Montessori in Action Podcast

Season 4, Ep. 9: Learning by Heart or with Heart

"Are you more curious to know or to understand concepts?” This is the question that opens the research done by 

A group of 5 researchers including Montessorian, Solange Denervaud  Our final episode for this season is a conversation with Solange who helps us unpack the findings of Learning by Heart or with Heart: Brain Asymmetry Reflects Pedagogical Practices. This research shows that how children learn shapes the brain’s core mechanisms for learning. It looks at the brains of children schooled in traditional settings and compares them to those who attended Montessori schools. The results are fascinating.

Season 4, Ep. 8: District Coaching

Episode eight of this season is a conversation with Antria Goss. Antria is the first Montessori Coach to serve in the Cincinnati Public School District. Antria works in the public Montessori schools in Cincinnati as a Montessori Coach to the teachers. In our conversation, she shares about her role, the work she does and the support she receives from the district.

Season 4, Ep. 7: Montessori Assistants

Our next episode of Montessori in Action features Guest Host, Genevieve D’Cruz. In this conversation, Genevieve speaks with two Montessorians- Elena Gonzalez. and  Jamila Ford  who were Assistants in Genevieve’s classroom when she was a Primary Guide. Both of these educators went on to take their Montessori training and are now leading classrooms of their own. In reminiscing about their time together, they talk about their experience in Montessori training, and share insight and wisdom for Assistants, Guides, and anyone aspiring to go to Montessori training themselves.

Season 4, Ep. 6: Social Justice Conversation

This episode brings together three Montessorians from three different Montessori organizations for a conversation about social justice. Maati Wafford, the Director of Equity and Engagement for the American Montessori Society (AMS), Jacqui Miller, the Human Rights and Social Justice Committee chair for the Association Montessori International United States of America (AMI USA) and Cindy Acker leader of the Social Justice Task Force for the International Montessori Council (IMC) come together to talk about their work and the work we all need to continue to do in order to bring about change in our society.

 

“Adults must defend children. We adults must see the real humanity in children, the humanity which will take our place one day, if we are to have social progress. Social progress means that the next generation is better than the one before.” Dr. Montessori, 1946 London Lectures

 

Check out our free tool to support your work: Collectively Renewing Montessori Curriculum: An Invitation (pdf)

Season 4, Ep. 5: The Montessori Child

Our first episode for this calendar year is with two authors who are coming out with a new book. Junnifa Uzodike  and Simone Davies are co-authors of the book The Montessori Baby which came out in 2021. They are now about to release their new book The Montessori Child which will be available for purchase March 5, 2024. They last spoke with Montessori in Action in Season 2 for Episode 2 about their first book together. Now they’ve returned to share with us The Montessori Child.

Season 3, Ep.4: Are we woke?

Season four continues with a conversation with Sheri Bishop. Sheri will be giving a talk in January entitled: Are Montessori Educators Barely Awake, Woke, or Too Woke for Our Time and Place? In this episode, she discusses the history of the term woke as well as her thoughts on the topic of awakening.

Season 4, Ep. 3: School Start Up - Sankofa Team

Sankofa Montessori is a new charter public school in Georgia that just opened its doors this school year. Our episode this month features two of their five-member leadership team- Jasmine See, who is the Manager of Student Culture and Family Engagement, and Chantille Chelich who is the Associate Director of Academics. This conversation explores their experience opening a public school as they share the school’s vision and their commitment to fully implementing it.

Season 4, Ep. 2: Montessori Research

Recently a systematic review of Montessori research was released that found that relative to traditional education, Montessori education has a positive effect on children’s academic and non-academic outcomes. The review looked at 32 rigorous studies from 8 countries around the world, focused on children from early childhood through to high school. As the plain summary concludes “Across a wide range of implementations (likely reflecting the range of Montessori implementations in the real world) and in studies of moderate to high quality, Montessori education has a nontrivial impact on children’s academic and non-academic outcomes.”

This episode is a conversation with two people on the research team: Angeline Lillard, the author of Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius as well as numerous Montessori studies, and Justus Randolph, the lead researcher on the project who is the author of Multidisciplinary Methods in Educational Technology Research and Development as well as many other manuscripts and publications.

Season 4, Ep. 1: Dual Language and Montessori

To launch Season 4 of the Montessori in Action Podcast, our topic is dual language and Montessori. We have two guests who have recently written articles about this unique combination. Gabriela Iturrald Espejo, the biliteracy coordinator at Montessori del Mundo, wrote The Science of Reading for Bilingual Children which appeared in Montessori Public’s recent issue. Sally Ness, the Director of Admissions at Intercultural Montessori Language School, wrote Dual Language, Montessori Education- The Pathway for Peace, which appeared in Montessori Life. These two educators unpacked some of the complexities of schools that offer both Montessori and dual language programs.

Season 3, Ep. 12: Summer Reads - The Bloomsbury Handbook of Montessori Education

For the final episode of Season Three we will be featuring a summer read. The Bloomsbury Handbook of Montessori Education is a brand new  accessible resource tracing Montessori education from its historical roots to current scholarship and contemporary issues of culture, social justice, and environmentalism. It is offered in six sections covering a range of topics related to Maria Montessori and Montessori education including foundations and evolution of the field; key writings; pedagogy across the lifespan; scholarly research; global reach; and contemporary considerations such as gender, inclusive education, race and multilingualism. The book is authored by scholars and practitioners based in over 20 countries, and today we welcome two of the contributors: Sid Mohandas and Nacole Walker