ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Scaffolding for Discovery in the Third Plane
Author: Ewert-Krocker, Laurie
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Role,Montessori Method,Scaffolding (Teaching Technique),Adolescents,Developmentally Appropriate Practices,Montessori Schools,Adolescent Development,Models,Social Development,Teaching Methods

Laurie Ewert-Krocker emphasizes the teacher's role in nature's prepared environment. Without directing or controlling the child's work, learning spaces can be maximized for concentration by connecting the adolescent's intrinsic learning to the beauty and order of the natural world. The most artful balance is the global understanding of the interdependent natural systems that can be integrated with the local array of daily detail and responsibilities to allow for the formation of comprehensive community values in the context of purposeful work. [This article is based on the talk presented at the NAMTA adolescent workshop titled &quot;Adolescent Creativity, Collaboration, and Discovery,&quot; at the AMI/USA Refresher Course, Atlanta, GA, Feb 13-16, 2015.]
Understanding the Youngest Children: How to Build a Deep Awareness of the Toddler with Parents and Caregivers
Author: Holtvluwer, Nichole
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Toddlers,Parent Child Relationship,Self Esteem,Montessori Method,Parent Role,Spiritual Development,Child Development

Nichole Holtvluwer writes for fellow guides who work in the toddler community. Recognizing that communication with parents is the most important path to serving the child, Holtvluwer offers concrete advice beginning with the guide's most important stance: withholding judgment. She details four steps to working with parents or caregivers: building a relationship, providing knowledge, encouraging confidence, and finding excitement and joy. She concludes by suggesting that Montessori theory and parent education can be embedded into the issues that parents want to discuss, such as toileting. [This talk was presented at the NAMTA conference titled &quot;The Social Relevance of the Montessori First Plane: Engaging Families, Building Partnerships, and Finding Common Ground with the Wider Early Childhood Community&quot; in Dallas, TX, January 15-18, 2015.]
Exercises of Practical Life: Introduction and List
Author: Joosten, A. M.
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Montessori Method,Daily Living Skills,Activities,Child Development,Motion,Sanitation,Hygiene,Interpersonal Relationship,Personality,Responsibility

Albert Joosten wrote this article in 1968, and it is still the most comprehensive article on practical life to date. He develops his thesis beginning with &quot;daily activities&quot; leading to &quot;developmental and creative activities.&quot; At the same time, Mr. Joosten establishes the psychological backdrop for the practical life exercises as he continues to describe the physical dynamics with an implicit demand for perfection. He definitively presents the indirect aims of the practical life exercise and looks at the coordination of movement, the integration of personality, emotional enrichment, the strengthening of the will, and the social relations that flourish while doing practical life with other children and the adult. [Copyright © 1968 Indian Montessori Training courses under the auspices of Association Montessori Internationale. NAMTA would like to express its gratitude to the Maria Montessori Archives held at AMI for making this lecture available.]
Creating a Context for Flow: The Importance of Personal Insight and Experience
Author: Rathunde, Kevin
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Montessori Method,Adolescents,Adults,Experience,Music,Self Actualization,Motivation,Parent Child Relationship,Teacher Student Relationship,Educational Research

Kevin Rathunde reflects on his early studies of flow in Montessori adolescents and surmises that adults need to experience their own flow in order to guide young people to peak levels. He recounts his early music experiences as having &quot;peaked&quot; and that he needed to come back to his flow of the past to fully enter into his work with flow as a researcher. He would like to study the impact of flow in teachers and parents to measure how adult's experiencing flow in their work impacts the children in their environment. [This article is based on the talk presented at the NAMTA adolescent workshop titled &quot;Adolescent Creativity, Collaboration and Discovery,&quot; at the AMI/USA Refresher Course, Atlanta, GA, Feb 13-16, 2015.]
Group Flow and Group Genius
Author: Sawyer, Keith
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Montessori Method,Montessori Schools,Cooperative Learning,Creativity,Group Activities,Cooperation,Team Sports,Teamwork,Group Dynamics,Innovation,Music,Theater Arts,Familiarity,Communication Strategies,Musicians,Television

