In the summer of 1950, teenagers Elvira Businelli and Delfina Tomassini embarked upon a teacher training course at the Italian university for foreigners, in Perugia, Italy--taught by Maria Montessori. Kn 2020, Elvira and Delfina, now in their 80s, spoke with Montessori Life in the interview presented in this article about their recollections of…

Teachers and administrators are often directed to distance themselves from the children in their charge. Despite the land mines that accompany personal relationships with students, the authors argue that educators can still learn to build personal relationships with students. Personal-relationship building is one of the most important skills a…

Humorously proposes doctoral disorder of adulthood as a developmental disorder needing further study. Included are discussions of age at onset, the course of the disorder, prevalence, impairment, complications, predisposing factors, sex ratio, familial pattern, and differential diagnosis. Diagnostic criteria for doctoral disorder of adulthood are…

A senior editor and former teacher salutes the successes of teachers in a light-hearted column. (JL)

This paper explores child humor from the early years to adolescence. The immature child's humor is crude, rude, and hostile and gradually evolves into sophisticated, socially acceptable adult humor in the same way that the immature child in general evolves into the sophisticated adult, becoming decreasingly creative along the way. (JDD)

The article discusses the concept of inspiration as a component of creativity, including environmental influences, affective self-awareness, effective verbal communication to preserve inspired experiences, and the role of humor. The creative problem-solving process is also addressed, with attention to divergent thinking strategies and the practice…

Several points need to be addressed when selecting humorous books for children. First, people of all ages react to humor in different ways; therefore, what one child finds funny another may not. Care must therefore be taken in sharing books with and recommending books for children. Second, humor itself is difficult to define, but humor should…

Focuses on three interrelated issues: (1) developmental theories of humor (2) variables that facilitate children's responses to amusing literature, and (3) strategies for the evaluation and more effective use of humorous children's books. Provides examples of books, an overview chart of the general chronology of children's humor development, and…

This paper presents a state-of-the-art examination of the literature addressing humor in leadership. A theoretical rationale is developed for the importance of humor as functional communication, especially as it relates to leadership. Research from several disciplines relevant to the use of humor in leadership is organized and synthesized.…