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January 2012
 
 
Dundas Valley Montessori School Newsletter

Feb 2012 Concert


6th Annual DVMS Benefit Concert

Over the years, DVMS has held a number of phenomenal fundraising concerts featuring some well-known performers. Sarah Harmer, Daniel Lanois, Kathleen Edwards, and Chantal Kreviazuk have all graced the stage to help raise funds for various DVMS endeavors. This year, we are proud and excited to announce that we have two exceptionally talented musicians ready to take the stage.

Harrison Kennedy is a 2012 Juno Award nominee for Blues Album of the Year.

Jeremy Fisher is a two-time Juno nominee and a multi-faceted, multi-talented artist.

Take some time to explore the above links and get to know these two incredible artists. Then, come see them perform live, for you, in an intimate setting.

Proceeds from this year's concert go to the Montessori Adolescent School of Hamilton. MASH is an independent Montessori Adolescent school that was born from the vision and commitment of the Montessori educators at DVMS. MASH will soon operate as a registered charity, so this year's concert will kick off an ongoing opportunity to support a unique and outstanding educational program.

Check out the event on our website or on Facebook, where you can find info about the artists, and about how to purchase tickets.

As always, this year's event will also feature a silent auction, and, for the first time this year, a promise auction. If you would like to donate goods or services to the auctions, please contact the school.

To book a tour or observation call 905-627-1073.
[email protected]

Tony Evans AMI B.A.
Director of School
Dundas Valley Montessori School
Montessori Adolescent School of Hamilton


Mindfulness and Montessori
Feb 2012 Path Mindful "Mindfulness" is quite the buzz word these days, but what is mindfulness and how does it relate to Montessori? At DVMS, we view mindfulness as the act of self-regulating attention and focus, among both students and staff.

Mindfulness originated as a meditative practice and has been developed as a psychological method. This oft-cited article out of the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health at the University of Toronto's Department of Psychiatry works to propose an operational definition of mindfulness. Basically, mindfulness practices help people develop awareness of the immediate and to make note of intrusive thoughts and feelings in a non-elaborative, non-judgmental manner, allowing them to push the intrusions aside and return focus to the present moment.

Angeline Lillard, of Science Behind the Genius Fame, recently published a paper entitled "Mindfulness Practices in Education: Montessori's Approach." Her article points to four areas where Montessori education aligns with mindful practices, which can be summarized as:

  1. Concentrated attention [mind]
  2. Movement (body, mind, environment, others) [emotion]
  3. Practical work (goal-oriented; physical product of mind's work) [body]
  4. Specific exercises (simplicity, non-judgement, stories) [spirit]

We see these four intrinsic areas of Montessori education, coupled with their intrinsic mindfulness, as assisting students in their work of self-construction of the whole child - mind, emotion, body, and spirit.

Montessori and Education Reform
Feb 2012 Path Happy Huff Montessori tweeters and bloggers were abuzz recently when The Huffington Post published an article entitled "Montessori: The Missing Voice in the Education Reform Debate," by Laura Flores Shaw, Head of School at Oak Knoll Kinderhaus Montessori in Pasadena, California.

Flores writes: "Now, research in psychology and neuroscience continually validates Dr. Montessori's conclusions about children and learning, and Montessori schools are flourishing -- not just preschools but, increasingly, elementary, middle and secondary schools. So as the education reform debate thunders on, with the many sides agreeing on little beyond the fact that our schools as they are currently designed are failing our children, I can't help but wonder: Where is the voice of the Montessori movement in the American school reform conversation?"

She traces her own discovery of, and move to Montessori from a career as a school therapist, and speculates as to why Montessori is not included in the American education reform debate.

"Maybe it's because people are simply most comfortable with the familiar," she says. "Maybe it's because many mistakenly think Montessori education is a model only suitable for preschool-age or privileged children. I'm convinced, however, that the greatest impediment to Montessori entering this conversation is that there are so many special interests -- from textbook and test publishers to educational entrepreneurs -- who profit from the system as is."

At DVMS, we believe that children should be the ones profiting from their educations.