Keith Sawyer views the spontaneous collaboration of group creativity and improvisation actions as &quot;group flow,&quot; which organizations can use to function at optimum levels. Sawyer establishes ideal conditions for group flow: group goals, close listening, complete concentration, being in control, blending egos, equal participation, knowing team mates, good communication, and being progress-oriented. Collaboration is an essential ingredient of group flow and is vital to the Montessori classroom. The author has included a notes section with bibliographic information. [Reprinted with permission from chapter 3 of &quot;Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration.&quot; New York: Basic Books. Copyright 2007 by Keith Sawyer.]
Birth to Six: A Foundation for All That Comes Later
Author: Orion, Judith
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Montessori Method,Early Childhood Education,Preschool Education,Young Children,Child Development,Developmental Stages,Montessori Schools,Parent Child Relationship,Infants,Toddlers,Developmentally Appropriate Practices,Family School Relationship,Intervention

Judi Orion, a Montessori expert on the birth-to-six plane of development, delivers a no-nonsense call to arms about the vital importance of the right beginning to set the stage for all that follows. Although we often hear and read about the period from birth to two-and-a-half years, Orion communicates the urgency of responding to the developmental needs of the child clearly and powerfully. From her extensive worldwide experiences, she describes the work of the guide in preparing parents, observation that leads to the optimum transition from the infant community to the Casa, a focus on &quot;the child who is not yet there,&quot; and the child's love of work when it matches his interests and skills.
Practical Life from the Second Plane to Third Plane: Orientation to History and Social Organization
Author: Webster, James
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Physical Activities,Montessori Method,Adolescents,Learner Engagement,Cooperation,Interpersonal Relationship,Sustainability

In lyrical prose, Jim Webster lays out his view on the universal human use of tools and how &quot;humans meet the practical demands of life.&quot; Webster lauds physical work and the work of the hand as they both support engagement, social cooperation, a deepening of relationships, and sustainability. Practical work is valuable and is plentiful as it generates reciprocal community, dignity, self-awareness, and provides opportunity by giving comfort, refining skills, expressing creative insight, and imparting a sense of gratitude. [This article is based on the talk presented at the NAMTA adolescent workshop titled &quot;From Childhood to Adolescence: Keys, Disciplines, Social Organization, and Life-Long Impact,&quot; at the AMI/USA Refresher Course, Houston, TX, Feb 14-17, 2014.]
Battling for the Soul of Education: Moving beyond School Reform to Educational Transformation
Author: Abbott, John
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Montessori Method,Educational Change,Adolescents,Apprenticeships,Technology Uses in Education,Educational Objectives

John Abbott is seeking a revolution in education that will put learning back into the hands of the learner. He writes of the learner needing to be free-ranging and weaned from instruction. He is the director of a new wave of thinkers who are members of The 21st Century Learning Initiative, which places emphasis on the skills of critical thinking, problem solving, innovation, independence, collaboration, teamwork, leadership, multicultural understanding, communication, IT skills, and career and learning independence. This movement gives insight into Montessori adolescent education as it also is clearly reacting to the content-based learning that Montessori does not view as its focus or priority.
Stumble into Grace
Author: Rogers, Jennifer
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Montessori Method,Montessori Schools,Spiritual Development,Religion,Child Development,Educational Environment,Peace,Child Rearing

Jennifer Rogers writes with apt and lyrical snippets from her perspective as a Montessori parent and from her long history as a primary guide. This short piece examines the word &quot;grace&quot; from multiple facets and serves as a meditation that uplifts and reminds us &quot;that the life of a child is a gift.&quot;
Cosmic Education: The Child's Discovery of a Global Vision and a Cosmic Task
Author: Stephenson, Susan Mayclin
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Montessori Method,World Views,Early Childhood Education,Elementary Education,Child Development,Experience,Role,Altruism,Personality Traits

Susan Mayclin Stephenson tackles a large subject, Cosmic Education, which Montessori defined as a &quot;unifying global and universal view[s] of the past, present and future.&quot; Stephenson takes the reader from birth to the end of the elementary age with examples of how the child grows into an understanding of Cosmic Education through their experiences at home and at school. Central to her thesis is the theme of discovering one's cosmic task, which depends on &quot;fostering…curiosity and compassion toward other beings.&quot; Stephenson concludes with examples from around the world and illustrates how children are born with this tendency toward compassion and how it is experienced from birth through age twelve within Montessori environments.
Montessori All Day, All Year
Author: Black, Connie
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Montessori Schools,Montessori Method,Child Development,Developmental Stages,Daily Living Skills,Social Development,School Schedules,Educational Environment,Young Children,Early Childhood Education

