform the world into one with more peace and justice: a true revolution. Her relationship with the UN dates back to the League of Nations; later she continued her association when she wrote the Rights of the Child for UNICEF.
Many Model UN graduates have gone on to successful careers in politics, government and other professions, and have maintained a tie to political and humanity activities. These include two US Supreme Court Justices, a World Court Commissioner and an Academy Award winning actor.
The Next Step
On March 1 and 2, the students will engage in Model United Nations work. Committee work will take place at the Grand Hyatt in New York City, where issues will be debated and resolutions drafted. Then, culminating the experience, the students will march from the Grand Hyatt to the United Nations, where they will hold their General Assembly and vote as nations on their resolutions.
We feel particularly proud to see Montessori students at the United Nations engaging in the work of Peace as we celebrate the Montessori Centenary.
The Montessori Model UN program is open to all Montessori schools with Upper Elementary and Middle School classes.
INFO: If you would like your school to participate in this important program, or for more information, visit www.montessori-mun.org or contact jcunning...@mthemagazine.com .
Yesterday’s Discovery, Today’s Science
Submitted by AMI
Over one hundred years ago, Dr. Maria Montessori stood in the presence of children and recognized what they had to teach her. It was through their openness and innocence that Dr. Montessori was able to accept their gift – a revolutionary understanding of human growth and development. One hundred years later, Montessori is being looked at with fresh eyes due to its concurrence with recent neuroscience and research on learning, and proliferation worldwide. Modern science has proven the effectiveness of Montessori methods.
Association Montessori International/USA will host a Centenary Celebration and Conference in San Francisco in February of 2007 to share insights from recent scientific research that support Montessori pedagogy and to commemorate the Glass Classroom of the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition. Keynote speakers include Dr. Bruce Perry, Senior Fellow of the ChildTrauma Academy; Andrew Meltzoff, Ph.D., author of The Scientist in the Crib: Minds, Brains, and How Children Learn; and Angeline Lillard, Ph.D., author of the educational best seller, Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius. Noah Sobe, Ph.D., whose scholarship on the 1915 Montessori demonstration classroom was published in the journal Educational Theory (2004), will discuss the 1915 exhibit that helped introduce Montessori’s methods in the United States.
Although Montessori teachers, parents, and former students tend to believe that the system has an important impact on students, few scientifically acceptable studies addressing whether it does have been conducted. Dr. Angeline Lillard, will review the extant research on this topic, focusing in particular on a study recently conducted in an AMI public school comparing student outcomes with those of control children who had applied to that school, but were denied admission by a randomized lottery process. Dr. Lillard’s research was recently featured in the journal Science.
Why San Francisco for a Montessori Centenary? It’s simple; Dr. Maria Montessori’s first classroom in the United States was a glass-walled installation at the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exhibition at the Palace of Fine Arts. San Francisco was the birthplace of Montessori’s foothold on North America. With hundreds of classrooms throughout the United States and the world, our goal is to help everyone have a better understanding Montessori’s unique story and contribution to children throughout the world.
Today the legacy remains, and through Montessori education, children all around the globe continue to grow and reveal to us the wonders of humanity. It is to these children that this celebration is respectfully and gratefully dedicated.
For more information about Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) and the upcoming Centenary Celebration is San Francisco, February 16-19, please visit www.montessori-ami.org.
Reservation about the Global Marketplace
By Julia Volkman
Many of the companies that make Montessori materials were started by Montessori teachers—like me. We wanted to buy something for our classroom and couldn’t find exactly what we wanted or couldn’t afford what we wanted. So, we made it. Then, by some twist of fate, we discovered a way to make a lot of them for a fair price and, poof, our businesses were born.
Overall, Montessori material makers are a pretty rare breed in the corporate world. We are concerned about quality, pedagogical validity and the environmental impact of our work. If you speak with some of us at a conference it will be obvious who fits this profile and who doesn’t.
Yet, we exist in a global marketplace where this genial community of friendly adversaries lies unprotected. Many of us have expressed concern and discomfort when our materials have been purchased by people from parts of the world where copyright and intellectual property laws are not often respected. Many of us have seen our work copied by less scrupulous organizations right here in North America. We have been forced to wipe the rose color off our Montessorian glasses and admit that we live in a competitive corporate world where market forces often trump environmental and social concerns. We will survive…but we worry.
We suspect that companies that copy our work use raw materials that we wouldn’t want our own child to handle. When I looked into printing Maitri Learning’s cards abroad I discovered that the paper could not be guaranteed “refuse-free,” let alone recycled or made from sustainably-harvested trees. I also could not get details on the type of laminate or ink used. When I received samples, they smelled. I thought they would air out like a new carpet but the smell remained.
I still don’t know what was in those cards but I decided then and there not to print my cards anywhere where I couldn’t control the materials used. This has not been an easy decision. I wonder how long it will be before I see someone else selling “my” materials for lower costs. And then I feel the pull to let go of my ethical concerns and print print print for cheap cheap cheap! I want to drastically reduce my costs and prices so I can offer the best materials at phenomenal prices. But this pull is really just fear that my business faces an insurmountable threat. It is fear that my little creation will have a short life. Fear, however, is like the wind—ultimately it will blow by you. It may take my little company with it, but it will pass.
