Opening Keynote Address & Living Legacy Reception: Betsy Coe
Dr. Nancy McCormick Rambusch Lecture:
Marian Wright Edelman
Saturday Morning Keynote Address: Art Costa
Saturday Evening Keynote Address: Jane Goodall
Closing Keynote Address: Gail Blanke
Opening Keynote Address & Living Legacy Reception: Betsy Coe
Today's Montessori Movement: Gifts and Challenges for the World
5:30 – 8 PM, Thursday
Dr. Elisabeth Coe is truly a living legacy. Since
1972, she has shared her gifts of intellect, determination,
and passion through her life’s work in
Montessori and peace education. Betsy is a pioneer
practitioner, teacher educator, and mentor
who continues to serve as a leader and ambassador
for the American Montessori Society.
As keynote speaker for the 2008 AMS Annual
Conference, Betsy Coe will celebrate the gifts
and challenges Montessori education offers the
world today. She will share her view that the
Montessori approach already provides what the
education reform movement is seeking, and
she’ll encourage Montessorians to speak with
a united voice as we advocate for the rights of
children worldwide.
In her home city of Houston, Texas, Betsy
serves as principal of School of the Woods
Middle and High Schools, which she designed
and established in 1984 and 1999 respectively.
She is also executive director of the Houston
Montessori Teacher Education Center, where
she drew on her extensive research and practical
experience as a teacher and administrator at the
early childhood through secondary levels—especially
her work with adolescents—to develop
teacher education programs at the middle and
high school levels.
A valued past president of AMS, Betsy was an
active member of the board of directors for 20
years. During that time, she served on numerous
task forces and committees. She has chaired
the Teacher Education Committee (TEC)
and currently chairs the Teacher Education
Action Committee (TEAC). She also chaired
three AMS annual conferences and is much in
demand as a keynote speaker and presenter at
traveling symposia and regional conferences for
AMS, NAMTA, MEPI, and the Montessori
Foundation.
Betsy is often asked to share her expertise and
deep understanding of the Montessori approach
with educators and policy makers outside the
United States. The promise of peace as embodied
in Montessori theory and practice informs
her message in every forum. She represented
AMS at a United Nations NGO conference and
made a presentation on Montessori peace education
at the Hague Appeal for Peace conference
in 1999. As an “ambassador to the world” for
Montessori, Betsy has traveled to the People’s
Republic of China, Saudi Arabia, Chile, the
Dominican Republic, St. Maarten, France,
Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, and Panama.
Most recently, in August 2007, she delivered the
keynote address at the Montessori centennial
celebration in South Korea.
She has written articles on adolescent development
and education for Montessori Life;
M: The Magazine for Montessori Families;
and the NAMTA Journal and contributed a
chapter to Montessori in Contemporary American
Culture.
Tireless in contributing to AMS, Betsy demonstrates
her sincere generosity of spirit in everything
else she tackles, as well. She organized an
ongoing Montessori relief program in response
to Hurricane Katrina, supports inner-city
Houston teachers by serving on local nonprofit
boards, and started a chapter of the National
Association for the Education of Young Children
in Victoria, Texas.
Betsy is proud that both her daughters are now
Montessori teachers, at the middle and high
school levels, and her five grandchildren attend
School of the Woods.
Immediately following Dr. Coe’s
keynote address, you are invited to
join friends and colleagues at the
Living Legacy Reception.
To post a message in a memory book that will be presented to Dr. Coe at the Reception,
click here.
To read reflections about Betsy Coe by Amy Henderson, Head of School,
Montessori Children’s House, click here.
The American Montessori Society Living Legacy
is an honor bestowed by the AMS Scholarship
Committee on an individual whose exemplary
achievements have had significant impact within
the AMS community. Gifts to the AMS Living
Legacy Scholarship Fund support future teachers
in AMS teacher education programs. Contributions
may be made to the AMS Living Legacy Scholarship
Fund in honor of Betsy Coe through a secure
online connection at:
www.amshq.org/society_livingLegacy.htm.
For more information, contact Kristine Cooper at
kristine@amshq.org.
Dr. Nancy McCormick Rambusch Lecture: Marian Wright Edelman
Empowering Children to Become Socially Responsible Leaders
10:30 AM – 12 PM, Friday
Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president
of the Children’s Defense Fund, has been an
advocate for disadvantaged Americans, particularly
children, for her entire professional life.
Under her leadership, the Children’s Defense
Fund has become the nation’s strongest voice
for children and families, effectively articulating
the concerns of children who cannot vote,
lobby, or speak for themselves, and paying
particular attention to the needs of poor and
minority children and those with disabilities.
The Children’s Defense Fund’s Leave No Child
Behind ® mission is to ensure every child a
Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe
Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful
passage to adulthood with the help of caring
families and communities.
Mrs. Edelman has said, “If you don’t like the
way the world is, you change it. You have an
obligation to change it . . . . If we don’t stand
up for children, then we don’t stand for much.”
