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littlem, c'mere! (Read 428 times)

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rectumdamnnearkilledem

    You're a Montessori teacher...that is the coolest thing ever! Had we not decided to enroll our son in the local Montessori school last Spring I am certain he would have been marked a "problem child" and a self-fulfilling prophescy. After his Kindergarten screening we were encouraged to hold him back in a pre-Kindergarten program (he is already almost 6.5, so he's not young, either). Deep down we KNEW this would be a bad move, so we bucked the system and decided to place him in the Montessori environment and decide our next move after the school year was coming to a close. It's the best thing we could have ever done for him. In January we had him assessed for ADD/ADHD and now with his Montessori education and low-dose meds he is reading well and doing Math FAR beyond what most recent Kindergarten graduates can. Had we followed the recommendation to hold him back I am certain that we would have a frustrated, bored, troublesome kid. Right now he is #1 on a waiting list for a phenomenally good Montessori charter school close to my hubby's work--45 minutes away (we plan to move that way, eventually). They go K-8, so he could be there for a long time. We know a family whose boys have attended there since they were little and they absolutely love the school. Shyrunner's (Andrea) DD will be in kindergarten there in the Fall. It's very likely that Dane will end up attending there (I believe they have 40 spots, so if even one of those kids moves he'd be first in line to take their place), but if it doesn't work out he'll be at an equally wonderful charter academy with a heavy emphasis on Fine and Performing Arts. Though they still do traditional desk-based classroom work, which I doubt Dane would enjoy as well as he does the freedom and independence of Montessori style learning. He has really blossomed with that. I don't think he even is aware that there is any other way to do things. Smile k

    Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

    remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

         ~ Sarah Kay

      awww, that's so great! it's so heartening to see this sort of work... work! i've been in montessori since 1997 and formally trained since 1998, and in that time, i have worked with so many children who were about to be written off as "lost causes" or "difficult cases"-- when really, what they needed was a little more understanding and a little creativity on the part of their learning environment. not all montessori schools are the same (and the lady herself never franchised her name, so, sadly, there isn't the sort of quality control you might expect.), but the goals of a given montessori school are to meet the needs of the child, regardless of what they may be and how much work that may mean for you, the teacher (ha, right now i am posting here and making materials for next year) (oh and designing labels for some bars of soap i made to give my students as a have-a-fun-and-dirty-summer gift that they'll be taking home tomorrow on their last day!). one of the beautiful aspects of montessori is that the philosophy isn't just a philosophy-- it's a curriculum with specific materials and specific teaching practices in place. there's WORK involved-- for everyone! i love that! the kids and i roll our sleeves up together and we get DOWN into our projects, haha! i have yet to meet a so-called "difficult" child who can't appreciate the finer aspects of units of volume measurement when it's presented in terms of tomatoes that will soon be turned into sauce for pizza (made with dough from flour we've ground and garnished with basil we've grown as part of our botany/agriculture projects). oh and just btw, b/c this is a running board: i had these two girls as students years ago (they are turning 10 and 12 this summer). i kept in touch with their family b/c we lived in the same town (same block, actually), and b/c their parents were really "in tune" w/ the philosophy and the projects (dad = oceanographer, really dug the buoyancy projects; mom = cellular biologist, loved the zoology and biomes stuff we did). their dad had been a runner once upon a time, but hung up his shoes after he hit the wall @ nyc in 1987 or so. when my mom died this winter, though, and i decided to run broad street to fundraise for the american cancer society, bob (the girls' dad) was right there running and fundraising with me. and now? these girls are running, too. i am so, so excited that these two girls (one so shy as a little one-- they nearly labeled her as learning challenged b/c she was so reticent to DO, always observing instead, until the age of 4; the other so stubborn, showing up to school nearly naked on days when her favorite dress was in the wash)(somehow they both turned out just fine!) have joined their elementary school track team. i don't live in the same town, anymore, but occasionally i still drive an hour south on tuesday or thursday to run some 400s while they are doing their agilities and trying their hurdles. so pleased a few weeks ago to realize that there were 4 former students on the track (to them, i am fast, and they cheer like i'm freaking flojo or something, hahah). i never once made a point of telling them they should grow up to be runners when they were little, but it's kind of awesome to see that they've grown up identifying with running, and thinking that maybe my daily news at circle time about this or that running experience might have had something to do with it (circle time: they would talk about their new bikes or visitng grandparents; i would talk about how the honeysuckle smelled when i ran behind the grocery store fence, or how i counted three different kinds of harmless snakes on an 8-mile run along the canal, etc). there is something so wonderful about the relationships that can be built in a well-functioning montessori classroom. we work with your children-- and with you-- for *three years*. we spend days, weeks & months thinking about how your child is growing and what we can do to facilitate that growth, how we can help you to facilitate that growth. we consider them as learners and as people every day until they leave us-- and often beyond. we hope they grow up well! we care! how wonderful and how gratifying to know that this level of care is noticed and appreciated by "our" kids' parents and families! really, that means everything! on behalf of dane's old teachers-- thank you!!
        oh ps i worked two years in a public charter that was based on the montessori/constructivist model, too-- and you're right, there was more desk-based and whole-group learning occurring. but it was still learning. usually in charter schools that grow out of the kernel of montessori, they try to keep a lot of movement opportunities built-into the k-2 programs, gradually building more and more desk-time into the day. it honors young childrens' need to move, and also is pretty much the best way to transition montessori kids into a more standard (factory) public model of education. also, in many cases in such schools, the desks are really tables that seat 2-4 kids, so there is still that lively social element that dane might have become used to (and which is a great preparation for cooperative/collaborative/collegial work in general).
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        rectumdamnnearkilledem

          also, in many cases in such schools, the desks are really tables that seat 2-4 kids, so there is still that lively social element that dane might have become used to (and which is a great preparation for cooperative/collaborative/collegial work in general).
          This is what the Montessori charter school that we hope Dane will attend is doing for seating--from K-8. They also don't use textbooks all the way through 8th, grade, which fascinated me. The family we know with the 2 boys who have attended that school (youngest is still there) were telling us that their oldest was nervous about starting HS, as he had never before had to use traditional textbooks for learing. That intrigued me. When we toured that school in the Spring it was fascinating to watch the kids working on their various projects and not distracted by our touring group. As a kid stuck at a desk growing up ANYONE coming to the classroom door would cause the entire classroom to look up and become distracted. The hands-on approach really has students so much more invested in their learning. Dane has learned such great abstract stuff this past year. I really wish there'd been a Montessori school where I grew up--I'm certain I would have thrived in that environment! Big grin I love how you've encouraged your former students with running and remained so active in their lives--that is really such a testament. And what a great example you are setting by running! I have done fundraising for Girls On The Run and next year hope to actually do some volunteer work with the organization in our community. One afternoon while running I encountered a group of the girls doing their workout and it was such a treat. Smile

          Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

          remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

               ~ Sarah Kay