Breaking the Paradigm

The idea of controlling children is one I hear often in traditional education discourse.

The logic goes that we, as adults, know what our young people need, and must control them so that they get it.

This is what we call adultism, and it is antithetical to the Montessori approach of following the child. In reality, young people know exactly what they need. We adults must simply be willing to listen.

My recent podcast guest, Tom Brown, put it another way:

“We seek to control in children what we hate about ourselves as adults.”

Whether that’s smartphone usage, time spent on academic work, how “free time” should be “productive”- pick any issue we try to control in children and you will find an adult insecurity at the core of the desire to control.

For practitioners listening to this episode, I hope this is an opportunity for you to lean into discomfort, to reflect on the ways you might seek to control your students and how you can work through this reaction.

It’s not about being perfect, but rather about being on the journey together.

About Tom Brown:

Tom Brown is an AMI-trained guide specializing in both elementary and adolescent education, with an M.Ed. in Montessori Education and over a decade of experience teaching in public and private Montessori settings. He is the founder of Marigold Montessori, where he currently serves as an educational consultant, presenter, and coach. Tom has played a key role in establishing, leading, and supporting the growth of several Montessori schools and organizations in both the US and UK. His work is driven by a deep commitment to social justice, ABAR (Anti-Bias, Anti-Racism) education, youth advocacy, and child-centered learning. You can explore his writing here or connect here.

Breaking the Paradigm of Traditional Education is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support this work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Join The Enlightened Educator Project Waitlist!

The Enlightened Educator Project is on a mission to to develop mindful, reflective, and resilient educators to make education more humanizing and sustainable for all.

If this resonates with you, we are looking for schools and individuals to join our cohort of educators who are building community and resilience together. We are currently looking to add members to our Fall cohort in October.

Join the waitlist here: https://forms.gle/PsKNq8NrZ2FsabpN8

The most beautiful, and frustrating, aspect of learner-centered education is that there is no “single way” to go about it.

Many “edu-celebrities” sell tips and tricks, but often those “active” learning exercises are just rote education dressed up to look fun. We might call those who engage students in active, but teacher-controlled, activities, the “teacher as choreographer.”

But if we truly want to empower students and prepare an environment where they can thrive as whole people, we must shed our identities as the choreographer and instead adopt the stance of “teacher as coach.”

We are there to advise, support, and guide young people, but we must allow them to chart their own meaningful paths through their education and their lives.

So what shifts are required to go from the choreographer to the coach?

I dig into this question with Kyle Wagner, founder of Transform Learning Consulting, as we discuss his 12 shifts for student-centered environments.

These 12 shifts aren’t prescriptive “best practices” that only apply in one setting. Nor do they uphold the status quo.

These 12 shifts are true mindset and paradigm shifts that can take place at the macro and micro level of education, making them powerful points for consideration for all levels of education.

If you want to learn more about Kyle’s work, you can get his new book Where’s The Teacher: 12 Shifts for Student-Centered Environments for 30% off at this link with the code WT30: https://www.routledge.com/Where-Is-the-Teacher-The-12-Shifts-for-Student-Centered-Environments/Wagner/p/book/9781032484716

You can also find him on LinkedIn and on his website, Transformative Educational Consulting.

Breaking the Paradigm of Traditional Education is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support the work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Join The Enlightened Educator Project!

The Enlightened Educator Project is on a mission to to develop mindful, reflective, and resilient educators to make education more humanizing and sustainable for all.

If this resonates with you, we are looking for schools and individuals to join our cohort of educators who are building community and resilience together. Cohorts start in the Fall and Winter.

Check out our website at www.EnlightenedEducatorProject.org and learn more about our school cohort model here!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lE1Z3lQFkiZ9YZtPlvkSutdverMrBcz_/view?usp=sharing

One of the best decisions I made as an educator was to get rid of my desk.My pedagogy and my relationships with students were hugely impacted by this small change.

As I think about the key shifts that educators must make in order to enact a learner centered and/or Montessori paradigm, I continue to see how getting rid of the teachers desk is a requirement.

I haven’t had a teacher desk in many years, after getting rid of it early on in my career. It fundamentally changed how I interacted with students in my classroom, with clearly visible results to any observer.

Yet, despite these clear upsides, there are still many who are attached to the prestige of the teacher desk: the shrine to the power of the all-knowing teacher.

A more ideal environment allows for flexible work spaces for all. You can’t tell where the teacher will be working when students arrive, and that’s the point!

Kelly Jonelis and I dig into teacher desks, power, trust, and learning to let go in this most recent episode. Enjoy!

Breaking News for Breaking the Paradigm!

