The Spiritual Preparation of the Montessori Teacher

The curriculum and the philosophy of Montessori are both based on her careful observation of individuals.  As she watched the children develop and explore their environment she brought essentials in to the environment that would support their natural development.  This action clearly supports her theory that entering a classroom and guiding a child in their development as a whole person means the teacher must be well prepared.  The teachers personal preparation and commitment to the students and their paths is extremely important.  Maria Montessori was the ultimate example of careful observation, preparation and honoring the spirit of the child.  But, as anyone who has participated in a Montessori training program can attest to, that preparation is necessary of any Montessori teacher.

“The real preparation for education is a study of one’s self. The training of the teacher who is to help life is something far more than the learning of ideas. It includes the training of character, it is a preparation of the spirit.” (The Absorbent Mind)

According to Montessori, to work effectively with children, we must tear out our most deeply rooted defects, especially those that would hinder our relations with our children. In true humility we must look at ourselves to identify our strengths as well as our weaknesses.

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, I feel a great desire to share my own understanding of the deep and ongoing preparation that our teachers commit to in order to be present and attentive to our children.  First of all, this preparation requires a moral preparation as well as a spiritual preparation. In an effort to model appropriate behavior and interactions, they must be non-judgemental and able to see a situation from many angles.  A Montessori teacher is required to observe the children and attune to their needs while she acts as a natural part of their environment and presents lessons in such a way that she entices each child, each day, and in each area.  Her depth of understanding the emotional status of each child must be sharp.  Her ability to assess, during her presentations, what a child is understanding must be present at all times.  There is no space in a classroom for judgement or prejudices.
As you know, ours is a program which teaches many practical skills. Therefore, assessing the needs of the children on a daily basis is a necessity in being prepared to follow their needs. They must let go of anger and pride as they step into the classroom each day.  They learn to model peaceful conflict resolution and learn to sit on and meditate with decisions in an effort to be fair and constructive. They learn to trust the process and see even the slightest change in their students.
My experience has been, and continues to be, that these wonderful people who are drawn to the philosophy of Montessori have a special gift.  Sending love and appreciation to the amazing teachers here at Montessori Community School.  Your dedication to Montessori, our children, and your own personal growth does not go unnoticed or under-appreciated.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thank you to all the families who participated in the Children’s clothing swap last week. We had a record amount of clothes donated! I hope you all got to update your growing child’s wardrobe a little bit.

Glass recycling Wednesday is getting off on the right foot! Each week we continue to see more and more glass coming in for us to recycle. Keep it coming! I hope you find this a useful service.

I wanted to publicly acknowledge the Green Committee members who have made our efforts to green MCS a success this year. You are all amazing and passionate about improving the school and the environment for our children.

One Green Committee member needs a little extra acknowledgement, Jaymison Peterson. With out Jaymison’s efforts the clothing swap just would not have happened. She sorted and folded so many kid tee shirts I think she will be folding in her dreams for quite awhile! Throughout the entire swap Jaymison was there, straightening and organizing, in order to make it easier for all of us to find what we needed, in the right size! And the wonderful signs for Glass Wednesday, you guessed it, Jaymison made them! Most Wednesdays she is one of the members taking the glass to be recycled. She is a vital part of the Green Committee and I hope she knows how much I appreciate her efforts and commitment to our Committee and to MCS. Thank you Jaymison!

And, thank you to all MCS parents and students for making the Green Committee a success again this year.

Ann Beverly

Chair, Green Committee

“(Parents) alone can and must save their children.  Their consciences must feel the force of the mission entrusted to them by nature for…in their hands lies positively the future of humanity, life.”

Maria Montessori

The philosophy of Montessori has, at some point, called to each one of us.  Over the years I have seen parents and teachers “fall for” Montessori for a variety of reasons and with a variety of intentions or hopes for its outcome.  Whatever the reason we chose this particular journey, it has probably become as clear to you as it has to me that a Montessori education is bigger than the 8 hours a day that our children spend inside the walls of Montessori Community School.  Our children are coming home with the ability to think  with initiative and innovation.  They have the desire to extend their learning outside the classroom.  From the time they are small, children are naturally learning.  They begin life touching and tasting everything in their path in an effort to learn as much as they can about their environment.  For a child who has been in a Montessori environment, their desire for knowledge has not changed much from the time they were infants.  They seek knowledge everywhere they go!

