ONEWORLD MONTESSORI HOUSE OPEN HOUSE March 12

Cebu City – Oneworld Montessori House, Inc. will hold an Open House at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, March 12, 2011 at 145 Salvador Ext., Banawa, Cebu City.

The Open House is a good venue for parents who are scouting for a school that will match their child’s needs and personality. This will also give parents opportunity to learn more about the uniqueness of Montessori Education and how the educational system facilitates the total development of the child.

A short talk about the Montessori philosophy, principles, and curricular areas will be given with a video presentation of Montessori education. This will be followed by a short demonstration on the use of Montessori materials in teaching the child and a tour of the campus.

Oneworld Montessori House fosters the development of the whole child by providing him an excellent academic and co-curricular programs. It implements developmentally appropriate practices that allow him to experience the joy of discovery and mastery in his own terms and at his own pace. The school emphasizes experiential learning, critical thinking and problem solving skills.

Enrollment for Academic Year 2011-2012 is now going on. To reserve a slot for your child, call 253-3191 . Visit our website www.oneworldcebu.com for more information or send e-mail to oneworldcebu@gmail.com.

http://www.oneworldcebu.com

ONEWORLD MONTESSORI HOUSE SUMMER PROGRAM STARTS APRIL 25

Cebu City – Oneworld Montessori House offers fun, exciting and experiential learning programs for children this summer.

OWMH Preschool Readiness program prepares children in transitioning from home to school environment. This program helps develop children’s social skills, gross and fine motor skills, grace and courtesy as well as provide opportunities for children to acquire pre-reading and pre-math skills which are necessary to learn independently.

Other programs offered include Tutorial and Remediation, Painting for beginners and advance students, Music Lessons (classical guitar, piano and singing) and Dancing lessons (Hawaiian and modern dancing).

Oneworld Montessori House aims to develop the whole child by providing him an excellent academic and co-curricular programs. It implements developmentally appropriate practices that allow him to experience the joy of discovery and mastery in his own terms and at his own pace. The school emphasizes experiential learning, critical thinking and problem solving skills.

Enrollment for the Summer Program is now going on. To reserve a slot for your child, call 253-3191 or visit us at 145 Salvador Ext., Banawa. For more information about our other educational programs, visit our website www.oneworldcebu.com.

http://www.oneworldcebu.com

EFFECTS OF ART LESSONS ON CHILDREN

by Jocelyn C. Kintanar, Ph.D.

The positive effects of art on children have been validated by several studies. In an article, Christine O’Kelly describes how their exposure to art lessons can improve chances of becoming successful adults. The author goes to the extent of saying that adults who had not taken art lessons “ have never really discovered their true selves and capabilities”.

She explains that during art lessons, children are allowed to express their own creativity and ideas, hardly concerned whether their work is correctly done or not. Unconstrained by fear of criticism and of committing mistakes, they pursue this creative opportunity freely. Making mistakes, after all, is vital to becoming successful! Adults, on the other hand, are constrained in this respect which according to O’Kelly are difficult to overcome.

Introducing art lessons during early childhood develops flexibility among children making them better prepared to deal with the unexpected. These help them develop self-confidence that likely lasts through adulthood.

The child by nature is a “creator, innovator, and explorer”, abilities that need to be developed. According to some educators, activities that do not provide children opportunities to express their ideas and thoughts should not be labeled as art and that “the development of the ability to think creatively is more important than any art product a child can produce”.

The traditional practice of providing coloring books with templates of pictures, forms and shapes, at times indicating the color to be filled in, hardly helps in fostering creativity. This way the child is inhibited from developing his “initiative, imagination and originality”.

A noted Hindu artist, Chinmay Mehta said, art has a “ a strong therapeutic effect on the mind. This view is shared by another Hindu artist, Anshu Pawan, who thinks of art as “a form of catharsis”. “Whatever can’t be expressed through words can be beautifully expressed through art”, he said.

Aware of the importance of art lessons on children’s development, Oneworld Montessori House has implemented painting lessons for children 4 years old and above. In consonance with the school’s community outreach program, painting classes are offered this summer for children and adults alike interested to learn how to paint using a variety of media. They will be exposed to different painting techniques used by renowned artists. Classes will start on April 13.

http://www.oneworldcebu.com

Seminar on Montessori education

Cebu Daily News
First Posted 13:39:00 05/27/2008

Parents of children 7 years old and below are invited to join the Oneworld Montessori in a seminar on Montessori Education on May 31 at 2:30 p.m.

