I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the forward momentum of the Montessori movement–ever since last spring, when Dr. Steven Hughes came to Portland and gave a presentation to local administrators on the challenges that the Montessori movement has in communicating our work to the broader community of educators and parents.  As he writes on his website:

Every club has its own codes and language, and the “Club of Montessori” is no exception. But is Montessori a “movement,” a “method,” or is it “education for the 21st century”? Montessorians know what they mean when they discuss “pedagogy” and “planes,” but does the language they use connect them, or distance them from parents and other interested (sometimes skeptical) parties?

We all came away from that presentation with a sense of inspired urgency to rethink the way we talk about Montessori, and even asking ourselves whether using the Montessori name is in the best interests of moving us forward.

That’s a whole post in and of itself…but I have been mulling over some of the current dynamics of communicating Montessori and thought one way to start the exploration would be to examine Montessori school websites. In this day and age, most schools have a website, even if it’s a simple one.  I’m interested in how schools use this technology to convey the essence of Montessori to prospective parents.  What is the language being used? What does the design itself convey about the school community? What really speaks to parents as they peruse school websites?

There are lots of great school websites out there, and I would like to try to explore a variety of different types–from the done-by-a-friend-or-spouse pages to the high-end-Flash-enabled sites…over the next few weeks I will post my thoughts on various websites I come across, speaking as a Montessori teacher and former Montessori student.

The Mystery Bag is a much-loved activity that has yet to lose its fun with the children.  I use it as a high-interest hook to draw the kids away from free play into group time.  After the activity, they’re already in a circle and in a concentrating sort of mood, so it’s easier to transition to the Bible story.  The original instructions state that each child should place his hand in the bag, describe what he is feeling (“I feel something soft and round”), make a guess as to what it is, then remove the object to check how accurate his guess is.  Our class attempted this.

Teacher – I feel something hard and poky…I think it is the star. Pulls it out. I’m right!  Passes bag to girl on right.

Girly Princess – Furrows brow, and carefully feels around bag. I feel something…brown?  Um…

Mischievous Cherubic Boy -  Figures he’ll take a shortcut, for why would he bother guessing when he could just pull it out? It’s a soldier!  Bang!  Bang!

The children simply did not have the vocabulary to think of adjectives to describe the objects before pulling it out.  So I changed the rules so that each child had to tell me what they were planning to pull out before they put their hand it.  That way, they’re still focusing on the tactile input coming into their brain. That worked out well.

Today, I dumped out the bag, and set out retiring some of the pieces and adding others.

The Favorites

The favorite objects seem to be ones that children can do something with.  The prism is always the first out, and promptly brought up to the eyes to look at the light through it.  The jingle bell can be run, so it is generally second.  The boys like the metal soldier for reasons beyond my comprehension.  The bracelet can be put on the wrist, and one can put things in the velvet bag.

The Second-Stringers

The star has an easily identifiable shape, and the little bear is kinda cute.  The wooden knob, stone, cotton ball and shell eventually do get picked.   This shell is made of sterner stuff than the first shell I used, which broke within the first week.

The Rejects

I’m getting rid of the lego because I feel like it, and the penny because it always falls to the bottom of the bag and is difficult to find.  The ribbon tends to stick to a child’s fingers when she is trying to pull another toy out.

The Additions

I’ve got a pair of buzz magnets around the house somewhere that I’m going to add.  I’m also throwing in a plastic horse, and a dollhouse sized wooden barrel with a lid that comes off and on.

Paul Graham’s essays Great Hackers* (about the right not to be interrupted when concentrating), The Other Half of Artists Ship (about the value of meaningfulness), and You Weren’t Meant to have a boss (about how being in control is healthy), are all about describing the ideal conditions in which great programmers write great code an get a lot of enjoyment out of it. Lately I have been reading up on Montessori Education. The other day I realized that the environment, tools and mindset that Paul Graham portrait in these essays is essentially identical to what Montessori Educators go to great lengths to create in the classroom. Both hackers and children need to be sure not to be interrupted when deeply engaged in activity. External awards and praise is not at all what drives them, the drive is enjoyment in the activity itself and stisfaction over mastery of tasks. All pepole can function like this, but traditional schools and work places are encouraging another way of functioning, that is driven by external rewards and detrimental to concentration and initiative, and not the least induces boredom, complaining, blaming others and other anti-social behaviours.

Traditional schools and traditional work places are built on a too simple model of how people function: While certainly people can function to some degree in those places, it is also true that the very same people could function very differently if the environment were to encourage the way of functioning described by Paul Graham and Maria Montessori. For a good write-up on Montessori practices, that also covers relevant research  in-depth, please refer to Anne Stoll Lillard’s “Montessori: the science behind the genius“.

*Based on a 30 min speech.

Programme du jour : Ecole et crèche.

