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Show D ZSERET Magic Of Montessori: The Disputes Rage On S)(V.v 'wv- Fo'low rg is the f h of seven Editor' Note aftiCies o.i the current reveal of Vonton eecmrg Din it is adjp ed by pe m srn techniques by from her bcok REVCLUTiON IN LEARNING, published by Horper & Rev. ) - 'w Bv MAYA The Amer i c a The conti oveisy over Dr. Mana teaching methods rages method is generally Mon-tesori- 's on. lowed the modifications cf Nancy McCormick Rambusch, and tiie m ie orthodox lut. luatiuuale, Montessoii Association w lio.'p American representative feels trained by Montessori herself that the training of A.M.S. teachers does not come up to the standards of A.M.I. In general, the International Montessori appioacli tends to be much moie disciplined and rigid than that of the A.M.S., though there are plenty of exceptions to prove the rule. Since Montesso-ri'- s death in 1932 (the same year as John Dewey's), the defender of the faith has been her son, Mario Montessori, who, from Holland, controls the source of pure Montessori equipment and wisdom. There also are some Montessoii schools that prosper as business enterprises, without affiliation vvitli either Montessori society. My own first contact with such a Montessori school nearly soured me on the whole method because, it was a caricature of unfortunately, what Montessori had intended. son lor a When I took iny trial session in this school he was Intonated by the strange - looking equipment and went around the room exploring it. The teacher, a rather stern Indian woman who wore a colorful sari, seated him at a little table and gave him two tablets to feel. After awhile, Michael got up to look for more exciting fare. He picked tip some blocks with symbols on them, and sat happily making trains out of them. When the teacher noticed this, she looked annoyed. Removing the blocks, she said, We want you to do the things we suggest, and she pointed to the two I tablets. But I've done that already the other know one sides rough, smooth, protested my son. We do things many times here, replied the teacher dryly. And as she passed near me, she muttered, He has little concentration, doesnt he? Nearly everything in this class violated the Montessori spirit : the restriction of movement, the insistence on quiet, the classwide demonstration, the lack of freedom of choice, and particularly the which teacher's authoritarian attitude probably owed more to the Indian custom of reverence for ones elders than to At the West Side School in New Y6rk, any method of instruction. It destroyed what J. McV. Hunt, the great University of Illinois researcher, calls Montessori's a boy "plays" with a simple pan balance to gain understanding of weight and volume. less rigid than the thodox system or- . . . her solution of the major contribution problem of the match1: letting the child find out fri imnself wiial best matches his own particular interests and stage of development. Mv next encounter with a Montessori school more than made up for this discouraging experience. In a big room with a high ceiling and a skylight, 42 children of various ages, from toddlers to were engrossed in dozens of different occupations. One tiny girl of about 3 was washing in a low basin; she scrubbed them with a brush, then impulsively took a Ink beginning to scrape them. Two youngsters vvoiked at a double easel, making wild splashes of color with their paints. A young man otr of the d few and male teachers for this age group drew a crowd of four or five children an he began to mix some rariots much-wante- Play-doug- At the blackboard, a ponytailed girl worked in fierce concentration. Next to her, on a low table, were spread out some large sandpaper numbers. First, she traced them with her finger, then stared at them carefully. Then she turned to the board and wrote them out. As soon as she finished a number, she locked at the sandpaper model again to check what she had done ; in a few cases she erased her own mistakes, doing each number over until she had written it perfectly. She was having trouble with number 8 when a teacher came around, so the girl asked for help. The teacher, Mrs. Thomas Hopkins, showed the child how to write an 8, and suggested that she fill up the rest of the board with this number. She spoke gently, in a melodious voice. Then she moved on to give another youngster some individual attention. There were four adults in the room two teachers and two asbut I was hardly aware of sistants their presence as they moved quietly from one child to the next amid the changing configurations in the room. On a blue mat on the floor, a little Negro boy was working with a wooden THEY'RE YOUR SCHOOLS Deseret News Education Wiiter Empty classrooms and silent football stadiums in Carbon School District this week