London, Ontario
Entitlement is more than being ‘spoiled’; it is the anti-thesis of passion.
Forty-five spirited and enthusiastic faculty and staff from Montessori Academy of London (Ontario), participated in this professional development session on the cultivation of empathy and action in child development. The team played games and exercises to reinforce theory on brain functioning related to survival, empathy and logic/reason. They played a dastardly game of musical chairs, where 'sharp elbows' were drawn, to demonstrate the reptilian thinking in all of us. Then eased into their empathetic and higher functioning brain to puzzle out accommodating nine people onto just one chair (photo upper left).
The workshop inter-relates several models of brain functioning alongside Montessori theory for practitioners to support children and teens in building strong and grateful dispositions…igniting passion and purpose!
The culture of immediacy, from fast-food to fast-info, shortcuts important brain circuitry in child development, requiring more than ever the positive outcomes of our Montessori environments and practices.
Learning goals and outcomes:
-Relate the Four Planes of Development to the model of the Triune Brain
-Relate the Three Levels of Obedience as a tool and model to counter entitlement
-Introduce and articulate the theory of abundance attitude versus that of scarcity
-Implement strategies in the physical and psychological environment for setting limits, diffusing negative behaviors, and creating pathways to logic, reason, and problem solving through empathy