I think this situation reflects the types of challenges teachers face in Montessori classrooms. There is sometimes overwhelming pressure to change our methods or approach due to state curriculum requirements, parental demands or financial needs. Yet so many of us resist the pressure and continue to bring genuine Montessori to our children. It seems vendors should do no less.
So I continue to purchase the more expensive paper that is environmentally sound. I use the more expensive laminate that is made in the U.S. where there are governmental controls over its contents and manufacturing process. I continue to pay the people who work with me as well as I can and give them flexible working hours. I continue to do what I feel is right and am optimistic that it will all work out. And when one of my vocabulary cards happens to find its way into my 16-month-old son’s mouth, I don’t worry about it…too much.
Julia Volkman is a Montessori primary teacher, the founder of Maitri Learning, and the reluctant point person of the Montessori Exhibitors Association (www.montessoriexhibitors.com).
AMS Moves Archives to U of Connecticut
By Cassia Bardal
The American Montessori Society (AMS) archives have expanded Internet presence and financial support for researchers as the result of a move to the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut.
The archives were previously housed at Columbia University.
Tom Wilsted, the Director of the Dodd Research Center in Storrs, CT, said the center will market the collection through Internet search engines like Google. He said the center has plans to make the collection available digitally.
During that transition, researchers can access materials by visiting the Dodd Center or requesting copies of material based on online descriptions.
The center has a secure, climate controlled storage area, which slows the natural deteriorating of paper and other media.
The Dodd Center is offering two travel grants to researchers. Grants in the amounts of $500 and $1000 are awarded to researchers on a competitive basis to help them travel to see and use the collection. For more details, please visit the Dodd Center website.
The archives hold a substantial amount of material about the early development of AMS including board minutes, correspondence files, photographs, movie film, photographic prints and negatives and a wide variety of publications.
Wilsted said The Dodd Center’s relationship with the Neag School of Education will encourage students to use the AMS collection. “We will send out information to their faculty who work in early childhood education. The Dodd Center has strong ties with the Neag School and works with them on literacy, reading and other projects.”
INFO: http://www.lib.uconn.edu/online/research/speclib/ASC/
NAMTA Exhibit Tour Schedule Firmed Up
NAMTA has taken steps to firm up the schedule and design for its touring exhibit. A Montessori Journey 1907-2007, is a 2,000-square-foot exhibit that will travel to six sites between February and November, 2007.
The stops as of late November:
• Feb. 7-17—San Francisco
• March 1-4— New York
• March 29—Houston• April (tentative)—United Nations
• May—Toronto
• November—Minneapolis-St. Paul
The exhibit, according to the announcement, will include seven “dramatic envionments:”
• Montessori History
• A World Timeline / Reminiscences of a Montessori Life
• Montessori Today: Where in the World Is Montessori?
• The Planes of Education: An Architectural Model with Fully Articulated Prepared Environments
• At Home with Montessori: East Meets West
• Sowing the Seeds of the Sciences
• Montessori: A Peaceable Kingdom
AMS Peace Retreat Highlights Cultural Awareness
By Holly Hilgenberg
For the AMS Peace Retreat, forty Montessori teachers and administrators met in the Rocky Mountains in mid October to discuss incorporating peace education and into their Montessori curriculums. The theme was Cultural Awareness, which prompted much discussion about international Montessori efforts in places like Uganda and Madagascar.
Facilitators Dr. Betsy Coe, Sonnie McFarland and Patti Yonka presented ideas and suggestions to increase peace in the classroom while encouraging participants to share their experiences with other Montessorians. The five-day retreat ended with participants sharing their commitments to peace education.
IAME Re-elects Officers
Current office holders of the International Association for Montessori Education were re-elected at the organization’s annual meeting in Denver, Nov. 11. From left, Aleta Ledendecker, secretary-treasurer; Pamela Crisman, vice-president; Carolyn Fermoyle, President. IAME voted to meet next year in Vancouver, BC.
Three NAMTA Research Projects in the Works
Three research projects will be reflected in the publications and programming of the North American Montessori Teachers’ Association over the next years, according to an announcement in the Summer 2006 NAMTA Journal, distributed in fall.
The projects are:
Nature and Embodied Education—A study to be carried out by Kevin Rathunde, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Utah, will look to “identify Montessori’s view of the psychological characteristics and personality integration that can find its final stages in Montessori adolescents through sustained experience in nature.” The study, according to the Journal, will compare students who combine both classroom and experiential study in nature to those whose work is entirely classroom-based.
Qualities of a Montessori Secondary Mathematics Program—Operating under the auspices of NAMTA’s Montessori Mathematics Council and the NAMTA Center for Montessori Adolescent Studies, a group led by John McNamara, Christophers Kjaer and Michael Waski will “design hands-on materials to bring the Montessori method and exactness to high school and middle school mathmatics.”
Montessori School Design—Architect John Wyatt and NAMTA executive director David Kahn will be modeling a Montessori ‘village design’ in creating a new school in Napa Valley, CA.
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