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Tag: Middle School

Middle School Career Investigations Immersion, November 10-14

Written by Montessori Admin on . Posted in Blog.

The MCS Middle School’s second cycle (6-week period) of the year focused on “Changes,” in literature, in the natural and physical world around us (fungi, protists, and matter), and how we can be catalysts for positive change in society. The immersion week offers students an opportunity to apply and integrate what they have learned throughout the previous five weeks. For Cycle 2 the immersion was a Career Investigations week. Leading up to the immersion, students utilized expository writing methods to research possible careers. During the immersion week, they investigated different professions through interviews, field trips and job shadowing.

The first professional to visit was a local paramedic and firefighter. He brought his fire gear along, which weighed about 30 pounds, not including an oxygen tank. Nearly everyone in the class took the opportunity to try it on. He also brought his medical supplies and allowed the students to experience the powerful smell of ammonia tablets that paramedics use to rouse unconscious people. He told the class the process for becoming a firefighter, which involves a written test and then a physical one. The physical test includes being able to hold 100 pounds and run a large number of stairs. Firefighters typically work 48-hour shifts (they’re able to sleep if there isn’t an emergency) and then they have four days off. Robert explained that the pay for a firefighter is about $42,000, and a fire captain makes about $82,000. A paramedic can make about $60,000. The pay goes up for all of these jobs the more relevant degrees one has.

A local documentary filmmaker showed the students trailers for four of her films. She was a social worker for about twenty years and then went to film school at the University of Utah because she felt that filmmaking would allow her to have a greater impact on society. She finds documentaries to be fascinating and a good way to learn. She explained that being an independent filmmaker allowed her to have a flexible (though busy) schedule. She has to do fundraising for her films on her own, which is typically very time-consuming. She said that her salary varies over time since she has her own business.

The students also heard from a Basic Life Skills (BLS) instructor and midwife’s assistant (she’s training to become a midwife). She teaches birth classes, and she assists with births at The Birth Center in Salt Lake City. She explained that midwives are trained to be able to do numerous medical procedures as needed, including monitoring a mother’s and baby’s vital signs, giving Pitocin if a mother is losing too much blood after a delivery, and giving stitches as needed. She showed the class a movie about unmedicated births and explained the differences between a doula and a midwife (a doula provides emotional support during labor but does not do medical procedures). Adrianna has assisted with more than 200 births.

On Thursday, November 13th, the class visited the music studio of John Hancock, MCS parent and a local songwriter. He showed the students his equipment and explained that he is hired by companies to create songs for commercials as well as to remix existing music. Companies usually pay songwriters between $300 and $1,000 in advance to create a demo song and then between $3,000 and $5,000 if they use the song. John explained that songwriters also receive royalties on songs they write that are subsequently used.

The next day, Dr. Mary Dickerson, MCS parent and a veterinarian, visited the students along with two of her coworkers. She works in Laboratory Animal Science in the Office of Comparative Medicine at the University of Utah. She takes care of the animals in the lab where she works. She explained that a veterinarian can make between $50,000 and $175,000. She brought scrubs for the students to keep and had them do a relay race to see how quickly they could put the scrubs on.

An anesthesiologist visited the same day. He explained that his job is basically to keep people from dying and to keep them comfortable. He uses morphine, local anesthetic, and sometimes laughing gas in his work. He gives epidurals as needed to mothers in labor. He typically works 65 hours a week but sets his own schedule, and he said that anesthesiologists makes between $250,000 and $700,000 depending on the year. He explained that he went to school in the United Kingdom and that the structure there involves going straight to medical school immediately after completion of high school.

The final professional to visit was MCS parent Chris Fischer, who has been a helicopter pilot since 2008. He said that helicopter pilots make an average of $40,000 per year. His most common assignment is giving tours of the Grand Canyon, and he works either seven days on then seven days off, or else 14 days on and 14 days off.

The Middle School class was excited to learn about so many different professions and was grateful to all of the professionals who shared their time and knowledge with the class.

By Carla Moquin, Middle School and Lower Elementary parent

 

MCS’s Collaborative Murals

Written by Montessori Admin on . Posted in Blog.