The resource speaker is Jocelyn Kintanar, Ph.D., the founding president of the Association of Montessorians in Southern Philippines.

The seminar will give the participants an overview of the Montessori approach.

Oneworld Montessori is located at 145 Salvador Extension, Banawan, Cebu City. To sign up for this free seminar, call 2533191 or 4185115 or log on to www.oneworldcebu.com.


http://www.oneworldcebu.com

MONTESSORI EDUCATION: AN ANSWER TO THE CRISIS IN EDUCATION

by Jocelyn C. Kintanar, Ph.D.

President, Association of Montessorians in Southern Philippines

The decision of the Cebu City government and the Department of Education to train more than 200 of their pre-school teachers and day care workers on the Montessori approach of teaching young children was a step in the right direction. Contrary to the common belief, the preschool education and not the university studies are the most important years in a person’s life. Investing resources in training these teachers and day care workers is money well spent and will go a long way towards improving literacy, particularly among the underprivileged children.

The greatest realization expressed by most participants who attended the Montessori training program at Oneworld Montessori House was the importance of movement and freedom in fostering the child’s intellectual development, following the child’s natural tendencies and interests and letting the child “paddle his own canoe”.

In her book, Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius, Dr. Angelina Stoll Lillard, expressed her belief that the “traditional American schooling is in constant crisis because it is based on two poor models for children’s learning: the school as a factory and the child as a blank slate”. Further, she said that “school reforms repeatedly fail by not penetrating these models.”

Not too long ago, the Sec. of Education, Jesli Lapus, admitted that the Philippine educational system, which is patterned after that of the United States, is in a “very bad shape”. He pointed out that “the quality of education in the country has sunk to its lowest level” and that “the problem is systematic”. An “intervention” during the formative years could be a solution to the problem, he said. The need for retraining of teachers, particularly in English proficiency, “to arrest the declining quality of education in schools” cannot be overemphasized.

Is it possible that the traditional way of treating the child has negatively influenced the learning outcomes? Yes, it is. When teachers were asked on their perceptions of the child, it was surprising that most of them still regard the child as a “tabula rasa” or a blank slate. This philosophical view was advocated by the English philosopher John Locke at the end of the seventeenth century. Perceiving the child as an empty vessel or a blank slate has many implications for schooling, according to Lillard. If the child’s mind is empty, the teacher is obliged to pour knowledge. She does not need to involve the child actively in the learning process because “empty vessels are passive by nature”. Yet, children learn best when they are actively involved in the learning process.

In the traditional classroom, it is common to see children sitting down for several hours while listening to the teacher standing at the blackboard and imparting her knowledge. Most often, the teacher fails to consider the interests, the learning style and learning pace of the child. Being empty vessels, “there is nothing in them from which interests could stem”.

Further, children are not allowed to make choices and decide for themselves. Teachers and School Administrators choose what should be learned. “People fare better when they can make choices about their lives and environments, not when others have all the control. Traditional schooling does not allow children this control”.

In a Montessori classroom, according to Lillard, “ the child decides what to do when, within limits of what is constructive for the child and good for society. Allowing children this freedom gives them experience in making choices, an important skill for life.”

Dr. Maria Montessori described the child as having an “absorbent mind” and that he has the innate ability to acquire knowledge effortlessly given the “prepared environment”. She developed a “system that worked well with children, rather than against them”. She was a strong believer of Aristotle’s philosophy that “Nothing exists in the intellect which does not first exist in the senses”. Lillard indicated in her book that research findings today have largely upheld Montessori’s major ideas on teaching young children based on her empirical observations.

(For more information about Montessori Education, the writer can be reached at Oneworld Montessori House Tel. No. 253-3191 or visit www.oneworldcebu.com)

Group trains daycare teachers

(originally published by Sun Star on April 21, 2008)

Montessorians also gave workshops to pre-school, elementary teachers from public schools

Hoping to improve the educational system in the city's public schools, the Cebu City Government, the Department of Education and the Association of Montessorians in Southern Philippines (AMSP) are joining hands to train preschool, daycare and elementary teachers.

Around 60 preschool, day care and elementary school teachers gathered for a 10-day workshop starting last week at the Oneworld Montessori House along Salvador Extension in Banawa, Cebu City.

