Hello all

Here's my situation...a little long but please bear with
me...I keep coming on here hoping to find a post that might
relate to the issues I'm having but nothing directly
related.

I've been working at a Montessori school as an assistant/co
teacher since last year. I've had tonnes of issues with
the school, the management, the children, the parents and
the head teacher.

The school is dirty...the changing mat is stained and
ripped. The building itself is quite old so maybe keeping
it clean is hard (benefit of the doubt) but routine hygiene
is seriously lacking. We change the kids on the
floor...brooms, dustpan...all dirty...I've replaced them
twice but it seems no one else seems to care

Kitchen is a mess...dish rack is yellow and stained...I've
washed it with bleach along with the sink on numerous
occassions but it seems i'm the only one who sees the
dirt. I was looking for spoons today in our utensil tray
only to realize that the tray is dirty with food crumbs,
dust and hair. I soaked all the spoons and washed them
before serving snack.

I've brought it up in a staff meeting and one on one with
other teachers but it seems no one else was willing to
commit to keeping the facilities clean. The beds don't get
wiped down, dishes are soaked in warm water, no
bleach...some teachers just rinse them out but I actually
scrub them again with soap and a sponge (which has already
been replaced twice by me) and rinse them out.

Who should be responsible...I know ideally, it should be
ALL of us collectively but like i said, no one else seems
to be bothered. And everyone is quick to pass the
buck...principal says teachers are at fault...teachers
don't want to accept nor take on responsibility.

I started working there midway last year. The first thing
I noticed was how most of the children had no clue on basic
Montessori things...carrying a chair, carrying a mat,
walking a line, carrying materials, returning materials to
shelf. I brought it up at the first staff meeting and was
told by the principal that we were all to blame. At the
time, I didn't include myself in it as i'd only been there
a month. So i tried to implement as much as I could by
trying to present some things during circle and working
with some of the children one on one as and when the
opportunity presented itself but got virtually no supprt
from the other teachers...meaning there was no
consistency.

Fast forward to a year later, and I feel that I have failed
as a Montessori teacher/co teacher/assistant. I've lost my
cool on a number of occassions in the classroom...on
a "good day", we have 30+ children with myself and another
assistant teacher and the head teacher...it's overwhelming
to say the least...in between circle, preparing snack,
answering phones, answering the door, running around after
the younger ones, answering to the older ones, presenting
lessons, changing diapers, putting kids down for nap, doing
the dishes, sweeping, mopping...I feel like we're all
overwhelmed and feel like we don't have the time one would
need to present lessons to a child without any
interruptions...

I know that body language, the tone of your voice, stature,
the volume of your voice etc....all play into how children
react to you and around you but how do you as a teacher
manage to keep it all together?

I start a new job soon with my own classroom and I am
vowing to be more aware of how I act and talk and walk etc
around the children...basically have them emulate the good
and positive behaviour they see. BUT...how do I keep my
cool...how do I deal with children who just don't listen?
How do I deal with a 22 month old who runs around and
pushes other children? He knows what he's doing is
wrong...time out is not an option...talking to him works
for like 5 seconds and then he's at it again. How do you
deal with a child who has been in the school the last 3
years and knows only 3 sounds? Or the children who have
been tracing and writing words/numbers but have no clue how
to do metal insets. Or the children who after being shown
red rods and broad stairs more than a dozen times in the
last year, still start with the longest/biggest one. Or
the children who pick up materials from one part of the
shelf and return it to the other...multiplied min 20 times
a day by different children?

Maybe it's lack of experience on my part or maybe it's
true, you either have it or you don't. I really don't want
to make the same mistakes these teachers have made in the
past and to some degree, myself as well...

How do I fix it so I can actually enjoy working with the
children, seeing results, and have them enjoy and maintain
interest in the work in the classroom?

Sorry for the long rant/post....but this feels like just
the tip of the iceberg in terms of issues the school has...

In any case, can anyone give
pointers/advice/suggestions...more for where I am right now
and then me starting in my own classroom.

Any ideas on what to do the first day of school to
normalize the children who may have never been in a school
setting...

Share This Post | Report This Post

Next Post >>

Posts on this thread, including this one