“The human hand, so delicate and so complicated, not only allows the mind to reveal itself but it enable the whole being to enter into special relationships with its environment…man ‘takes possession of his environment with his hands.’ His hands, under the guidance of his intellect transform this environment and this enable him to fulfill his mission in the world.”
–       Maria Montessori, The Discovery of the Child

Thank you to MCS’s Art Instructor, Kindra Fehr for organizing and implementing the painting of two murals on our school grounds.
A garden theme designed and executed by our Middle School class. Oquirrh, a Lower Elementary (1st – 3rd grade) class and two Early Childhood classes, Sequoias and Willows (ages 3 – 5), contributed to the design by adding various bugs, butterflies, and flowers.
                                                    Mural 2 
Mural 2 is being painted on MCS’s new traversing wall. Designed by our Upper Elementary (4th – 6th grade) class, the wall features a desert theme. Wasatch, a Lower Elementary (1st – 3rd grade) class and two Early Childhood classes, Aspens and Magnolias (ages 3 – 5), will contribute to the design by adding various desert creatures and plants.
Art is one of the many ways children express themselves. Art is a way for children to communicate their feeling. It is through art that children develop their fine motor skills. In the Montessori environment, we provide open-ended art activities that help children explore and use their creativity.
When it comes to art, it is the process not the product that is important to the child. As adults, our goal is to produce a product. The child interacts with the world differently. The child works to develop self. The focus is on the process, not the product. Once a child creates something, he does not feel the need to keep the product. It is the process that gives satisfaction and inner joy. (Personette, 2011).
It has been a pleasure to witness the processes our students have gone through to prepare, plan, and employ as a school community to make these murals happen. It indeed, has been beautiful to see the cohesiveness and tight-knit relationships between our students, no matter the age or grade.
Cited
Personette, Pamela. (April 2014). Art in the Montessori Environment. Montessori Services: A Resource for Preparing a Child’s Environment. Retrieved from http://www.montessoriservices.com/ideas-insights/art-in-the-montessori-environment

MCS Cultural Fair

Written by Montessori Admin on . Posted in Blog.

Montessori Cultural curriculum includes learning about Geography, Science, Music, Art, and Yoga. Throughout these studies, our students have become familiar with continents, oceans, and countries including but not limited to specific flora, fauna, flags, and folks.  Montessori cultural education helps students to adapt to their own culture, inspires a love of learning, and offers a new perspective of the world. Within this spectrum, our students get the opportunity to do an in depth study of a particular culture, focusing on specific countries of our world and their uniqueness.

Thursday, April 24th our Elementary and Middle School students will be presenting their cultural studies for MCS’s Annual Cultural Fair from 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm in the MCS gymnasium.  Our students’ presentations will remain set up throughout Friday, April 25th until late morning for all those wanting to swing by, view, support, and share in the success and hard work of our students.

Becoming a Montessori Parent by Edward Fidellow

Written by Montessori Admin on . Posted in Blog.

Becoming a Montessori Parent

by Edward Fidellow

This Montessori parent, and school administrator, joins her three Montessori children on a field trip this fall.

There are seven simple steps to becoming a Montessori parent. When we say simple we don’t mean that they are not challenging. It is a lot like the definition of bull riding. “The object is to keep the bull between you and the ground.” Simple – but challenging.

The first step to becoming a Montessori parent took place when you enrolled your child in a Montessori program. That in itself is a challenge. Most of us weren’t raised in a Montessori school. The whole concept is foreign and takes a bit of courage to step out of the norm and our comfort zone. We may have chosen the program because it wasn’t like our school experience (which is why we chose it.) Or we chose it because we saw something unique in a Montessori child we knew. Or we were just plain lucky and stumbled on to a Montessori school and were fascinated by what we saw. Even then we had to deal with the question, “If this is so great, how come the whole world isn’t lined up outside the door to enroll?” (Which is the same question Montessorians keep wondering about too!) But you made a complex and challenging decision to become a Montessori parent. And here you are. So how do you get the best out of your decision? You go to step two.