 

Je me réveille presque en même temps que Maman, alors je lis un peu dans ma chambre, le temps qu’elle sorte de la salle de bain. Je m’habille et vais réveiller Papa. Nous déjeunons tous ensemble. Je pousse mon record de « je traine à la maison » et nous partons pour l’école il est presque 7h40.

Rassurez-vous, j’arrive à l’heure car le trafic est fluide. 13h30, je sors du cathé et Maman me dépose à la crèche.

18h15, elle me récupère, je veux finir mon puzzle et ne veux pas laisser ma copine Sydney toute seule, j’attends donc que sa maman arrive pour partir de la crèche. Nous partons ensuite au Proxi avec Maman pour acheter deux, trois bricoles dont de quoi faire un gâteau pour Thanksgiving (Maman travaille dans une entreprise américaine et la société organise un gouter).

Nous arrivons à la maison vers 19h20, je mange un beau plat de pâtes au fromage et me régale d’un tiramisu en dessert. Une fois mon estomac rempli, je prends ma douche et me prépare pour aller me coucher. Deux chansons, une bonne dose d’éclats de rire et me voici au lit vers 20h10. Rédacteur : Aurélia, ma Maman.

Toutes mes dernières photos : Cliquez ici et vidéos : Cliquez ici.

Some time ago, to entertain my son whilst I was busy hand stitching, I made him a little project of his own. I used a scrap of leather, a hole punch and a long shoe lace tied into the first hole.

It did entertain him for a short while, but what I found really amazing was how quickly he picked it up. I showed him only once how to stitch around the edge, after that he did it every time without assistance. 

Recently I came across a Montessori video (above) which demonstrates lacing. It’s basically the same thing I did with my little scrap of leather - but no doubt my little project was a lot cheaper! Which was lucky for me. Because, after lacing the thing up a handful of times he was no longer interested.

I will add a picture of my little DIY Montessori project, just as soon as it stops raining and I can retrieve my camera!

Zu guter Letzt noch ein schmuckes Teil, dann wäre die Sache auch ein für alle mal gegessen und ich kann anfangen mich den wichtigeren Dingen zuzuwenden – Schlafen z. B. (der Flyer ist btw nicht von mir):

Ich konnte einfach nicht widerstehen ebenfalls einen Flyer zu fabrizieren. Hab dafür jetzt gute 25 Minuten gebraucht:

Vorderseite:

Rückseite:

in diesem Sinne: Hey! Das geht ab! Wir feiern die ganze Nacht!

Programme du jour : Ecole, crèche, et visite d’appartement.

Encore une journée qui s’annonce sous les meilleurs augures, je vais surement réaliser un sans faute cette semaine. Je déjeune avec Maman, et prépare mon “gouter” que je terminerai dans la voiture, comme tous les jours de la semaine lorsque Maman s’occupe de moi (c’est la fête). Nous passons un moment très agréable et trainons un peu.

J’arrive à l’école  un peu avant 7h45, embrasse bien fort Maman , verse une petite larme lorsqu’elle doit partir, mais retrouve vite le sourire lorsque que ma copine Trinity me réconforte.

12h30, elle vient me chercher, je vais ensuite à la crèche pour le reste de l’après midi. 18h00 Maman est de retour, nous allons visiter un appartement ce soir. Le petit 2 chambres de 110m2, (taille normale de ce type d’appartement à Luxembourg) que nous visitons me conquit, nous emménagerons le 10 Décembre.

Comme vous le savez, le 15 décembre nous déménageons. Papa dans une nouvelle maison à quelques minutes de la ville, et Maman avec Damien dans cet appartement. J’aurai donc une chambre dans chaque foyer, et passerai une semaine avec Papa, et une semaine avec Maman.

Pour fêter cela, nous déjeunons chez Damien. Pendant que la pizza cuit, je continue d’explorer mes talents de dessinateur. Je mange sans soucis, rigole beaucoup et suis une adorable petite fille. Nous partons, pour la maison vers 20h15, je serai au lit un peu après 20h30. Rédacteur : Aurélia, ma Maman.

Toutes mes dernières photos : Cliquez ici et vidéos : Cliquez ici.

I have had this idea for years, and being that it’s Thanksgiving time, I put myself in gear a couple of weeks ago and finally got it done. We had these ugly pantry doors in our kitchen and I painted them with chalkboard paint to make a Thankful Wall. I want to instill GRATITUDE in my little one. So, today, Cullin & I cured the paint with some chalk and talked about what we’re thankful for, which quickly turned into a word game – fun! We are thankful for Cullin’s teachers {Ms. Athena & Ms. Laurie} at the Lyons Community Montessori. He has really enjoyed it there and they gave me an idea at our last parent/teacher conference on how to make learning sounds, language and reading fun. Today we played a game with words starting with M! I gave some descriptions and he guessed “monkey” and “marshmallow” and came up with “mitten” {which I think was just luck} and “mouth” {he really got this one} on his own. I plan to use this wall to make lists of things we’re thankful for and for thank you notes to be written, and probably a little doodling too. Nice and centrally located in the kitchen, hopefully the whole family will enjoy it!