testified to the fact that Utah school procedures must change to have their annual salary divided into 12 equal payments. If a teacher begins w'ork on September 1, he receives his first paycheck on October 1. Although the finished his contract by June 1, teacher milimeet the new he continues to receive paychecks tancy of teachers. through September 1. If we are to School district budgets must conform have either the to the fiscal year basis. They cover the collective unions period from July 1 to June 30. bargaining or thp Any negotiations over teacher salaries teachpr organizashould be completed prior to June 1 if tions professional budgets are to be intelligently drawn. the negotiations, At this time of the year there simply state will have to is no pressure on teachers to complete devise a better set salary negotiations and its too easy for of rules for their conduct. boards cf education to set budgets with The present situation is not fair to stuthe attitude that by September well dents and it's questionable whether its reach agreement with the teachers. Sepfair to boards of education or teachers. tember seems a long time away and in Utah Schoolteachers normally there's just no urgency to got the matwork a contract. By law, Utah ter settled. school districts must provide 180 days of Teachers, on Hie other hand, can classwork. Customarily, teachers are prolong settlement all summer with almost no penalty. They wont feel the required to report for duty two or three days prior to the start at school and to pinch in their pocketbooks until October remain one or two days after classwork 1. Their pay checks will keep coming to 185-da- y closes. In almost all districts teachers elect through September. Contributing to the lack or pressure is the flexibility of the school calendar. Teacher organizations take the position that what does it matter if school doesnt open on time so long as we work 180 days? The calendar always can be Thus teacher leaders can extended. assure striking teachers that you won't lose a cent of pay. Teacher leaders insist, incidentally, that their refusal to return to classrooms is not a strike. Its simply withholding services. They point out that their work year, for which they signed contracts, ended in June and they are not breaking contacts by refusing to return to wrnrk until conditions are more to their liking. There are several possible changes which could put increased pressure on both boards of education and teachers. One tiling which surely should be done in Utah is to abandon the 18C day contract. The statutes require that superintendents be employed on r appointments. Surely this could apply to teachers. At the least this would cut bargaining by half. Establish a uniform statewide school calendar which specifies that school shall begin on a particular date one-yea- two-yea- and close on a particular date. The provision could be made that state contributions to district school finances would be paid only for the period specified. If boards of education and teachers could not reach agreement by the scheduled start of school, neither the district nor the teachers would be paid for any pa: 1 of the school year devoted to impasse. Assuming that thf state eventually will have a teacher negotiations law, the statute could set a deadline for compler tion of school negotiations. It could say, for example, that in any district where agreement was not reached by May 1, the talks automatically would go into mediation with a third party called in to assist. Eventually and I know that both boards and teacher organizations presently would oppose such a provision there could be a deadline for compulsory arbitration. - THE SKYWATCHER STAFF On this month's star map, we can see that some of the autumn constellations are beginning to rise above the eastern horizon. One of the easiest recognized of these constellations is Pogasas. Even though lie is supposed to be a winged horse, if you look at the chart, you can see that Pegasus looks much more like a large square in the sky. When you go outside to look at the skies this month, look for the great square of Pegasus; Saturn, one of the most beautiful telescopic objects in any par tof the sky, will be in Pisces a constellation just next to Pegasus, throughout this month. about the sun.) We call the line traced out in tiie sky by tiie sun as li moves the ecliptic. It is a line that intersects tiie earths equator in two places. When the sun itself is at one of the points of intersection, the sun is directly overhead for an observer at the equator. In addition, every other place on the earth has an equal period of day and night at these two special times in the year, which we call equinoxes. But, the sun is not direcriv overhead everywhere; for instance, in Salt Lake City, the sun rises 49 above