The Montessori Message

The Montessori Message

Monthly Archives: March 2018

Learn, Unlearn, Relearn

22 Thursday Mar 2018

Posted by Lisa Lalama in Learning, Mindset

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

illiterate, learning, literacy, mindset, relearning, retirement, technology, unlearning

23966348.png

Illiteracy used to mean not being able to read and write. No longer. As Alvin Toffler says above, it means much more. Its definition has broadened while also becoming much less specific.

Over 30 years ago, my father-in-law decided to retire. He had worked for more than 30 years as a draftsman and loved his work. He enjoyed the precision and creativity that his job allowed. Throughout his time as a draftsman, he moved from pencil and paper to learning to do his drawings using a computer program. As T-squares, pencils and papers were moved further and further away from his work life, his desire to retire became stronger and stronger. He finally made the decision to retire and never looked back. When asked how he knew it was time to retire, he said quite clearly, “I didn’t want to learn another way to do my job. I loved my work, but I didn’t want to learn anything new.” In other words, he didn’t want to unlearn and relearn. For him the timing lined up. He was old enough to retire and had a good life ahead of him with lots to look forward to. For others, things don’t line up quite as nicely.

In education – as in most other fields – learning, unlearning and relearning are constant states of being. Many times the barrier is one of mindset rather than difficulty with the skill or concept. It’s one thing to decide at retirement age that you’ve learned enough and it’s time to move on; that’s not so easy for most of your work and school life. How literate are you? What have you unlearned and learning recently?  

Raising Happy Children

16 Friday Mar 2018

Posted by Lisa Lalama in Parenting

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

bedtime, choices, independence, ned johnson, Parenting, william stixrud

clockRecently, I was having dinner with a friend and her children, and the topic of bedtimes came up.  I explained that my daughter and I would argue about bedtime when she was their age. She insisted that everyone in her school stayed up until after 10 p.m., and I unreasonably insisted she be in bed by 8:30. As many parents have experienced, she wore me down, so I said that I would no longer be in charge of her bedtime. She could stay up as late as she wanted as long as she could get herself up and ready for school and have the energy and positive attitude needed to not only make it through her school day but would also return home and be a pleasant member of our family. She stayed up until 11 p.m. the first night… and that was the end of the experiment. She discovered what I knew from years of watching her; she needed more sleep than many of her peers. She wasn’t rested unless she slept at least 9 or 10 hours each night. We no longer fought about bedtimes; she was in charge. I let her decide and honored her choice. We agreed on the limitations of the choices and I stepped out. As you can imagine, the boys with whom I shared this story were delighted to hear this (the parents not as much) and asked their parents to institute “Lisa bedtime” at their house.   Continue reading →

Words Matter

08 Thursday Mar 2018

Posted by Lisa Lalama in Learning, Teachers

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

bombogenesis, language, learning, vocabulary, wordplay, words

BOMBOGENESIS_1515164658160_11448321_ver1.0_1280_720.pngLast week, I sat and watched the bombogenesis blow huge snowflakes across the playground at our school. Bombogenesis… really? What a surprise to learn the word is real. A Google search reveals a definition and everything that comes with any other real word; yet, it is not listed on dictionary.com. So, is it a word? NOAA says it is. Whether it is “officially” a word or not, it sure is fun to say, even if we don’t exactly know its meaning (unless we happen to be meteorologists, of course).

I love wordplay. I make words up constantly, complete with definitions. Several years ago, in an effort to share my enthusiasm for words (or “wordthusiasm”) with students, we studied the origin of words and made our own dictionary, creating new words whose meanings were based on their origin. It was great fun and supported students’ continued vocabulary development. Continue reading →

You Know Something I Don’t Know

01 Thursday Mar 2018

Posted by Lisa Lalama in Learning

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

bill nye, education, learning, school

Bill Nye QuoteThat just about says it all. We can never know everything about everything. It is simply not possible. Schools teach a body of knowledge striving to ensure that children evolve into literate and educated adults. No matter what is included in that body of knowledge, no matter what electives students choose as they move through school, and no matter how long they are in school, they will leave not knowing things. That is the paradox of education. We are in school to learn; we leave with more knowledge than we started with and even more things we don’t know.

Education’s purpose is not to fill young minds with information. It’s true purpose is to promote thinking, questioning and understanding. Children aren’t containers to be filled. Bill Nye the Science Guy says it all in the above quote. Everyone has something to teach us. We may not know what it is or what to expect, but we do know that we will learn something from each and every person we encounter if we are open to the learning. And if that is what we learn in school we will be held in good stead during our school years and beyond. What have you learned from someone today?

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 3,024 other subscribers

Like WMS on Facebook

Like WMS on Facebook

Recent Posts

  • It’s time to leap!
  • Growing & Learning
  • It’s All Academic
  • The Art and Science of Learning
  • Teaching or Learning

Recent Comments

Gilles on What are you reading?
Manigandan on The Montessori Difference
Gilles on Do you believe in your ch…
missbritt88 on The Montessori Difference
Phillip Montessori on The Montessori Difference

Categories

  • 21st century learning
  • Camp Montessori
  • community service
  • education systems
  • Extended Day Programs
  • Learning
  • learning environment
  • making a difference
  • Mindset
  • Montessori Education
  • Parenting
  • Research
  • Schools of the Future
  • STEM
  • Teachers
  • Uncategorized
  • Wilmington Montessori School

Archives

  • February 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014

RSS Feeds

  • RSS - Posts
  • RSS - Comments

Blog Stats

  • 57,165 hits

Wilmington Montessori School

1400 Harvey Road
Wilmington, DE 19810
302-475-0555
blog@wmsde.org

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • The Montessori Message
    • Join 144 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • The Montessori Message
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...