Both of my children attend a Montessori school, where one of the basic philosophies is that children’s play is valuable work and should be regarded as such.  To this end there are various “practical life” stations in the classroom where the kids have scaled down versions of adult activities, like laundry hanging, dishwashing, and sweeping.  (I’m waiting for the class to have a few more useful ones, such as “cooking dinner” work, “putting self to bed” work, or “zymurgy for toddlers.”) One of the favorites is always “window washing” work.  I’m not sure why this is such a big hit, though I think it’s partly because it’s simply fun to spray a water bottle.  I purchased a set recently from a Montessori supply website, though I could probably have just put the whole thing together with stuff from the dollar store.

My intention was primarily for the girl to use it, but the boy grabbed it and proceeded to wash every window in the house.

The girl got into it, too:

She particularly loved the squeegee, and once when the boy tried to use it, she snatched it back from him and proceeded to whack him on the head repeatedly with the hard plastic side in a fit of rage. This landed her in time out rather quickly.  The boy, to his credit, never cried or lashed out at her, but instead walked over and sat down in front of her.  “It’s okay, sweetie pie,” he said. “I’m your brother and I love you.  Can you say sorry and give me a hug?” They gave each other a hug and promptly returned to window washing, while I got teary-eyed.

On another occasion, the girl picked up a towel and began to wipe off the fridge, completely of her own volition.  Seriously, this must be how they get the school clean.  I wonder if they’re licensed for child labor.  Should I notify the authorities?

She then made the sign for milk, so I handed her a sippy cup thinking she must be thirsty.  She instead proceeded to do this:

See? She realized that the fridge wasn’t actually dirty when she was cleaning it, so she purposefully dripped milk on it and then wiped it off, which gave her a great deal of satisfaction:

The thought process mystifies me–I wish I knew exactly what was going on in that little brain.  Does she need to feel that her work is purposeful? Or did she just want something to wipe off?  I’d like to think that it’s the former, since really, don’t we all want our work to be meaningful?  It reminds me of the Van Morrison song, “Cleaning Windows,” in finding happiness and satisfaction in simple, purposeful work.

Or maybe, sometimes spilling milk is just making a mess for the fun of it.

Mary Poppins. Practically perfect in every way.

From Montessori Mama comes an excellent list of guidelines for Montessori teachers – I thought I’d adapt it to fit nannies, though much of it will be identical.

1. Good health, both emotional and physical. A high-functioning immune system and a calm lifestyle are two of the biggest boons you can have working one-on-one with children. Children pick up much more than just germs from their caretakers – they can sense your own stress and feed off of it.
2. Montessori Mama’s list says “Appears Attractive.” This seems kind of unnecessary to me, especially since my day involves getting covered in mess. I’m going to revise this to say “Appears child-ready.” This means both appears in clothes that aren’t overly revealing and also clothes that are appropriate to be worn all day with a young child. A suit and a blazer is as inappropriate as a miniskirt.
3. Possesses ability to find order in chaos. Whatever “order” may mean. It can be as complex as re-organizing the playroom (which I do often and my Virgo nature shows itself when I start organizing… I can’t stop) or as simple as being able to figure out the order of operations in “be at door to let child in from bus drop-off, change dirty diaper, fix snack” when all three need to be done simultaneously.
4. Is able to move at the speed of child. Lifting/hauling and ability to leap over baby gates in a single bound a total must.
5. Speaks in a manner that models proper tone/speech pattern for hir charges.*
6. Is neither too attached or detached from hir charges. I think this is actually the #1 Rule and the hardest part of nannying. It is easy to get so attached to the work family that they become just as important as our own families, which can become very tricky when it’s time to move on for whatever reason. While nanny is part of the household, it’s not healthy for nanny or children for the nanny to feel like part of the family (unless nanny is, of course, a family member). On the other end of the spectrum, maintaining a totally hands-off approach is counter productive to establishing a trusting relationship with one’s charges. It’s a constant balancing act to be fully emotionally available and present during the day and to be able to go home at night like you would from a “normal” job.
7. Models proper manners and courteous behavior in all interactions with charges and families.
8. Works with charges on their own level. Often, this means the floor. Willingness to spend the day crawling on the floor is a must. Have I mentioned that this job means getting dirty? Yeah, it totally involves some dirt. This is also where I mention a lot of squatting, kneeling down as communication with children ideally takes place at their own level, especially if the conversation is important.
9. Provides children with activities that they feel involved with.
10. Can adapt daily plans to fit all variables of sickness/health/good or bad weather.
11. Respects the dignity and privacy of charges and their families.
12. Responds to children’s physical, mental, and emotional needs. A good nanny will have developed a relationship close enough to be able to anticipate a child’s needs before they reach crisis levels. Knowing what cues a child gives when ze is hungry/tired/not feeling well before the obvious breakdown stage is invaluable for the health and sanity of all involved.
13. Draws on community resources to enrich the daily schedule. This can be as simple as going to the library or as complex as joining/running a playgroup. I not only take Thing 2 to an art/music class, but I also take him with me when I need to run errands as the outer world is in and of itself a great adventure and he really loves just getting out and about. I’ve taken children to everything from the library down the street to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The greater the variety of experiences you’re able to provide, the more the child will be able to learn from hir environment.
14. Keeps an environment consistent with that which has already been established by the parents. What young children need most is consistency. If you think that you want to have naptime at noon, but mom always starts it at 2… well, you’d better keep it at 2. It’s important in the first few weeks on the job to make sure everyone is on the same page and that your methods are mirroring those of the parents, even if it means doing things differently than you did with the last family you worked with. This is where it’s crucial to have a good fit between the nanny and the parents, not just between nanny and children. It’s so much easier if the nanny and parents have a similar educational philosophy to start with than if the nanny has to adapt to a completely different style.
15. Leaves the house as clean, or cleaner, than it was when ze got there.

