Hi Everyone! I originally posted my assignment as a comment on the first page, but I realized that was a boo-boo! Here it is!
Chapter One: The Child's Part in World Reconstruction
In order to create a new future, the natural and spontaneous psychic energy of every new life must be released with active care.
Chapter Two: Education for Life
Education must begin from birth and be a help to life.
Chapter Three: The Periods of Growth
The child's mind, which is completely different than our own, is able to unconsciously absorb knowledge from his life, effortlessly and joyfully.
Chapter Four: The New Path
Survival of the human species is based on a deep love for children who must be studied from the beginning of their creation.
Chapter Five: The Miracle of Creation
The cells of the developing embryo pass through distinct phases from seeming nothingness, to having organs of specialized functions formed around active points. The cells with the most complex tasks must have the most specialization to do the work “nature” has planned.
Chapter Six: Embryology and Behavior
Mental development passes through distinct phases from seeming nothingness to the formation of psychic organs around points of sensitivity.
Chapter Seven: The Spiritual Embryo
The newborn baby enters into a second embryonic phase during which her mental development is guided by awakenings that are similar to an animal's behavior instincts.
Chapter Eight: The Child's Conquest of Independence
The child, whose very nature is to achieve independence, can only achieve this state through constant, free activity.
Chapter Nine: The First Days of life
The child's mental life is created at birth, a time during which the mother-child bond must be protected and special attention paid to the environment.
Chapter Ten: Some Thoughts on Language
All children develop language spontaneously through stages as a result of unconscious work that manifests in bursts of growth followed by slower development.
Chapter Eleven: How Language Calls to The Child
A special mechanism exists for acquiring speech which helps the child to focus in on words and not other sounds in his environment. He should be offered many opportunities to hear clearly spoken words and not be kept in isolation.
Chapter 12: The Effect of Obstacles on Development
Children, being very sensitive to trauma, should be protected from violence of any kind, especially during the first two years of life which tend to influence the rest of his years.
Chapter 13: The Importance of Movement in General Development
Mental and spiritual growth is developed through purposeful physical actions guided by the child's mental activity. All living things move purposefully, unable to keep still.
Chapter 14: Intelligence and the Hand
The hand serves as a companion to the mind and the child must be given things over which he can exercise an intelligent activity on his way toward independence.
Quotes and Anecdotes
The role of the teacher
“To rule is the most difficult task of all, and requires a higher specialization than any. So there is no question of election, but of being trained and suited to the work. Whoever directs others must have transformed himself. No one can ever be a leader, or a guide, who has not been prepared for that work” (p. 45).
In my personal experience as a teacher and also as a mother of a child in a non-Montessori setting, I find the above quote to be absolutely true. In the last four years, the biggest change in my classroom and in my teaching has been an intense, internal preparation. I have questioned my old methods and assumptions about learning and the role of the teacher in a classroom and as a result I have been able to trust and to allow the children to lead their own learning. Teachers I have encountered in my son's school seem to be incredibly focused on “results” and “methods” and classroom management, completely ignoring their own importance as an influencer of children. My son and daughter have incredibly different views of learning already. My son abhors it and is only motivated by the constant stream of extrinsic rewards offered him at school. My daughter looks forward to trying new things and is excited to go to our school.
“We have to help the child to act, will, and think for himself. This is the art of serving the spirit, an art which can be practiced to perfection only when working among children” (p. 281).
On Thursday, I was visited by an inspector for the CACFP program which reimburses me for the food that I serve the children each day. The inspector periodically visits and watches snack or lunchtime, makes sure I am serving balanced and nutritious foods, and looks to see that my paperwork is up to date. On this visit, which was around 10 am, no children happened to be eating snack. The inspector said that since I stated snack time to be around 10 am, all children must be eating at that time and they have a 15 minute window to complete their snack! I spent a great deal of time explaining our snack routine (two kids at a time, by invitation, when they are hungry). I tried to explain that I am helping the children to recognize when they are feeling hungry, not to merely eat when I decide to feed them – that i am helping them to think for themselves. Needless to say, she was unconvinced and we are trying to work out a solution.
Normalization
“The deviated child has no love for his environment because he feels it to contain too many difficulties. For him it is too harsh and resistant.......The environment must be rich in motives which lend interest to activity and invite the child to conduct his own experiences” (p. 92).
I am struggling to reach three children in my classroom right now. One chooses no work (this is her second year), one chooses work occasionally, such as blocks or other transitional works (this is her fourth year), and one is constantly busy with her own work (usually dough or collage work) and wants nothing else (this is her third year). All three often complain of being “tired” and must take several rests despite not ever finding a state of deep concentration or contentment. We have a beautiful classroom filled with interesting works that seem to call to the other children. I am having trouble understanding what role I should take with these children since the environment itself is not calling to them.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Assignment 1 - Quotes 1,2
Assignment I Quotes
Quote: Pg 7.
