PODCAST · education
Breaking the Paradigm
by Radically transforming education
Breaking the Paradigm is a new media organization that seeks to radically transform education through Montessori and learner-centered pedagogy to create a world that is more humane, equitable, and liberatory for all people. breakingtheparadigm.org
Episodes
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Montessori Conversations Worth Having
There are some people who I could talk to about Montessori and how education must be transformed all day- and Emily Bloyd is one of those people. You may know her from her viral social media channels, where she goes by Montessori Miss Emily, or as The Montessori Mafia here on Substack. She’s...
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Crafting an Education for a World That Needed to Change Yesterday
I am so excited to announce that Developing Education has a brand new website! You’ll be able to see all of our offerings where we take the ideas in this podcast and bring them to life. Go check it out at www.developingeducation.org - we can’t wait to see you there! Maria Montessori’s birthday,...
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An Invitation to Look Inward
I am so excited to announce that Developing Education has a brand new website! You’ll be able to see all of our offerings where we take the ideas in this podcast and bring them to life. Go check it out at www.developingeducation.org - we can’t wait to see you there! There’s a single part of a...
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Reading, Self-Determination Theory, and Me
I am so excited to announce that Developing Education, of which this podcast is a part of, has a brand new website! You’ll be able to see all of our offerings where we take the ideas in this podcast and bring them to life. Go check it out at www.developingeducation.org - we can’t wait to see you...
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The Ideal Is a Process, Not an Outcome: A Conversation on Montessori and Letting Go with Taylor Henry
I’ve spent my career being told that shooting for the “ideal environment” for adolescents is impossible; that we must be “pragmatic” and make compromises when necessary in our work. What if the problem isn’t reality but our understanding of if? What if the “ideal environment” wasn’t a state of...
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Palestinian Liberation Is Collective Liberation: A Conversation with Suzanne Yatim
Are you willing to be inconvenienced for someone else’s liberation… And your own? My guest, Suzanne Yatim, is a Palestinian-American actress, writer, filmmaker, and co-owner of Montessori Thrive. Her directorial debut, Breathe, filmed in Palestine, is currently in post-production. She’s also the...
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The Power of Possibility: Designing an Inclusive Montessori Environment with Dr. Paige Krabill
What is the best way to support students with diverse learning needs? It’s the question that almost every educator I know is asking. There’s a massive apparatus of intervention and support built around labels, diagnoses, and deficit-based thinking that was designed for conventional classrooms…
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The Montessori Method, Continued: An Invitation to Change the World
I was honored to deliver the keynote at this year’s Montessori Educators of Alabama conference around their theme of “Better Together.” I wanted to use this time to sit with a question that’s been nagging at me for years: if Montessori education is so revolutionary, why haven’t we achieved the...
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We're Losing the Tech Conversation Because Students Aren't a Part of It
There’s a quiet truth most schools are avoiding right now: our students are navigating AI, social media, and digital life every single day; and if we’re not in that conversation with them, something else is. Probably AI itself. That was one of the most clarifying moments from our recent webinar...
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Letting Go to Move Forward: The Unfinished Work of Montessori with Kathy Leitch
What if the biggest obstacle in Montessori is moving past our fear? Kathy Leitch, executive director of the International Montessori Council, joins Breaking the Paradigm to explore what it really means to carry Montessori forward as a living, experimental method rather than a fixed recipe. With...
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From Compliance to Emergence: Rethinking Peace Education and Montessori Teacher Preparation with Tammy Oesting
What if peace education has nothing to do with teaching kids to be calm? Here’s the provocation from Tammy Oesting in her third Breaking the Paradigm apprearance: Peace education isn’t about mindfulness exercises or conflict resolution scripts. It’s not the “kumbaya approach” where we shield...
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45 States, Two People, One Mission: The Work of the Montessori Public Policy Initiative
What if the most powerful thing Montessori educators could do for children right now isn’t in the classroom, but in the halls of Congress? Mixed-age groupings. The three-hour work cycle. Observation-based curriculum. Teacher preparation rooted in human development. Everything that makes…
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What If We Just Listened? Live from the Student Power Summit 2026
What if depression and anxiety in young people aren’t signs that something is wrong with them, but proof that something is wrong with what we’re doing to them? This is a special three-part episode recorded before, during, and after the Student Power Summit in Los Angeles: a conference that truly...