the horizon. On the twenty-seconof this month, we will have the fall equinox. The sun is now going southward along its path, becoming lower and lower in the skies of the northern hemisphere. In fact, this motion of the sun is precisely what causes the fall season to commence. Our major source of heat is d board-teache- I submit that pupils are far more precious than products. Perhaps management and labor can be forgiven for holding up the production of automobiles or television sets. People who deal with the education of children, whose lives cannot be lengthened to compensate for delay, ought to be under the greatest public pressure possible to keep the schools functioning. light from the sun. As the sun goes low er in the skies, these rays strike the earth at a greater angle, and the same ray is spread out over a larger area. This means that at a particular place on the earth, will receive less heat when the sun is lower in the sky. The progression of summer - fall - winter - spring is caused by the motion of the sun higher or lower on our horizon. never-endin- Perfect Spot For A Parade A .Suddenly, the noise in the room eased as two little girls quairelea at the blachhoaul. Don't keep talking to me: ouie disturbing me!'' shouted one You started it voice. shouted another. Bv HARRY JUNES the other end ot the room, Fir Tlie Parade ol Homes Show is a great vv lucli was divided by low- bookshelves success ami vou should make every into separate woik aieas, Mrs. llopkio- -' olloit to see it before it doses for this tinkled a little pea. y ear. One child told me today it's a bit too The show is out on 70th South at 23id noisy, she said politely, so will ,'ou try to be a little more quiet sailEast and folds on Sunday. speak Tho childien er voices for awhile?' There are two reasons for vou to get complied, keeping their noise more subout there before the curtain comes down. dued. First, it is a very good show with a lot of Several tables had room for more nev ideas for joui wife . . . ideas that than one child. At one laiger, lound vvil. keep you all winter. busy table a boy was polishing his shoes with But vou should go out because mostly, liquid shoe polish; a girl was wot king the show may not lie as good next year. with solid cones, cubes, and egg shapes; a very small boy was handling Tiie reason for die anxiety about the versions of the same shapes, 1969 show comes about because of a picobviously for the first time, and a teachture a 2Vby-2!colored snapshot we er was denionstiating vvliat he could do own. with them. Undistracted by any of these The picture activities, another girl at the same table looks like one had traced a circle with a metal stencil taken on and was busy filling it with parallel muddy part of tli? lines. salt flats only the This was the West Side Montessori salt is a sickly yelSchool of New York, begun by a group of low instead of the parents in 1963 and directed by Mrs. usual white There Hopkins. She had studied Montessori is a pile of rocks techniques in England and taught in in the middle and English and French Montessori schools tiie sky is as black before being invited to the United States as you get black by Nancy Rambusch. After teaching at on a colored picture. Whitby in Connecticut for awhile, she And there is a fellow oil our block who opened a Montessori school in Altoona, lias something to do with the Home the first priva.e school in that Pa. Show. He is elated with the picture. He tow n. The school started with only 30 stuthinks it would be tiie ideal site for the dents, but now has about 180, w'ith teachParade of Homes Show next year. ers imported from Holland and England. If ever a site had the potential, this In 1961, there had been few articles is it. he said. He wasnt kidding! about Montessori, except in Catholic We can call it Sunshine Acres, he magazines, so we really had to fight to with said, excitement! trembling in all three religions, recalls Mrs. get Sunshine Acres? It we asked. Hopkins. As at Whitby, the parents belooks like there is going to be a cloudcame so enthusiastic about the school burst any moment. It's a flood area. that they did not wish to take their children out at the end of the kindergarten How about Sunshine Estates: , . . year, but kept adding one grade eacli jea, he said after a minute. Thats it . . . Sunshine Estates. year so that their children could continue learning the Montessori way. You missed tiie point entirely, I The West Side Montessori School is said. lun along similar lines, but because of He just ignored me. He went on about the many schools available in New York the tremendous possibilities for homes, a City it does not go beyond the preschool country club, school, church, community vears. center . . . everything for a and Monday: American Children Take To It Quickly. community. I