Montessori+Learning+Center

==What //learning// did you see at your first visit to the Montessori Learning Center? How did you know (what did you see happen, or what did you hear kids say) that it was learning? Remember: we want to be thinking about the gap (sometimes) between teaching and learning.== Kaela- When i arrived there was a group of children sitting a circle under a tree playing duck duck goose. They were not fighitng and they were learning how to work as a team and play together as a team. I also saw a child who was throwing a temper tantrum, the teachers all laughed and looked around at themselves and me and said " oh yeah dont worry about that shes just a drama queen". I question whether or not this type of reaction will help a child learn that they can trust their teachers. and i question if it will help her change her behavior. (Kaela -- remember that you don't know this kid or this situation. It would be fine to ask one of the teachers about it on a subsequent visit. LT)

Heather - Well, the entire time we were at Montessori, the children were outside playing, so it's hard to say anything about what they learn in a classroom situation. Of course, while playing with their peers they are learning to interact sociably in an acceptable manner. I noticed that there was one large group of children playing together, with children of varied ethnicity, and many smaller groups or children playing alone. I sat and talked with a 4-year-old named Riley, who appeared shy and said she prefered to play "butterfly" over duck, duck, goose. It was an enjoyable visit but next time I'll be sure to watch for specific experiences where learning is apparent.

Katie M- Once we arrived to Montessori we were taken right out to the playground where all the children from 3 to 5 years of age are playing, the school have a very diverse population. On the playground they have one area of sand and digging, the children where learning how to take turns and use teamwork. After a few minutes of being at the center, I had found a collect group of children who stating talking and playing with me. The children and I were racing and a little three-year-old boy said "Hey I want to be in front". I looked at the other children and asked how could we help JonJon, a four year old girl said that we could all be in front together. That fixed JonJon need to the leader. The children are very strong problem solving skills. I am excited to see the children inside the classroom

Natalie- Since we were not able to observe a classroom, but the playground, we could not see formal learning from teachers to the students. I did see learning, that emerged from the interaction among the children. One thing that stood out is that when they were playing "duck duck goose" one little boy won and he had been the fastest one in the game. Then, it was his turn to catch the other boy. It happened to be that he didn't follow the rules according to this other boy, and he started yelling at him and telling him he had cheated. The little fast boy slowly started realizing it and crying, he really didn't know he had broke the rules. He was learning that not following the rules has consequences that hurt, and the other boy was learning that rules need to be enforced when someone does not follow them. I think here is where the teacher should come in, and help them both in this conflict. I think the enforcer boy was a little too tough on the other one and a teacher should be the mediator letting them both understand the situation.

Katie B - The first thing that we did when we got to Montessori was get on the playground and watch the kids play. I thought it was interesting that they placed such a strong focus on the kids playing. The teachers mostly did not get involved with the students during their play-time, and it seemed like the teachers main job during this time was just to be present instead of to interact with their students. I spent time with a group of girls that were planning a picnic in the sandbox. I helped them pick up leaves for us to eat as each of them took a turn telling me their names. There was no real conflict that I witnessed with the group of girls. I would like to see the children in the classroom more to beable to watch how they interact with the teachers.

LT writes //remember that Paley is all about how learning and play are the same thing in the early development of a child... Do you agree?//

For visit 2, write about "official" learning that you see -- what do you see the teachers explicitly say or do in the hope of causing some change (or learning) in the ideas or actions of the kids?
Heather- We still did not see the kids in a typical classroom setting, but they were inside and all playing a game together. I noticed that the teachers had less refined ways for controlling the children ("quiet down" vs. a song or rhyme) then I noticed at Asheville Christian, but the difference may also be in the age of the kids. While they were singing a song, I liked how the teachers (and other children joined in) would say "Help me, Isabel" to encourage each child to add a line to the song. The children responded well to that method.

Katie M- When we arrived the children were just going inside to have to sing songs and have story time, they had all the age groups together again, and that seems to work very well. The children are able to learn from one another and experience life through play, rather then teacher to student learning. We came into the classroom and the children were all sitting in a circle and focus on singing songs. Each of the children got a turn to make up a verse in a song, in doing this they are learning how to create a story and sequence events. As with making up the verse the teacher would ask the child how will they get it into the soup, (ie, Child, a car goes in the soup, Teacher, how will we get the car into the soup. Child, we will saw it in half.) this causes the child to become problem solvers.

Natalie- I really loved this visit. We got to sing with them, and observe them sing. The teacher was leading the song, in such a good way, really promoting creativity. It was a song about making a soup, and they had to choose what ingredient to put. They would say, baseballs, a house, a tie tye car (!!), etc... and she would find a way of cutting the house in pieces with a saw, etc... I think this really promotes the children to think outside the box and be creative. She helped them, for example when one child said baseballs, and then the one next to him said baseballs too, she would really nicely say "ooh! we have too many baseballs, do u think that would taste good? what about something else?" And if they changed it, fine, but if they didn't she would stop until they changed it. Some teachers would do that though, to get the child to do what she wants or what the game "requires". Maybe the child is not ready to come up with something else yet? I loved the way she dealt with everything, she was truly teaching.

Katie - For our second visit, the children were still on the playground. But for our third visit we were able to go into a classroom and see the children interact, which was very rewarding after two visits just having them on the playground. For this last visit we spent time listening to the students sing songs and observe how the teacher was able to keep them excited and engaged for a long period of time. I feel like this last visit was my favorite, mainly because i feel like it gave me a better understanding of what a Montessori school reallly does differently from other schools.

For visit 3, write about the environment for learning at this school. If you were a student, what would be good about this environment? What might be hard for you to adapt to?
Heather- From my point of view, this would be a fantastic environment for learning social skills, fine motor skills, life skills, math skills, reading skills, you name it. They seem to have thought of everything. I especially like how the life skills (pouring water, washing dishes, etc.) are presented as a game. I agree (and I think the teachers at Montessori agree) with Paley that at this stage in a child's life, they learn by playing. The envirnment could, however, definately have a way of being overwhelming. There's so much going on in each room, especially when there are lots of other kids, that children might feel very intimidated.

Katie M- This Montessori school would be a great environment for learning. The classrooms are full of opportunities to try new actives and sharpen your skills, if it be in the science area with magnify glass, or the kitchen were you can pour your drinks. The children are entering a world just their size and are free to attempt almost anything. I think that is a big key component in an area of great learning. The only thing that I think would be hard to adapt to is the mixture of age groups, as a young child you might feel uneasy about playing around the old children.

Natalie- The environment was so good for learning! I think this is what I mostly love about Montessori schools. For example, in one class each student had a mat, that they would put on the floor and that would be their working space. No other students could step on or go in another's space. This is great because it gives mobility... they can take their mat wherever they feel like, and enhances the idea of their responsibility for learning. The classes were full of things, objects, real life things for motor coordination, and in all classes there was a little ladder that took them to a "reading area". I think this is perfect. If I was a student I would take my mat, and work on it near the window, or switch it every time, and then go up the ladder to read whenever I need my own space. I dont think there would be anything hard that I would have to adapt... this is way better than traditional schools, and that makes me appreciate it instead of wanting to change it. Its great.

Katie B - I feel like as a student this would be a very exciting enviroment to learn in because it is very on-hands and interactive. It's hard for a student to get bored, and you probably would get a better understand of why we need to learn things when you are able to see how it works. I think it would be hard to for me to adapt to all the motion in the school, sometimes I worried if the students we saw were almost being too over-stimulated. But all in all I really enjoyed this school.