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Composting Modernity: Unlearning the Stories That Are Unraveling Our World with Raj Chawla and Andrew Kutt
What if the crisis we’re facing isn’t something to be solved, but something to be composted? Raj Chawla and Andrew Kutt joined me for a conversation that asks us to slow down long enough to feel what’s actually happening beneath the surface of our world, our systems, and ourselves. What Raj...
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What Will Adolescents Do When We're Not Watching?
This was our first ever live stream with Breaking the Paradigm, and Kelly and I tackled a question that keeps coming up in our work: What are we really afraid adolescents will do when left unsupervised? The answers people give, ranging from mischief to far more absurd fears, reveal something…
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Education, ICE, and Montessori - Live Stream Recording
Yesterday, ICE murdered another innocent bystander, Alex Pretti. He was a US citizen Earlier this week, they took a 5 year old hostage in order to detain his parents. They are legally allowed in this country. Last week, they murdered Renee Good at point blank range outside of her home. These…
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Montessori Lives in the World: Why Justice Can't Wait with Hannah Richardson and Frank George IV
What if honoring the whole child means honoring the whole of humanity? Sometimes we convince ourselves that our work stops at the classroom door- that if we just prepare beautiful environments and follow the child, peace will somehow emerge on its own. But we don’t have time to wait for perfectly...
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How AMI/USA Is Reimagining Collaboration and Accessibility with Dr. KaLinda Bass-Barlow
What does it mean to create a space where people truly belong? Under Dr. KaLinda Bass-Barlow’s leadership, The Association Montessori International/USA (AMI/USA) is reimagining what it means to honor Maria Montessori’s legacy while meeting the evolving needs of our time and place. In this...
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Building the First Worker Cooperative Montessori Organization with Carolyn Sweet and Suzanne Tipton
What if we organized Montessori organizations the way we organize Montessori classrooms? When The Institute of Montessori Training’s previous organization became financially unviable, Carolyn Sweet and Suzanne Tipton faced a choice: walk away or build something radically different. They chose to...
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Community, Courage, and California Time: Justin Tosco Interviews Andrew and Kelly on Anniversary Special
The best things I’ve ever done have been emergent- arising out of good conversation and dialogue with others. This is the MO of Breaking the Paradigm; bringing together Montessori and progressive practitioners and letting the right conversation emerge- no script, no pre-determined outcome, just...
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From Radical Acceptance to Slingshot Labs: Why Students Need Teachers Who Are Willing to Be Friends with Jarrett Arnold
What if friendship with students isn’t unprofessional- but essential? Sometimes the most radical thing we can do is challenge the unspoken rules about teacher-student relationships. When we bring our authentic selves to the classroom and treat young people as worthy of genuine connection…
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Trust, Control, and Fear: Confronting Authoritarianism in Montessori Education with Charles Terranova
Dear Paradigm Breakers, We are starting this post with something new and different- sharing a new chapter for us at Breaking the Paradigm/Developing Education as we start our third year of operations in January! In response to what we have heard from so many of you, that this podcast has given…
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Montessori Is the Education of the Adult, Not the Child: The Quiet Revolution of Teacher Transformation with Marie Crutcher
What if the real work of education isn’t preparing children- but preparing adults? Sometimes we focus so intently on where we’re getting students, on outcomes and benchmarks, that we forget to ask: what do we (the adults) need to serve human development? When we shift our attention from the…
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Why Teachers Must Be Brave Enough to Refuse the Status Quo with Bruce Robbins
What if the biggest barrier to student capability is our own fear of letting go? Sometimes we claim students “can’t” do things—but the truth is we stop them from doing things. When we step back from compulsory, coercive control and trust young people with real responsibility, they rise to meet it...
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If We Want Equity Later, We Must Actualize It Now: Why the Means of Education Must Match Its Ends with Bob Blecher
What if the very structure of our schools prevents the transformation we seek? Sometimes the barriers to real education aren’t the teachers or students—they’re built into the system itself. When we fragment knowledge into isolated disciplines and organize schools around hierarchy rather than…
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The Adjacent Possible: When Adolescents Lead Adults to Higher Consciousness with Karen Kelley
Why can’t you give an elevator speech about Montessori? What do quantum physics and indigenous research methods have in common? And how do 13-year-olds consistently operate at higher stages of moral development than most adults? Karen Kelley, doctoral candidate in the nation’s first Montessori...
