Every year, Pauline and I are blessed to attend either a conference of the North American Montessori Teachers Association (NAMTA) or a refresher course of the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI). This year, it was a NAMTA conference in Seattle. The theme was nature. The keynote speaker was conservation biologist Tom Wessels who is currently a professor at Antioch University at New England. The title of his address was "From Consumption to Connection: Why Well-Being is Grounded in Vibrant Connections to Nature, Community and Self." It is interesting to note, by the way, that this brilliant and learned man did not learn to read and write until the 4th grade.
Dr. Wessels brought to our attention the nature-deprived state of our nation and its children, citing study after study showing that a disconnection from nature makes one more apt to have ADD or ADHD, as well as a propensity for bullying and aggression. He is something of an amateur anthropologist and he spoke at length of an ancient people whose name I didn't quite catch who lived long ago in the harsh and unforgiving Pinacate Desert. Dr. Wessels described this area as the most inhospitable place on earth. It is dryer and hotter than Death Valley and large areas are covered in weird volcanic glass that will shred your brand new hiking boots after just one day. Apparently, these long-ago peoples traversed this landscape barefoot!
Despite the environmental conditions they had to survive, Dr. Wessels surmised that these were a contented people. The anthropological record showed that they had a consistent reflective (spiritual) practice, a connection to nature so deep we can scarcely conceive it, traditions passed down from generation to generation and a profound connection to each other (community). We human beings are still hard-wired to need these four practices of reflection, connection to nature, traditions and community-building, but over the millenia we have deprived ourselves of them more and more.
10,000 years ago, humans changed from hunter/gatherers to farmers. Families became more able to provide for themselves and our dependence on the entire tribe (hunters, weavers, gatherers, healers) lessened. We became more focused on our own families and less on the larger community. We became more hierarchical and distanced ourselves from nature as we no longer spent our days out hunting and gathering like our animal brothers and sisters. During the industrial revolution, we became more mobile and began distancing ourselves physically from our own families. The average American currently moves every 3.6 years. We have lost our deep attachment to place. Now technology grants us little or no time for reflection. We have all the information we can handle, but no time to reflect and understand. This is the state we find ourselves in today. Understanding is vastly different from mere knowledge. Knowledge and understanding must be balanced. Facts alone are deadening. Understanding is fulfilling and satisfying, but it requires time to deepen. This is why religious scholars can spend their lives poring over, digesting and understanding one sacred text alone. We can always deepen our understanding given that precious reflective time.
We modern humans, lacking a connection to nature, to community, to a reflective practice and to our ancestor's traditions are sick and deprived. How do we console, soothe and medicate ourselves? Consumption. Consumption of material goods, food, mind-altering substances, etc is meant to make us feel fulfilled, but it never will no matter what Madison Avenue would have us think. This conference was, for me, a real eye-opener. I started thinking of all the people in my life who would have benefited from hearing the keynote address. The list got longer and longer until I realized that I wanted everyone on the planet to be exposed to the ideas of this fantastic speaker, Tom Wessels. They were new to me and I am grateful to have this opportunity to pass them along to you.
Best regards,
Doni
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Waste Not Want Not
Let's teach our children to conserve! I know that children can be very wasteful and I think that sometimes in the interest of "picking our battles," we let them get away with it. Let's not. Let's teach our children to respect our planet's resources while they are young so that it becomes a core value. Our grandparents had this value in spades. I remember my mom always saved the paper that the butter came wrapped in and used it to grease her baking pans. Those folks were "green" back when it meant inexperienced, not environmentally conscious.
Many of the parents here at Philomath Montessori are expert re-sale shoppers. Invariably, when I compliment a mom or child on an outfit, they got it second-hand. What a great way to conserve resources. You know it takes so much energy and water to produce textiles! Let's use just one paper towel to dry our hands or better yet, use the hot air dryer. Let's always use both sides of the paper. Let's look into the recycling bin for our arts and crafts supplies. Let's turn off the lights when not in use and turn off the water when we brush our teeth.
When approaching a buffet, encourage your child to take some tastes of dishes, then go back for more of their favorites. I'm no member of the "clean plate club," though. It is just as wasteful to eat food one doesn't want or need as it is to throw it away. We can compost much of our food waste, though, offer it to our neighbor's chickens (with permission) or save it for later. You know what George Carlin said about leftovers, right? He said leftovers make you feel good twice. When you put it in a container and place it in the fridge you think "I'm saving food!" Then when it sits there a while and becomes something mysterious (could be meat...could be cake) and you throw it out you think "I'm saving lives!"