As for Montessori Mama’s additions to the list… I’m going to leave those identical because they all totally apply.

16.) Possesses a willingness to be thrown up on if the need arises
17.) Provides a shoulder to cry on for: all children, co-teachers and parents when needed
18.) Demonstrates an ability to think on hir feet, is very flexible
19.) Patience, patience and more patience
20.) Talented musically (well, LOVES to sing anyway)
21.) Peaceful conflict resolution EXPERT
22.) Capable of being yelled at, even hit by a child having a tantrum and remaining calm
23.) Will work for little pay and even less recognition from society
24.) Has genuine interest in learning about EVERYTHING
25.) Doesn’t mind repeating one’s self
26.) Did I say possesses amazing amounts of patience?
27.) Abilities include but are not limited to: unclogging toilets, pronouncing dead fish, shoveling snow, detangling jumpropes, organizing and maintaining peace and safety on a sledding hill, comforting hurt feelings, making playdough, finding lost mittens…oh there just isn’t enough space here.

* Not a typo. I’m a huge proponent of the gender-neutral pronouns ze/hir to indicate persons of unknown/either gender.

First of all, a belated thank you to all who responded to my original post about Montessori teacher training.  I really appreciate your perspectives and I’m grateful that you’re so willing to openly share your thoughts with me.

As I’ve reflected more on my original premise, I wanted to make clear that I whole-heartedly agree that there is nothing that beats real, live experience in your own class.  There are just some things that you can’t get when you’re student teaching.  And I think a lot of my current frustration is less about the training itself and more about my own self-doubt and anxiety over whether I’m really able to successfully accomplish all that I want to as a guide.  Of course, the irony there is that ultimately it’s not about what I do so much as how I help create the space that allows the children’s development to unfold naturally.

This is by far the most challenging thing I’ve ever done in my life and there are some days when I come home and seriously wonder whether I am the best person for this job.  It is so, so easy to beat yourself up over the littlest things…and when it’s not going as you hoped, it’s even more challenging to be kind to yourself.

Hence, the title of this post.  Let this be a little online reminder to myself that pausing every now and then is good.  More than good, actually…it’s a necessary piece of the work that we do…it gives us the space we need to take a breath, refresh, look at a situation with a fresh pair of eyes.

Tomorrow I will be finishing up my progress reports for parent conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I’m both terrified and excited at the same time…I’ve been reading snippets here and there from Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot’s The Essential Conversation: What Parents and Teachers Can Learn From Each Other, which I’ve been enjoying a lot.  I really appreciate her big picture view of the ritual of parent/teacher conferences.  She explores the tensions underlying this often stressful interaction, looking at race and class and concepts of expertise and how this all accentuates parent and teacher insecurities. I highly recommend this book for anyone who’s interested in exploring the root causes of conflict and frustration between parents and teachers, and how they can learn to communicate with each other to serve the common goal of aiding the child’s development.

So, was I wrong in thinking S needed less strictness? Less rigidity? Less autocratic rule by the teacher?

The current homeschooling style I’m employing does indeed look a lot different than the school style I was looking for when we looked for a 1st grade option for S. Citing her strong-willed personality and her facility with the techniques of passive resistance, I felt that what we needed was a very pure Montessori school for her. The didactic materials were cetainly hoped-for, but the crucial “follow the child” spirit was the purity I sought. It was missing in action, which was the final push towards homeschool.

