Some thoughts-all over the place

A few thoughts on Montessori and our class

 

 (Personal connection)

My aunt was a Montessori teacher.  She opened several Montessori schools in the Denver, CO slums under Head Start, and did amazing work with early literacy.  Because of her passion, my mother decided to send me to a Montessori school.

 

My father is fond of repeating an episode that occurred when he was a parent at my Montessori school- the teachers were trying to explain something, and he blurted out “we are trying to teach our kids how to think, not what to think!” 

A few months ago, I had the great privilege of sharing a diner with a Montessori teacher training cohort.  They were much less homogenous than our cohort; more diversity in age and color.  There was, however, only one man.  The dinner was characterized by gentleness and patience. 

Something that came up in class for me during the last “hotseat” conversation: the difference between socialization and social learning.  The former is part of schooling too, but there is a difference between talking with friends and learning from your peer group.  I think it’s interesting to see that dynamic in our own cohort.  We are doing a good  deal of socializing on our own time (with beer!) but also being forced to learn from each other.  I appreciate the quality of work that is coming out of each of us.  In Sara’s class, many of the reflective narratives I read commented on the extraordinary makeup of our class; I think Vygotsky would approve of our group learning!  (Of course, where our ZPD is and who’s going to push us through it remains to be seen.)

Finally, I want to brew a bit on the "Student from hell" essay from Sara's class.  I felt a very strong connection to this essay because it's about the teacher really not knowing what's going on with one particular student.  (That is a gross oversimplification, but bear with me.)  Mostly this resonated because while most of you know my situation regarding the homestead (as in, I don't have one- the one bedroom apartment that we are staying in, husband, cat, and the BFF apartment owner all squished up, no internet [I am literally on the curb as I write this, taking advantage of the wifi from nearby coffee shop], no place to study, no materials with which to work...) our professors don't.  I know how much it is affecting me and my relative sanity/schoolwork.  I can't imagine how this much instability would affect a child, and yet how easy it is to hide (the show vs. backstage from Palmer) what's going on inside.  It didn't really hit me today until I had to ask Jan for art supplies so I could do my homework.  I've never been in this position before and although I consider myself pretty tuned in to the challenges of the economically disadvantaged, living it is a WHOLE other thing.  (But we signed our lease and will move in tomorrow!)  I feel like I can take this particular time in my life and remember to have patience when I'm fed up with disengaged students-because they may be sharing a house and a bed and not have a door either.