It's our job to teach our children to respect all they have. If our children are very cavalier about their possessions, that is probably an indication that they have too much. This youngest generation may be the group that brings back those old-fashioned values of frugality and economy. They are sorely needed and it is up to us grown-ups to model them.
Best regards,
Doni
Many of the parents here at Philomath Montessori are expert re-sale shoppers. Invariably, when I compliment a mom or child on an outfit, they got it second-hand. What a great way to conserve resources. You know it takes so much energy and water to produce textiles! Let's use just one paper towel to dry our hands or better yet, use the hot air dryer. Let's always use both sides of the paper. Let's look into the recycling bin for our arts and crafts supplies. Let's turn off the lights when not in use and turn off the water when we brush our teeth.
When approaching a buffet, encourage your child to take some tastes of dishes, then go back for more of their favorites. I'm no member of the "clean plate club," though. It is just as wasteful to eat food one doesn't want or need as it is to throw it away. We can compost much of our food waste, though, offer it to our neighbor's chickens (with permission) or save it for later. You know what George Carlin said about leftovers, right? He said leftovers make you feel good twice. When you put it in a container and place it in the fridge you think "I'm saving food!" Then when it sits there a while and becomes something mysterious (could be meat...could be cake) and you throw it out you think "I'm saving lives!"
It's our job to teach our children to respect all they have. If our children are very cavalier about their possessions, that is probably an indication that they have too much. This youngest generation may be the group that brings back those old-fashioned values of frugality and economy. They are sorely needed and it is up to us grown-ups to model them.
Best regards,
Doni
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
The Joy of Writing
First of all, apologies for my absence from the blogosphere. I had to take some time to develop the following joke, which I think is adorable! What is the Easter Bunny's favorite musical genre? (Answer: Hip hop!) That is well worth the wait, don't you think?
Regarding writing, our classroom is abuzz with authorship lately. It is contagious! Today, there are three large work rugs out that are covered from top to bottom with Moveable Alphabet letters. And that's just at the end of the day. There was a lot more writing done earlier that has since been packed away.
Allow me to tell you a bit about the writing process in a Montessori classroom. We begin when the children are very young with indirect preparation of the mind and hand for writing. To prepare the mind, we tell true stories, read and recite poetry and read stories that are reality-based. We take care to be accurate and precise with our language and to impart a lot of vocabulary to the children. We also encourage families to take their children on interesting outings. We display artwork on the walls. All of this serves to get the children talking and telling their own stories.
We play games that help to develop the children's phonemic awareness. They come to know that words are made of sounds. Some sounds are at the beginning of words, some in the middle and some at the end. When we speak of letters, we do not use the letter names that you hear in "The Alphabet Song." When we speak of the letter "a," for example, we don't say "ay," but rather the soft "a" one hears in the word "lamb" or at the beginning of "apple." "B" is not "bee," but just "buh." We trace beautiful letters cut out of sandpaper and glued onto thin boards. Each time we trace them we say the accompanying sound. When a child is later ready to write, it is easier to sound out a phonetic word like "dog" if one knows the sounds that those three letters usually make rather than their alphabetic names.
When a child knows a lot of letter sounds and is able to hear the individual sounds in a word, he/she is ready to write. Not with a pencil, perhaps, but with a Moveable Alphabet. This is a wonderful piece of equipment. It is a box with 26 or more dividers, each holding a stack of letters. If a child wants to write "mom", he/she can extract those three letters from the box and lay them on the work rug. Later, a child's hand will become developed enough that he/she can copy what they have written with the Moveable Alphabet onto a chalkboard and later, paper.
The hand is simultaneously being prepared for writing. We begin at a young age, using materials that have knobs to hold. Our puzzles and other apparatus are often knobbed. This helps the child get into the habit of bringing those three critical fingers together, similarly to holding a pencil. We use these same fingers when we sew (we love to sew!) or spread glue or paint with a little brush. We develop the habit of working from left to write and top to bottom in many of our washing activities. We wash tables, underlays, the floor and chalkboards with strokes extending from left to right. We start at the top of the area to be washed and work our way to the bottom.
At around age 41/2, we give the children pencils. They work on Metal Insets, geometric shapes that are traced and filled in with long strokes. At this time we instruct the children on the proper way to hold a pencil. We separate the challenge of pencil use from that of writing so as not to overwhelm the child with too many difficulties at once. We are in no hurry to see children using pencils. It is so easy for a child to develop a poor pencil grip and it is very hard to correct. We prefer to wait and allow the child to develop strength and dexterity through the indirect means described above before offering a pencil.
