Montessori Consulting

Last year we raised some butterflies and preying mantids in the classes. Several students had asked if we were going to raise any bugs this year. I had a coupon for ladybugs left from the collection of bug materials I had ordered last year, so I sent it off.

Although ladybugs are cute and the kids enjoy them, as far as the learning we could figuratively squeeze out of them, they leave much to be desired. The coupon yields 100 fully grown ladybugs. Bummer.

I did make a life cycle lesson for the children and we had a nice rubbing lesson to put in the classroom with a picture of a ladybug on a leaf. We released the ladybugs into the flower and herb gardens and the children find a few each day. But I’m bugged that there wasn’t more.

On another note, though, a beautiful Luna moth was stuck in a spider web outside the hall window this morning. We rescued it, brought it into the classrooms for the children to see in an appropriate habitat, fed it some sugar water to help it regain some strength, and finally set it free once it had sufficiently revived.

The early childhood class also found a millipede, which we put in a viewing container for them. These buggy activities were just as exciting as the ladybugs, and free! Add to that the annual caterpillar excitement on the playground. Everyday children collect “pet” caterpillars during recess. Okay, I guess we have been adequately bugged this year.

We are required by the state to administer standardized tests since we are a state-approved school. For the most part these tests don’t bother the children, since I don’t place much emphasis on them. They certainly do waste valuable classroom time, though. This year the tests have been lengthened yet again. The students who are old enough to take them spend the greater part of the morning on them.

One has to wonder how well any of us would perform on this kind of task as an adult. Imagine having to answer 40 or so questions in an hour, knowing that the clock was ticking and you can’t get up to take a natural break of any kind. Imagine that you have been told either directly or subtly that your performance on this task will have a profound effect on you for the next 10 years. “Pick up your pencils. You may begin working, NOW.”

Parents send their children to school not feeling well during the T-CAPS, since making them up is no longer an option (test security issues). So, imagine that you are fighting a horrible head cold and all you want to do is put your head down and sleep. “Pick up your pencils. You may begin working, NOW.” “Stop. Put your pencils down.”

Stop! Put your pencils down. Don’t fill in another circle.

Instead, enjoy yourselves fulfilling an interesting pastime learning about medieval culture. Rest for a few minutes and nosh on some pretzels and have some juice. Get out the encyclopedia and look up jousting. Oh, look. There is information on coats of arms. Hmm, there is the coat of arms of Richard the Lion Heart. Crusades. What were they about? Here’s a map. And a range of dates. Oh, my. There was a children’s crusade. Let me make a time line of this. I’m going to draw pictures on it to represent the different crusades. I’ll include important information. Some of my friends might want to share in what I have learned about the crusades.

What? This isn’t on the test for my age? But I’m learning. I’m integrating the knowledge into other things I already know. I’m enjoying myself. I’m thriving on learning. I’m thriving period.

T-CAPS. Let’s not waste any more time on them. Let’s get back to what real education is all about.

On a recent trip to another school, teachers shared with me that they could not fathom having to eat with their students. I was quite taken aback by this sentiment. I reflected on it today after eating with the elementary students. There was a lively conversation at our table about what was “in” space. Was it nothing, or was there something there. One student espoused that it would be hard to study, because if you collected some “space” and brought it back to Earth to study, as soon as you opened the container, whatever is in the atmosphere would get into the container. Hmmm. Interesting thought.

As the servers went around with their pitchers of milk and water I heard “Please,” “Thank you,” and “No, thank you.” At one point a few of the children at one table started getting silly talking about something marginally appropriate for mealtime conversation and I gently reminded them that we were eating, so they needed to choose appropriate topics for conversation. Simple solution.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of eating with the early childhood class. Granted, the conversations were not so academic, but they were certainly pleasant enough. With younger children the conversation usually centers around what they are having. “I love pepperoni.” “I have cold chicken today.” But just as in the elementary, the caring requests and helpful actions are readily seen. “You and I are sitting in the middle of the table, so we get to pass things to people.” “Could I please have a spoon?”

Learning manners is an important part of education. There is no better place to address many of those manners than during mealtimes.

What a wonderful experience I had this afternoon. I was needed to cover in the nap area while the children were getting up. I knew that many of the children had been out late last night at a birthday party, so I was keeping an eye on the clock to let them sleep as long as possible. Some of the children needed to be ready to go home at 3:00, but others were staying late. I saw that one little girl had awakened on her own, so I turned on the light and she immediately got up and started getting her things put away.

Getting up from naps would amaze folks as much as lunches and lunch clean up. The children remove the sheets from their mats, put those and any blankets they have into a numbered pillowcase to keep them clean and separated from the other things. then they carry their mat to a table and wipe it down on both sides. After they put their mats away, they just get activities off the shelves and stay busy until time to go home.

