What a great round up! I’m looking forward to reading Ma’s interview. Her ideas sound similar to a Montessori approach to teaching math, where kids really get their heads around how numbers work. I once saw 4th graders in a Montessori school doing algebra with math manipulatives because they could actually construct a square and a cube.
That's very much in the vein of Singapore math and Ma's approach, which is really the American approach from 70 years ago (as Ma mentions in the interview). In reality, algebra is number manipulation with unknowns, and, if there's a tangible object that represents the unknown, figuring out its value is both obvious and technically algebraic.
I'm not familiar with Montessori techniques, but their emphasis on tangibility would probably lend itself towards a similar system as the Singapore bar models.
I think Montessori’s approach to early years and “sensitive periods” is a good compliment to a classical education in later years. (I know some would disagree, and I don’t think Montessori was correct about everything, but in our contemporary culture, helping children engage with nature and be independent in the sense of being capable seems like a wonderful correction to much of the excessive victimisation/ coddling that seems to be the norm!)
I tend to agree with your reserved affirmation of the Montessori method. Some people take it in directions that I disagree with, but most of those boil down to a Rousseauian rejection of original sin. Children without direction won't find goodness, beauty, and truth on their own. At the end of the day, the child will need disciplined instruction in what is good, but there absolutely needs to be a 50-50 reciprocation between the teacher and the student. Montessori is so good at making sure that they have the student's buy-in.
As I mentioned Charlotte Mason has a similar vein to her. A few too many people tend to take her emphasis on child responsibility towards an 'unschooling' approach, which I find unfaithful to what I know of either author.
Never too late to discover a good list. I heartily second the Caldecott book. He was a true gem. Now I will look into the Jesuit education book. Memoria Press has always had a comprehensive free catalog as a helpful blueprint for teaching and learning. The Climbing Parnassus book is a classic.
Catie, I'm so glad to have been able to spread the good news of Jean-Baptiste and the Jesuits. To be great, we need great models, and I firmly believe that the men who gave their lives to education can serve as that.
I had not heard of Norms and Nobility but will be buying it pronto. Would you care to give any takeaways from that book?
It's been quite awhile since my last read-through of it, though I've read it several times now. I think what resonates most with me is his insistence that education is not for teaching us to know what we don't know, but equipping us to behave as we don't behave. In other words, it's not about knowledge acquired, but knowledge applied.
@James Dietz , James Taylor's "Poetic Knowledge" is another book you might want to add to your list - it goes hand in hand with Hicks in my opinion.
What a great round up! I’m looking forward to reading Ma’s interview. Her ideas sound similar to a Montessori approach to teaching math, where kids really get their heads around how numbers work. I once saw 4th graders in a Montessori school doing algebra with math manipulatives because they could actually construct a square and a cube.
That's very much in the vein of Singapore math and Ma's approach, which is really the American approach from 70 years ago (as Ma mentions in the interview). In reality, algebra is number manipulation with unknowns, and, if there's a tangible object that represents the unknown, figuring out its value is both obvious and technically algebraic.
I'm not familiar with Montessori techniques, but their emphasis on tangibility would probably lend itself towards a similar system as the Singapore bar models.
I think Montessori’s approach to early years and “sensitive periods” is a good compliment to a classical education in later years. (I know some would disagree, and I don’t think Montessori was correct about everything, but in our contemporary culture, helping children engage with nature and be independent in the sense of being capable seems like a wonderful correction to much of the excessive victimisation/ coddling that seems to be the norm!)
I tend to agree with your reserved affirmation of the Montessori method. Some people take it in directions that I disagree with, but most of those boil down to a Rousseauian rejection of original sin. Children without direction won't find goodness, beauty, and truth on their own. At the end of the day, the child will need disciplined instruction in what is good, but there absolutely needs to be a 50-50 reciprocation between the teacher and the student. Montessori is so good at making sure that they have the student's buy-in.
As I mentioned Charlotte Mason has a similar vein to her. A few too many people tend to take her emphasis on child responsibility towards an 'unschooling' approach, which I find unfaithful to what I know of either author.
Never too late to discover a good list. I heartily second the Caldecott book. He was a true gem. Now I will look into the Jesuit education book. Memoria Press has always had a comprehensive free catalog as a helpful blueprint for teaching and learning. The Climbing Parnassus book is a classic.
https://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/educational-resources/climbing-parnassus/
Catie, I'm so glad to have been able to spread the good news of Jean-Baptiste and the Jesuits. To be great, we need great models, and I firmly believe that the men who gave their lives to education can serve as that.
I had not heard of Norms and Nobility but will be buying it pronto. Would you care to give any takeaways from that book?
It's been quite awhile since my last read-through of it, though I've read it several times now. I think what resonates most with me is his insistence that education is not for teaching us to know what we don't know, but equipping us to behave as we don't behave. In other words, it's not about knowledge acquired, but knowledge applied.
@James Dietz , James Taylor's "Poetic Knowledge" is another book you might want to add to your list - it goes hand in hand with Hicks in my opinion.
I was going to suggest Norms and Nobility, but you beat me to it! It's very much in sync with Mason as well as Clark&Jain, and Caldecott.
Wow! I was really hoping people would unlock some blindspots for me. This is great.