However, in our quotidian efforts, I am definitely following a teaching path that is sequential, orderly, and adult-driven. It is heavily-influenced by Classical education, specifically as envisioned in The Well-Trained Mind . I invite her to pick something to work on, and then we work together. Ultimately, I am fairly flexible with her, but at its base, It appears that I lead, she follows.

However, the best part about all of this is that I’m doing my best to follow *this* child. The more work we do, the more she wants to do. We started our formal science curriculum because she wouldn’t stop asking me to “do science”. We’re adding a formal spelling curriculum because she just is bursting with the desire to spell properly, and celebrated when I told her I might get some spelling materials.

I leave this topic for the night with one last thought: this child has mastered the art of passive resistance, and she also craves my time and attention. In her last Montessori environment, she was able to use that passive resisitance to do only unhallenging “fun” works, it never seemed satisfied. And the current style we’re using makes that difficult and gives her the mama tine she craves. Both positives apparently outweigh any negaitve feelings she may have for being lead around academically. Something to consider.

If you are a parent of a young child, are thinking of becoming a parent, or know someone who is currently a parent or is thinking of becoming one, then for the child’s sake hop on over to this lovely blog and read this very thorough post on how to set up an environment that is child-friendly and conducive to a child’s development:

http://alisaterry.blogspot.com/2009/11/prepared-environment-montessori-step.html

I must admit, I have a particular dislike for most crafts.  They take forever to make, are messy, and don’t really teach children anything very useful.  Sure, if you’re a parent with a couple of kids at home, or a daycare teacher with no real set curriculum, crafts are a great way to have fun and obtain a cute and tangible end product.  But when you have a classroom full of marvelous materials and less than five hours to expose 24 curious and very active young children to the most divine concepts created by Nature and Man, then crafts just become a nuisance.

My definition of a good craft is one that at least involves the development of manual dexterity, uses very few resources (the more re-used/recycled materials, the better), and takes less than five minutes to complete.  Luckily, the school at which I work only requires us to do one craft per month (whew!).  Last month I *didn’t have time* to do a craft, so I knew this month’s project would have to be extra-special.

I recently visited Lake Tahoe to scout out possible wedding venues, and I found the ground littered with enormous pine cones, much larger ones than those found in my neck of the woods.  I promptly grabbed a large trash bag and stuffed it full, and then flew home with a big black garbage bag as carry-on luggage.  Classy, I know.

I kept my pine cone surprise a secret from everyone, knowing how COOL it would be!  On Tuesday and Wednesday, my assistant traced each child’s hand on construction paper, and then each child cut out his/her hand outline or had an older friend help (thank goodness for mixed age groups, I couldn’t imagine cutting out 24 hand outlines).  Today I brought in the pine cones, and they were received with a chorus of “oooh’s”, “ahhh’s”, and a couple of “what is this?”.  Seriously, some kids had never seen a pine cone in their lives.  Sure, we don’t live in Lake Tahoe, but it’s not like we live on the moon!  But I digress…

While my assistant supervised a fruit salad production line on one side of the room (we’re making Thanksgiving lunch tomorrow, another huge headache), I set up shop with my protector, glue jar, glue brush, feathers, googly eyes, brown heads, yellow beaks, and observation clipboard.  One by one, I invited a child over to my station, while the rest worked independently (more or less…).  I instructed my young artists on the finer points of feather-gluing and eye-pasting, and while they labored I enjoyed a rare opportunity to observe the classroom and take notes for an entire morning while interfering very little (only the occasional “don’t even think about it” teacher glance to “stop the evil”, as Maria Montessori would put it).

What a joy!!  I saw so much productive work, so many beautiful explorations and aha moments… A little boy washed 15 towels and wrung them so well that nary a drop fell from his basket as he walked across the room to hang them up to dry… A little girl from India, whose first words in English were “No work, teacher! No sit down, teacher”, suddenly discovered she had a friend in another little Indian girl (who speaks a different dialect), and they spent the morning listening to the sound cylinders and laughing like old buddies… A boy got a lesson on the laces frame from a friend yesterday, and today was able to do it correctly on his own, came to show me, and declared “Now I’m going to do it again!”… I could go on and on, there’s so much magic in a Montessori classroom.  (There’s so much yet to be done, of course, but that’s a topic for another post…)

By the end of the morning, here’s what we had:

Heads & Tails

In the afternoon, the full-day children finished their craft and watched with bated breath (and pinched noses due to the smell of hot glue) as I secured the products of their labor onto their pine cones.  I took pictures of the proud crafters with their creations, but school policy prevents me from posting a picture of eight adorable children saying “turkeeeeeeeeeeeeey!”.  So, you’ll just have to make due with these silly gobblers.   Gobble, gobble, tomorrow’s the last day of school!!!

Say Turkeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey!!!

Programme du jour : Ecole, crèche, et scandale !