As the mats are put away there is more room for tables, so little by little, tables with children working replace the mats in the nap area. There were 12 children taking naps today. It was getting close to 3:00 and one little girl was still sleeping soundly with tables all around her. I knew she would not be leaving until later, so I was letting her sleep. but as I held a pillowcase open for a child who needed some help, another little girl went to wake her sleeping friend. She gently rubbed her back like we do to wake those who need to leave earlier. It was so sweet and so peaceful.

All the children seemed rested and happy when they were finished getting up. It made me feel peaceful, too. What a wonderful way to transition from sleeping to doing lessons.

We spent the day yesterday at Earth Fest. The East Tennessee Montessori Community had a booth there and it was a happing place. The participating schools had each supplied different activities. New Horizon was responsible for the Practical Life shelf. I had a hard time deciding which things to take since I needed things that would be water free, easy to use, unbreakable, or if they were broken, not so dear that I would be upset. We were fortunate, in that only one thing was broken (and Carl will most likely be able to fix it) and only one thing was lost. Everything got pretty dirty, though, and I had to wash everything this afternoon before I could put any of it back into the classroom.

I was really amazed at how successful the Montessori model classroom was even for children who do not normally attend Montessori. For the most part the visiting children did just what the lesson was for. That was an affirmation that Montessori is really successful.

We had about100 children visit yesterday. I consider that a very successful Earth Fest.

I have been so busy this past week that I haven’t even logged in, let alone written anything. Monday I was playing catch up from being gone on Thursday and Friday. I even went to school Sunday evening, but that just wasn’t enough. I was at another school on Tuesday and we had a field trip on Wednesday. That was great fun and very educational. But that afternoon I received an e-mail from the Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education (MACTE). There was a big piece of the self-study I had submitted for the training course that would need to be redone, right away, like last month!

So I spent Thursday in the classroom, helping to monitor, but basically pounding away at the computer, trying to reconfigure the entire syllabus of the Early Childhood Training Course into the format that MACTE wanted. I finally finished this morning and carted it off to FedEx so it will be in their hands by Monday. I get frustrated by having to do this kind of meaningless work when I could be more effective as a teacher. Sigh.

We put some new things in the classrooms this week, though. One of the grandparents sent some construction paper, recycled paper and a monetary donation. I had to buy some watercolor paper over the weekend and while we were at the art supply store, we saw a really nice little embosser and some cool texture boards. We also sprung for a set of paper crimpers. The kids have really enjoyed these new things. Even small donations go a long way toward bringing exciting things into the classroom. Thanks.

But back to the watercolor paper. It is not inexpensive, but in order for children to really learn how to use watercolors properly they need the right tools. First, they need real watercolors, not the stuff that comes in those trays, but the kind in tubes. And the paper has to be of the right quality or they will not be able to learn the techniques unique to watercolor painting. I’ve found a supply of paper that, while not cheap, is less expensive than what I used when in art school. I’m a happy camper over that!

I was gone the last part of this week for visits to some of my adult interns in their classrooms. These ladies work in a large public Montessori school (yes, there is Montessori in the public sector in some areas!).

Part of the school wide culture is that teachers must provide weekly work plans for their students to follow. The idea is that the children must be prepared for the standardized tests that are required by their state. Now that their tests are completed for this year, both of these teachers have tried to ease up on the assigned work so that the children can have more freedom in choosing what they would like to do. The teachers realize that this is a truer reflection of the Montessori approach.

Both of these ladies independently lamented to me that their students did not know how to utilize the freedom of choice. They were truly dismayed that their children were not able to choose learning that was of deep personal interest. They are so habituated to being told what to do (even though they may choose when to do it) that they have lost the capacity to make those choices.

These children are and will be prepared for the standardized test. The tragedy is that they will not soar. They will not thrive. They will not go any further than what is on the test because that is all that is expected and all that is on their work plans.

In a true Montessori environment the natural motivation to learn is nurtured. No tests or artificial expectations hold children back. We may counsel children about what THEY want to accomplish, but that is very different from giving them a prescription for learning.

One is limiting. The other is empowering.

We are preparing for a field trip in the elementary class. McClung Museum has a wonderful exhibit on medieval armor and we are going to see it next week. Going out is a vital part of the elementary experience and we simply have not done enough of it this year.

there is always much work to do in preparation for a field trip. We are researching how to design family crests, building a model castle, learning the parts of the armor and many other activities. An amazing thing happens when children learn so much about what they are going to see before a trip. They begin to “own” the information in a very personal way. When they see the real thing or experience the field trip, they relate it to what they have already learned.