Once a child begins writing single words with the Moveable Alphabet and then recording what they have written onto a chalkboard or paper, the level of skill develops quite organically. They see each other writing lists of words, sentences, labeling vocabulary cards and writing stories and poems. The younger kids ask the older ones for help when they can't find a letter they seek. The older students inspire the younger ones and directly instruct them. Just today one child asked if she could show another how to do "research." They each read separate books, one about the life cycle of the frog and one about the life cycle of the butterfly. They then write reports about what they have learned. The older child was no longer required to use the Moveable Alphabet. She had been writing directly on paper for some time. When she learned, however, that her young protegee still needed the Moveable Alphabet, she said, "Oh! Then I will use one, too, so he doesn't feel left behind." The process is joyful and social. It is not about the resulting product, but about the complete absorption the children feel when they are doing something they enjoy that is meaningful to them. Like all the work in the classroom, the skills and knowledge gained is a secondary benefit. The primary benefit is the ability to self-regulate, be self-disciplined and to become centered by the power of concentration.
Additionally, Montessori children write before they read. Writing prepares them for reading. Often the first word they read is one they wrote themselves. The reading then develops organically, often effortlessly, just as their writing has.
Pauline and I will make an effort to blog more faithfully. We were distracted by fundraising, spring break and parent-teacher conferences. We know, though, that if we want people to follow us, we need to produce! We'll work on it.
Best regards,
Doni
Regarding writing, our classroom is abuzz with authorship lately. It is contagious! Today, there are three large work rugs out that are covered from top to bottom with Moveable Alphabet letters. And that's just at the end of the day. There was a lot more writing done earlier that has since been packed away.
Allow me to tell you a bit about the writing process in a Montessori classroom. We begin when the children are very young with indirect preparation of the mind and hand for writing. To prepare the mind, we tell true stories, read and recite poetry and read stories that are reality-based. We take care to be accurate and precise with our language and to impart a lot of vocabulary to the children. We also encourage families to take their children on interesting outings. We display artwork on the walls. All of this serves to get the children talking and telling their own stories.
We play games that help to develop the children's phonemic awareness. They come to know that words are made of sounds. Some sounds are at the beginning of words, some in the middle and some at the end. When we speak of letters, we do not use the letter names that you hear in "The Alphabet Song." When we speak of the letter "a," for example, we don't say "ay," but rather the soft "a" one hears in the word "lamb" or at the beginning of "apple." "B" is not "bee," but just "buh." We trace beautiful letters cut out of sandpaper and glued onto thin boards. Each time we trace them we say the accompanying sound. When a child is later ready to write, it is easier to sound out a phonetic word like "dog" if one knows the sounds that those three letters usually make rather than their alphabetic names.
When a child knows a lot of letter sounds and is able to hear the individual sounds in a word, he/she is ready to write. Not with a pencil, perhaps, but with a Moveable Alphabet. This is a wonderful piece of equipment. It is a box with 26 or more dividers, each holding a stack of letters. If a child wants to write "mom", he/she can extract those three letters from the box and lay them on the work rug. Later, a child's hand will become developed enough that he/she can copy what they have written with the Moveable Alphabet onto a chalkboard and later, paper.
The hand is simultaneously being prepared for writing. We begin at a young age, using materials that have knobs to hold. Our puzzles and other apparatus are often knobbed. This helps the child get into the habit of bringing those three critical fingers together, similarly to holding a pencil. We use these same fingers when we sew (we love to sew!) or spread glue or paint with a little brush. We develop the habit of working from left to write and top to bottom in many of our washing activities. We wash tables, underlays, the floor and chalkboards with strokes extending from left to right. We start at the top of the area to be washed and work our way to the bottom.
At around age 41/2, we give the children pencils. They work on Metal Insets, geometric shapes that are traced and filled in with long strokes. At this time we instruct the children on the proper way to hold a pencil. We separate the challenge of pencil use from that of writing so as not to overwhelm the child with too many difficulties at once. We are in no hurry to see children using pencils. It is so easy for a child to develop a poor pencil grip and it is very hard to correct. We prefer to wait and allow the child to develop strength and dexterity through the indirect means described above before offering a pencil.
