Why This Curricula?
A personal note from our Lead Teacher.
I have been a teacher all of my life. Officially, I have now been a teacher more than half of my lifetime. Unofficially I have always been involved with education in one form or another. My family are all teachers, school administrators, and academes. There was, in fact, a time in my ‘teens when I was determined to be ANYTHING EXCEPT a teacher. I had been enveloped in the behind-the-scenes drama of American educators and education from the moment of my birth. I quickly realized, however, that I was only rebelling against MYSELF, and that my immersion in these affairs in fact made me uniquely qualified to deal with anything that came my way. I sought, however, to do it “my way”; using those elements of my own education which had delighted, encouraged, and inspired me as a foundation for further exploration and growth.
I have been blessed with an array of fabulous educational experiences of my own. They have colored and informed my development as a person, as a professional, as a global citizen. I attended a public school Montessori pilot program in elementary school (although I was completely unaware of this fact until I undertook my own Montessori Directress training years later, and realized that the “IGE” (“Individually Guided Education”) program I attended was, in fact, an experiment in Montessori based education). I “tested into” one of the finest college preparatory schools in the country and attended it for what would now be considered “middle-school”. By the end of my sophomore year, however, despite taking all “Honors” and “AP” classes, I was listless and uninspired. In a “last ditch” effort to regain my education for myself I transferred to a brand new school program, the International Baccalaureate. My intellectual fervor, hunger for knowledge, native curiosity, and desire to learn was immediately reinvigorated and renewed. I had been saved from the abyss. All of my classes were integrated. I began to see the natural connection that lay between all the disciplines of study. The emphasis was on critical thinking rather than rote memorization and regurgitation of facts. My teenage apathy, isolation, and ennui were over come by a sense of purpose fullness and promise. I entered college as a full Junior, which allowed me to write my own educational “ticket”.
I decided to stay the full four years as an undergraduate, but I emerged with two B.A.’s and an Associates degree.
After college I literally set out into the world, and embraced every possible life experience I could find. I returned with an immense desire to assist the education of others, to touch the lives of other individuals the way individuals had touched, assisted, and transformed my life. I landed at a Montessori preschool in Boulder, Colorado where I was delighted to observe how easy and enlightening each and every school day could be when the directional foundation was designed to follow human nature, rather than fight against it. I decided to pursue my Montessori Directress certification. It was the most intensive and rigorous educational experience of my life.
As a teacher I sought to utilize, expand, and temper the lessons I learned from Maria Montessori’s acute observations of human development and the acquisition of knowledge. I began to meld with them the lessons I had learned in the International Baccalaureate. I studied other educational theorists also, and began to develop a highly specialized, widely varied array of methods which all reside in my teacher’s “bag of tricks”.
Individual students respond to different methods at different times. Information can be presented a myriad of ways and at a multitude of different levels. Emergent, relevant, and responsive curriculum is also the most inspiring. The idea is to keep students invested in and to a great degree responsible for their own education. I am not imparting knowledge, I am sharing in the exquisite delight of continually pursuing it. I have been a “learner” all of my life. Both officially and unofficially. It is a shared lifestyle. It is a lifestyle that all of us at New Mexico Academy of International Studies share together.