One of the most popular questions I get from parents is “how can I support the Montessori philosophy at home?”  What are we to do?  How do we keep that flame alive so their desire for knowledge continues to grow as they learn the tools necessary to obtain knowledge? As a Montessori mother I can assure you that the items below will make your job bringing Montessori home a whole lot easier as well as making your child’s Montessori experience more rich and meaningful than if it were to stand alone as a “school” experience. Slow down, model appropriately, and STOP hurrying our children: Our children are watching us.  And they are in an environment where they are learning appropriate social behavior.  They are learning skills necessary to recognize and communicate their needs and desires.  In our homes we can give them a voice!  The moments we spend effectively communicating with our little ones will serve them for a lifetime.  In addition to hearing their voice and giving it a fair amount of power, we need to SLOW DOWN.  Let us all make a committed effort to teach our children to stop and smell the flowers.  Lets show them that the only job worth doing is a job done well.  Effort and desire produce meaningful results. Preparation of the environment: Preparing an environment where the child can continue their patterns of growth and discovery is essential to supporting our children’s Montessori experience.  This is because our children are in a state where everything in their environment is of essence to their experience as an individual.  Our school environment allows the child space to learn in many aspects but often our home environments are set up to suit the needs of the adults.  Montessori said, “(The child) absorbs the life going on about him and becomes one with it….The child’s impressions are so profound that a biological or psycho-chemical change takes place, by which his mind ends by resembling the environment itself.”  Providing our children with an age appropriate, enriched environment is part of the gift we can give them in support of their Montessori education. Give our children space to explore their passions: These little ones are learning to find enthusiasm and joy in different tasks.  They are given freedom to explore topics of interest.  When we hear their voice and honor their passions, we support their love of learning.  A child who has developed an interest in plants desires nothing more than a parent who will listen and actively encourage their passion by providing them books, field trips, and conversations about plants.  A person truly masters a skill or subject when they can teach another person about it.  I urge you to give your children space to teach and share their passions with you. Accept their contributions: Our children are being taught to be contributing members of a community.  How can you allow your child this opportunity at home?  Their ability to contribute is usually beyond what we might think they are capable.  When we maintain our space as a family community we then have the opportunity to explore, play, and learn as a community.  My experience has been that to be an effective Montessori Parent, I have no choice but to understand and fully embrace that I have three little individuals on my hands. Their ability to truly and effectively contribute to society is one that makes me feel honored and privileged. I don’t advocate for having a house full of Montessori materials.  Our little ones spend many hours in a day working on academics.  They are most served at home when we allow them to participate in practical tasks and explore their surroundings.  When I invite you to bring Montessori home I certainly don’t want anyone getting the impression that I think our children should be home working on math.  I am saying that we can indulge their love of learning by hearing what they are interested in.  We can support their development of imagination by reading wonderful, adventurous books with them.  We can support their love of nature by hiking and camping and exploring with them.  We can teach them the beauty of the earth by walking slowly with them.  We can nurture their ability to build meaningful relationships by seeing them and hearing them and touching them.  We can teach them to be confident by looking them in the eye while they speak to us.  We can teach them to resolve conflicts peacefully by modeling peaceful conflict resolution.

Occasionally someone in our community is in need of certain items. Feel free to inquire at the office about how you may help if you are interested.

Glass Recycling for Parents & School Community is open!

Shakin’ it for Nico!

Deacon, Drake, Meghan and Sophie volunteer their time at the Zumbathon.

A small crowd of attendees before the madness began!

Shakin’ It for Nico!

Excited children watching their parents dance!

Alyana and Lauren, volunteering in Child Care, bust out a move.