looked at the picture again to see if we were talking about the same one. It YOUR was the very same . . . right out of the envelope we had just gotten from the corner drug store. Look at the sky again, I said, and then think about the sunshine bit. He studied it for a minute. And I can tell you that the Russians wont have a chance on the dusty old moon if this guy gets there within a year. Well cal! it Green Brae Acres . . '. By JOSEPH G. MOLNER, M.D. Lake View Estates . . . Bluegrass Lee. Dear Dr. Molner: Please explain the He went on and on. You've got to have importance of yawning. Most people take something that sounds exciting and with it as a sign of being sleepy, but I find a ring of exclusiveness about it. that even after a good night's sleep I imI suggested Starvation Flats. mediately begin yawning. J.G., Sr. Be Looking For Pegasus , Saturn And Venus Bv HANSEN PLANETARIUM 5 6, 1963 111 ! high-pitche- New Rules Needed For Teacher Bargaining By LAVOR CHAFFIN jigviw puzzle. a mrp of Ncith and Conwith the United Slates orange. Caiusln m vellovv. As though b'- tins sight, another little boy sooii came near him cauvmg another 11..U, ul.iiii he umolleil carefully. and a puzzle that lepiesonted South America. hen the lust boy limshed his puzzle, lie ml it away neally. Vv Today's practitioners are now aught between the conllic'ing goals cf the American Montessoii Society, which folV n ized 1 Friday, September ti. d Ainetica, FINES NEWS, g Have n astronomical Send It to "The question care of the Deseret News, P O. Box Skywatcher," 1257, Salt Lane City, Utah, 64110, If your question is used In this column, you will rece ve two free tickets to the star program of the Hansen Planetarium. 111 2 the d d HEALTH Is A Yawn Important? We Answer: You, sir, have asked a question that nobody has been ablp to answer entirely. A yawn is a complex physical mechanism. It may mean sleepin iss or fatigue or boredom. It can be contagious seeing someone else yawn can make you do it, too. One authority asserts that sleepiness, weariness, and boredom constitute what he calls a state of critical consciousness: you aren't asleep but you are tending that way. Physically, an increased saturation of carbon dioxide appears in the blood. Carbon dioxide is a respiratory stimulant. It's the automatic control of the body in that respect. If we need more oxygen, and carbon dioxide builds up in the blood, that makes us breathe deeper. Hence comes a yawn, which is a means of drawing in a large volume of air (and oxygen) and exhaling carbon dioxide. There's more to it than that. The opening of tiie mouth stimulates the neck muscles and blood vessels, which in turn stimulates brain circulation. Often a person stretches his arms, which has the same effect. A yawn in tiie morning? Well, you may breathe very lightly while asleep, and the yawn is a way of starting brisker breathing and getting your blocxi circulating. A good yaw n is really a sort of resuscitation. It supplies a surge of oxygen and relaxation. It may not be polite, socially, but it doesn't always mean that you are bored with the company. both studied the picture again. You've got to be kidding, he said. Tins property has the greatest possibilities. Then he went through the homes, country club, community center thing all over again. Find out where it's located and give me a call, he said, going toward his house scribbling notes on a piece of paper. I called after him, Look. there isn't anything but barren land, a pile of rocks. He turned and said something about mountain cabin sites. Now I have to call him and tell him I remember the picture . . . its a double exposure we took of the Pacific Ocean and the Matterhorn at Disnejland. Wit's End: I was really elated the other day said she had found the perfect mate. Then I found out she was talking about gloves and a purse. when Donna iliiiiiiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiniiiiiiiiiit BIG TALK Only a small telescope w ith a magnification of about 30 is required to see the rings of Saturn. Another of the sun's family of planets Is also visible this month. Venus appears now as a very bright evening star. If you go outside just after sunset and look into the western sky, you cannot miss it. During the first week of every month, The Skywatcher includes a description of the skies visible for that month. Why? Because the skies visible during thp night continually change as die year progresses due to the sun's apparent moof tion through the sky, (Actually, course, it is the earth that is moving ife k'W "An optimist says, 'May the b man win!' A pessimist says, 'E he ain't running!' & tkn Use this T P- latest star chart to help you find the major constellations during September. From phetos by Lionel V McNeiy to Deseret News popular a tly Baby Birthday fe |