This op-ed in the NYTimes is from an education professor at Williams College, Susan Engle. This was a response to Arne Duncan’s recent remarks about America’s mediocre teacher training graduate programs…
This is the piece that I found most intriguing:
“Teacher training can also learn from family therapy programs. Therapists spend a great deal of time watching videotapes of themselves in action, reflecting on their sessions and discussing the most difficult moments with senior therapists to explore other ways they might have responded. In much the same way, young teachers need to record their daily encounters with their classrooms and then, with mentors and peers, have serious, open-minded conversations about what’s working and what isn’t.”
Recently there was an article about how doctors are doing more role-playing of clinical situations with patients…I think teachers should be getting more practice opportunities, both with children, and with parents as well. I have a review of a great book on parent/teacher dynamics in the works…more on that as conferences approach!
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Tags: education, new york times
Follow the Child…
I love this comic, as it highlights one of the core Montessori principles…and it humorously reminds us of the subtlety that is often lost in trying to enact this principle.
Last spring, at the NAMTA conference in Seattle, James Webster alluded to the challenges of how to follow the child. I love what he had to say, and I come back to this passage often…
“We are told by Montessori to follow the child. It seems a simple phrase, but I have labored to understand fully what it means.
Does it mean for me to follow the wishes of that child? Or to follow the needs which I perceive through observation of that child? Or to follow the characterisitics of the plane through which the child traveling? Should I follow the child to today or of tomorow? Should I follow the outside or the inside of the child? Should I follow her strengths or her weaknesses?
I think the answer to all of these is yes. I need need to see the child in all her parts: emotions, skills, physical being, interests, fears, and talents. I need to watch her at rest and at work and play, early and late, in order that I might discover what it is that I can give her that will serve her becoming strong, happy and confident. And because I thought I knew her yesterday, that does not mean that I know her today. She is a living thing, ever changing. Now is when I follow her.”
NAMTA Journal , Vol 34, No 3. Summer 2009. (The Fifth Adolescent Colloquium)
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Tags: montessori
Those who know me well know that I’ve been mulling over the AMI teacher training process a lot lately. Having just completed this training program I’m still in the reflection phase of the whole process, trying to integrate all that I learned into my practice as an educator. Two months in the classroom has given me a lot to think about.
Before I say anything else, I think it’s worth noting that there are many things I loved about my training. The diversity and camaraderie of the training cohort and the passion of the staff are admirable and inspiring. I am confident in my understanding of Montessori theory and ability to give captivating and succint presentations.
But there were also aspects of the training that I found odd, and sometimes downright frustrating, especially given that I am also a Montessori child. My childhood experience of learning was one of direct engagement and exploration. My experience of learning to become a teacher was one of passive note-taking during lectures. It was, to be honest, a very difficult experience for me.
I think my biggest frustration right now is that what I received in training does not feel like adequate preparation for the realities of teaching in a relatively new charter Montessori program (this is its second year). This is not really the fault of the training itself–it was always made clear that we were being given the training to run an “ideal” Montessori program. In my opinion, “ideal” is a not so subtle euphamism for private Montessori programs–that is, programs that have more flexibility in picking and choosing their students to create optimal possibility for achieving a “normalized” class as quickly as possible.
Certain assumptions are made in our training about the kinds of children we will work with–children who are prepared by three years in the primary (3-6) environment, who have experienced a wealth of sensorial and practical life work that directly and indirectly prepares them for the depth and richness of the Montessori elementary experience.
But I will be the first to say, this is not the experience that many of my students have had. And that’s not their fault…but I wish my training had better prepared me to handle the realities of teaching children who do not come from Children’s House programs. Yes, I can apply Montessori theory and principles to this situation, and yes, I am learning new strategies every day…but wouldn’t it be easier if every teacher left training feeling confident that she knew not only how to deal with the ideal, but also how to successfully support a remedial learning process?