Once a child begins writing single words with the Moveable Alphabet and then recording what they have written onto a chalkboard or paper, the level of skill develops quite organically. They see each other writing lists of words, sentences, labeling vocabulary cards and writing stories and poems. The younger kids ask the older ones for help when they can't find a letter they seek. The older students inspire the younger ones and directly instruct them. Just today one child asked if she could show another how to do "research." They each read separate books, one about the life cycle of the frog and one about the life cycle of the butterfly. They then write reports about what they have learned. The older child was no longer required to use the Moveable Alphabet. She had been writing directly on paper for some time. When she learned, however, that her young protegee still needed the Moveable Alphabet, she said, "Oh! Then I will use one, too, so he doesn't feel left behind." The process is joyful and social. It is not about the resulting product, but about the complete absorption the children feel when they are doing something they enjoy that is meaningful to them. Like all the work in the classroom, the skills and knowledge gained is a secondary benefit. The primary benefit is the ability to self-regulate, be self-disciplined and to become centered by the power of concentration.
Additionally, Montessori children write before they read. Writing prepares them for reading. Often the first word they read is one they wrote themselves. The reading then develops organically, often effortlessly, just as their writing has.
Pauline and I will make an effort to blog more faithfully. We were distracted by fundraising, spring break and parent-teacher conferences. We know, though, that if we want people to follow us, we need to produce! We'll work on it.
Best regards,
Doni
Movie Time
In the classroom, we are regularly privy to information about the children’s lives outside of school. We have a special time as a group specifically for Telling True Stories and during this period the children share meaningful events with each other. Occasionally, a child will try to take this time to tell about the plot of a fantasy movie he/she has recently seen. I have often felt concern to know that some of the children are exposed to movies that are, in my opinion, inappropriate for their age.
In fact, as a professional educator of young children for the past 23 years, my distress is threefold. To begin, screen time of any kind is detrimental to the mental development of children under the age of six. The problem pertains to the process of neural connection in the brain. The light and movement which make movies, television and video games, even educational video games possible, short-circuits the optimal hardwiring of the highest-functioning areas of the brain. Contemporary brain research on the effects of screen technology on developing intelligence and mental well-being is being lead by Dr. Jane Healy. I recommend reading any of her many titles available at our local libraries. As studies show that 50% of an individual’s intelligence is formed by age 4 and 80% by age 8, it is crucial for our own children and for the betterment of society that we protect our children from activities that are so limiting to their optimum development.
The second factor that disturbs me about the viewing of movies, video games and TV shows by young children is that they are an immense distraction to the child once the viewing is over. Everything that a child is witness to must be processed by the child. A movie is so chock-full of images and ideas that it may require much of a child’s psychic energies and much of his/her time to digest it all. We see children who are missing out on group discussions, interesting activities, excellent literature, fascinating true stories told by dynamic speakers and much more because they are still thinking of the film they saw last weekend. They cannot participate in conversation because they cannot attend to the ideas of others, being so suffused in this entertainment they have consumed. The loss outweighs any gain.
Lastly, there is the issue of content. The children tell us which films they see and I know that many of them are not rated G. I think our students are marvelous and wonderful, but not necessarily any more advanced or sophisticated than the general population of children and probably not any better equipped to handle images that are frightening, violent, grim or disturbing. They also are unable to think critically about subtle or obvious sexism, commercialism, bigotry or the privilege of the pretty. And don’t get me started on the impertinence and sass that passes for wit. I think it is sometimes the case that in the interest of family unity, younger siblings are privy to screenings that are intended for and appropriate for older siblings. I caution against this compromise. These children are in their formative years. From what do we want them to be formed?
Now please don’t get me wrong. I enjoy my own favorites. As a matter of fact, I enjoy some really trashy TV. Film is a wonderful art form. It can uplift us, inspire us, educate us and inform us. It is good for a laugh, a cry, an escape. There is no rush, however, in bringing this medium to children. Any TV show or film that a parent would wish to share with their child would be even more appreciated by a child over the age of six. The child would “get” more of the plot, character development, setting, humor, pathos and moral the film has to offer. After all, most of the silliness of a kid’s movie is funny because we, the adults, know how all the wackiness contrasts to how the world really is. To us, it is amusing, but to a child it’s confusing. A child who has lived long enough to have more real-world experience takes in everything on a higher level. Furthermore, by the age of 6 their character, their values and their idea of what is real and normal is significantly established. This provides them with the necessary “lens” when viewing material that is in opposition to those values and beliefs. Until the age of 6, the child lacks a filter. He/she is in the age of what Montessorians refer to as the Absorbent Mind. It takes in all and does not distinguish good from bad. What is absorbed is then used as building material for that child’s personality. This is all the more reason to eliminate questionable influences.
We live in a culture where entertainment is no longer commonly created by ordinary people for their own enjoyment. Most of us are now consumers of art and entertainment. We purchase our music, our stories, our myths and legends more often than we produce them ourselves. We owe it to our children to be wise and conscious consumers.
Best regards,
Doni
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