Education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being. It is not acquired by listening to words, but in virtue of experiences in which the child acts on his environment.
The teacher’s task is not to talk, but to prepare and arrange a series of motives for cultural activity in a special environment made for the child.
Example:
There are many, but I pick this one because it is very recent. It has not even been three full weeks of school…there is a little boy L, who is still in many ways yet to get out of the 0-3y sub phase. L has been working with the world map puzzle day after day. He matches the continents to the control map over and over again. Just yesterday, I happened to be by him and said can you place N. America on my lap and HE COULD! I continued with the other continents and he knew all of them. I still do not know if he can name them himself…but he is well in the second period! He just turned three! He already can visually recognize the continents on earth…..Except for naming them for him the first couple of times our role was only in providing him with an environment in which he could internalize this all by himself!
Quote: Pg. 83.
The child seeks for independence by means of work; independence of body and mind.
Example:
I was in a class a handful of years ago…in a full day school. One girl C used to have difficulty undressing and dressing up (I believe everything was done for her at home). At school her clothes were very accessible to her. She went through a phase when she would get to her bin and keep changing her clothes multiple times a day. I noticed that over a period of few weeks she became very proficient with zippers, buttons, pulling clothes over her head, turning her clothes inside out etc. She was the class helper for any child struggling with their clothes. She slowly stopped changing her clothes multiple times a day. She had become completely independent in dressing herself up. I was so amazed with how she had sought out to grow independent in an area that she had difficulty in.
Quote: Pg 7.
Education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being. It is not acquired by listening to words, but in virtue of experiences in which the child acts on his environment.
The teacher’s task is not to talk, but to prepare and arrange a series of motives for cultural activity in a special environment made for the child.
Example:
There are many, but I pick this one because it is very recent. It has not even been three full weeks of school…there is a little boy L, who is still in many ways yet to get out of the 0-3y sub phase. L has been working with the world map puzzle day after day. He matches the continents to the control map over and over again. Just yesterday, I happened to be by him and said can you place N. America on my lap and HE COULD! I continued with the other continents and he knew all of them. I still do not know if he can name them himself…but he is well in the second period! He just turned three! He already can visually recognize the continents on earth…..Except for naming them for him the first couple of times our role was only in providing him with an environment in which he could internalize this all by himself!
Quote: Pg. 83.
The child seeks for independence by means of work; independence of body and mind.
Example:
I was in a class a handful of years ago…in a full day school. One girl C used to have difficulty undressing and dressing up (I believe everything was done for her at home). At school her clothes were very accessible to her. She went through a phase when she would get to her bin and keep changing her clothes multiple times a day. I noticed that over a period of few weeks she became very proficient with zippers, buttons, pulling clothes over her head, turning her clothes inside out etc. She was the class helper for any child struggling with their clothes. She slowly stopped changing her clothes multiple times a day. She had become completely independent in dressing herself up. I was so amazed with how she had sought out to grow independent in an area that she had difficulty in.
The Absorbent Mind
10/1/2008 Assignment
Philosophy Part II
The Absorbent Mind
Feng Mei Shao
In chapter 1, Montessori stresses the "greatest marvel of the Universe, the human being" and says that teachers can only give their help.
In chapter 2, Montessori continues to stress the importance of a child's learning and living of life through proper guidance.
In chapter 3, the periods of a child's growth are discussed and a rough timetable of what a child should be able to do at that time is shown (ex Age 5: make sounds)
In chapter 4, Montessori discusses the new path of human life and in order to study life effectively, we must start at the beginning.
In chapter 5, sketches and notes are presented on the formation of life and simple cells.
In chapter 6, we look at embryos and their behaviors for different species.
In chapter 7, we learn that man has two embryonic periods and outlines the
importance of a newborn baby and the care right after birth.
In chapter 8, the child's brain and thought process is discussed and we learn that he/she strives to be independent.
In chapter 9, the child's surroundings affect the child's mental life greatly and he will explore to satisfy his "mental hunger".
In chapter 10, language is shown to be a collective thought and a child will gradually develop language skills as he/she pieces words together.
In chapter 11, we see the awakening and the "need to express" of the child, thus creating language.
In chapter 12, we look at possible obstacles in a child's development like speech, courage, and knowledge.
In chapter 13, we see the importance of movement in an early child's development because it provides for his physical well being and puts a man
in touch with his world.
In chapter 14, we see how the hand and the mind work together and see how the brain affects the motor capabilities of the body.
