Our classrooms open directly on to the outside area and have windows that allow the children to see that area, too. A couple months ago there was a huge wind storm that toppled a tree onto our play area, crushing the storage shed in the corner along with a short section of the fence. We have been trying to get the mess taken care of ever since, but because of insurance stipulations, we had to hire a contractor to do the clean-up job.

The tree guys arrived today with their big truck, wood chipper, and chain saws. Oh boy! There was no way to ignore the excited buzz from outside. That buzz created its own buzz inside. Add that to the real possibility of snow in tonight’s forecast and it isn’t hard to imagine the classrooms at a higher decibel level than normal.

The interesting thing, though, is that even with the added excitement, there was a wealth of learning happening. That’s Montessori!

This afternoon I had great fun with the kindergarten students. We were doing some follow up on a book that Carl has been reading to them about owls. We dissected an owl pellet. There were many little skulls in it and the kids were able to see the tiny teeth using the magnifying glasses I gave them. We were also able to classify many of the little bones into upper leg bones, hip bones and ribs.

The tree guys managed to spread their work out over much of the day so we were unable to go outside on this brisk sunny day during both the morning and afternoon times. And before we use the playground again, we will need to get the pavilion and picnic tables moved back where they belong!

I lost my cool in class today. It is something that I wish never happened to me, but I’m human and it does. A child was using an expensive piece of equipment as a toy and damaging it. And when I asked that it be put away since it was not being used appropriately, the child began ripping at it in anger, damaging it to an even greater degree.

I still didn’t lose my cool. So I thought I was doing pretty well. I even felt a certain sense of pride that I was able to control myself under this barrage of disrespect to the classroom. But when I was trying to explain why it was important to use things carefully, the child put fingers to ears and yelled, “I know what you are going to say.” That’s when my cool turned several degrees hotter.

In a classroom built on respect, whether it is self-respect, respect of others, or respect of the environment, it is hard to witness disrespect of all within a few minutes without experiencing some emotional response. It is a human frailty, and I am human.

While I was visiting adult intern students at another school this week I had that sweet taste of teaching in new situations. In fact, it happened twice in two different classrooms.

The students of the first classroom knew that I was coming and had saved for me a math difficulty that their teacher was unable to help them with. Their teacher had given me a heads-up that the students were going to recruit my help. I had not been in the classroom for five minutes before one of the students approached me about the issue, that of using the “casting out of nines” to check multiplication problems. I let him know that I would be glad to help whenever he was ready.

Later in the morning several students gathered around as we attacked the problem. They were excited to get a good handle on this nifty trick, but we all ran into difficulties when we reached the portion of the command card that dealt with using a similar approach for division. None of us was able to figure this out. We tried several of the example problems, and even turned a multiplication problem around to see if we could get it to work. Finally we decided that if the process did indeed work, it was too cumbersome to be of practical value.

(If any readers can help clarify this process, please let me know.)

The second teaching event came in a different classroom in the same school. Since it was a Friday, the normal class schedule was somewhat different. They had an art class during their morning work cycle, and the Friday spelling tests. In the afternoon, a special guest came to read to the children and they organized their work from the week, so all in all the students, although quite busy, had considerable time to pursue some relaxing activities. Many of them chose to read, but a few of the girls chose to do some finger crocheting. One in particular used a method that lent itself to a more complex finger knitting process, so I asked her if she would like me to show her how.

She picked up the process immediately and the other girls also showed interest. I was able to teach it to three girls.

This school has two lower elementary classes that go outside at the same time. The girls who knew how to finger knit took their yarn out with them. Others joined in during the joint outside time and one of the girls from the other class asked if I would teach her, too.

By the end of the day, finger knitting had spread like a virus through both classrooms. The teachers were delighted, but I have to admit that I felt a little guilty about causing such a stir. On the other hand, it is such a delight to teach eager students in any setting.

I had to travel to Florida today and in preparation for my trip I planned out my wardrobe to allow for the least number of items to pack. While I was in the early childhood classroom this morning a little boy looked up at me and said, "Why are you wearing two earrings?" I explained to him that I always wear two earrings. Then he said, "But they are different."

My hands flew to my ears. Indeed, I had on two different kinds of earrings. I'm so glad that he noticed that detail that no one else had noticed. When I put the earrings on this morning, I inadvertently selected two different kinds. I had intended to wear a pair that would match the outfit I planned to wear tomorrow at the school I will be visiting.