 

La semaine n’est pas exceptionnelle. Je me réveille un peu avant 7h, je m’habille en faisant la bouille mais finis par sourire après une petite explication avec Maman. Je réveille ensuite Papa. Nous descendons déjeuner, je bois mon lait puis mets le reste de mon petit déjeuner (2 cookies, mes vitamines, une barre de céréale et une pompote) dans un petit sac plastique. C’est un peu un rituel, avec Maman je peux manger dans la voiture alors j’en profite.

Nous arrivons à l’école vers 7h45, un gros bisou et je suis en classe.

13h30 Maman vient me chercher pour la crèche, je suis adorable et vais chez les Bluebells, le sourire aux lèvres.

18h30, elle vient me chercher, nous rentrons passons par le Proxi, achetons quelques courses puis rentrons à la maison.

Je suis plutôt gentille jusqu’au moment de prendre ma douche, où je décide, comme souvent, de faire un petit scandale. La douche est donc rapide, Maman me met en pyjama et je me retrouve au lit à 20h. Rédacteur : Aurélia, ma Maman.

Toutes mes dernières photos : Cliquez ici et vidéos : Cliquez ici.

A reader recently commented on the statement I made inviting parents, who confuse their Montessori-enrolled children by showing them the alphabet after the child has been exposed to phonetics, to “stop being teachers and start being parents”.  She pointed out that parents are their child’s first teachers, and she’s absolutely right: parents are their child’s first and MOST INFLUENTIAL teachers.  But what does it mean to be a teacher?

I am not even a teacher, I am just a guide.  When parents first enroll their children in the school, we explain to them about the phonetic reading/writing method we use, and we implore them to follow it at home – not for OUR benefit, but for the children’s.  Many parents do, but some take it upon themselves to teach their kids the alphabet, KNOWING that we’re doing phonetics in school and KNOWING how parallel exposure to sounds and names of letters will impact their child’s understanding of the language they’re learning.  Then, a few months later, they’ll be very upset and call the school demanding to know why their child is not reading yet, and they’ll stick the 4-year old child in after-school classes to force him to learn to read.

I invite you to walk a mile in a teacher’s shoes and try to explain to a parent that all was going well until they decided to teach the alphabet AFTER they had been urged to stick to phonetics.  I would also like to share with you the heartache of seeing a perfectly capable 4-year old start hating to read because it has been forced upon him.  What a sad way to start off an academic experience…

This particular child started with me last year, learned all the sandpaper letters and was writing beautifully before school let out for the summer.  I was confident he would have no problems reading when his brain was ready.  When he came back after summer break, he had a jumbled mess of sounds and names of letters in his head, and he can’t even string three sounds together anymore without confusing the sounds.

And still the parents call me demanding to know why their child isn’t reading…

Personally, I don’t care WHEN a child reads and I deplore phone calls from parents wondering why their child isn’t reading yet, when their over-stimulated kid has a hard time concentrating long enough to learn three sounds.  I have 3.5 year olds reading with phonograms and 4.5 year olds who struggle to memorize three sounds.  They are all amazing and talented, and are right where they should be.

Most children learn to read eventually, and if you believe in the power of a child’s mind you will only expose the children to the sounds, invite them to write, and waits for the brain to work its magic – whether it takes 4 days or 4 years should not concern us.  Many Waldorf children (including my very bright and articulate sister-in-law) don’t learn to read until they’re in the second year of Elementary, and they quickly catch up to their peers.  Language at an early age is NOT about technique, grammar, morphology, and syntax, but about helping the child to express her personality and thoughts.

All I want is for each child to be given the opportunity to learn as clearly and with as few obstacles as possible.  If you want to teach your child the names of letters, knock yourself out.  If you want to teach your child the sounds of letters, go for it.  But why confuse them when you know how it will affect them, because it has been explained to you?  That’s just plain cruel and shows a distrust in the child and the method of education that THE PARENT chose for them…

I am certain that when Maria Montessori said that parents should be their children’s most important teachers, she did not mean busting out the flash cards or making them memorize the presidents of the United States.  When I said start being parents and stop being teachers, I meant be a teacher in the true sense of the word: start taking your kids to the park, the zoo, the flippin’ auto mechanic if you want to; talk to them about the world, nature, and different cultures; clean and exercise and cook together; respect their intrinsic learning process and STOP pretending that by cramming their heads full of unrelated tidbits of useless and confusing information and forcing them to do something they’re not ready for, you’re doing them a service.

That is neither parenting nor teaching.

Programme du jour : Ecole, crèche, et encore mauvaise humeur.

Je me réveille assez tôt, Maman est sous sa douche. Je suis plutôt sympa et prends mon petit déjeuner sans problème.

Je fais un bisou à Papa, puis file dans la voiture et à l’école. 7h45, je suis dans ma classe.

Maman vient me chercher à 12h30 pile, puis nous allons à la crèche. Je lui fais un gros câlin. Elle reviendra un peu moins de 6h plus tard.