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Beyond Spiritual Preparation: Creating Liberatory Cultures in Montessori Schools with Koren Clark
What happens when you discover that the inner work you've been avoiding as an educator is actually the most critical component of serving children authentically? Koren Clark, founder of Know Thyself Inc and creator of the Liberatory Montessori Framework, exposes the uncomfortable truth that most...
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Learning as Contribution: Why We Should "Assess" What Students Give, Not What They Get with Dr. Ben Freud
What if the only thing that mattered in a presentation wasn't eye contact or slide design, but whether you moved your audience to think and feel differently? What if instead of accumulating credentials that prove compliance, students earned recognition by making meaningful gifts to the world? Dr....
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The Montessori Mafia: Breaking Down the Gates to Liberatory Education with Emily Bloyd
How did a method created for marginalized children in Rome's slums become primarily accessible to affluent white families? Emily Bloyd exposes this painful irony as Head of School in a Montessori program exclusively serving children experiencing homelessness. Her work reveals what happens when we...
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Relationships, Meaning, and Support: What Public Montessori Teachers Really Need with Caroline Robbins
Why do we focus so intensely on child flourishing in Montessori schools while burning out the adults who make it possible? If we believe in human dignity as our core value, how should we evaluate and support teachers? And what happens when we apply self-determination theory—autonomy, competence,...
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Emotional Solidarity and the Courage to Resist: Why Developmental Education Is Democracy's Best Hope with Ellen Roche
If freedom is our highest democratic value, why don't we give young people freedom in schools? Ellen Roche, my latest guest on Breaking the Paradigm, brings a unique neuroscience perspective to this question. Her research reveals something that should shake us all: we arrive in this world with...
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From Deficit to Equity: Building Truly Inclusive Montessori Communities
If Maria Montessori started her work with children who had learning differences, why does modern Montessori have a reputation for not serving neurodivergent learners? If we're truly following the child, what happens when that child doesn't fit our preconceived notions of what a "Montessori child"...
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Unscheduled: How We're Breeding Compliance When We Should Be Fostering Agency with Taylor Henry
What if efficiency is actually the enemy of deep learning? When we prioritize productivity over process, we rob both educators and students of the momentum needed for genuine discovery and growth. Real transformation happens not in rushed 45-minute meetings, but in the spacious conversations that...
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Radical Love and Student Agency: Creating Classrooms Where Every Student Can Dream with Sawsan Jaber, Crystal Watson, and Marlo Bagsik
What if the key to transforming education isn't new curriculum, but radical love? When we center radical love, hope, and relationality in our classrooms, we create spaces where every student can rediscover the beauty of who they are and can thrive. In this powerful conversation with three of the...
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What Happens When... Choosing Curiosity Over Control with Jason Blair
What if stepping back actually helps students step forward? Sometimes our impulse to control becomes the very thing that limits learning. When we create space for uncertainty and exploration, students discover capabilities we never knew they had. In this thought-provoking conversation with Jason...
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Dignity as our Birthright: A Lever for Global Peace with Kathy Minardi
What if the key to global peace and understanding is dignity? When we truly understand dignity as our birthright, rather than something to be earned, it points toward liberation for all. In this profound conversation with Kathy Minardi, founder of the Whole School Leadership Institute, we explore...
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The Status Quo Won't Save Us: Introducing Provocations
When we talk about education- what do we really mean? Last week, I attended an alumni event called Education at a Crossroads put on by the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. The event began with a call to preserve democracy, emphasizing that education is key to a flourishing...
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The Power of Public Montessori with Jihane Mrad and Corey Borgman
“Montessori is only for affluent children.” Have you heard that one before? It’s one of many myths about Montessori that is propagated in the US about a Montessori education. The logic goes that because many Montessori schools in the US are private schools, they must only be successful as private...
