WHAT IS MONTESSORI?

• YOUTUBE: 321 FastDraw – Trevor Eissler “Montessori Madness!”
• YOUTUBE: How Children Learn to Read in a Montessori Classroom
• VIMEO: No Frustration, Dr. Steven Hughes – Watch this brief video clip on indirect preparation, one of those concepts that is so clearly and beautifully represented in a Montessori classroom.
• VIMEO: Interview at Santa Barbara Montessori School, Dr. Steven Hughes
• VIMEO: Montessori education allows for each child’s individual path rather than teaching to a “normal average“,  Dr. Stephen Hughes
• What is Montessori Education?
• Who was Maria Montessori?
• Maria Montessori – Her Life and Work
• Inside a Montessori classroom
• Is Montessori the Origin of Google and Amazon?

MONTESSORI VS. TRADITIONAL EDUCATION

• VIMEO: Why 20th Century Educational Methods Won’t Work in the 21st Century and What We Can Do About It
• YOUTUBE: 321 FastDraw – Superwoman Was Already Here! – Super Dr.Maria
• YOUTUBE: 321 FastDraw – Changing Education Paradigms
• Evaluating Montessori Education – A study compares the outcomes of Montessori education with traditional education
• Montessori Is An Example Of The New Culture of Learning, By Steve Denning, Forbes Magazine
• Montessori Builds Innovators, By Andrew McAfee, Harvard Business Review Blog
• Montessori: The Missing Voice in the Education Reform Debate, By Laura Flores Shaw, Head of School Oak Knoll Kinderhaus Montessori
• The Single Best Idea for Reforming K-12 Education
• Standing Up to Testing, By Ginia Bellafante, New York Times
• Stop Stealing Dreams (What is school for?) – Large-scale education was not developed to motivate kids or to create scholars. It was invented to churn out adults who worked well within the system.
• Outdated Teaching is Failing Our Children
• Public School Stakes Its Future on the Montessori Way
• Joy: A Subject Schools Lack – Becoming educated should not require giving up pleasure, By Susan Engel, The Atlantic

NEUROSCIENCE SUPPORTS MONTESSORI

• VIMEO: The Science Behind the Method – A pediatric neuropsychologist shares why Montessori education leads to higher order cognitive functions critical for advanced problem solving and lifetime success.
• YOUTUBE: Why Tools of the Mind and Montessori Educational Approaches Can Help Executive Function Skills – Watch this impressive YouTube video by Adele Diamond, PhD. It is worth the 9 minutes!
• Neurological Argument for the Phonetic Approach to Learning Language – “The exploration and education of language in a Montessori classroom is so easy and natural because it begins phonetically and gradually matures to include the complex mysteries of the English language.”
• Brain Development and Learning: Making Sense of Science

RESEARCH SUPPORTS MONTESSORI

• Executive Function: Skills for Life and Learning: From the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University
• Research Shows Benefits of Montessori Education
• Evaluating Montessori Education – A study compares the outcomes of Montessori education with traditional education
• Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius
• Research Validates Montessori Approach to Teaching Language
• Research findings: The Montessori Method
• Montessori Research and Articles from Montessori Northwest
• Test-free System Gives Children a Better Start in Life
• Montessori Is An Example Of The New Culture of Learning
• The Montessori Mafia – Wall Street Journal
• Montessori Through the Eyes of a Scientist

TED TALKS EDUCATION

• TED: Peter Benson – Sparks: How Youth Thrive
• TED: Sir Ken Robinson – Bring on the learning revolution! – In this poignant, funny follow-up to his fabled 2006 talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning — creating conditions where kids’ natural talents can flourish.
• TED: Sir Ken Robinson – Schools Kill Creativity – Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.
• TED: Sir Ken Robinson’s Top 10 Talks on Education – Watch these insightful TED talks on education recommended by creativity expert and cultural leader, Sir Ken Robinson
• TED:  Why Should You Listen to Sir Ken Robinson – 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.

MONTESSORI TESTIMONIALS

• Montessori Words: Where people share their Montessori stories – Read what parents, families and children from all over the world say about their Montessori experience.
• We Are Montessori: Where Montessori alumni share their stories

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

• Sen. Tom Harkin: Fixing Economy Starts With Early Education
• Early Lesson: Flexibility Leads To Creativity At Work
• The New York Times: Scientific Inquiry Among the Preschool Set

PARENTING

• VIDEO: Because No One Was Born A Parent
• Parenting while distracted: By Jane Scott, The Washington Post
• What if the Secret to Success Is Failure? – Making mistakes and incorrect decisions is an important part of life. How else do we know what NOT to do?
• Embrace Those Mistakes With Gusto!, By Kathy Masarie
• Importance of Failure – Allowing your children to make mistakes and experience disappointments is the biggest gift you can give to your child.
• Too Much Praise Is No Good for Toddlers
• Slow, Free Range, Idle Parents Can Increase IQ and Happiness, By Kirsten Dirksen, Co-founder, faircompanies.com
• Aid to Life: Supporting the Natural Development of Children – This is a wonderful parenting resource for infants and young children.
• Welcome to the Age of Overparenting, By Katherine Ozment
• Are you raising nice kids? A Harvard psychologist gives 5 ways to raise them to be kind, By Amy Joyce,  The Washington Post
• Preparing the Home Environment
• Montessori Biology – Birth to Age Twelve, By Michael Olaf Montessori – Providing practical Montessori information with families and schools for over a quarter of a century
• Train a Parent, Spare a Child, By Bruce Feiler, New York Times – “…giving children tangible rewards — from money to sweets to an extra hour before bedtime — not only doesn’t work in the long term, it actually has a negative effect on them.” So if bribes don’t work, what does? Read the article for suggestions on how to modify a child’s behavior without bribes or rewards.
• Learn about Practical Life at Home
• Modern Parenting: Tips, Tricks, and Traps, By Steven Hughes
• Ten Montessori Home Parenting Tips for Children Under 3
• Compassionate Communication – It’s how we relate in the classroom
• Good Parents
• Montessori Parenting Ideas for Summer
• Montessori in the Home

CHILDREN ON MEDIA

• Steve Jobs Was a Low-Tech Parent, By Nick Bilton, The New York Times
• What kids watch matters, it’s not just how much they watch – Research has linked TV-watching with long-term attention problems in children
• Video Game Addiction: A nation watches as its youth turn into zombies
• Technology Changing How Students Learn, Teachers Say, By Matt Richtel, The New York Times

EDUCATED PERSPECTIVES

• VIDEO: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
• YOUTUBE: The happy secret to better work
• PODCAST: Back to School,  This American Life Podcast with Host Ira Glass – An emerging theory about what to teach kids, from Paul Tough’s new book “How Children Succeed”
• Corporate Kindergarten: How A Montessori Mindset Can Transform Your Business, By Justin Wasserman, Forbes Magazine
• Electronic devices may keep teens from sleeping, By Robert Preidt, Health Day
• Self-Regulation: The Key to Successful Students?
• The Competing Views on Competition, by Matt Richtel, The New York Times
• Need a Job? Invent It, by Thomas L. Freidman, The New York Times
• Stop Stealing Dreams (what is school for?), By Seth Godin
• Is the Web Driving Us Mad?, By Tony Dokoupil, Newsweek
• The Children’s Menu], By Seth Godin
• The Pop! of the Wild, By Aaron Hirsch, The New York Times – A look at the online education debate
• Struggle For Smarts? How Eastern And Western Cultures Tackle Learning
• A Link Between Fidgety Boys and a Sputtering Economy, By David Leonhardt, The New York Times
• The Dicey Parent-Teacher Duet