Visit to a Montessori School

Visit to a Montessori School

13th April, 2016

Alex talks about his recent visit to a local Montessori school and some practices that caught his eye

I first heard about Montessori Schools at University when our tutor briefly mentioned a few types of alternative education. Ever since then I have been interested in understanding how a Montessori classroom works, and while there was plenty of information, I heard mixed reviews from people about their experiences. I decided to investigate by contacting a local Montessori School and asking to observe a few different classrooms over the course of a day. They were happy to oblige and now I’m taking the chance to pass on my experience in a younger years classroom.

What is a Montessori School?

This is only a brief overview – for more information check out the Montessori Australia website

Montessori refers to the philosophy created by Italian physician and psychologist, Dr. Maria Montessori. She opened her first “school” in 1907 and applied a particular method and outlook to teaching children. Since then Montessori Schools have begun to spring up all over the world and have been agreed, by research, to have various elements that lead to positive social, emotional and academic results for children. The Montessori philosophy suggests that children transition through four planes of development from birth to adulthood, and each plane has a natural development that education should take advantage of. The second plane, childhood, is the one that takes place at primary school when children are 6 – 12 years old. A well known element of Montessori classrooms is the use of a prepared environment, where pre-made activities are available to be independently worked through at the child’s pace. One more element to note is that the classrooms are organised into cycles, not years – they are composite classes. I observed a cycle two classroom (years 1, 2 and 3) and a cycle three classroom (years 4, 5 and 6).

Cycle 2 (Years 1 – 3) Classroom

The overview of cycle two is a focus on independence, order, concentration and coordination. The classroom I visited was beautiful, with child-sized wooden furniture, desks, shelves and chairs, as well as various artefacts such as posters, flowers, and even a little kitchen. The activities are all based in the shelves and this is perhaps the first aspect that can confuse –the teacher described it to me as the curriculum being on the shelves. Students have access to different challenges and curriculum areas to work on independently. The prepared activities are all said to be self-correcting; if you’re doing something wrong it will become evident without the teacher needing to tell you. The classroom environment was truly wonderful and the students also seemed to have a sense of independence as they were able to direct their own learning, rather than relying on the teacher.

While it was fantastic to observe the students going about their own learning, it is also interesting to note that Montessori Schools have their own curriculum to lay over the top of the Victorian Curriculum. I was only around for an hour or so but there were a few things I would like to sum up:

• The classroom is beautiful and makes sense. Children are using the classroom so everything should be child sized. Classrooms are where we will spend the majority of our time, they should be beautiful places.
• Hard to tell it’s composite. All the students were completing the same activities, but the teacher varied their expectations depending on their age, meaning they could achieve at their own rate.
• Activities promote independence. Not only the activities but the Montessori teaching philosophy promotes independence – a powerful idea which I believe has many learning benefits.

I’m still making up my mind about Montessori Schools, but I think they are an extremely valid form of alternative education. In fact, I think there are a number of things the public system could learn about from Montessori. I’ll do another post soon to talk about the cycle 3 (years 4 – 6 ) classroom.

- Alex

Approaches to Technology in the Classroom

24th February 

In his final post on approaches to technology in the classroom, Will looks at excuses and the real damage they are doing.

This post will explore the teachers that use excuses to avoid or reduce technology use in their classroom. There are countless excuses that teachers may put forward but these are just a few that I wish to highlight. These are the ones that frustrate me most and/or are so easy to overcome.

"In preparing my lesson, the technology works perfectly. When implemented with students something always goes wrong."
Yes, technology breaks down. We have all experienced a network error, Wi-Fi problems, connectivity issues, blue screens and error codes. Firstly, it is possible to think it ‘always’ breaks down because you keep recalling that one bad experience and fear trying it again. When technology does fail, a Plan B is necessary. However, I argue that a Plan B should always be in place for any lesson (not to mention a Plan C through to Plan Z). Have you ever had a non-tech lesson finish too early, lack discussion or not be able to print your precious worksheets because the photocopier is broken? These too require a fast thinking (calm) teacher to carry on with the lesson. In my experience with technology problems in the classroom, often it takes just a couple of minutes to troubleshoot and resolve the problem. In upper primary this can often be a chance for students to offer solutions and work on their problem solving and collaboration skills. After all, they are going to encounter ‘error codes’ in their real working lives.

"I have always taught this way; it works so there is no need to make it more complicated."
This is all well and good for you but think of the invaluable experiences and skills the children are missing out on. This is often the view of teachers who have been teaching longer than I have been alive. I do not dispute that they can bring immense experience and knowledge of teaching to a school but if they are reluctant to grow as a teacher into today’s technologies then students will fall behind. Moreover, it is important to keep in mind that students are likely to be exposed to technology in their lives outside the classroom. To deprive them of this familiar tool will leave students feeling confused.

"Students get easily distracted on iPads and computers."
In any classroom, especially at the start of the year you sit down with the students and establish classroom rules. These are mutually agreed upon and throughout the year you, as the teacher, enforce these rules. If a student runs across the classroom with a ‘no running inside’ rule, they know it is likely they will get told off. The same goes for technology. It is up to the class (teacher and students) to set ground rules for technology use and if these are broken then there will be consequences. If general class distraction is a common theme in technology lessons maybe it is time to look are the quality of the lesson. Is it engaging students? Is there clear expectations and learning intentions set for the session? Students can’t just be handed a computer and be told to learn. Technology or no technology, a teacher still has the same role to play – to facilitate learning and maintain a safe, supportive, engaging and fun learning environment.

To summarise, excuses like these are ultimately limiting children reaching their full potential and their exposure to the technological world. This is the final post of 3 which looked at different approaches to a 21st century classroom. Ensure you approach technology with a positive and open mindset - I urge you all to constantly experiment with new ways of teaching and push the boundaries of technology use in the classroom. 

- Will