I am so excited to announce that Kelly Jonelis is officially joining me as a Co-Host of Breaking the Paradigm! Kelly brings incredible insight, expertise, and wisdom to our conversations and I am grateful that we will continue our (many) conversations about education on this podcast!

Breaking the Paradigm of Traditional Education is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support this work, consider becoming a paid or free subscriber.

Join The Enlightened Educator Project!

The Enlightened Educator Project is on a mission to to develop mindful, reflective, and resilient educators to make education more humanizing and sustainable for all.

If this resonates with you, we are looking for schools and individuals to join our cohort of educators who are building community and resilience together. Cohorts start in the Fall and Winter.

Check out our website at www.EnlightenedEducatorProject.org and learn more about our school cohort model here!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lE1Z3lQFkiZ9YZtPlvkSutdverMrBcz_/view?usp=sharing

The traditional paradigm of education is fundamentally based on compliance and control. Getting students to sit in rows, stand in a straight line, turn in assignments on time, and regurgitate information delivered by a teacher.

We know that such environments do not support intrinsic motivation and prohibit deep learning.

It is also clear, through recent research, that such environments go against our human nature.In a recent study titled “Paths to the Light and Dark Sides of Human Nature: A Meta-analysis of the Prosocial Benefits of Autonomy and the Antisocial Costs of Control” researchers analyzed hundreds of psychological studies which showed strong correlations between giving people autonomy and their prosocial behavior. They also found that environments of control, which limit autonomy and choice, produce antisocial attitudes, where individuals are more likely to harm others.If our schools, which are the primary ways in which we socialize our young people, are environments which are proven to lead to antisocial attitudes, it’s no wonder we have the modern society that we have.

I dive into this research and what it means for education and the social revolution in the latest Breaking the Paradigm podcast. Enjoy!

Breaking the Paradigm of Traditional Education is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support this work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Join The Enlightened Educator Project!

The Enlightened Educator Project is on a mission to to develop mindful, reflective, and resilient educators to make education more humanizing and sustainable for all.

If this resonates with you, we are looking for schools and individuals to join our cohort of educators who are building community and resilience together. Cohorts start in the Fall and Winter.

Check out our website at www.EnlightenedEducatorProject.org and learn more about our school cohort model here!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lE1Z3lQFkiZ9YZtPlvkSutdverMrBcz_/view?usp=sharing

As a language and humanities educator, I used to “comfort” students who were “not math people” like me.

“It’s ok, not everyone is a ‘math person,’” I would say.

This language and attitude, which stemmed from good intentions, ultimately did a disservice to my students and their relationships with math.

I had developed a phobia of math because of the traditional way I was taught. The implicit biases and language I used to describe math passed that phobia on to my students.

As I discuss so often on this platform, the adults must do their inner work to truly serve students, because our unexamined paradigms can lead our best intentions to do harm to the development of the young people in our care.

If you have any meaningful relationship with young people as an educator, administrator, parent, mentor, coach, or anything in between, your language and attitudes must shift to break the cycles of alienation from math and language, the very systems which allow humans to deeply and critically understand the world around them.

In part two of my conversation with Kelly Jonelis, we discuss math phobia, the power of the language we use, and practical tips for educators and parents to support young people in having a positive relationship with mathematics.

I hope you enjoy this special two-part podcast episode. Thanks for listening!

Resources Discussed:

The Math Institute: https://www.themathinstitute.org/

Train Montessori: https://www.trainmontessori.org/

Phillips Exeter Math Resources: https://www.exeter.edu/mathproblems

“The Art of Listening” by Nita Pettigrew: https://www.exeter.edu/sites/default/files/documents/Revolution-The-art-listening-Harkness.pdf

Breaking the Paradigm of Traditional Education is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support this work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Join The Enlightened Educator Project!

The Enlightened Educator Project is on a mission to to develop mindful, reflective, and resilient educators to make education more humanizing and sustainable for all.

If this resonates with you, we are always looking for schools and individuals to join our cohort of educators who are building community and resilience together. Cohorts start in the Fall and Winter.

Check out our website at www.EnlightenedEducatorProject.org and learn more about our school cohort model here!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lE1Z3lQFkiZ9YZtPlvkSutdverMrBcz_/view?usp=sharing

We need to break the paradigm on math education because it helps our young people unlock a richer understanding of their world and a deeper level of critical thinking.

All my life, I’ve described myself as “not a math person.”

If we think about this statement, it doesn’t actually make much sense.

Math is a symbol system, much like language, that humans have developed to understand the world and the phenomenon we see around us. I use math every day, to some capacity, as does nearly everyone.

The reason why so many of us see ourselves as “not math people” is not because the discipline of math is obscure or particularly difficult. Rather, it’s because traditional math teaching alienates most people from truly understanding and internalizing its use.

We think of math as endless worksheets with right or wrong answers that can only be graded by a teacher.