For those who participated in the Zumbathon last Friday night, we cannot begin to thank you enough.  The energy was incredible and seeing the event come together, as a community of loving adults put their dollars AND their enthusiastic energy into this project, was a touching experience for many.  We raised well over our anticipated goal and some of our staff members are looking forward to presenting the money to Nico and his family next week.

This event is just one reason we are all proud to be a part of the Montessori Community School…when we bring together our talents, our good intentions, and our positive energy-we can do amazing things!

Special thanks to the following:

Sophie Lake -MCS teacher, event organizer, event volunteer

Cinthya Barajas – MCS teacher, Zumbathon instructor/event volunteer, event organizer

Ralynne Purdy – Zumbathon instructor/event volunteer

Jena Marston – Zumbathon instructor/event volunteer

Meghan Burrows – MCS teacher, event volunteer

Alyana Kay – MCS teacher, event volunteer

Lauren Bornschein – MCS teacher, event volunteer

MCS Facilities – event organization, set-up

Drake Jones – MCS student, event volunteer

Tanner Jones – MCS student, event volunteer

Deacon Jones – MCS student, event volunteer

And especially to all the community members (MCS Community as well as many SLC Community members) who participated in the event!

Many, Many Thanks!

6th Annual – Montessori Community School Fun Run

Wednesday, April 17th 2013

(Please note the change in date from the school calendar.)

The two main service projects that our school is involved with are the Adopt A Native Elder program and also COEEF (Children of Ethiopia Fund).

For the past seventeen years our school has raised money, in various ways, for the Adopt a Native Elder program, to provide financial assistance for our three adopted Navajo grandmothers- Roseline, Emma and Elvira who have chosen to remain living on a reservation and spent their lives living in the  traditional life style as role models for their children and grandchildren.  For the past ten years our school has also raised money to pay full tuition to allow our  girls in Ethiopia to attend school. Only 25% of girls in Ethiopia are afforded the opportunity to attend school and COEEF has built schools in Ethiopia for the express purpose of providing education only for girls.

For the past six years the main fundraising event to support our grandmothers and young girls in Ethiopia has been our Spring Fun Run. All of our students participate in the event.  The children collect pledges from family and friends who are interested in supporting these two programs and the children run laps on the Lower Field to earn the money that has been pledged.  100% of the money earned goes directly to our grandmothers to whom we provide certificates throughout the year for them to buy food, clothing, general incidentals and firewood and for the tuition for our students in Ethiopia.

There is still a great need within the Adopt a Native Elder program for support of other grandmothers and we hope to be able to adopt another grandmother. That will be determined based on the funds raised at the Fun Run this year. Last year we only raised about half of what we had raised the year before so we do not want to over commit ourselves. Over the next couple weeks, the teachers will be talking to the children about service to others and in particular about our grandmothers and the students we

It is with extreme sadness that we advise you of the death of one of our beloved grandmothers – Grandmother Roseline Jackson.  She was 94 years old.

Approximately seventeen years ago our school began our relationship with the Adopt A Native Elder program and at that time we adopted Grandmothers Roseline, Emma and Elvira.

Approximately eighteen months ago Bob and I had the opportunity to travel to Arizona with the Adopt A Native Elder group on one of their Food Runs.  Each day we visited a different area of the Navajo reservation and our three grandmothers – Roseline, Emma and Elvira lived in two of these areas so we were able to spend several hours with each of them and get to know them on a more personal level.  It was such a pleasure to meet Grandmothers Roseline and Emma for the first time.  We really appreciated the opportunity to learn first hand so much more about the history of Navajo and the lifestyle that they have lead.

Grandmother Roseline was a wonderful warm and charming woman with a really funny sense of humor. She has had many health issues over the past two years and has been hospitalized a few times. Each time she has bounced back and has continued to have her positive attitude and sense of humor. I have kept in touch with her regularly and know how much she appreciated all the assistance we were able to provide her. Over the past few years she has felt the cold very badly and she needed to keep her wood fire going all year long so was especially grateful for all the firewood that our school provided for her. Her family also expressed their extreme gratitude for all of our assistance.

Written By: Robyn Eriwata-Buchanan