You begin to understand the core philosophy of what Montessori is all about. Fortunately, you don’t have to become a Montessori teacher to be a good Montessori parent. (You don’t have to know how to manipulate all of those materials and you don’t have to keep fifteen children from climbing the walls.) The most significant Montessori concept is to respect the child. I can almost hear the wheels turning “Of course I respect my child, I love them very much that’s why I have them in Montessori, I want the best for them.” Of course you love them – but respect is different. Respecting the child is first, to respect the nature of children. Children are not mini adults waiting to be molded. They are like tadpoles and caterpillars that have their own form and function of life waiting to become what they are intended to be. We are often impatient for them to become because we don’t realize that childhood – with its curiosity, playfulness, messiness and all – is part of the process of them transforming themselves into the adults they will become. We have to respect that process – which doesn’t mean they always get to do what they want. One of the operative words in Dr. Montessori’s writing is the word “train”. We do need to train our children but we need to train ourselves “not to destroy that which is good” in the nature of our children. The second part of respect is to respect the personality of your child. Your child is not a blank slate. They are already imbued with the unique characteristics of who they are. The artistic bent is already there. The math bent is already formed. The leader, the follower, the giver, the taker, the extrovert, the introvert are already dna’d into your child. Right or left handed, right or left brained are already formed.

So how do you cooperate with nature? You become an observer. That is the next step in becoming a Montessori parent – you train yourself to observe. What does your child gravitate to? What gives them great joy? What occupies them endlessly? These are all clues to who your child is becoming. You are fortunate that you have a trained helper in your child’s Montessori teacher. Your next parent conference should ask more than what has she done but who do you see her becoming. It is hard to cooperate with nature if you are not aware of the nature of your child.

Our third step is to become their champion. I know. I hear you say, “Of course, I’m their champion. I love them.” And so you do. But are their goals your goals? Translation: Do you have goals for them that do not take into account who they are. (There are many jock fathers who do not have jock sons.) Yes, you have many wonderful goals for them to be caring and loving, honest and faithful, upright, truthful, etc – and these are worthy, significant and meaningful goals which they should attain to. But the expression of their lives – career, vocation, work – is best met and fulfilled according to their gifts. When your five year old says, “I want to be a fireman.” He may be reflecting the latest book or television program he’s seen. However, if you continue to ask the why questions, “Why do you think that would be a good job? Why do you think that you would enjoy that?” you may discover that your child is not drawn just to the excitement but to the fact of wanting to help people or he likes the aspect of being part of a team. All are important clues to his personality. Your child needs you to champion and encourage his personality (especially, if it is different than yours.)

The fourth step is to practice what they learn at school – grace and courtesy. Please and thank you, may I, excuse me, please forgive me and a host of other considerations practiced (and modeled) at home will go a long way to giving your child every advantage in life. People respond favorably to a child with great manners.

Fifth, practice independence. Independence is the ability to be self-governing and that comes from making choices, living with the consequences and having responsibilities. As often as possible give your children choices. “What do you want for breakfast, cereal or eggs?” “Do you want two spoonfuls of carrots or one?” (Don’t offer choices where there are no choices. “Do you want carrots? They say no and you serve them anyway.) Give your children chores they can accomplish – making their beds, putting dirty clothes in the laundry, dishes in the dishwasher, etc. Chores build responsibility; responsibility builds independence; independence builds confidence.

Sixth, give them the gift of time. Give them time to accomplish their chores. Give them time to be children. Give them time to breath. Give them your time.

Seventh, practice humility. They have a lot to learn from you. What is easy for you as an adult is mystifying and beyond challenge for them. Let your words be seasoned with grace. Look for the good in what they do. Their motives are often pure; their actions imperfect. Yet, we have a lot to learn from them also. And when you are wrong (when, not if) practice the humility of saying, “Please forgive me.” It will not destroy your authority or their respect for you. It will teach them one of the great lessons of life – when you fail, whether it’s in a relationship, school, career or life – own the failure and start over again – to succeed another day.

Becoming a Montessori parent is to become the best parent you can be.