TED-Ed Tuesdays: Khan, Montessori and TED-Ed

Brenda Erickson, a Montessorian I met on Twitter, forever changed my approach and perspective in many aspects of education.  Brenda is the founder of Counterpane Montessori, a unique preK-12 Montessori School. Students will benefit if we build more bridges between traditional approaches and alternative methods. This I have learned through time and practice since our meeting.

Salman Khan, a pioneer in education technology, recognizes the need to build such bridges and he knows the genius of Montessori.  In an interview with KBPS, he describes the new Khan Lab School as a sort of Montessori 2.0.  He explained, "...you could almost imagine this is a bit of a Montessori 2.0. I mean, the whole principle of Montessori is students learn by exploration, play, they learn at their own time and pace, they have mixed age. So we are inspired by Montessori, and I would like to think that Maria Montessori would be pretty excited if she saw what was going on."  Learn more about Khan Lab School.

Thanks to Twitter and other professional networking opportunities, educators working in former worlds of isolation are able to collaborate in the 21st century, building bridges between approaches. The TED-Ed Lesson platform can be useful in constructing such a bridge.  TED-Ed Lessons can allow choice, freedom, time for students to arrive at mastery by points of arrival, and meet the needs of multiple ages in one room.  Maria Montessori also once said, "The hands are the instruments of man's intelligence."  Our senses are how we take in the world around us.  In traditional schooling, children rely on the senses of hearing and vision to take in information.  Maria Montessori made touch as important as the other senses by design in her learning spaces.  Another impactful way to use TED-Ed Lessons in the classroom is to involve a hands-on activity, incorporating our sense of touch into the learning process.

A few lessons, lend themselves to this idea.  One such lesson is Where the Sidewalk Ends (Lego Sculpture) composed by Shannon Brake.  

In order to try it yourself, find a TED-Ed Lesson from the library.  Click on the button in the lower right hand side that says, "Customize this lesson," and add a hands-on activity to the "...And Finally" section or any other section that you see fit.

OR

Create your own TED-Ed Lesson with any youtube video.