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Is Peace Problematic? A Conversation with Justin Tosco on Language and Montessori
The language we use has power- to restrict or to liberate. Ideally, our language points toward liberation for all, reflecting the inclusive potential of a Montessori education. However, that’s not always the case. In this thoughtful conversation with Justin Tosco, his fourth appearance on…
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Challenging our "Monte-Assumptions" with Jonathan Wolff
Which of these have you heard before? * “My teacher trainer told me to do X when I did my Montessori diploma, and that’s how I’ve been doing it ever since” * “I presented this lesson the same way for 15 years and it’s “worked” every time” * “If a child is not becoming adapted to my environment…
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Cultivating Digital Citizenship in Children and Adolescents with Dana Anderson
What is your emotional response to students “cheating” using technology? The New York Times recently published an article titled “Everyone is Cheating Their Way Through College.” In it, the prospect of students using AI to complete assignments is seen as a largely negative phenomenon. In response...
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The Challenge with AI Isn't the Technology: It's our System of "Schooling" with Dr. Sabba Quidwai
We live in an era where the term “education innovation” is thrown around constantly. New tools, techniques, apps, and trends are nearly abundant. Yet, despite all of these “innovations,” we don’t see the actual system of schooling changing in meaningful ways. The reality is, new tools or...
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The Power of Reflective Practice with Sue Pritzker
In Montessori education, it’s commonplace to discuss how to support young people toward independence. We prepare environments that are designed to for children and adolescents to experiment, to try and fail as they learn about themselves and the world. Through this process, young people also…
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Montessori IS Social Justice with Hannah Richardson
I’ve spoken and written at length on this Substack about how Montessori cannot be separated from social justice. Montessori herself was a social revolutionary. She believed that if we fostered positive human development that our natural human tendency to live in interdependence with one another...
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DEI is Non-Negotiable: Creating a Meaningful Experience for Every Student with Jen Cort
We are in a time where issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion are seen as “divisive” and “harmful,” and teachers and students across the country are being persecuted for engaging in DEI work. It’s why, in this moment, those of us with privilege, who have the safety to speak without the...
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Montessori's Profound Discovery: How Love Leads to Human Unity with Tammy Oesting
In The Absorbent Mind, Maria Montessori wrote the following: “Love, like that which we feel for the child, must exist potentially between man and man, because human unity does exist and there is no unity without love.” When Montessori describes love, she’s not talking about a feeling. She’s…
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Don't Let Fear Control Your Teaching: Exploring Mindfulness and Montessori with Liz Goodman
When you observe your students, do you react or respond? This is not just a semantic difference. When we react to our students, we engage on impulse. We are not considering the impact of our actions outside of the specific moment in which they occur. When we respond to our students, we often…
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Do Parents Understand Montessori? Reimagining Parent Education With Isabella Cai
What do parents really want to know about their child’s Montessori education? As a Montessori practitioner, I could talk about the importance of a developmental education for hours, but I doubt parents would want to listen to that. In my recent conversation with Kelly Jonelis and Isabella Cai,...
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The Harder We Push, the Worse it Gets: The Imperative for Student Power with Mike Nicholson
When you look at the history of educational reform in the United States, it feels like we’ve tried everything: * No Child Left Behind * Race to the Top * Common Core State Standards * The “science of” fads (which aren’t as scientific as they claim) The one thing we haven’t tried? Giving…
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Boys, Masculinity, and Education Pt 2: Beyond the Gender Binary with Tom Brown and Justin Tosco
How do we support the positive development of boys in our educational spaces? How does creating a truly gender inclusive classroom lift up all young people, including boys? In my last podcast with Tom Brown and Justin Tosco, we got our “section of the choir together” to discuss the crisis of boys...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Breaking the Paradigm is a new media organization that seeks to radically transform education through Montessori and learner-centered pedagogy to create a world that is more humane, equitable, and liberatory for all people.
breakingtheparadigm.org
HOSTED BY
Radically transforming education
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Breaking the Paradigm currently has 67 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
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Breaking the Paradigm is a new media organization that seeks to radically transform education through Montessori and learner-centered pedagogy to create a world that is more humane, equitable, and liberatory for all people. breakingtheparadigm.org
How often does Breaking the Paradigm release new episodes?
Breaking the Paradigm has 67 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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