To go back to Doug Stowe’s comments in his blog post about the practicality aspect of teacher training, I thought I’d compare number of hours of AMI student teaching (the most hands-on part of the training) to conventional graduate level education programs. In browsing through Portland State University’s requirements for initial teacher licensure, I was struck by how much time candidates spend in the classroom before their first teaching job:
OARs-584-017-0180: Practice and Student Teaching
(3) Student teaching is at least 15 weeks in length.
(a) At least nine weeks are full-time in schools, during which the student teacher assumes the full range of responsibilities of a classroom teacher for the purpose of developing and demonstrating the competencies required for initial licensure.
(b) During the remaining six weeks, the six-week requirement may be met either through full-time or the equivalent part-time experience.
(c) The assignment of responsibilities may be incremental in keeping with the objectives of the experience. In GTEP, Student Teaching I is a half-time experience (20 hours per week or its equivalent) for one quarter, and Student Teaching II is a full-time experience for one quarter.
So, all together, conventional teaching candidates get nine weeks of full-time student teaching and six weeks of half-time student teaching. At 8 hours a day, that adds up to 480 hours in the classroom with regular feedback from an advisor and supervising teacher.
AMI requires 120 hours of student teaching, during which we are only responsible for giving lessons. In fact it is clearly stated that we are not supposed to be in charge of classroom management. In the summer programs, like the one I did, the director of training is unable to actually observe each candidate in the classroom, so other representatives from AMI come for one day to observe and take notes. I happened to have an amazing colleague come to observe me in the classroom…but that one day of observation was not really enough, in my mind.
I can’t help feeling a bit of sadness over this fact. Here we are, training a new wave of teachers in this highly unorthodox methodology, one that requires, in Dr. Montessori’s own words, a spiritual transformation of the adult, and yet, we only get 120 hours to practice? Imagine the depth of experience to be gained with 500 hours of supervised practice in a Montessori classroom, during which we are fully responsible for all aspects of classroom management?
Perhaps I just need more time in the classroom…I will be interested to come back to this post in a year and see how I feel about all of this. I’d love to hear thoughts from other Montessorians about how they felt about their training, AMI or otherwise…especially from those who are now working in public schools. What did you love about your training? What do you wish was different? What would you tell people enrolled in training now? If you could do your training over, what questions would you ask and how would you have organized your time?
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Tags: montessori training
NAMTA Video on Public Montessori
Here’s a little snippet of a NAMTA video that explores the public Montessori program in Hartford, CT. It’s so inspiring to look at what community efforts can accomplish. This is an incredibly beautiful, diverse school that is clearly providing an authentic, quality, Montessori experience.
I’m only just beginning to explore the various possibilities of integration of Montessori into the public education system, so I can’t honestly give a fully informed opinion on the merits of magnet programs vs. charter, etc…but the magnet model has been successfully implemented in several metropolitan areas around the US, which is encouraging.
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Tags: montessori in the 21st century, public montessori
Thoughts on Teacher Training
Shared from Doug Stowe at Wisdom of Hands…this is in response to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s recent speech at the Teacher’s College of Columbia University.
As quoted in Time Magazine:
“By almost any standard, many if not most of the nation’s 1,450 schools, colleges and departments of education are doing a mediocre job of preparing teachers for the realities of the 21st century classroom,” he said to an audience of teaching students who listened with more curiosity than ire — this was Columbia University after all, and they knew Duncan wasn’t talking to them. It was a damning, but not unprecedented, assessment of teacher colleges, which have long been the stepchildren of the American university system and a frequent target of education reformers’ scorn over the past quarter-century.
I’m about to head off a Montessori workshop on language in the elementary classroom, so I don’t have much time to flesh out my thoughts on this…but I’ll start the conversation by saying that I think both Stowe and Duncan are on to something: practical experience is essential in the training of a good teacher. This means both that training is not just about theory, but also includes meaningful practice, and that teachers learn the practical skills they need for effective classroom management–and that they practice them before they take their first teaching job!
There’s more I want to say from a more Montessori perspective about the preparation of the teacher…and I’ve had thoughts brewing for a long time on Montessori teacher training…another day!