Introducing real community into the Children's House goes back to the roots of Montessori education through all-day Montessori. The all-day environment is a house where children live with a &quot;developmental room&quot; of Montessori materials including a living room, kitchen, dining area, bedroom, bathroom, greeting rooms, and outdoor spaces. Practical life becomes the continuous core function of all-day Montessori. Preparing food, setting tables, doing laundry, gardening, and many other tasks become integrated into the willing self-construction of the child in this community. [This article is based on the talk presented at the NAMTA conference titled &quot;The Social Relevance of the Montessori First Plane: Engaging Families, Building Partnerships, and Finding Common Ground with the Wider Early Childhood Community&quot; in Dallas, TX, Jan 15-18, 2015.]
Malaysian Primary School ESL Teachers' Questions during Assessment for Learning
Author: Sardareh, Sedigheh Abbasnasab
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Elementary School Teachers,Language Teachers,English (Second Language),Questioning Techniques,Evaluation Methods,Qualitative Research,Case Studies,Second Language Instruction,Observation,Interviews,Teacher Attitudes,Teaching Methods,Cognitive Ability,Thinking Skills,Problem Solving

Classroom questioning is a crucial learning and instructional strategy. It has also been regarded as an important aspect of Assessment for Learning (AfL) by researchers. Classroom questioning helps students gain a better appreciation of what they are learning as well as how they are learning. It also helps teachers understand students' learning progress. This qualitative case study is a part of a larger study on classroom questioning during AfL and it has to be reminded that only a part of the study is presented here which involves two ESL teachers (one teaching Year One and the other teaching Year Two class) and the types of questions they used during AfL. The current study was conducted in a selected primary school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. To collect data, ten periods of each teacher's classroom were observed and then interview was conducted with each teacher. Observations and interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed for further analysis. The results of this study showed that the participating teachers were aware of the importance of questioning technique during AfL, however, they asked lower cognitive questions that did not trigger thoughtful reflection. The data also revealed that the teachers in this study formulated questions that at the first sight may seem to be open questions but they expected the students to provide a short-specific answer. Although questions were designed to suit the content of the lesson, it was observed that most of the questions asked by the teachers focused on content, structure and students' background knowledge and elicited specific, predetermined answers. In short, Most of the questions asked by the teachers in their mixed ability classes were below the students' Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and did not help the students promote their thinking skills.
English Language Learners' Perceptions of Motivational Changes
Author: Lai, Hsuan-Yau Tony
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Learning Motivation,College Students,Learning Processes,Semi Structured Interviews,Student Attitudes,Attitude Change,Foreign Countries,Majors (Students),Nonmajors,Comparative Analysis,Group Dynamics,Social Experience,Stress Variables,Correlation,Audio Equipment,Teacher Student Relationship,Qualitative Research

This study explores the changes in Taiwanese university students' English-learning motivation and the causes of these changes. The emphasis herein is on a comparison and contrast of both English major and non-major students in three different universities in Taiwan. In the study, a qualitative approach (20 semi-structured interviews) was used. The results show that the majority (19 out of 20) of the university students in this study have experienced motivational changes in their English-learning process. The factors which changed both English major and non-major students' English-learning motivation share similarities in many ways. In other words, students' majors do not affect the changes in their motivation with respect to their English classroom experience. As pointed out by the university students in this study, influences such as teachers, external pressure, exams, group dynamics and social experiences, were responsible for the changes. This paper will consider possible implications of this insight for English language teaching professionals.
Constructive Feedback: An Effective Constituent for Eradicating Impediments in Writing Skills
Author: Gulzar, Malik Ajmal
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Error Correction,Feedback (Response),Second Language Learning,Writing Skills,Writing Instruction,Teaching Methods,Second Language Instruction,Foreign Countries,Error Analysis (Language),Secondary School Students,Pretests Posttests,Control Groups,Experimental Groups,Instructional Effectiveness

