Montessori Schools Association Conference- London 2012

Yes, the Olympics will be the most spectacular event this year in London. In the world of education, another important annual event will also be held at the heart of the city. Seven years ago, I attended MSA National Conference in London and was very fortunate to see a lot of prominent figures belong to the names of the writers who wrote articles in Montessori International magazine.

This year the conference along with a new theme- ‘The hand is the pathway to the brain – neuroscience today’ will be held at the Institute of Education on Saturday 24^th March 2012.  It will focus on the latest neuroscience research on how to effectively support young children’s learning and development. Renowned experts attending are: Sally Goddard Blythe, Charles Fernyhough and Susie Pearl talking about ‘Is Every Child Ready to Learn? Assessing and Developing Neuromotor Skills to Support Learning Success’, ‘How Little Minds Lead to Big Ideas’ and ‘Creating Our World Through Frames of Happiness – New Roads for Empowerment and Success in Learning and Development’ respectively.

Tickets cost £40 instead of £50 (regular price) for MSA members for booking before 31^st January 2012.  Tickets cost £80 for non-members.

 

On another completely different note altogether, the picture below is a mind-blowing view of a playground equipment in Vienna. I simply wish this picture can inspire you to make the trip for the conference as well as a tour to Europe. Austria has one of the most beautiful landscapes on Earth!

The world’s highest chained carousel, located in Vienna , at a height of 117 meters.

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 17,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

More sites.

If you havea dire interest to pursue a course in Montessori outside Malaysia next year as part of your 2012 new year’s resolution, I have added a few more sites under the link ‘Montessori Course Outside Malaysia’ for you to ponder and select.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!!!

Futuristic Verses.

I don’t really know what title to give to this topic, but there are two verses of Dr Montessori’s words which are recorded in her books that send electrifying messages that I hope will shape my belief and values,as well as for the readers.

Verse 1: “Growth comes from activity, not from intellectual understanding. Children and even adults learn best when they are actually doing what they have learned. You can only get better in writing by writing everyday, and not by reading about writing skills from books. You can only calculate better, if you practise counting using the skills you have learned, and not only by reading about how to calculate faster. So teachers and even lecturers, talk for less than 30 minutes, and let your students ‘work on’ the other one hour.

 

Verse 2: “Prenatal period: forming the body/

0-3 years old: forming the mind/

3-6 years old: forming the character and society.”

I was lucky to witness the births and lifes of my niece and nephew. Today, my niece is 4 years 3 months old and my nephew is 1 year 5 days old. Even though I am not living with them, but every time I see them, they change a lot. My niece is going through another new phase of initiating conversation with strangers, singing and creating dialogues or stories on her own. She certainly has a flair for words and rhythm, and it scares me to think about the misdirection adults might put on this gift from God. My nephew is busy practising motor skills that make everybody’s lives go berserk His bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence outgrows every adult at the moment, as he is working on muscle strength and agility

Yes, we love children. And yes we love ourselves too. Looking after very young children is like working on a 6-years project at a period of 3 different frameworks, with each framework taking 3 years to be completed, and the good news is these frameworks are mini projects which are continuous and inter-related. At the end of the mega 6 year project, extend the contract for another 6 years. And you know what, don’t bother to re-sign or call for a memorandum or proposal resubmission because your project’s contract is automatically renewed. :0        What is your current project?

Mental Arithmetic.

I received this mail in my inbox a while ago, and I’ve decided to exercise my brain using the methods proposed by Prof Doss.

MAGICMATHS WORKSHOP BY A GENIUS FROM INDIA, PROF.DOSS , AND FOR THE 1ST TIME, MAGICMATHS TEXT BOOK WILL BE LAUNCHED IN MALAYSIA.

                     Workshop Date :  6th December 2011.
Time                   :  7.00pm-10.00pm
Venue                :   Kalamandabam,Lorong
                       Scott,Brickfields,KL.
                                                                                         Entrance FREE & OPEN TO ALL AGES

This event is jointly organised by 

ARTHA NYANA CONCEPT BUILDERS, 

AKSHAYA SRI SAI DHYANA SABAI (SHIRDI SAI CENTRE), 

KELAB BELL BELIA TAMIL, KUALA LUMPUR, 

LEMBAH PANTAI HYO AND PUSAT TUISYEN SERI ILHAM. 

For further details please contact 

Mr. Aravinthan 016-6120587  or  012-3915643,  Mr.Sornam 016-6590709,  Mr. L.Ganesh 016-2230905,  Mr. Murthi 016-6837696
OUR EMAIL: naalvar_team@yahoo.com

                                                                            

Prof. Doss & Magicmaths Programme

I am M. A. Thiruthuvadoss (Prof. Doss). I started teaching mathematics in 1958 and I am still teaching; teaching real good maths. 