Filed under: blog reviews, montessori, news reviews | 4 Comments
Tags: montessori training, student teaching
Keeping It Real and Letting Go
Well, you may have noticed that I don’t post as frequently these days as I used to. This job, as I expected, is taking every ounce of my energy and then some. Although we’ve been in school for six weeks now (eek!), I feel like I’m finally figuring some things out, about both the children and myself…it’s a slow process, this getting to know how 33 young people engage with their world around them and how best to serve their myriad needs.
As for me, I’m finding that my mantra these days is let it go.
Paper and yarn scraps all over the floor at the end of the day, even after 20 minutes of “cleaning up”?
Let it go.
Not getting to all the lessons I had hoped?
Let it go.
The nagging feeling that I’m not doing this right?
Let it go.
Anything that doesn’t serve my needs for health and well-being?
Let it go.
So I may not be posting as much for a while. Sleep is a precious commodity these days…but I will say, even though I’m not able to accomplish anything else, I’ve started training Poekoelan again, and really, this might be my saving grace.
Poekoelan Tjimindie Tulen is an incredibly beautiful Indonesian martial art that combines Chinese kung fu with other Indonesian art forms…I started training three years ago and then quit for a while as school and life got busy…but I’m so glad to be going back now. If you’re a Portland resident, you should check it out–there are several schools in the area. I train at One with Heart, on SE Hawthorne.
In part, it’s just great exercise. Classes are75 minutes and they work you hard. But more than that, it’s 75 minutes of time spent letting go of everything else but being in my body. The self-defense holds are all about re-directing energy, which is exactly what I’m doing with the children in class right now…so it’s mine field of physical analogies to my daily work.
From the One with Heart website:
Poekoelan is an Indonesian word meaning “a series of blows with returning hands and feet;” Tjimindie means “beautiful flowing waters. Tulen means “original.” The art is symbolized by bamboo and a rose upon a black background. The bamboo symbolizes strength and flexibility. The rose with its thorns symbolizes both the beauty and protective nature of the art.
Poekoelan’s beautiful, flowing movements are like water and bamboo; fluid and circular, spiraling and continuous, graceful and whip-like. Movement in Poekoelan is inspired by four animals; the tiger, the crane, the monkey, and the snake. Through these animals, we explore the dualities of soft/hard, fast/slow, small/large, fierce/playful, circular/angular and high/low. Each practitioner’s movement is beautiful and unique.
Martial techniques for self-defense are joined with breath and energy in order to strengthen and protect the human spirit by developing calmness, compassion, and a high level of internal energy for use in healing.
Filed under: personal reflection, updates | 1 Comment
Tags: classroom life, life, updates
Unconditional Parenting
I often find myself spending a few minutes each day reading NYTimes blogger Lisa Belkin’s blog Motherlode. I don’t always agree with her, or her guest bloggers, but I usually find that I’ve read something provocative that has me questioning my own thinking about raising and/or working with children. Granted, I don’t have children of my own yet…and I often wonder how that will change my practice as a teacher. I can only imagine that it will enrich the experience and allow me to related to my students’ families on a deeper level.
A few weeks ago, Belkin had a guest post by Alfie Kohn, well-known author of Punished by Rewards and The Homework Myth. I remember reading some of his stuff in high school, per recommendation of my tenth grade world studies teacher. I’ve long been a fan of his, and I thought this was a well-written article on what he calls “unconditional parenting“.
Perhaps even more interesting though, are the comments that this piece solicited. It’s a definite reminder to me that our work with children and their families demands a compassionate and open mind, because there is no telling what a family’s particular philosophy on something like discipline might be.
Filed under: blog reviews, news reviews | 2 Comments
Tags: blogs, new york times, parenting
Innovation
Check out this brief interview in the Harvard Business Review.
The researchers interviewed have been studying skills that successful innovators have in common…and Montessori gets a mention!
Filed under: blog reviews, montessori | 1 Comment
Tags: montessori in the 21st century
A Few More Wedding Pictures
This isn’t really related to Montessori or education at all…but I’ll share them anyway, for the benefit of some blog readers who were unable to attend.
Click here to check out my album on Facebook–I’m too tired to post more than once!
Filed under: updates | 1 Comment
Tags: things i love, updates
