Except for the occasional glimpse of the backs of their heads emerging from the refrigerator, you might have stopped expecting to see…
Adolescence
Loneliness in the Third Plane
We keep being told that this generation is different. “Kids today” care less. They’re shallow. They’re soft. They don’t know how to deal…
Teacher Talk: Teaching in the Third Plane
Oh, you dear, patient, lovely people, you teachers of adolescents, you bold adventurers blazing a new path for an ever widening…
Parenting in the Third Plane
The stereotypes about teenagers abound: the eye rolling, the cliques, talking-back, faces in their phones. If you only believed what you…
Modeling Gratitude in the Third Plane: 12-18
If you believe what you see on TV, you might think that adolescents are selfish, narcissistic, and judgmental of adults, their siblings,…
Math and the Adolescent
Montessori adolescent environments are strikingly distinct from traditional Middle Schools. While traditional classrooms may be doubling…
Movement in the Third Plane
Montessori was deeply concerned with the nature of development in adolescence, and the disparity between the expectations of formal…
Empathy in the Third Plane
By the time learners reach adolescence, their ability to take on the perspective of another person is well-developed. When you add this…
Concentration in the Third Plane
Ah, adolescence. The big emotions. The physical changes. The seemingly endless push and pull between childhood and adulthood, when kids…
Freedom to Interact (or Not) in the Third Plane
While the intrinsic drive to socialize and the supports needed to regulate that drive were prominent in earlier planes of development,…