It is inevitable that learners make mistakes in the process of learning a foreign language. Despite this fact, what is questioned by language teachers is why students go on making the same mistakes even when such mistakes have been repeatedly pointed out to them. Yet, not all mistakes are the same and sometimes they seem deeply ingrained, but at other time students correct themselves with ease. Thus, researchers and teachers of foreign language delineate the fact that students' errors, while being in the process of constructing a new system of language, should be carefully understood in the process of second language acquisition. This study intends to identify whether any significant differences exist between traditional method of feedback and constructive feedback process to endorse this critical process of rectification as a part of the teachers' job. The researchers highlight this phenomenon at a juncture of time when there is a growing concern about the deplorable conditions of English Language Teaching (ELT) in Pakistan. Regardless of the fact that EFL teachers in Pakistan have an extensive experience of teaching English, the high failure percentage along with the sub-standard feedback processes are annoying everyone concerned. In this study, causes of poor writing are explored while targeting upon the constructive feedback (hereinafter CFB) through the error analysis system (EAS). For this specified purpose, the researchers used experimental research design to find out the reasons of poor writing of participants at Secondary School Level. This article determined the significance of CFB through EAS and proved that writing errors of the students could be minimized by the proper employment of CFB. Henceforth, in the light of the research findings, emphasis is given on recommendations for all the stakeholders.
An Evaluation on Primary English Education in Taiwan: From the Perspective of Language Policy
Author: Chen, Ai-hua
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Second Language Learning,Language Planning,Elementary Education,Educational Policy,Program Implementation,English Teachers,Teacher Supply and Demand,Textbooks,Language Proficiency,Elementary School Students,Elementary School Teachers

There is a growing tendency in Asia for English as a foreign/second (EFL/ESL) programs to be implemented in the early years of primary schooling. Government policies supporting teaching primary school English are often framed in terms of globalization and the need to compete with other Asian neighbors. In the case of Taiwan, this notion increasingly has led government to support primary school English teaching curricula for all students and to parents spending large sums of money on private tutoring or out of school tuition. Arguments for this position are often based on the &quot;earlier is better&quot; ESL evidence, rather than on sound language policy settings and EFL research. As a consequence, problems and controversies have arisen related to inconsistencies that exist between the macro- and micro-level implementation forces. The purpose of this study is to explore these implementation issues and problems from a language planning and policy perspective through an examination of the language-in-education policy types required for the development of successful programs. This study concludes with some implications for the possible reforms of primary EFL education policy that aim to improve implementation in order to better serve the EFL learning needs of students in Taiwan.
The Effects of Discourse Types on the Use of English Articles by Korean Learners of English: Oral vs. Written Narratives
Author: Lee, Juyeon
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Korean,Native Language,Form Classes (Languages),Language Proficiency,Discourse Analysis,Oral Language,Personal Narratives,Written Language,Writing Instruction,Case Studies,Cloze Procedure,Korean Americans,Advanced Students

Learning to use English articles appropriately has been considered a challenging task for L2 learners of English, especially when their L1s do not have a similar article system. Much research has been conducted in this area, but little has been studied about the effects of discourse types (i.e., spoken discourse versus written discourse) on the accurate production of English articles by L2 learners. The present study examined how Korean learners of English at distinct proficiency levels employed articles in oral narratives compared to written narratives. The results showed that the cognitive and performance constraints associated with spontaneous oral speech hindered learners from producing articles accurately. Furthermore, the effects of discourse types were found to be greater on the indefinite article, whose usage is considered more complex than the definite article. Concerning the proficiency levels, the intermediate learners exhibited patterns that are indicative of a considerable gap between implicit and explicit knowledge of English articles while the advanced learners seem to have stabilized in their use of articles. The findings of this study suggest that writing activities can be beneficial for learners at the beginning levels to increase the awareness of the English article system. For more proficient learners, speaking activities can be used to promote a more accurate production of articles in both speech and writing by utilizing their explicit knowledge of English articles.
An Empirical Study of the Effectiveness of Negotiation of Meaning in L2 Vocabulary Acquisition of Chinese Learners of English
Author: Yi, Baoshu
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Second Language Learning,Vocabulary Development,Language Tests,Pretests Posttests,Experimental Groups,Linguistic Input,Control Groups,High School Students,Asians,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Semantics,Correlation,Language Processing,College Students,Task Analysis,Linguistic Theory,Foreign Countries

The study aimed to investigate whether or not negotiation of meaning is effective in L2 vocabulary acquisition of Chinese learners of English in the classroom setting. In the study there were two experimental groups (pre-modified input and negotiation of meaning) and two control groups (pre-modified input). The four groups were required to do a pre-vocabulary test, a match task and a post-vocabulary test respectively. The study showed: (1) as far as the high school groups are concerned, the experimental group outperformed the control group in terms of comprehensible input in the match task. The experimental group also did better than the control group in terms of acquiring new words in the post-vocabulary test. A strong correlation is found between comprehensible input, negotiation of meaning and acquiring new words in the high school groups; 2) As regards the college groups, the experimental group also outperformed the control group in terms of acquiring new words in the post-vocabulary test; however, two groups had no difference in obtaining comprehensible input in the match task, and no correlation was found between comprehensible input, negotiation of meaning and acquiring new words.