We hear comments like, “This is like MY crest.” or “We have a lesson like that at school.” Instead of creating boredom over seeing something familiar, the extensive preparation produces a real sense of vibrancy.

I’m looking forward to this trip. We’ll take another one next month!

Two things became clear to me yesterday. The first is how joyful we can be about mistakes. I gave a presentation to a kindergarten girl on the second set of thermic tablets. These matched rectangles of different materials have different surface temperatures. the first set has only four pairs, but the second set has six pairs. When matching them we close our eyes or use a blindfold and test the temperature with the insides of the wrist.

This is not an easy task and in my presentation I only successfully matched three of the six pairs. My student thought this was quite funny and both thought she would do better when she chose the lesson. But she was not 100% successful either. After trying it lesson herself without success she came over to get me so I could see that she had made mistakes, too. How funny! And then she kept working through the activity until she was able to match them all perfectly.

Imagine how different this process is than being marked wrong and “learning” that you are not a good scholar because you made mistakes. No, in Montessori we learn to embrace our mistakes and use them to guide us to become even better!

And that brings me to the second clarifying moment from yesterday. We were visited by observers in both classrooms. Since I had been spending time in the early childhood class, I was not aware of what activities students were doing in the elementary. But the observer from that room asked me about the “worksheets” the students were doing and how those were “assigned.” I tried to explain that we did not assign the worksheets, but instead students chose them from around the room. The observer was still confused about how children would know what to do, so I tried to explain that there were places all around the room with activities that the children could copy and do.

So imagine my surprise when I actually entered the elementary and saw what had prompted the questions. There was a virtual learning virus. Someone (I’ll never know who) had discovered some crossword puzzle activities in the geography area. That individual interest had created the “virus” that had infected a large portion of the class. I almost laughed out loud. Here were students trying to figure out which religions were dominant in which parts of Asia, how population densities played out in the different continents and many other compelling, but difficult geographic concepts.

These two underlying principles actually fuel a great deal of learning in Montessori environments. Mistakes help us learn. And Learning should be individually motivated and intrinsically rewarding.

Some really touching moments happened today in the early childhood class. Britton had to be gone for a bit, so I was filling in. I love to work in that class!

Since it was Thursday I checked the records to see which children had had the fewest new presentations so far this week and staked out my likely students for new lessons. I chose a kindergarten boy for whom the database indicated the second tying frame. Ah, how to tie shoes. A real challenge!

We worked through the presentation and I told him that he could keep working on it as long as he liked. And he kept working and working. He was thrilled at his success. About the third time through the whole frame he was getting tired and the last bow was giving him trouble. I heard him quietly call my name and with a little encouragement he completed that last bow.

Carl had given the living-nonliving sorting lesson to one of our smallest class members. This lesson is very long and typically done along the side of the table so the student can reach the cards. I looked over to our little guy who had chosen to work with the lesson independently after Carl’s presentation. But he had put the heading cards in the middle of the table and in order to reach the other cards he was lying full length across the top of the table. I had to stifle a real giggle! With some gentle help, he learned the importance of proper card placement so he could easily reach everything.

So there we have the tying and lying.

But so much more was happening today. A really hot item was the new wood sanding lesson Carl had brought in. Many children were excited about doing that and making the wood feel really smooth.

A little girl arrived late from a doctor’s appointment and was having a hard time transitioning in. She brought her blanket in to keep in her cubby to help. Another girl noticed that she was upset and wanted to help comfort her. We went over and shared hugs and good feelings. Then I did a new lesson with her. Now she was ready to go.

Another girl arrived late, too. But she was all smiles. I wanted to give her a presentation and invited her to the second basket of the geometric solids. That started one of those horizontal learning cascades. When another student saw the second basket out, she chose the first. then the second one was put away and someone else chose that. Those tow baskets were “in demand” for a while.

I was almost sad when Britton returned and I could go back to my paper work. No, I was definitely leaving a more enjoyable pastime for one that smacks of drudgery! I would take tying and lying over paper work any time!

Something interesting happened during arrivals today. One of our little ones who normally has a difficult time separating from his dad, had a seamless goodbye this morning. Neither his dad nor I had any idea what precipitated the change. Separation had been especially sad for him since spending extra time with dad during Spring Break.

On the other hand, we had another arrival who usually comes in sunny and ready to dig into the day. But today she had not had enough sleep and was somewhat teary.

Fortunately both children had a wonderful day. But it was a bit of a confusing start for the adults who were accustomed to a rather different start from these two. We never know what to expect, but as Montessori advised, we must “follow the child.”