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Montessori in the Home - Schari

by montmo

Jan 15, 2010

Schari: We sort of high jacked the original topic so I thought I would start a new thread.

My hours are Monday through Friday and the full day class is 9AM to 3PM. There is also the option of half day of three hours either AM or PM.I no longer offer before/after care.

I follow the schedule of our local elementary for holidays and vacation dates. I am going to try something different this year and run my main school term starting the day after Labor Day and have the tuition over a nine month schedule rather then 10 months. However, instead of having summer camp in just June and July, I am having three weeks in each of those two months and do all four weeks in August. I only offer full day for the summer program. I do that because we do a lot of "out in the town" trips via public transportation and it allows us to be relaxed in doing that. Otherwise we have to cut short our trips to get back in the middle of the day. It worked well last summer for us.

I NEVER...See MoreSchari: We sort of high jacked the original topic so I thought I would start a new thread.

My hours are Monday through Friday and the full day class is 9AM to 3PM. There is also the option of half day of three hours either AM or PM.I no longer offer before/after care.

I follow the schedule of our local elementary for holidays and vacation dates. I am going to try something different this year and run my main school term starting the day after Labor Day and have the tuition over a nine month schedule rather then 10 months. However, instead of having summer camp in just June and July, I am having three weeks in each of those two months and do all four weeks in August. I only offer full day for the summer program. I do that because we do a lot of "out in the town" trips via public transportation and it allows us to be relaxed in doing that. Otherwise we have to cut short our trips to get back in the middle of the day. It worked well last summer for us.

I NEVER had any interest in being a teacher. Didn't enjoy school except for recess and seeing my friends. I actually was in another totally different field until I became a full time mother. My first daughter went to a Montessori school and that is how I became familiar with Montessori. (very typical of many Montessori teachers - got interested through their children who attended Montessori) The philosophy fit perfectly with how I was raising my own children and it all made such sense on how it worked. I got my Montessori training at an area university as part of a Master's Degree. I have been teaching ever since. I am expecting to continue until I retire which I am assuming is for a long time. People often ask me why I have never been "burned out" and I think that is easy. If one feels passionate about one's work, there is an inner motivation to keeps one going with joy. I am from a very large family and I vowed that I would never raise my own children the same way I was raised. Hence Montessori came at the right time for me and I took to it so easily.

I know what you mean about many teachers not appreciating the beauty of Montessori. My personal philosophy for that is that traditional schools attract personalities who like control. That is why teachers on the other boards are so frustrated by the overall behavior of their classrooms. The children today are not responding well to that control their teachers want to have. The emphasis on behavior management is way too much in classrooms. I don't like to control people. However, I love being able to control the environment to assist the children in developing intrinsic motivation. It is so easy for me to do that I often wonder why teachers continue to spin their wheels on trying to maintain a quiet and orderly classroom, when it is the children who need to be doing that on their own not because an adult tells them to. It takes an ability to know how to be humble and not be the hub of the classroom. Training at our teacher's colleges do not do that. Most people have never seen an authentic Montessori classroom work and they balk at changing their very idea as to what education and teaching is to them. The preparation of the teacher is a critical component of being a successful Montessori teacher. One has to look within and overcome or at least work to overcome our personal shortcomings. My challenge was eliminating sarcasm which I was very accomplished at due to my upbringing.

So, that is my background in a nutshell. Are you in Illinois if I recall correctly? montmo

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montm Hi, I could tell we were fellow Midwesterners. I am in Indiana, born and raised. Your class experience is one that is very familiar. Since we make many materials to enhance the Montessori equipment, we too have experienced the disappointment when our "great" idea didn't catch on after spending all those hours preparing the materials. However, just ...See MoreHi, I could tell we were fellow Midwesterners. I am in Indiana, born and raised. Your class experience is one that is very familiar. Since we make many materials to enhance the Montessori equipment, we too have experienced the disappointment when our "great" idea didn't catch on after spending all those hours preparing the materials. However, just as you found out, there is usually a time and place with another group of children maybe not until later years where that "idea" can find success. Each group of children each year brings different experiences and interests that keeps things interesting.

I wanted to share another one of my "lessons learned" from my experience. About 10 years ago, I decided to "beef up" my camp offerings by making each week a special theme. I found out it attracts the parents but the work involved in coming up with all these little crafts and ways to implement them was what I call just a pain in the neck. Instead of following the child as I had always done, I found doing themes is WAY TOO MUCH WORK and is only for the benefit of pleasing the parents. Last summer I returned to just letting life play itself out in the course of the day and the children thrived in the environments - outside and inside. We still did plenty of fun activities unique to the season and being able to be outdoors so much. However, it was a lot less work and planning then what I tried to do for too many years.