J’ai passé une bonne après midi. Nous rentrons à la maison, je fais un bisou à Papa, puis descends manger. C’est là que tout se gâte, je ne veux pas manger mes pâtes, pleure pour un rien. Maman expédie donc un peu le reste de la soirée, je prends ma douche à toute vitesse. Il est 19h30 lorsque je m’endors après quelques chansons et de gros câlins. Rédacteur : Aurélia, ma Maman.

Toutes mes dernières photos : Cliquez ici et vidéos : Cliquez ici.

Had a parent/teacher conference at the Montessori this morning. Cullin is busy all the time, the directress told us, never idle. I am noticing that he is starting to be interested in letters and words as of late. Of course, he’s always loved books and stories, he seems to want to read and write now, or at least the beginning stages of learning. We just read A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee before nap. It is a really fun book – of course everything that Chronicle puts out pretty much goes instantly on the wish list. I look forward to collaborating with Cullin on his own stories someday soon, we can write and illustrate and print little books together.

I’m having the laziest day evar. I just put on my clothes, and it’s THREE PM.

This is why I wanted a yard. The dogs peed before I even had to get dressed.

It seems ridiculously extravagant to still be lying on the bed reading in my bathrobe well into the afternoon, but I needed the rest. Yesterday wasn’t really a day off. I had to go to a conference to keep up my continuing education credits with the AHTA, so it was like another work day. Spending a day surrounded by total strangers does not make for a restful time. Although it was actually a lot better than I thought I would be. It reminded me that I am, and always will be, a product of Montessori:

I find structured labs where I have to follow structured activities (many of which I do not find educational) rather stressful. It usually involves a certain amount of interaction with the people in your class, which in this situation would be total strangers. It also requires that you shoulder a certain amount of responsibility. Here I am, doing something for the very first time, and I’m just supposed to fetch supplies and follow instructions on my own, instead of being personally taught and guided.

That is what I was expecting of the wet labs at the conference, but they weren’t like that at all. They basically treated us with a “you paid to be here so come on down and get your money’s worth” attitude which I highly appreciated. We were allowed to wonder around, watch demonstrations and do as much or as little hands-on practice as we felt comfortable with.

…Which meant that I played with the goniometer, but just watched people use the Gulich. I waved my hand over the Pulsing Magnetic therapy bed, and let them attach electrodes to my arm to feel what muscular electric stimulation feels like (WEIRD). They gave me full control over how high I turned it up, which meant I felt quite comfortable cranking it up quite high, trying to get my hand to twitch. Then I helped myself to the peppermint and tea trea muscle relaxing oils.

If they had created a structured lab, I would have hated every minute of it, even while learning. But this was actually quite pleasant. This is what Montessori school was like. They didn’t FORCE us to learn. They set certain goals, like you had to do a minimum of one math activity, one English activity and so on, but from there on the choice was yours. They assumed that you wanted to play and learn, and so it never occurred to any of us to fight it.

So really the conference was great, just what I would have wanted. But it was still an exhausting day for an introvert – strange place, strange people, strange gadgets…

Then Perfect Husband and I had a party to go to that evening. The hosts are good friends, but a lot of the people there are strangers. Which meant more socializing with strangers.

See, it’s not that it was a bad day. I learned a lot, and then had a nice, fun evening out talking to some really cool people and breaking my heart over an incredibly adorable blond boy, who seemed fascinated by my husband and kept dragging him around by the finger saying “night night?”

But for an introvert? That was NOT a day off.

After an eight hour sleep and then another five hours of reading lazily, I finally think I have the energy to face the day.

And it’s raining.

For many people, speaking in public ranks up there with dismemberment on the list of least favorite pastimes.  I, however, feel more comfortable speaking in front of a large audience than having a face-to-face conversation with one person.  Therefore, I eagerly volunteered to give the Students’ Speech at our AMI graduation in 2008.

My brief teaching career has been perplexing: The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.  My goals change as doors that I never imagined would open are swinging wide, while doors that I thought would always welcome me are painfully creaking closed.  And sometimes, for a few seconds, I wonder if the heart-wrenching struggles (with my boss, the parents, the children, and especially within myself) are even worth it.  However, re-visiting the words that I spoke on that sunny graduation day brings my focus back to the real reason that I, and many others, forge ahead.

*******************

When Dr. Maria Montessori gave training courses around the world in the early 20^th century, she observed that the students in attendance were as diverse as the colors of the rainbow.

The same holds true for this group gathered here today, almost 100 years later.  We come from many corners of the world – the Ukraine, South Korea, Sweden, Mexico, Taiwan, Canada, France, the Philippines, and every time zone in the United States.  But our differences don’t stop there.  Some of us have been parents for over a decade… Some of us still live with our parents.   Some of us have worked in other industries for years, while others are taking the first tentative steps into the professional world.  We are Buddhists, Catholics, Christians, Universalists and agnostics; conservatives and liberals; male and female.