She has dedicated her life to standing up for
children, exemplifying for them and for us
what service leadership is all about. As Montessorians,
we are continually striving to enable
and empower children, the future of our global
society, to grow into effective, socially responsible
leaders. We are honored to present Marian
Wright Edelman as the Dr. Nancy McCormick
Rambusch lecturer for 2008.
Marian Wright Edelman, a graduate of Spelman
College and Yale Law School, began her career
in the mid-1960s when, as the first black woman
admitted to the Mississippi Bar, she directed the
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational fund office
in Jackson, Mississippi. In 1968, she moved to
Washington, DC, to work as counsel for the Poor
People’s Campaign that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
was organizing. She then founded the Washington
Research Project, a public interest law firm that
became the parent body of the Children’s Defense
Fund. For two years, she served as the Director
of the Center for Law and Education at Harvard
University and in 1973 began the Children’s
Defense Fund.
Mrs. Edelman served on the board of trustees of
Spelman College, which she chaired from 1976
to 1987. She was the first woman to be elected
by Yale alumni as a member of the Yale University
Corporation; she served on the corporation
from 1971 to 1977. She has received over 100
honorary degrees and many awards, including
the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism,
the Heinz Award, and a MacArthur Foundation
Prize Fellowship. In 2000, she was awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest
civilian honor.
Also in 2000, she received the Robert F. Kennedy
Lifetime Achievement Award for her writings,
which include eight books: Families in Peril: An
Agenda for Social Change; The Measure of Our
Success: A Letter to My Children and Yours; Guide
My Feet: Meditations and Prayers on Loving and
Working for Children; Stand for Children; Lanterns:
A Memoir of Mentors; Hold My Hand: Prayers for
Building a Movement to Leave No Child Behind;
I’m Your Child, God: Prayers for Our Children; and
I Can Make a Difference: A Treasury to Inspire
Our Children.
She is a board member of the Robin Hood
Foundation, the Association to Benefit Children,
and City Lights School, and is a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations, the American Philosophical
Society, the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine of the
National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Nancy McCormick Rambusch founded the
American Montessori Society in 1960 with the
backing of Whitby School in Greenwich, Connecticut.
The Dr. Nancy McCormick Rambusch
lecture, presented each year during the AMS
Annual Conference, provides an opportunity for
eminent educators and advocates to present their
perspectives to an international audience. The
Rambusch lecturer is selected by the Archives
Committee, with advice from the conference chair
and other Board members.
Saturday Morning Keynote Address: Art Costa
Changing Your Curriculum Means Changing Your Mind
8:30 – 10 AM, Saturday
The most critical, but
least understood, component
of school reform is the restructuring of
curriculum—it is what drives everything else.
The outcome levels associated with a newly
adopted curriculum will determine the intent of
instruction and the purpose of assessment, but
practitioners can be easily lulled into believing
that short-term outcomes are significant because
they are easily and immediately measured.
This bars consideration of working for more
long-range, complex, and enduring educational
outcomes. In this thoughtful presentation, Art
Costa invites educators to shift their thinking
to focus on the more significant and essential
lessons that occur over the life span.
Arthur L. Costa, EdD, is professor emeritus of
education at California State University, Sacramento,
and co-founder of the Institute for Intelligent Behavior
in El Dorado Hills, California. He has served as
a classroom teacher, a curriculum consultant, an
assistant superintendent for instruction, and as the
director of Educational Programs for the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration. He has
made presentations and conducted workshops
in all 50 states as well as Mexico, Central and
South America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand,
Africa, Europe, Asia, and the island nations of the
South Pacific.
Art has devoted his career to improving education
through more “thought-full” instruction and assessment.
Author of numerous professional journal
articles and book chapters, he edited the book,
Developing Minds: A Resource Book for Teaching
Thinking and authored The Enabling Behaviors
and The School as a Home for the Mind. He is
coauthor (with Lawrence Lowery) of Techniques
for Teaching Thinking and (with Robert Garmston)
Cognitive Coaching: A Foundation for Renaissance
Schools. He coedited Assessment in the Learning
Organization, Assessment Strategies for Self-
Directed Learning, and the Habits of Mind series
(with Bena Kallick) and the Process as Content
trilogy (with Rosemarie Liebmann). His works have
been translated into Dutch, Chinese, Spanish,
Hebrew, and Arabic.
Active in many professional organizations, Art
served as president of the California Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
and was the national president of ASCD from
1988 to 1989.
© Greg Schaler
Saturday Evening Keynote Address: Jane Goodall
Reason for Hope
6 - 7 PM, Saturday
Photographs of Dr. Jane Goodall signing books following her keynote presentation are available for downloading.
Click here.
In her presentation, Dr. Jane Goodall, world-renowned environmentalist, primatologist, and humanitarian, will address current work at the Gombe Stream Research Center in Tanzania, where research into our closest relative—the chimpanzee—has been ongoing since 1960. She also will discuss the programs that have evolved to conserve the precious forest habitat and to improve the lives of people living adjacent to Gombe National Park and in other parts of Africa.
