Observing at East Cooper Montessori, I spent my morning in conversation with the students of the lower Elementary class, which ranges from 6 to 9 years of age and spans three “levels”. The classroom design, while not as natural or home-like as that of the Montessori Fountainhead school, was still peaceful and aesthetically pleasing. There was a corner for reading filled with cozy pillows and rugs, and a large aquarium with the class pet and surrounding vegetation. Children were sprawled around the room, at a desk, standing up, or in a workspace on the floor. The teacher gracefully made her way from child to child, locked in quiet consultation over the work journals—packets of work selected by the child at the beginning of each week.
Interesting to see was the Smart Board and the use of a scripted curriculum computer game. SRA is also used in Orange Grove Charter Elementary, where my field experience has been this semester. Although no student was being taught by the scripted curriculum, the use of technology in the classroom and the use of an outside curriculum was interesting to note. It is possible that this was a compromise made between East Cooper and the Charleston County School District; however, I cannot say for certain as I never got the opportunity to ask. Although technology was not as pervasive in her time, Maria Montessori advocated for the inclusion of any current technology or materials that would contribute to the success of the student in practical life beyond the classroom. Many schools today do not consider technology to be against a traditional Montessori curriculum (Lillard, 2004). I was surprised to learn this, knowing from hearsay that traditional Montessori is often strictly against the incorporation of outside materials.
It was extraordinary to observe the pride that students took in the classroom space and the vigor with which they performed their schoolwork. A girl in third year was drafting a story about a dolphin, and consulted me on some of her possible plot points. She proceeded to inform me about her sea turtle study, her love of writing, and her trip to the aquarium. Our conversation did not stray far from her ultimate goal—did she want to describe the dolphin’s journey, or the dolphin’s habitat?
Another child gave me a tour of the room, from the word storage boxes to the library, from the snacks to the math shelf, and we returned to her workspace on the floor, where she was tracing words in multiple colors, learning to spell. Yet another student taught me and another student how to do long division—a prime example of the type of peer scaffolding desired by Montessori in all of her mixed-age classrooms. Several students worked on cursive sheets, labeled parts of speech in a sentence strip by drawing a specific shape over each part of the phrase, or engaged in dynamic math exercises using the bead manipulatives.
The teacher addressed her students as “my friends”, and had to gently remind them through the use of a tri-tone bell to lower the volume of the classroom. When she rang the bell a third time, she requested a period of silence in order to “refocus on our work”.
East Cooper reflected the child autonomy and the productive spirit embodied through the Montessori method, yet still incorporated popular aspects of a traditional American classroom—children have a read aloud time, use a scripted reading/writing curriculum, and have access to iPad or Smart Board technology. It was wonderful to see the balance maintained between objectives in the curriculum and the freedom of students to pursue their interests. With each observation, I grow more fascinated by the Montessori method, and hope to attain such a peace and diligence in my own classroom environment.
Interesting to see was the Smart Board and the use of a scripted curriculum computer game. SRA is also used in Orange Grove Charter Elementary, where my field experience has been this semester. Although no student was being taught by the scripted curriculum, the use of technology in the classroom and the use of an outside curriculum was interesting to note. It is possible that this was a compromise made between East Cooper and the Charleston County School District; however, I cannot say for certain as I never got the opportunity to ask. Although technology was not as pervasive in her time, Maria Montessori advocated for the inclusion of any current technology or materials that would contribute to the success of the student in practical life beyond the classroom. Many schools today do not consider technology to be against a traditional Montessori curriculum (Lillard, 2004). I was surprised to learn this, knowing from hearsay that traditional Montessori is often strictly against the incorporation of outside materials.
It was extraordinary to observe the pride that students took in the classroom space and the vigor with which they performed their schoolwork. A girl in third year was drafting a story about a dolphin, and consulted me on some of her possible plot points. She proceeded to inform me about her sea turtle study, her love of writing, and her trip to the aquarium. Our conversation did not stray far from her ultimate goal—did she want to describe the dolphin’s journey, or the dolphin’s habitat?
Another child gave me a tour of the room, from the word storage boxes to the library, from the snacks to the math shelf, and we returned to her workspace on the floor, where she was tracing words in multiple colors, learning to spell. Yet another student taught me and another student how to do long division—a prime example of the type of peer scaffolding desired by Montessori in all of her mixed-age classrooms. Several students worked on cursive sheets, labeled parts of speech in a sentence strip by drawing a specific shape over each part of the phrase, or engaged in dynamic math exercises using the bead manipulatives.
The teacher addressed her students as “my friends”, and had to gently remind them through the use of a tri-tone bell to lower the volume of the classroom. When she rang the bell a third time, she requested a period of silence in order to “refocus on our work”.
East Cooper reflected the child autonomy and the productive spirit embodied through the Montessori method, yet still incorporated popular aspects of a traditional American classroom—children have a read aloud time, use a scripted reading/writing curriculum, and have access to iPad or Smart Board technology. It was wonderful to see the balance maintained between objectives in the curriculum and the freedom of students to pursue their interests. With each observation, I grow more fascinated by the Montessori method, and hope to attain such a peace and diligence in my own classroom environment.