What brought the students of the early 1900’s together is the same thing that guides our group today: the child’s power for unity.  In Dr. Montessori’s words: “There is one point – the child – on which we all have the same feelings. Whatever be our political or religious affiliations, we are all near to the child and we all love him. Few people realize how great is the child’s importance owing to this.”

Why does the child inspire love in us?

I believe it is because the child reminds us of who we really are at our core.  Consider the words that I spoke a moment ago: I said that we represent a variety of nationalities, cultures, religions, and political beliefs.  However, these qualities are not who we truly are.  They are labels that have been given to us – for better or for worse – by our parents, teachers, and the society we grew up in.  As children, we unknowingly incarnated them into our very being through our absorbent minds, and they became the masks that we use to define ourselves today.

The young child has not yet fallen prey to the limitations of these labels; he doesn’t know what it means to be American, conservative, or Catholic, and as such, he doesn’t behave within the parameters of these labels.  Instead, he embodies characteristics that, if emulated by all adults, would stop wars, end hunger, reverse global warming, and make the world a more enjoyable place in which to live.

The child is kind, honest, accepting, hopeful, resilient, inquisitive and joyful.  He finds happiness in work and exudes love without prejudice. As Montessorians, it is our responsibility to keep these qualities alive in the child.  And as human beings, it is our moral obligation to reawaken them in ourselves.

I will leave you with the advice of Dr. Montessori: “Man makes a desert of discord and strife, and God continues to send this rejuvenating rain.  Grown-ups and children must join their forces.  In order to become great, the grown-up must become humble and learn from the child.  Strange, is it not, that among all the wonders man has worked, and the discoveries he has made, there is only one field to which he has paid no attention; it is that of the miracle that God has worked from the first: the miracle of children.”

A few weeks ago, I made a list of Montessori information directed at parents of children  under the age of three, when most Montessori programs begin.  In compiling that list, I also came across a ton of nifty stuff for kids over the age of three.  If you’re interested in doing a Montessori curriculum at home, try one of the following resources:

• General information about doing Montessori at home
  • It’s just a small offshoot of a larger site, but I found the information here very informative and helpful.
  • The North American Montessori Teacher’s Association has a page of helpful links
• Curriculum resources for doing Montessori at home
  • Shu-Chen Jenny Yen’s Online Montessori Albums is one of the oldest and most popular Montessori websites on the internet.  It has excellent instructions for hundreds of presentations and activities.  A really amazing resource.
  • The Montessori Teachers Collective has several albums, too.
  • The Montessori Materials website also has nifty little videos of presentations!
  • Montessori for Everyone is a site made by a former Montessori teacher and current homeschooling mother, which has loads and loads of curricular information, some free and some paid.
  • The Biomes curriculum put out by Waseca is a really fascinating way to study geography, science, and social studies.
  • Shiller Math is the math curriculum that most Montessori Schools, from what I can tell, seem to use.

Of course, if you have any to add, make use of the comments.

Programme du jour : Ecole et crèche.

 

Une journée de jeudi très ordinaire. Matin à l’école, après-midi à la crèche et soirée avec Papa. Rédacteur : Patrick-Robin, mon Papa.

Toutes mes dernières photos : Cliquez ici et vidéos : Cliquez ici.

Tonight we heard public comment from many families whose children are currently enrolled in the general education program at Dr. William R. Cobb Elementary. Families are worried their program will be closed, because the school district is implementing a Montessori program at the same site.

While my ability to talk about the specifics of this situation is limited, there has been no decision to either close the school, move a program, or end a program.

What I can say is that The Montessori program at Cobb was created to fulfill two objectives: implement programs that integrate Pre-K and elementary school programs in a seamless way; and create high-quality programs for African-American children. In several districts across the country (most notably Milwaukee), public Montessori programs have been implemented with very positive results for low-income children and African-American children, and this data was the spark that started the push for a Pre-K through 5th grade public Montessori program. Why locate this program at Cobb? There were existing preschool classrooms, the school was under-enrolled, and the principal was enthusiastic.

I don’t believe anyone saw the Montessori program as a way to marginalize the predominantly African-American families who currently attend the school. The objective (I believe, though I was not on the Board at the time the program was created) was to offer families from the Western Addition a unique and high-quality alternative program; and a program that would afford children a seamless transition from preschool to elementary classrooms. Because our preschool programs are required to reserve 60 percent of their seats for families who are low-income, job-hunting, or unable to afford preschool, the Cobb program was seen as a way to ensure that the least-advantaged families were first in line as we implemented a promising educational approach.

I’m posting a useful FAQ on the Cobb General Ed-Montessori situation that may help answer some of the questions swirling around.