I have taught in institutions and in private; I have taught in schools and colleges; I have taught in India, Ethiopia, Zambia and Australia. For the last 10 years, I am generating my Quickmaths, Magicmaths, etc. and teaching these in workshops and in private; in India, Abu Dhabi, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. In November 2001 Sri Mathurakali who has taken me oversince 1985, told me, “Write a maths book. Ideas will come to you. Note them, otherwise you may not remember anything after half an hour.” I managed to bring out, by March 2002, a small book of about 24 pages, containing about 16 Fast mental one-step calculation techniques, without any

paper-work, which I called QuickMaths. I also started to teach these techniques and the first session was to the teachers of  Bharat School, Adyar, Chennai. Today QuickMaths has more than 100 techniques, useful not only to children but also to teachers, parents and, in fact, to just anyone. On the practical side, just under 10 of the methods would be enough to do all school calculations in 5 to 10 seconds. Any one method can be taught or learnt in a few minutes. No other gadget or tool, like abacus are required. More importantly, the method learnt can be used immediately. 

In 2004, I wrote MagicMaths which teaches Aptitude Problem-solving by Lateral, Non-conventional and (almost) Mental methods in under 10 seconds. I have written two more books. My entire programme is called MagicMaths Programme. I teach my programme in workshops and to date I have conducted nearly 600 workshops in India, Abu Dhabi, Colombo and Kuala Lumput. Please visit http://www.magicmaths.org to get a better and fuller idea. Note the almost total participation by children everywhere and also note their enthusiasm and involvement.

Likes and Dislikes.

If you are working in an early childhood setting, tomorrow would be the best time to answer the question below:

Draw up a list of the likes and dislikes of the children in the kindergarten. Dr. Montessori made the list below to guide her in the application of her principles—->

1) What they liked:

Repetition of the exercise, Free choice, Control of Error…

2) What they rejected:

Rewards and punishments, Spellers, Lessons in common…

Let’s see what is your list!!!

 

 

Montessori materials do not limit imagination.

Another negative point coming from the critics of Montessori’s Method (taken from The Essential Montessori by Elizabeth Hainstock)  is that:

Organising the way each child is to use a piece of apparatus doesn’t allow enough room for imagination, creativity and spontaneity.

The introductory method on how to use a particular didactic materials serves as a starting point for young children in order to help them to establish a certain concrete pattern in their mind. Once a child knows how to use a material in a safe and appropriate way, often a child will freely work with the materials, experimenting with the equipment or challenging themselves in a playful manner. For example, a child can only understand the value of the numbers (1-10) after working repeatedly with the concrete materials in the early mathematics area, and carry on to explore large quantities of numbers (hundreds and thousands) with the golden beads, without feeling fearful, embarrassed or discouraged.

Montessori learning is an experimental approach, and the auto-educative materials are a sparkle that will strike the child’s inquisitive and logical mind to make sense of the world around him/her. Whilst you ponder on this, enjoy the TED talk below by Sir Ken Robinson on education and creativity.

3 Period Lesson with Unifix Cubes.

Watch Lee Havis introducing a 3-Period-Lesson of numbers 1-3 to a child with special needs, using number cards and Unifix cubes.

Adverts.

Do you feel like being empowered with this surge of energy to contribute to the education of children? Here are several openings:

1.  ”Hi, anyone interested to work in a Montessori school (2 1/2 to 6 years) located at Sunway? Please drop me your resume and contact details at sharonseah@hotmail.com“
2. “Hi everyone. I m Sylvia. I m from JB. my 2nd center will opened end June. We are looking for Teacher, Part or full time are welcome. Location Taman Molek & Sutera Utama.
   Look out for my facebook/KidsForest.com”
3. “Hello everyone, I am fairly new to this blog and I must say that it is definitely very useful to all individuals who are interested in nurturing young children. A note to Jasmine: are you still looking for a partner? or am I too late? Please do write to me if anyone is interested to set up a pre-school/kindergarten. Thank you. Sharm,” sharm50@yahoo.com
4. “Hai Rani,What is this Junior Academy by the way?  Hey I would like to advertise a position for a Head Teacher in you blog. If it is ok with you

   An establish centre in USJ  is looking for  for an experienced ECE teacher / teacher-in-training who has:
   -       The ability to work well in a team
   -       The ability to identify children’s unique strengths and interests
   -       Good communication and time management skills
   -       The ability to think outside the box

   Please apply with c.v to  :
   The Principal,
   41, SS 3/48, University Garden.
   46300. Petaling Jaya.
   Selangor.

   Only shorlsted candidates will be contacted.

   Thanks Rani.
   Jasmine”

Reader’s Comment – The Junior Academy

Pertaining to the post Reader’s Comment which is related to the comments given by readers about The Junior Academy school, I, as the owner of this blog, have decided to take charge, and am going to delete or withdraw any positive or negative views on the school, starting from tomorrow. Anybody who deem it necessary to uphold justice against or in accordance with The Junior Academy school, please use a formal channel such as the Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat or Persatuan Pengguna or the Education Department, which would also require you to provide sufficient evidence to launch a complain.