Montessori, and all of Experiential Education, rely so very much on the personality of the teacher that they have very limited scalability. This single matter is a whole sub-science in itself, with scant actual work beyond the empirical. Because some Schools of Montessori (there are factions and cults as anywhere else) are even more rigid than others (I was blessed to have my 1 1/2 year as Montessori teacher assistant happen in a more open one), the tendency to fall into rigid Walls you mention is way too common. I was warned of that as I was considering specialized formal training. Even CUT had a Montessori... I don't know if it was you who mentioned some Montessori did not want to even consider XOs. As to the spark in their eyes, yes, certainly. One problem we have is that right now the learning curve for getting the XO/Sugar to be useful for them is so steep that it's unlikely they will get there. BTW, the reports from Arahuay indicate that there they let the canes be handled by trusty older kids, ingenious way to avoid setting themselves to charges of abuse. a last BTW, and I should be getting to work, my nephews 3 and 1 1-2 years old at the time got the time of their lives with Lion King Activities, a most excellent set of learning and exploring software from back then, apparently able to navigate around "by themselves" on a PC. Of course, uncle was by, so as was mentioned earlier, that made the self-learning-computer somewhat redundant and unworthy as a datapoint, something I do earnestly agree. That is why, again, I ask for ways we could find to communicate with real teachers right there on the ground. And a final BTW, Rishi Valley Institute for Educational Resources deserves a look <a href="http://river-rv.blogspot.com/">http://river-rv.blogspot.com/</a> They seem to be managing to do education under very difficult circumstances, somewhat similar to what Sameer describes as happening in Bhagmalpur, and a good point is to enhance peer-supported learning I quote "For millions of children in the under-privileged sections of rural communities, RIVER has created, tested, successfully implemented and replicated, in India and abroad, a path-breaking Multi-Grade, Multi-Level (MGML) Methodology in Primary Education. Around 75,000 teachers and 67,50,000 children are being benefited by this unique system based on activity based learning. Unlike the glaring drawbacks existing in the prevalent, mono-grade, teacher directed, text book based teaching system, the MGML methodology has started a silent revolution that makes learning joyful, reduces student dropouts, enhances community school linkage and makes the teacher more accountable. " <div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Oct 12, 2009 at 10:51 AM, Sameer Verma <<a href="mailto:sverma@sfsu.edu">sverma@sfsu.edu</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> On Mon, Oct 12, 2009 at 1:55 AM, Martin Langhoff <<a href="mailto:martin.langhoff@gmail.com">martin.langhoff@gmail.com</a>> wrote: > On Mon, Oct 12, 2009 at 10:18 AM, Sameer Verma <<a href="mailto:sverma@sfsu.edu">sverma@sfsu.edu</a>> wrote: >> I've been reading "Montessori Madness" for a few hours now, and I find > Of course, I like most of Montessori's approach. But remove the human > elements and... poof! it's effects will be gone. Montessori strategies > in a crowded group with an unenthusiastic teacher have very slim > chances. > Indeed. My kid goes to a Montessori (which is why I was reading this book) but we've seen several M schools around here, where an indifferent teacher destroys the environment. It reverts to a Pink Floyd'ish assembly-line of faceless students processed into pink filler meat (Cue 4:21 <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VUhoD3vM9Q" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VUhoD3vM9Q</a>). Interestingly, my current discussions with them are about the introduction of Sugar in that environment (after-school sessions, maybe) but they think the kids are too young. They would like for the kids to be 5 at least... > Bryan, you need to postulate your theory more formally :-) > Or, become a Maria incarnate...I'm sure a born-again Montessori will get you tremendous following ;-) cheers, Sameer _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) <a href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org">IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org</a> <a href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep" target="_blank">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep</a> </blockquote></div>