Sigh. A quick trip home fixed the problem. Without his attention to detail, I would have arrived in Florida making an unusual fashion statement!

I found myself in the early childhood class today, giving lessons. I was able to present several new lessons to several of the children. It was such a delight to be able to spend that time with the younger children during their work cycle. One child came up and asked me why I was doing lessons. Another child made it difficult for me to even give lessons by requesting multiple hugs.

There were many more lessons that I wanted to give but I ran out of time. I wish I could spend more time in the early childhood class. There is no other pastime that enriches my soul more.

I’m sad that I will not have time with the children for the rest of the week. Instead I will be visiting adult students. That has its own pleasures, but definitely not as fulfilling as working with the little ones.

The weekend was filled with meetings for me. Only one was directly related to Montessori, but I found a coincidental convergence of the three. The first meeting, on Saturday, was of the East Tennessee Montessori Community. We made plans for the upcoming Earth Day Fair at the World’s Fair Park, but one of the teachers also distributed information about a conference on teaching peace that will be held in Knoxville next week. It is especially for parents and educators and I’m going to post the information at school.

The second meeting was a talk by Dr. David Reidy about Moral Philosophy. During the discussion following the talk the importance of habituating children to making choices came up. As it turns out, Dr. Reidy’s children attend Montessori School, for good reason. Montessori held that children should be allowed to make choices so they could practice the process of weighing outcomes. If they are never allowed to make choices, never given the opportunity to experience the outcomes of those choices, how can we expect them to know how to make choices when they are older?

The third meeting was sponsored by the Ba’hai community in celebration of World Religion Day. The theme was getting to understand diverse religions in order to promote world peace. One of the presenters brought fliers about the Teaching Peace conference. But I was struck by how the message from presenter after presenter resonated with Montessori philosophy of promoting peace through education.

Three different meetings. Three different audiences. Three different themes. One unifying philosophy bringing them all together. Montessori may be “only” an educational system for some. For me it is a philosophy of life.

I am privileged to serve on several boards. It often happens that several meetings fall during one week and that was the case this week. Last night was the meeting of the Middle School Board. That is definitely one of the more exciting positions I hold. We have a very dedicated group of parents and educators serving on this board.

A reason that I am excited about the efforts we are putting forth is that we will be creating a means for our Montessori students to continue their Montessori experience into the difficult adolescent years. In some ways those years are the most critical for students to have the chance to remain in Montessori. It gives students a chance to solidify the “valorization of the character” that starts in the elementary years.

There is much to do between now and the fall of 2008 when we plan to open the doors to students. There will be little chance of being bored while being board!

A few years ago I splurged on a set of the Cambridge Physics materials. They were fairly expensive, but, oh, they are truly wonderful. Lately the elementary students have been working furiously with two of the sets. Electricity is in the air with the electric circuits and the electric motor.

I’m especially impressed with how the motor materials progress from understanding the power of magnets through building the magnets into a circular sequence to run the motor. The students have been using an electric meter to test their circuits, too. Much of the written material is targeted for older students, but it is a thrill to see how diligently the children work at comprehending what they are doing.

By the time I arrived in the kindergarten this afternoon, they were all doing individual lessons. What a delight to see these busy, busy students. I had only been in the room for a few moments when Carl came back in to get me to talk to some ladies who had arrived to find out more about becoming Montessori teachers. That did not take long, but “my” students were still busy upon my return so I got the lists of lessons ready for the folders. I sometimes forget to print these out from the computer, but I had gotten that done earlier in the day and just needed to staple them together and file them in the folders for the younger students to take home this week.

By this time one of the kindergarteners had finished a lesson and asked about doing Mortensen. Then another and another, until they were all working at those enjoyable Mortensen tasks. It is amazing to see how much industry there is during a short afternoon work cycle.

Today was one of those days that just seemed to fly past. During the morning I was intermittently working on getting the labels attached to the “pins” for a new (and very beautiful) constellation lesson. I helped elementary students with lessons when needed and answered questions from a visitor. It seemed like the morning had hardly begun when it was time for me to present the group activity for the early childhood class.

I have missed doing yoga with children lately, so we did a little bit of “sitting” yoga and the ever popular Continents song. Even though the weather was cold and the playground was wet, the children still enjoyed going outside.

