Opinions & Ideas

By Scott Waltz As a professor on the verge of a sabbatical, I wanted to conduct observational research at a public Montessori school but thought it would be a significant imposition. After all, providing a high quality Montessori education each day is more than enough to manage without accommodating a snoopy university researcher who wantsRead More

By Jennifer Rogers      No matter how old a mother is, she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement. It could not be otherwise for she is impelled to know that the seeds of value sown in her have been winnowed. She never outgrows the burden of love, and to the end sheRead More

By Priscilla Spears Picture this scenario. An elementary child wants to report on a science subject. When the report is handed to the teacher, this guiding adult sees that it consists of a story that was told to the child by a relative. The report was supposed to be factual, not an anecdote or historicalRead More

By Phillip Dosmann The Milwaukee Public Schools Montessori programs continue to flourish and expand. In 2012 an eighth school was established at Howard Avenue Montessori.  The school was started in response to long wait lists at Fernwood Montessori located three miles to the north.  Howard’s establishment allowed for the majority of the students on Fernwood’sRead More

By James D. Webb. The school days of an educator can be varied and unexpected. Some roll smoothly as designed; most, however, have their own rhythm and tempo – despite even the best-laid plans. And, on others, if might feel as if there is an endless series of emergencies to which one constantly responding. IRead More

By Keith Whitescarver Why a focus on early childhood Over the past four decades, numerous studies such as the Perry Preschool Study; the Abecedarian Project; the Chicago Longitudinal Study; and the Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes Study have indicated that high-quality early childhood education increases the likelihood that children—particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds—will become successfulRead More

 by Harvey R. Hallenberg The Sicilian Greek geometer and mechanician, Archimedes, wrote that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.  Teachers of plane geometry continue to use his definition over 2,200 years later. However, Archimedes also understood that no one could draw a perfect straight line in a piece of papyrus, theRead More