Cosmic Education

keynote newzeland annual conference

2011-04-23T14:08:00.000-07:00

8 Stages of Observation

1. observing during lessons (this is the illusion stage)
2. Mobil observation. Observing while walking around, not in lessons.
3. Prison guard. Stop-watch-redirect-watch this equals constant irritation
4. Crooked finger. sitting to observe, but beckoning children over to redirect.
5. Stink eye. Sitting to observe, not beckoning, but still interfering with natural activity.
6. Build my ego. Sitting to observing but still answering questions.
7. Pavolv's dog reward for observing, or punishment for not!
8. Observer as observer. True observation.

You cannot continue to grow as a teacher without observation. Because you do not know what you are doing!

NAMTA journal V36 #1

2011-03-25T15:30:00.000-07:00

notes from
Celebrating Life, Not Theories by Stanford Jones

Do you convey a daily celebration of life to your children in the classroom?

"Look for the child who is not yet there." -M.M.

Discipline without freedom is repression, but freedom without discipline is chaos. -attributed to Margret Stephenson

'there are children who do not need a directed approach. Invite them to do something they have had a lesson on (give a limited choice) or to join the group.

To be a successful practitioner, we must hold fast to the vision and accept our individual situation, taking the best and leaving the rest.

"Well, Dears! you must give it at least 6 years. Rome wasn't built in a day" --attributed to Margret Stevenson.

MM preferred 'conversation' to 'lesson'

too academic=unreasonable and we will perceive teaching as an exercise in futility
too lax=excellence will not be achieved

seek counsel

be honest about our strengths and weaknesses

What the children do without you is more important than what they do with you

be humble. Learn from the children

self worth comes from 1-affirmation from adults 2-successfull adaptation to the chilture by the child's won activity on the environment.

Notes from NAMTA journal V.36 #1

2011-03-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

From Annabeth Jenson "How Science and History Lead to Community Service"

We are out to save humanity!
2 Themes: Order and laws, and responsibility and service

I. We teach science:
   A. to inspire a sense of wonder
   B. To demonstrate to the children the interconnectedness of all things
   C. to sow the seeds of culture and show them what is possible for them as they take their place in it
   1. It is important that we make it clear to the children that there is so much left to discover-to
   show them all that we don't know-and that all e know could easily be proven incorrect or
   outdated tomorrow!
   2."Through the lessons and stories our students become connected to the past and present to
   all living beings and to that which is larger than themselves"
   D. to inspire the children with the idea that they have a part to play in the health and well-beling of
   the planet and its occupants.
   E. to help develop a human being
   1. Our fondest wish is taht they will grow up to appreciate, revere and deeply understand the life
   that is around us, and our responsibility for preserving that life.

II. How do we teach science?
   A. Use stories and imagery to set the stage for concrete experience and critical thinking
   1. Tell at least one story per day
   2. We tell stories to inspire the tendency toward hero worship
   3. We tell stories to awaken the natural empathy between humans and all living beings.

III. How to write a story
   ---Build on what they already have learned
   ---Give them something new
   ---Think about what the key ideas are you are presenting
   ---Consider how to get those ideas across more clearly
   ---Limit how much you include
   ---End the story with an indication that there are other ideas to discover and explore
   ---Writing stories in note form removes the scripted feel.
   ---Find a hook
   ~weird, far-out adaptation something has made to survive
   ~amazing number or statistic
   ~humorous
   ~Gross
   ~heart-warming

Relate the story to the materials.
Use hands on experience when possible
Use demonstrations
Try dissections
Garden or bring the outdoors in

Think of the key concepts of science
1. Observation
2. Hypothesis
   -if....then....because
   -real science begins with a questions
3. Classification

Go Out!
Grow food
Do service
---Stewardship find a spot that needs cleaning up and take care of it
---no new paper fridays
---green school movement
---grow food organically
---compost
--pull invasive plant species
---plant trees
---volunteer

NAMTA Houston, January 2011 Elise Huneke-Stone

2011-03-23T17:24:00.000-07:00

Every utterance 7+ words is a unique utterance

A story that communicates who you are is incident based is shows a strength or vulnerability and helps others understand you better.

Self expression through story telling is social bonding

Storytellings is a natural human expression

Our job is to help support self expression through storytelling

Everything we say and do is material for the children.

If it takes 10,000 hours to be proficient that means 20-25 years of teaching.

storytelling creates a small society in elementary class

Mirror neurons are firing during storytelling.

Elements of Dangerous Writing
~Love your objects
   Specific
   Know the qualities
~Pizza, Pizza, Pizza
   Use repetition
~Unpack it
   Don't summarize, slow down, know more about the person in when the suitcase is open
~Put it on the body
   Use embodied language
~Say it with a burnt tongue
   Do it your own way. Use your own scars.