Our elementary afternoon was a very different climate than usual. For some reason it was quite unsettled and loud. We had an observer for that, too and I felt somewhat embarrassed that a visitor got to see one of our worse days. But this is a future teacher, and as Rebecca commented, it is probably good that she saw right of that teaching is not ALWAYS a bed of roses.

My school day ended earlier than usual today. I left at 4:00 PM to be interviewed for a television program called “I on Knoxville.” The segment was about Montessori education. When I know more about when it will air (sometime this Spring), I’ll let folks know. It was an interesting experience and I think I did just fine. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous going into the interview.

An exquisitely designed Montessori material is the bead chains. These represent the squares and cubes of the numbers 1 – 10. Each number has its own designated color, which helps children recognize the amount without counting. For the squares of the numbers there is a chain and the square, and for the cubes there is also a cube of the number. So, for the number six, there is a chain of six sixes, a chain of 36 sixes (or 216, the amount that is the cube of six), six squares composed of six sixes, and a cube composed of six squares. These are all in a lovely lavender color for the number six.

Now imagine these materials iterated for every number up to ten, which is in the tradition decimal color of gold for the golden beads. All of these materials are stored in an open cabinet, hanging from hooks or placed on little shelves perfectly designed for the increasing lengths and sizes of the squares and cubes.

We experience “explosions” of interest among the children in Montessori classes. We are currently having an explosion of bead chains.

I wish I could impart how thrilling use of this material is. One might imagine that counting through all these beads might be tedious, but instead, children are enthralled by the grandiose scale of the lesson. The thousand chain extends the entire length of the classroom and other children must carefully maneuver around it. And consider that once one chain is chosen, others begin using additional chains.

Something else that makes it thrilling for teachers is the exactitude children exhibit in carrying, laying out and storing these glass beads. And that says nothing for all the concepts embedded in the material.

So if parents despair that their children are playing with beads, never fear. We teachers are reveling in the learning that children are experiencing with the bead chains.

Parents may be interested in listening to Tim Seldin, author of Raising an Amazing Child the Montessori Way, from his January 10, broadcast on Wisconsin Public Radio. Visit < http://www.wpr.org/ideas/programnotes.cfm?dteDate=1/10/2007>
Scroll down to the 5:00 PM segment “At Issue with Ben Merens.” I think you’ll enjoy this broadcast, which is illuminating about the Montessori method.

The morning was unfolding calmly today in both classrooms when the flurries outside created a hubbub inside. It took only one child in each classroom to mention that it was snowing outside to have nearly all the children suddenly up from their work looking out of the windows. There really was quite a flurry both inside and out.

In the elementary the excitement and interruption to the flow of work passed fairly uneventfully, but for some of the children in the early childhood class I knew that this may have been the first time they had seen such an enchanting sight. Every window had a host of eager faces peering out.

I went around expressing joy to them about their chance to see the snow and soon they returned to the lessons that they had so abruptly abandoned.

At group time I read two books about snow even though the sun was shining by that time. As an adult I don’t look forward to the inconvenience that snow can cause, but I do hope that the children get to experience a “real” snow this year so they can play in it to their heart’s content.

There is a lesson in almost every Montessori classroom called the insets for design or metal insets (since ours are not metal, we call ours the insets for design). Sometimes children go home and tell their parents that they learned “incest” or “insects” but that is another story. The insets have geometric shapes that fit into a little frame. The children trace around the frame and then fill in the outline with very straight lines. This activity prepares them for using pencils for writing.

Today a little fellow learned this lesson and chose the parallelogram to trace, but he accidentally flipped the frame over before returning it to the shelf. He was concerned that the inset no longer fit in the frame. Britton came to the rescue and demonstrated that the frame could be turned over to make the inset fit. It was like magic. The child was thrilled and delighted by this sudden “turn” of events.

Montessori mentioned the secret of childhood. We adults are not able to fathom what will be of enduring interest to children. We can only offer materials to them with the hopes that these sudden thrills will occur. For us, those are truly magic moments.

I have mentioned before that my daughter opened a Montessori school this year. Her class started back on Wednesday, but I wanted to share her experiences from today. She attended New Horizon all through her elementary years. Sometime I would like to investigate how having Montessori experience as a child results in a qualitative difference in teachers. I think you’ll understand why I feel that way after reading her perspective of a difficult day. From Meagan at www.bershiremontessori.org:

Thursday, January 4, 2007

When I think back over the day I want to cry. Oddly enough, when I woke up this morning and thought about the day, I also wanted to cry, but for a very different reason.