I really think teacher led programs that follow set curriculum make way too much unnecessary work for the adults and does not honor the unique interests of a true child centered program. I really don't think many professionals know what a child centered program is. I see a lot of lip service that a certain program is child centered. Even our local university lab school is guilty of saying they follow all the current scientific research in setting up their program. However, it is obvious that the adults run the classroom.

I read an interesting "quote" in our state news this morning that I found could relate to teaching techniques that we are discussing. The news article was talking about the difference between a osteopathicmedical graduate and those of traditional medical schools. It said "if you look at osteopathy, they want to educate doctors with the minds of scientists...with the art of caring an view of humanity tht brings great compassion to their service in an effort to treat the whole person..." I think that is what Montessori called out to me. It was the training to be a scientist in my work- observer - that appealed to me. I am not saying that teacher led teachers do not have compassion, but it is the way one approaches learning and how children learn that makes all the difference in the world.

I do not think what I see in our traditional public schools is respecting the child at all. I too have seen that same change in children from being curious and excited about learning go to the lack of enthusiasm within weeks of entering traditional kindergarten. It is so sad and so unnecessary. I witnessed this change in a major way with my eldest daughter because her first school experience was in first grade after she left home and she had a disaster of first grade experience. The teacher was not one that we would like our children to have to put up with, let alone as a first experience. There were several responses from parents around the country in today's Annie's Corner(I still call it Ann Landers) describing their children's teachers who should never be in charge of children. I know it is true in any school as my children have experienced it personally. The cruelty these adults show in the classroom is appalling and no one does anything about it because the teacher is "tenured". It is next to impossible to fire teachers unless they are convicted of child sexual abuse. These so called teachers give all the wonderful caring loving teacher such a bad rap.