NAMTA Houston January 2011 Georgia Heard

2011-03-23T17:17:00.000-07:00

Book recommendations by Georgia Heard
John Muffitt- To Look at Anything
Valerie Worth All the Small Poems and 14 More
Georgia Heard-Creature of the Earth Sea and Sky
John McFee-Oranges
Paul Showers-The Listening Walk
F Barry-Little Green Frogs
Mern Fox-Wilfred Gorden MeDonald Partridge
Melmed- first song ever sung
Curtis-Where do balloons go
Dunbar-Why is the sky up
Merriam-Wise women and her secret
Ann Turner0 'look up' poem
Things by Eloise Greenfield from Honey I Love
Marry Ann Hoberman Ill read to you, you read to me
Myer Livingston-Family peoms
Trees by Francisco Alavcon
Jane Yowlen-Here's a little poem
JAck Berletsky-The 20th century children's treasury of poetry
Anthologies- Paul Janeczko for older kids
Namomi Nye
Billy collins poetry 180
Poets.org

NAMTA March 2010

2011-03-23T17:06:00.000-07:00

Julia Bolz
Adolescence need to DO peace.

Engage, educate and empower.

Larry Shaw
Morals and forming character do not come from rules and commandments. Morals are developed through acation and experience, with others through community. The can create peaceful communities.

"Burke"-laws touch us now and then, manners touch us every hour of everyday.

Susan Stephenson
Steps to be happy
1. Free your mind of hatred
2. Free your mind from worries
3. Live simply
4. Give more
5. Expect less

Annabeth Jenson
The social work is just as important as the academic work.

Tell a story and brainstorm how to do work in all the areas. Tell a story a week-put it in on the board and see if we can add all areas. Do what if questions and I wonder questions.

Migration Charts
   ~Billiard balls-European settlers on E. Coast
   ~mixed balls-NY city
   ~Wall breaking-Persian, Mongolian, Rome

Empathy is innate and natural

Discovery mag. and two old women book

Talk about what is service in class and in school
Lower el collect money and goods. Upper el needs to DO service

NAMTA March 2010 Megan Tyne

2011-03-23T16:52:00.000-07:00

Share with the children how Montessori produces peace and why. Why they are so lucky. Why their responsibility is greater.

The same things that work in classrooms work in communities. "help me do it by myself"

NAMTA March 2010 Andre Roberfroid

2011-03-23T16:50:00.000-07:00

Peace is not the absence of conflict

Fear generates insecurity

Worst wars are waged by highly educated countries

Peace requires education-but not just any education.

Montessori is based in respect for the child and for differences.

Montessori is a Practice not a philosophy. Practice produced results.

Children are not afraid of differences, It creates curiosity.

Building peace is work and we have to recognize your own difficulties. It requires social change and a sense of justice.

We must see the world as potential friends. Education must be canged to become open-mided and differences seen as a positive.

FHN must be met to be peace makers.

Future peace will be due to how we educate our children.

Belive in the child

MSB notes

2011-03-23T16:46:00.000-07:00

Amy's Room
Found musical object. Large branch mounted on rolling base. Pots, tin cans etc hanging from it. A container to hold mallets attached.

Lots of questions during meetings.

Math books

Have a spelling program

First drafts on blue Montessori paper. Final drafts on regular lined paper (seems backwards?)

Symbolizing poetry. Make lines on blank paper wide enough o allow for symbols.

Hand-embroidered nomenclature-Floss on Felt. Wow!

Janie's Room
Portrait idea-half picture of kids faces. They fill in the rest

Country/Continent research requirements for each year.

Conductor profile in music area.

Sarah's Class (upper el)
Guitars.

Classic composer CD set and listening area in music area.

Plastic chairs (they look fine!) and different sizes of tables that can be put together or taken apart.

Capitalization

2010-04-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

The rules of capitalization have evolved over time. The ancient Phoenician, Greek and Roman alphabets were written in upper case or majuscule only. Lower case letters or minuscule letters were not developed until later. There are now a generally agreed upon set of rules for capitalization in the English language.

Here are some I wonder questions.....
Write your own sentences to practice each of the rules of capitalization.

Research the development of lower case letters, uncial or cursive writing. Why were these different forms invented and used?

Practice your capital letters in calligraphy.

Do you think your handwriting is important? Why or why not? Was it more or less important to the generation of your grandparents?

How does your handwriting affect your life now? How might it affect it when you are an adult?

The Comma

2010-04-01T11:21:00.001-07:00

The comma is a punctuation mark. It is used to separate things. Comma comes from the Greek word komma which means something cut off or a short clause.

Punctuation that separated things, like the comma does, was originally used so that the writing could be read aloud properly when reading aloud was a prestigious and professional activity.

The comma as we recognize it today was not used until the development of printing. It comes from an obsolete punctuation mark called the virgula suspensiva, which was used to indicate a brief pause in a text. The virgula suspensiva looked like this /

Besides the virgula suspensiva there are other obsolete punctuation marks.

Even today the proper use of commas is debated and to some extent is a matter of personal preference.

Information from The Cambridge Encyclopedia of The English Language

Here are some I wonder questions...

Re-write something without commas. Does it change the way you read it? Does it change the meaning? Does it still make sense?

Write sentences without commas for your friends to correct. Did they follow the rules? Did they all correct it the same way?

Do some further research on the comma or other punctuation marks. Do other languages use the comma? Does it look the same as the English language comma?

What were some other punctuation marks that we no longer use? Are there any you think we should add? If so, what would they look like? What would they do?

Why do you think it has been harder to standardize the use of punctuation like the comma than to standardize spelling?