This morning I woke up early with a feeling of dread. Patricia was too sick to come to school today and, despite spending most of the previous evening searching for a substitute, I hadn’t found someone able to fill in for her. With four new students having just started, and me already feeling pretty exhausted from yesterday, I just didn’t know how Joey and I would make it through the day.

But the most marvelous morning unfolded before us and I’m not even quite sure how to define it with words. As I think back, though, on Maria Montessori’s first experiences with children, I begin to realize the significance of our morning.

One hundred years ago, Maria Montessori was invited to coordinate childcare for working class children too young for public school in San Lorenzo on the outskirts of Rome. The first Casa de Bambini (Children’s House) housed 50 children aged two to five with only one untrained caregiver. Dr. Montessori began by teaching the older children how to help with everyday tasks, while also introducing the children to manipulative puzzles. Ever the scientist, Dr. Montessori observed what activities engaged the children and refined their learning environment accordingly. As a result, Dr. Montessori realized that, when children were in an environment designed to support their natural development, they had the power to educate themselves. “I did not invent a method of education,” wrote Dr. Montessori in 1914, “I simply gave some little children a chance to live.”

There were a number of factors that contributed to the success of that first Casa de Bambini. One of those factors that struck me this morning – a fact that I’ve known intellectually, but hadn’t felt deep in my heart – is how important it is for the adults in a Montessori classroom to really be in the background. With only two teachers in the classroom today, the children were learning from each other and relying on themselves. As I paired up children (“Would you be willing to show _____ how to look at the land and water picture packets?”) and made sure everyday tasks were being managed (“____ may need help remembering how to get a snack when he’s hungry. Could you help him?”), I had a tiny inkling of how Dr. Montessori may have felt when strategizing how to help those first 50 children. I imagine the older children took care of the younger children quite a bit. I imagine the children felt pride in their new responsibilities. I imagine the children began to feel a sense of responsibility and care for their new environment. Our children certainly did today.

So as I've nearly come to tears multiple times today, I've done so out of a feeling of pride for our little community of capable and competent children, a sense of awe for how Montessori empowers children to reach their potential, and a deep connection to that first Casa de Bambini whose doors opened almost exactly 100 years ago.

Of course at the end of the day, when I found out that Patricia was still too sick to come to school tomorrow. . . well, I almost wanted to cry again, but more out of sheer exhaustion this time! We were very fortunate today to have Joey’s wife (who’s also a parent of a child in the school) come in to join us for recess, lunch, and mid-day dismissal. Her presence was invaluable during these major transition times. Hopefully we can find another parent willing and able to come in to join us around lunchtime tomorrow!

The return to school today was filled with sweet moments. One child’s dad said that he was awake at 5:00 AM this morning due to excitement at returning to school. Another mom had to remind her three-year-old to give her a kiss, so intent was the child to get into the class. Another dad told me that his daughter asked about school every day of the break.

I remember my first year of teaching when a mom came to me before the winter holidays and begged me to make it clear to her daughter that there would be no school for two weeks. I found it hard to believe that children were so distraught during breaks that they could make life miserable for parents. Years of experience have made me a believer, though.

Everywhere I turned today there were children engaged with learning: golden beads, multiplication beads, new art appreciation post cards, science lessons, food chains and more. Throughout the morning the school was filled with the lovely sound of the busy hum of learning.

And there were new faces in both classrooms. When new students enter an established community we suddenly find a wealth of mentors ready and eager to help with the transition. And so it was today.

Plus we had guests for lunch in the elementary. What a delight for both students and guests.

So, the second semester of school has started. I hardly feel like we have gotten going and the year is half over. Bittersweet.

I was delighted to read the article in Sunday’s Daily Times about our school. I have not been able to locate an electronic version of it, but today’s Washington Post had an article about the up-coming 100th anniversary of Montessori education. Visit: <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/01/AR2007010100742_pf.html> to read that article.

With the research in on Montessori, it is a shame that there are not more programs available. Knox County is considering ways to improve their charter schools program, but there has been no mention of adding a Montessori component. How sad.

Folks question why I would want to see Montessori in the local public systems if it means that there will be “free” competition for our program. The answer is simple. I know that Montessori works and is the best educational approach for children. We can serve only a few children. I want to see Montessori available for many more children than we can enroll. As this momentous anniversary opens the new year, I long for a proliferation of Montessori schools so that this is an option for all children.