So much for my AM rant. Hope we can connect again soon! montmo

On 1/16/10, Schari wrote: > montmo, so good to hear about your experience! You state > perfectly what it is I was seeing in my fellow classmates. > It is humbling to have your classroom not be about the > teacher and the teacher's great ideas, but to be about the > children and the children's great ideas. It is also VERY > challenging! Not something you can plan for and know what > will happen on any given day. > > For instance - I had a great idea for using clay when the > children came back from Christmas vacation. But it just > didn't seem to "come up" or be something that worked into > what they were interested in. I kept looking for > opportunities, but just fell flat. Yesterday a child brought > a magazine from home and as we read it he showed me the > volcano he was interested in. Child: "Can we make a > volcano?" S: "Sure. What could we use?" Each of the > children offered suggestions, and I offered a suggestion too - > "I do have some clay we could use." They thought that was > the best idea and we were off!! It was a HUGE mess - lol - > our 1 year old was making baskets with clay chunks into the > bowls of water, splattering water everywhere, slipping and > slidding on the floor as he was covered with clay from head > to toe. The 3 and 4 year olds got completely into it and we > were all covered with clay (me included) but it was a great > experience involving Science, Math, Fine Motor, Gross Motor, > Language, and Social Skills. It will make a great video show > for the parents. (Yes, my camera was covered with clay too.) > > Those are the priceless moments that we would have missed if > I had a preplanned curriculum that we followed each day > regardless of the children's interests, moods, and > curiosities. > > I'm in Kansas and I am open M-F from 7:00 - 5:00. I also > follow our school schedule as my children are all teachers > children. I start with them at birth and keep them through > kindergarten. Always have stair step children, taking a new > infant almost every year. This has been my work for 22 yrs > and not once have I dreaded seeing the children come, or not > looked forward to a day with them. That's amazing to me. > I've been so blessed. > > I am so with you - I want to do this work until I can't > (don't) work anymore. Our days are always joyful and > interesting. Challenging? Yes - definitely - but always > joyful and interesting. > > Intrinsic motivation - yes, yes, yes! It makes me very sad > when my kinders; who have been with me since birth and have > been interesting, interested, curious, and self motivated > thinkers and learners; come home their first few weeks of > kinder and their whole day is boiled down into whether they > got a red or green light, or their name was on the board. > Breaks my heart. > > Looking within - you are so right - I self evaluate > constantly. > > Nice to get to 'know' you. Where are you? > > (Changed the title again - lol - to get my name out of it. > And to make it a little broader, as what we are talking about > is a philosophy that is useful in any classroom, as well as > Montessori classrooms.) > > On 1/15/10, montmo wrote: >> Schari: We sort of high jacked the original topic so I >> thought I would start a new thread. >> >> My hours are Monday through Friday and the full day class >> is 9AM to 3PM. There is also the option of half day of >> three hours either AM or PM.I no longer offer before/after >> care. >> >> I follow the schedule of our local elementary for holidays >> and vacation dates. I am going to try something different >> this year and run my main school term starting the day >> after Labor Day and have the tuition over a nine month >> schedule rather then 10 months. However, instead of having >> summer camp in just June and July, I am having three weeks >> in each of those two months and do all four weeks in >> August. I only offer full day for the summer program. I do >> that because we do a lot of "out in the town" trips via >> public transportation and it allows us to be relaxed in >> doing that. Otherwise we have to cut short our trips to get >> back in the middle of the day. It worked well last summer >> for us. >> >> I NEVER had any interest in being a teacher. Didn't enjoy >> school except for recess and seeing my friends. I actually >> was in another totally different field until I became a >> full time mother. My first daughter went to a Montessori >> school and that is how I became familiar with Montessori. >> (very typical of many Montessori teachers - got interested >> through their children who attended Montessori) The >> philosophy fit perfectly with how I was raising my own >> children and it all made such sense on how it worked. I got >> my Montessori training at an area university as part of a >> Master's Degree. I have been teaching ever since. I am >> expecting to continue until I retire which I am assuming is >> for a long time. People often ask me why I have never >> been "burned out" and I think that is easy. If one feels >> passionate about one's work, there is an inner motivation >> to keeps one going with joy. I am from a very large family >> and I vowed that I would never raise my own children the >> same way I was raised. Hence Montessori came at the right >> time for me and I took to it so easily. >> >> I know what you mean about many teachers not appreciating >> the beauty of Montessori. My personal philosophy for that >> is that traditional schools attract personalities who like >> control. That is why teachers on the other boards are so >> frustrated by the overall behavior of their classrooms. The >> children today are not responding well to that control >> their teachers want to have. The emphasis on behavior >> management is way too much in classrooms. I don't like to >> control people. However, I love being able to control the >> environment to assist the children in developing intrinsic >> motivation. It is so easy for me to do that I often wonder >> why teachers continue to spin their wheels on trying to >> maintain a quiet and orderly classroom, when it is the >> children who need to be doing that on their own not because >> an adult tells them to. It takes an ability to know how to >> be humble and not be the hub of the classroom. Training at >> our teacher's colleges do not do that. Most people have >> never seen an authentic Montessori classroom work and they >> balk at changing their very idea as to what education and >> teaching is to them. The preparation of the teacher is a >> critical component of being a successful Montessori >> teacher. One has to look within and overcome or at least >> work to overcome our personal shortcomings. My challenge >> was eliminating sarcasm which I was very accomplished at >> due to my upbringing. >> >> So, that is my background in a nutshell. Are you in >> Illinois if I recall correctly? montmo

Jan 16, 2010

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I am so with you... I am so with you. I am trying to get my teachers to make that huge paradigm shift from teacher centered to child centered. By that I mean...I want the ideas and learning path to come from the kids and not just pre-planned units that the teacher says "this is what we are learning about this week."

While we are not a Montessori school, we do...See More

Jan 17, 2010

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montmo On 1/17/10, I am so with you... wrote: > I am so with you. I am trying to get my teachers to make that > huge paradigm shift from teacher centered to child centered. By > that I mean...I want the ideas and learning path to come from > the kids and not just pre-planned units that the teacher > says "this is what we are learning about ...See MoreOn 1/17/10, I am so with you... wrote: > I am so with you. I am trying to get my teachers to make that > huge paradigm shift from teacher centered to child centered. By > that I mean...I want the ideas and learning path to come from > the kids and not just pre-planned units that the teacher > says "this is what we are learning about this week."

congratulations on your determination and for the growth of your program. I think you have a huge undertaking when it comes to changing the mindset of the teachers and staff you have. That is particularly difficult when those people have no interest in changing. My husband is finding that out where he works. The company was bought out and the new company is making some major changes in how the company operates. This means people who have worked there for as many as 15 years need to change how they have always done things. What my husband has noted is that the new people hired do not have a problem with implementing the changes, but the long timers are fighting it tooth and nail, especially when there is not direct supervision. The new approach is so much better for the clients, but people do not like change. I am afraid that it is going to come down to the staff who refuses to cooperate will either quit or be fired because they are undermining all the good work that the other people are doing It is a process that takes time. You will face a battle especially if your teachers actually have degrees in early childhood education. They will say you don't know what you are talking about. > > > Please share what you think, philosophy, or training that you > have had...

