During our International Dalton Conference, Dr Joanne Manning will be talking about the latest innovative development in Ascham School in Sydney. Joanne is a Dalton International consultant and trainer and is a part of the management team in Ascham School in Sydney.
René Berends is the next keynote speaker of our International Dalton Conference with a workshop "Ownership". René is a counselor and researcher at Dalton International and Saxion University of Applied Science in Deventer (The Netherlands). He has specialized in the historical and philosophical backgrounds of Dalton education. As an editor-in-chief of DaltonVisie, a magazine od Dutch Dalton education, he also writes about the practice of Dalton education.
We are honored to introduce our first keynote International Dalton speaker. Roel Röhner is the President and founder of Dalton International since March 2001. Roel has more than fifty years experience in Dalton education in The Netherlands. He was coaching around one hundred Dalton schools in The Netherlands and other countries in Europe. Roel has initiated the implementation of the Dalton Plan in more than forty Dalton International schools across the world.
We are looking forward to meet our Dalton friends during the upcoming live XXV jubilee International Dalton Conference in Brno, Czech Republic. The conference is titled "Education for the future". Our experienced array of speakers consists of Dalton International board members and researchers, Czech Dalton specialists in academic and practice and Czech Dalton Association board members. Numerous topics will be covered concerning innovative Dalton education in XXI century.
We are glad to host directors from Dalton elementary schools in Germany, Spain, Japan, Austria, Australia and Poznan/Poland.
The detailed program in the link:
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6913178431320928257/
.jpg)
This day we are celebrating International Dalton Day across the world. Although it is not possible to meet live with our friends from all International Dalton Schools worldwide, we can still celebrate this special occasion online. Below the film sent by Wenzhou Dalton International School.
https://www.facebook.com/www.daltoninternational.org/videos/4709914772470571
This day we are celebrating International Dalton Day across the world. Although it is not possible to meet live with our friends from all International Dalton Schools worldwide, we can still celebrate this special occasion online. Below the film sent by Wenzhou Dalton International School.
International Dalton Day 2022, Message of President Roel Rőhner
International Dalton Day has become a
custom every year now. All Dalton schools and initiatives globally deserve
respect, support and care. Although the scenery of the world for Dalton education
has changed over time and decades, we firmly believe that there is yet a lot of
new, strong initiatives ahead of the whole community of Dalton International.
The Dalton Plan is an incident in a
movement of a very great, worldwide importance. The extraordinary change of
spirit commenced by Helen Parkhurst decades ago is still present in the Dalton
movement globally.
This day, we would like to wish all
Dalton schools worldwide a good continuation of their Dalton journey towards a
better and brighter future in peace, trust, respect and mutual understanding.
Celebrating the 136th
anniversary of Helen Parkhurst on 8 March
René Berends, 2022
Every year, teachers at Dalton schools around the world commemorate Helen Parkhurst's birthday. This year, too, this will happen at many places. But on what date exactly do we celebrate her birthday? And in what year exactly was she born? There is some confusion about Parkhurst's date of birth and year of birth.
She herself writes in a curriculum
vitae that is preserved in the archives of the Dalton School in New York, 7
March 1887, the same date that Diana Lager (1983), Dorothy Luke (n.d.) and
Susan Semel (2002) mention.
Vern Pinkowski, an inspector of
education in Wisconsin, who wrote in the nineties, for the local historical
society of her hometown Durand (Wisc.), a small biography, mentions the year
1886. He indicates that he had seen authentic, genealogical sources in
Wisconsin. What those are exactly, unfortunately he doesn’t say.
Kuipers (1993) tells that during a
visit to the Netherlands, Parkhurst told that she was born on 8 March 1886.
Diana Lager (1983) points out that in various sources also the years 1885 and
1892 are mentioned. We find the year 1892 also on the certificate that
Parkhurst received in 1957 when she was honored by Her Majesty the Queen of
the Netherlands as Knight in the Order of Orange Nassau.
So,
when I visited Durand for my research on her biography, I went to the Pepin
County Government House and asked for her birth certificate. I knew already
that Diana Lager reported in 1983 that the original deed was destroyed by fire.
And I also knew that a Dutch researcher, Cees Janssen, stated in 1996, that he
didn’t find the original certificate.
As I expected there was indeed no original certificate. In the register of the population of the municipality of Durand (Wisc.) there was only an 'uncertified copy' of the birth certificate, which act was drawn up under oath by Parkhurst before a notary. And this act indicates that she was born on 8 March 1886.
So we are almost certain that Helen was born on 8 March 1886.
My research took me also to the
Historical Museum in Durand, the archives in Stevens Point and
River
Falls and to the Dalton School in New York. In these archives I found a
beautiful picture of Helen only a few month old and some old pictures of Durand
(Wisc.) where she was born.
Durand was founded 40 years before
her birth, in 1856, in the valley of the Chippewa River. More than thirty kilometers downstream this river flows into the Mississippi. Because of its location Durand
was a natural trading place. Timber traders sailed with their wood rafts on the
river along Durand and farmers from the area regularly came to the market.
Helen’s parents ran a hotel – Parkhurst
House –. In the archives of the Historical Museum I even found an old postcard
of Durand where we can see Parkhurst House, the hotel of her parents.
I hope that we can now celebrate her 136th birthday in peace and with certainty on 8 March next.
