Montessori in Action Podcast

This next episode of Montessori in Action is focusing on Montessori children who have grown up and now have their own Montessori children. Genevieve D’Cruz and Teresa Chan have a conversation about their experience in Montessori classrooms and how it has impacted them as people and influenced them as parents.

Our first episode for Season Seven is a conversation with Jayadev Calamur. Jayadev reached out to me about a book he is writing and wanted to engage in a discussion about the role of Montessori education globally in responding to the times in which we live. He’s currently working on a book  exploring where our ideas about how children develop came from and what happens when those ideas meet systems that can't or won't fund them properly.

 

Website: https://calamurj.substack.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayadev-calamur-strategic-communication/ 

We are closing out the sixth season with our annual Summer Reads episode where we introduce books for you to check out over your summer. This summer, we have three suggestions.

The first book is Implementing the Montessori Method: Learner-Centered Education From Birth Through Adolescence, co-written by Trisha Thompson-Wilingham and Susan Zoll. It offers readers a look into Montessori classrooms across the ages.

The other two books are the result of transcription done by Jana Morgan Herman. Jana took the handwritten notes of Lakshmi Kripalani taken in the 1946 India course with Dr. Montessori in Karachi and transcribed them into two books: Book One: Practical Life and Book Two: Sensorial. Discover what Dr. Montessori shared in those lectures eighty years ago and enjoy your summer! 

Our conversation for May is with Isabella Cai, the founder and CEO of Y Montessori, where she leads the Montessori Data Lens program to spark meaningful conversations and empower the community to leverage data in advancing the Montessori movement. Isabella shares the origin story of the Montessori Data Lens program as well as various projects they have done thus far. 

Omkari Williams is the author of Micro Activism: How You Can Make a Difference in the World (Without a Bullhorn) and she joins us for our next episode of Montessori in Action Podcast, to talk about a new course she is running with Montessorian, Kelly Johnson. Together, they are offering a new Trillium course Micro Activism Meets Montessori. Our conversation covers everything from the 6-Principle Manifesto to how to implement these ideas in a Montessori elementary classroom.

This episode of Montessori in Action is a conversation with Sue Atkins, the new President of AMI UK and longtime early childhood educator. She shared some reflections on inclusive practices to benefit children on the autism spectrum, their families and educators.

It’s time to hear more about the latest research released this past fall! Dr. Angeline Lillard joins Montessori in Action Podcast to unpack A national randomized controlled trial of the impact of public Montessori preschool at the end of kindergarten. As the lead researcher, Dr. Lillard shares details of the study and insights on the outcomes.

Last month we heard from Dr. Jaime Aquino, the Superintendent of San Antonio Public Schools. Our episode to start out the new year is a conversation with the Principals of the two public Montessori schools in San Antonio- Natasha Akutekwe and Roxanna Montes. Their two schools comprise a Montessori Network and they talk about their experience as part of a network as well as part of a public school district.

Our guest this month is Dr. Ian Parker, a career educator and researcher, who joins us to talk about Re-envisioning School: Lessons on School Reform from Montessori District Schools. This research, done with Katie Brown and Annie Frazer, uses Montessori as a focus to investigate how district leaders come to decisions about implementing alternative education models in their schools. Dr. Parker is currently a senior lecturer of early childhood education at the Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates. 

https://www.aasa.org/resources/resource/re-envisioning-school-lessons-on-school-reform-from-montessori-district-schools

This month, our podcast focuses on public Montessori programs. Superintendent Dr. Jaime Aquino joins us to talk about his experience supporting public Montessori schools in the district setting. Dr. Aquino has held top leadership positions in several districts, serving as deputy superintendent of instruction in Los Angeles deputy superintendent in Hartford, chief academic officer in Denver, and an Instructional Superintendent in New York City. He is now the Superintendent of San Antonio Independent School District which currently has two public Montessori programs.