Quote: “But the promise they hold can only be fulfilled through the experience of free activity conducted on the environment” (p. 96)
I observed two boys working on the Broad Stair. M was working on the Broad Stair. The boy Chase approached him and appeared to have made a suggestion. After a negotiation, the two boys agreed and together walked towards one of the shelves. They helped each other to bring back pieces of the Pink Tower. They kept going back and forth, combining the two materials together with frequent discussions, the children having fun while they learn. I believed that the enjoyable self-teaching and self-correcting. The children naturally would interact among themselves when solving their problems
Quote: “Once we have focused our attention and our studies on life itself, we may find that we are touching the secret of mankind and into our hands will fall the knowledge of how it should be governed and how helped.” (p. 17)
S is 5 ½ years old and an only child. He is much excelled in math and reading. S is very sensitive to making mistakes, and failures. Whenever he does something incorrectly, he will throw the material that he is using onto the ground, and become very upset with himself. Because of this behavior, none of the other children tend to talk to him. Because I observed this, I placed S with some younger children in the class. This was to have him see that it was okay to make mistakes as long as he learned from the mistakes.
Quote: “The immense influence that education can exert through children has the environment for its instrument, for the child absorbs his environment, takes everything form it, and incarnates it in himself. (p. 66)
Emily is four years old. Everyday, she will immediately go to the art section. She can focus on her art for three or four paintings. She uses many colors, and I personally think that her artwork is very pretty. She doesn’t go to other sections of the classroom very often. After I started noticing this, I began using art-related materials to teach her lessons. For example, I told Emily to draw out the Pink Tower blocks on pieces of paper, and color in the shape so she could see the sizes of the shapes. In the Practical Life section, I took several beginners materials and changed them into different colors. This way, it would catch Emily’s eye and make her want to come to different stations. After changing these things, I observed that Emily started going to different stations more often. (Although her first choice is still to go to the art section.) In conclusion, the prepared environment is important in motivating or engaging the child to learn.
Philosophy Part II
The Absorbent Mind
Feng Mei Shao
In chapter 1, Montessori stresses the "greatest marvel of the Universe, the human being" and says that teachers can only give their help.
In chapter 2, Montessori continues to stress the importance of a child's learning and living of life through proper guidance.
In chapter 3, the periods of a child's growth are discussed and a rough timetable of what a child should be able to do at that time is shown (ex Age 5: make sounds)
In chapter 4, Montessori discusses the new path of human life and in order to study life effectively, we must start at the beginning.
In chapter 5, sketches and notes are presented on the formation of life and simple cells.
In chapter 6, we look at embryos and their behaviors for different species.
In chapter 7, we learn that man has two embryonic periods and outlines the
importance of a newborn baby and the care right after birth.
In chapter 8, the child's brain and thought process is discussed and we learn that he/she strives to be independent.
In chapter 9, the child's surroundings affect the child's mental life greatly and he will explore to satisfy his "mental hunger".
In chapter 10, language is shown to be a collective thought and a child will gradually develop language skills as he/she pieces words together.
In chapter 11, we see the awakening and the "need to express" of the child, thus creating language.
In chapter 12, we look at possible obstacles in a child's development like speech, courage, and knowledge.
In chapter 13, we see the importance of movement in an early child's development because it provides for his physical well being and puts a man
in touch with his world.
In chapter 14, we see how the hand and the mind work together and see how the brain affects the motor capabilities of the body.
Quote: “But the promise they hold can only be fulfilled through the experience of free activity conducted on the environment” (p. 96)
I observed two boys working on the Broad Stair. M was working on the Broad Stair. The boy Chase approached him and appeared to have made a suggestion. After a negotiation, the two boys agreed and together walked towards one of the shelves. They helped each other to bring back pieces of the Pink Tower. They kept going back and forth, combining the two materials together with frequent discussions, the children having fun while they learn. I believed that the enjoyable self-teaching and self-correcting. The children naturally would interact among themselves when solving their problems
Quote: “Once we have focused our attention and our studies on life itself, we may find that we are touching the secret of mankind and into our hands will fall the knowledge of how it should be governed and how helped.” (p. 17)
S is 5 ½ years old and an only child. He is much excelled in math and reading. S is very sensitive to making mistakes, and failures. Whenever he does something incorrectly, he will throw the material that he is using onto the ground, and become very upset with himself. Because of this behavior, none of the other children tend to talk to him. Because I observed this, I placed S with some younger children in the class. This was to have him see that it was okay to make mistakes as long as he learned from the mistakes.
Quote: “The immense influence that education can exert through children has the environment for its instrument, for the child absorbs his environment, takes everything form it, and incarnates it in himself. (p. 66)
Emily is four years old. Everyday, she will immediately go to the art section. She can focus on her art for three or four paintings. She uses many colors, and I personally think that her artwork is very pretty. She doesn’t go to other sections of the classroom very often. After I started noticing this, I began using art-related materials to teach her lessons. For example, I told Emily to draw out the Pink Tower blocks on pieces of paper, and color in the shape so she could see the sizes of the shapes. In the Practical Life section, I took several beginners materials and changed them into different colors. This way, it would catch Emily’s eye and make her want to come to different stations. After changing these things, I observed that Emily started going to different stations more often. (Although her first choice is still to go to the art section.) In conclusion, the prepared environment is important in motivating or engaging the child to learn.
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