We need to think of mathematics education as the development of the mathematical mind which promotes critical, independent thinking and which supports human development.

I am so lucky to know Kelly Jonelis, my latest podcast guest, who is a math educator who gets it: that the purpose of math (like all education) is to support human development and can be driven by student intrinsic interest and real-world application.

This podcast episode is for everyone: from those who claim that they’re “not a math person” to those who can’t understand why the rest of us groan whenever we think of our math education.

And the fun is only just beginning. Stay tuned for part two!

Breaking the Paradigm of Traditional Education is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support this work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Join The Enlightened Educator Project!

The Enlightened Educator Project is on a mission to to develop mindful, reflective, and resilient educators to make education more humanizing and sustainable for all.

If this resonates with you, we are always looking for schools and individuals to join our cohort of educators who are building community and resilience together. Cohorts start in the Fall and Winter.

Check out our website at www.EnlightenedEducatorProject.org and learn more about our school cohort model here!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lE1Z3lQFkiZ9YZtPlvkSutdverMrBcz_/view?usp=sharing

What do you picture when you envision a typical classroom?

You probably think of desks in rows facing a blackboard or podium, which is reserved for the “sage on the stage” teacher.

But what if we were to change the physical environment and invite learners to sit in a circle with the adult facilitator? How would this shift in our prepared environment alter our pedagogy and our view of learners and learning?

We explored these questions and more in this episode of Breaking the Paradigm with my guest, Carol LaLiberte. Carol is a Professor and Department Chair at CT State Community College at Asnuntuck and has been breaking the paradigm by using circle practice in her college classes. She is also my mom (her most important qualification)!

We discuss the theoretical and pedagogical considerations for implementing circle practice across K-12 and higher education and the practical ways in which we have both implemented the philosophy. We unpack how small things, like the rearranging of chairs, can have a significant impact on learners and learning, and the relationship between the teacher (or guide) and their students.

You can check out Carol’s new book, The Developing Teacher, here: https://www.g-w.com/the-developing-teacher-2025

If you’d like to learn more about circle practice, here are some places to get started:

The Circle Way: https://www.thecircleway.net/

Phillips Exeter Academy Harkness Resources: https://www.exeter.edu/programs-educators/harkness-outreach

Alexis Wiggins, The Best Class You Never Taught: https://ascd.org/books/the-best-class-you-never-taught?variant=117017

Thank you for reading Breaking the Paradigm of Traditional Education. This post is public so feel free to share it widely!

Join The Enlightened Educator Project!

The Enlightened Educator Project is on a mission to to develop mindful, reflective, and resilient educators to make education more humanizing and sustainable for all.

If this resonates with you, we are always looking for schools and individuals to join our cohort of educators who are building community and resilience together. Cohorts start in the Fall and Winter.

Check out our website at www.EnlightenedEducatorProject.org and learn more about our school cohort model here!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lE1Z3lQFkiZ9YZtPlvkSutdverMrBcz_/view?usp=sharing

The Montessori paradigm is based on a fundamental principle; one which is so engrained in the method that we often take it for granted.

We believe that every human being deserves a prepared environment where their needs are met, and that such conditions will empower each individual to live in equitable interdependence with the human and more-than-human world.

This is not something that adults create for students. Rather, this must be created between the adults and students in any given community. This requires that the adults be open and available to be transformed by their work living in an ameliorated community with young people.

All this and more on this episode of the Breaking the Paradigm podcast!

Possessing a Maganimity of Spirit

In this episode, I dive deeper into what it means to do your inner work as a prepared adult in order to support holistic, positive development. These ideas were influenced by my post titled “A Maganimity of Spirit: Supporting Educators in Building Resiliency” and is infused with learning from my summer at the Hakuba Forum in Japan.

The Times are Urgent: Let’s Slow Down

The phrase was coined by Bayo Akomolafe and Marta Benavides, and I highly recommend checking out their article: https://www.bayoakomolafe.net/post/the-times-are-urgent-lets-slow-down

Thanks for listening!

What does it mean to reimagine education given our current context of chaos and inequity?

This is what I discussed with my friend and colleague Wendy Fisher on the first episode of the Breaking the Paradigm podcast. We hear the phrase “reimagine education” everywhere in our public discourse. Yet, “reimagine” is often only a call to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic of traditional education. It is time for a new lens on the term.

Wendy argues that in order to reimagine education, we need to fundamentally reimagine the broader systems upon which our society is built. While education is a critical piece of social reform, education alone cannot transform society. When considering reimagining education, we must fundamentally reimagine the world we live in and our relationships with each other.

This episode was initially recorded in July 2023. I will be recording more podcast episodes and publishing them intermittently along with the regular blog posts. Enjoy!