The seminar/workshop trains the teachers about the Montessori education so they can apply this when classes resume in June.

Handling the seminar/workshop are teachers from Oneworld Montessori House.

The activity is one of the recommendations that Dr. Jocelyn Kintanar, Oneworld administrator and AMSP president, included in her proposal to DepEd and the City Government on how to improve public education in the city.

Discussion

After submitting the proposal to DepEd and the City, Kintanar sat down with Joy Augustus Young, Cebu City's consultant on education, and DepEd officials to discuss how to go about implementing her recommendations.

The present batch of participants is only part of the projected 290 teachers who will benefit from the program, said Kintanar.

Kintanar said she came up with the idea after noticing that something is lacking in the mainstream educational system.

She said the Montessori method could be a viable alternative to improving literacy of children.

Partnership

Like all Montessori schools worldwide, Oneworld aims to promote the total development of the child through parent-teacher partnership.

It strives for a holistic development of the child by seeing to his cognitive, emotional, social, physical and spiritual growth.

"We look at the child individually. We respect each child's learning pace and learning style. We implement individualized instruction," Kintanar said.

There are many other things the public school teachers can learn from the Montessori method, she said. This includes mixed age grouping in class; a hands-on learning instead of the textbook approach; the teacher not as center of attraction in the classroom but as a "guide" or "facilitator" only, and many more.

ONEWORLD Website http://www.oneworldcebu.com

Educating children through the Montessori method

(This article was originally published by Sun Star Cebu on May 16, 2005)

By J.C. Kintanar, Ph.D.

While a lot of people have heard about the Montessori method of educating children, not too many fully understand what it is. In an interview made by Barbara Walters in the ABC-TV Special "The Most Fascinating People of 2004," the two founders of very popular Internet search engine Google.com, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, admitted that their Montessori education was an important factor in their success.

Montessori education "has allowed them to learn to think for themselves and gave them freedom to pursue their own interests." Since then, a lot of televiewers started to get curious about Montessori education. What is it?

Dr. Maria Montessori, the first Italian lady physician, established her revolutionary method of teaching in 1907. Taking full advantage of the child's innate desire to learn, her approach was based on scientific observations of children from different countries and cultures.

She observed that children have an "absorbent mind" and thus, have the ability to absorb knowledge from their surroundings "almost effortlessly," somewhat contrary to the traditional concept of a child being "tabula rasa" upon which knowledge is impressed. Much of the system of education-obtaining today, which emphasizes rote learning, spoonfeeding and teacher-oriented curriculum, derives from this view of the mind as being a blank tablet.

So, how does a Montessori school differ from a traditional school? Even a casual observer will notice a different classroom environment in which the rooms are divided into curriculum areas filled with instructional materials easily accessible to the pupils for them to manipulate and experiment on with much freedom. Most of these materials have built-in "control of error" features enabling the child to self-correct with little adult intervention.

In a Montessori school, the education of movement and of character comes before the education of the mind. Children are taught how to take care of themselves, their environment and each other. The child progresses at his own pace and rhythm.

Several studies in different countries have been conducted on the effects of Montessori education. Among the salient findings were: (a) Montessori children were more creative and kept things in order; (b) Children did better in mathematics when they used didactic materials; (c) The Montessori method is a favorable prerequisite for language development; (d) Children developed positive attitude towards school and learning; (e) Children concentrated and cooperated better than those without Montessori experience; (f) Montessori children were more independent.

The researchers concluded that the Montessori method of education has a positive long-term impact on children.

Today, there are more than 7,000 Montessori schools established worldwide. Most of the Montessori schools in the Philippines operate in Metro Manila. Not too many of these type of schools are in the Visayas and Mindanao, although many traditional schools have integrated some features of the Montessori education into their curriculum.

There is a common misconception that a Montessori school is for the elite. While the Montessori method is more demanding in terms of teacher-student ratio and instructional facilities, it need not be overly expensive in the Philippines where personnel cost is way below compared with the foreign counterpart. Many Montessori schools in the Philippines and Cebu, in particular, have a large base of middle-income families as their clientele.

For more information about the Montessori education, the following websites may be visited: www.montessori.org or www.montessori-ami.org or www.montessori.edu.

The writer, who is the president of the Association of Montessorians in Southern Philippines, will be pleased to receive inquiries about the subject matter at her office at Oneworld Montessori House on Salvador ext., Banawa, tel. nos. 253-3191 or 418-5552.