Dr. Goodall will also speak to the exciting and innovative work of the Jane Goodall Institute and her youth program Roots & Shoots, which is active in more than 100 countries worldwide. Through this powerful and innovative program, youth of all ages, preschool through college, are taking action to improve our world through service learning projects that promote care and concern for people, animals, and the environment. As a United Nations Messenger of Peace, Dr. Goodall will address her reasons for hope in these complex times and ways in which every individual can make a difference every day.
Jane Goodall began her landmark study of chimpanzees in Tanzania in 1960, under the mentorship of anthropologist and paleontologist Dr. Louis Leakey. Her work at the Gombe Stream Research Center became the foundation of future primatological research and redefined the relationship between humans and animals.
She is the recipient of numerous honors including the National Geographic Society’s
Hubbard Medal, Japan’s prestigious Kyoto Prize, and the Gandhi/King Award for
Nonviolence. Her list of publications includes two overviews
of her work at Gombe—In the Shadow of Man and Through a Window—three
autobiographies, and, most recently, Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful
Eating. Her many childrens books include Grub: the Bush Baby and My
Life with the Chimpanzees. Dr. Goodall has been the subject of numerous
television documentaries and is featured in the film Jane Goodall’s Wild Chimpanzees.
Today, Dr. Goodall spends much of her time lecturing, sharing her message of
hope for the future and encouraging young people to make a difference in the
world.
Dr. Goodall's books will be on sale, starting at 4 p.m., in the Hall of States (outside the Marriott Ballroom on the lobby level).
At 7 p.m., immediately after her presentation, Dr. Goodall will sign her
name on up to two items per participant. The items do not have to be
books. Location: Hall of States.
If you have joined the Jane Goodall Institute (in the Exhibit Hall or in
the signing line), Dr. Goodall will thank you by personally inscribing
your item(s). Make sure you have your JGI receipt available.
PLEASE NOTE: No photography of Dr. Goodall, other than by her own
photographer, is permitted during the signing—not even cell phone
photographs. Dr. Goodall's photographer will be taking pictures at the
signing and will upload photos afterwards for attendees to download at
no cost. Details will be provided on-site.
Closing Keynote Address: Gail Blanke
Passion, Power, and Possibilities
10:30 AM – 12 PM, Sunday
How can we ceaselessly
rekindle our own energy
and creativity, fueling our
passion for empowerment so that we can fulfill
our commitment to prepare the children under
our care today to be the leaders of tomorrow?
The 21st century confronts us with relentless
change and profound insecurity but also offers
stunning possibilities. Gail Blanke will inspire
us to claim our courage, see ourselves and our
world with new eyes, and lead the Montessori
movement boldly into its second century.
Gail Blanke is founder, president, and chief executive
officer of Lifedesigns, LLC, a company whose
vision is to empower men and women worldwide
to live truly exceptional lives. She is an executive
coach, motivational speaker, and columnist.
A best-selling author, her most recent book is
Between Trapezes: Flying into a New Life with the
Greatest of Ease, named a “must-have” by
www.oprahselects.com.
Other books are In My
Wildest Dreams, Living the Life You Long For and
Taking Control of Your Life: The Secrets of
Successful Enterprising Women. Her column,
“The Motivator,” appears monthly in Real Simple
magazine and she is featured as a Business and
Career Coach on AOL Coaches.
Prior to launching Lifedesigns, LLC, Gail served as
global head of public affairs for Avon Products, Inc.,
where she led the company’s global repositioning
strategy and launched the widely acclaimed Avon
Breast Cancer Awareness Crusade, which has
raised more than $450 million. She has also held
numerous executive positions at CBS and is a past
president of the Women’s Forum of New York and
a past chairman of the board of Fashion Group,
International.
Gail received the Women Who Make A Difference
Award at the 1999 International Women’s
Forum Conference; the 1994 Matrix Award for
Public Relations, presented by New York Women
in Communications, Inc.; and the 1994 Star
Award presented by the New York Women’s
Agenda. In 2003, she was named president
of the New York Women in Communications
Foundation and was inducted into the YWCA
Academy of Women Achievers.
She has delivered keynote addresses for scores
of corporate and university audiences and at
events such as the “Global Summit of Women”
in Taiwan; the “Decade to Democracy” conference
in Budapest; Cornell University’s symposium,
“Contracting Out: Danger Signal for Working
Women and Men,” chaired by Betty Friedan; and
most recently, the American Heart Association’s
“Go Red for Women” gala in New York City. Ms.
Blanke has appeared on CNN, FNN, CNBC,
and FOX TV and been a guest on Oprah and the
Today Show. Articles about her have appeared
in Newsweek, Business Week, the Wall Street
Journal, Reader’s Digest, Ladies’ Home Journal,
Redbook, and Self.
Gail’s Web site is www.lifedesigns.com.