I have only had my Montessori training for ages 2 1/2 through 6 years. That includes Montessori philosophy, child development, practical life, sensorial, language, mathematics, classroom management, science lab, creative movement, music, observation, geography and social studies, physical/life sciences, art, administration, parent involvement for a total of 595 hours. For my internship year which was self directed as I was operating my own school at that time, I also had to observe in 4 different classrooms (including one traditional non Montessori classroom), keep a journal and a year long case study on a child for another total of 843 hours.I had supervised practice sessions, written exams on all curriculum areas and practicum/oral exams. I also remember having classes on the three long weekend institutes on storytelling and puppetry.I had to complete an album of lessons and pertinent information and notes for each curriculum area. I continue to use those albums for reference, refresh ideas and to get information to share at our parent education classes. The training was quite intense but very rewarding and complete I found the training much easier then most of my classmates due to my previous experience(I had assisted one year in a Montessori classroom, had been a parent of two Montessori children and had observed in several classrooms as well as read just about everything I could find about Montessori). Many dropped out and only half a dozen completed the course. > > I want to facilitate this paradigm shift. How would you suggest > doing this?

I think the only way to introduce these staff members to a totally different mind set is to have them observe at as many different programs that are truly child centered. Seeing successful classrooms in action would be the first step. Observing(knowing ahead of time what to be looking for, not simply watching)as a scientist would in those classrooms for an entire class period(at least 3 hours)and returning to observe at least one other time. If after these observations(with discussions held with you about what they had experienced both good and bad), and the teachers continue to balk about changing, it could be that you simply have the wrong staff for your program. However, it is much better to work with who you have and try to show them why this change is necessary and what steps you see them making to make these changes. Really good teachers can see how wonderful a child centered classroom is for everyone They should see that a lot of the behavior issues they experience in their teacher driven classroom are just not there in child centered classrooms It doesn't mean behavior issues don't exist but a lot of the ones seen when adults spend so much effort in trying to control children do not appear when the children feel respected and free. > > I could invision me going into the room and teaching for several > hours a day with all of my teachers watching. I am also trying > to carve out some time to plan with them...this is hard in a > large facility where I don't yet have a asst. or a cook. (I know > we need them but just needed to get to the point financially to > hire them.) > I understand that my teachers must have a solid understanding of > the learning continuum in all areas. This is probably job one > but can't be done without the teaching and working with kids > coming hand in hand.

I am having difficulty picturing how they can be doing multiage without understanding the learning continuum in all areas. In our multiage classroom, it is imperative that I have a clear understanding of all areas so I know what the child is showing me (ready for the next step lesson? having a sensitive period for an area like explosion into writing at around age 4(I think current educational jargon calls these windows of opportunity). If I have a three and half year old who is years above typical ability, I have to know what to offer that child to meet her needs.

> Any ideas would be much appreciated. We have a staff of 15 and > 3 preschool teachers. cheryl

Cheryl: although you just have 3 teacher in that staff all adults from the top down and in between have to have the same mindset. If you have support staff who continue the traditional ways they will undermine the work of the ones who are trying to implement. Everyone has to be on the same page It helps if you have a strong background in early childhood education and want to learn along your staff. I still say observing at a great Montessori school or Reggio school (not as much academic experiences as Montessori) is the place to start. Many Montessori schools have observation windows so you can observe without disturbing the children. good luck and I will be happy to answer any other questions. montmo

Jan 18, 2010

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Schari On 1/16/10, montm wrote: > change in a major way with my eldest daughter because her first > school experience was in first grade after she left home and she > had a disaster of first grade experience. The teacher was not one > that we would like our children to have to put up with, let alone > as a first experience. There were sever...See More

Jan 19, 2010

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montmo I'm thankful to say that I'm not aware of teachers that are cruel. > If my children had them, they never told me. > > Teaching is such a gift. And being a superior teacher that can > really teach to each individual child is a rare trait. My children > had a few of them during their school years. Just a few. I see > many good /adeq...See More

Jan 19, 2010

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