Montessori Writer

My assistant came up with a great holiday project this year. They kids are making their faces into ornaments. First, they have to look in the mirror to determine what shape their face is, then choose a corresponding shape from the metal insets. They then trace the shape on a pre-cut circle and use multicultural markers, construction paper, yarn, etc., to make their face.  On the back, she is putting real pictures of the children for reference. Then it is labeled with the school name and year.

They’re really stinkin’ cute and child-driven!

Kudos to Karen!! 

When working with young children, it is inevitable that they are going to say somethings that cause your jaw to drop or to have to duck so that they don’t see you laughing. In the last two weeks, my kids have notoriously contributed some verbal jewels that I just need to share.

The most jaw-dropping of them all comes from a young boy who turned 3 years old just a few weeks ago. He is very sweet and very verbal, and we were warned from the beginning that he had developed a tendency to drop a couple of choice phrases here and there.

He started out by screaming, “G*dd@mm!t, I want my mommy!” when having one of his daily bouts with separation anxiety. Then, yesterday, he came over to the story writing table and started straightening the papers that were in front of me.”Hey, Miss Coventry, I’m f***ing straightening your papers!” I could not believe what I had just heard him say, so I asked him to repeat it, which he did, clear as a bell.  I kept hoping that he was really trying to say something else, so I did ask him two more times.  When I asked him to tell my assistant, he suddenly changed his phrase, dropping the adverb completely.

Today, he simply said, “What the hell?”

Another one of my three year-old boys came up to me yesterday and said, “Miss Coventry, I am going to fart on you!”  I simply said, “No, you’re not,” and went to turn away.  He replies, “But I have a fart in my butt!”  I walked away.

My favorite story, though, is the cleanest one, and honestly the funniest.  When I shared it with her parents at our conference, the three of us honestly had tears streaming down our faces.

One of my kindergarten girls comes into class a couple of weeks ago, stomping angry.  She marches up to her best friend, also a K, and says, “I’m very mad at you, because you didn’t answer when I called you on my imaginary phone last night!”  The other child nonchalantly replies, “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear it ring.”

These are the moments that keep teaching interesting……

Sorry that I’ve been gone for a while!  It’s been interesting trying to find the balance between the writing world and the full-time teaching world, while simultaneously launching a book reviewing career.  I was also fortunate enough to have finally received some new partner calls from AC, which broadened my horizons.  I’ve also launched two new Examiner pages:  Children’s Books launched last week and Montessori will launch next week.

A week ago I posted about the debate of using plastic, wood, and glass in the Montessori classroom.  Thank you so much to those of you who answered!  I got my desired reaction, which was the sharing of ideas and some conversation!

Most of you were polite and productive with your comments.  I had one person on Twitter say that someone who suggests using plastic in the Montessori classroom obviously does not embrace the Montessori philosophy.  At first, I assumed that she was commenting in general, but then I realized that she was directing the comment to me.

I’d like to clarify a bit here. 

I do tend to prefer the use of glass and ceramic in the Montessori classroom, as it is what Maria wanted.  Natural consequences are that careless use of the materials leads to them breaking, and the child will then try to be more careful.

I ask the budget question, because eventually money can run out, and honestly, I don’t have a lot of extra money to keep replacing materials myself. 

The stories that I shared reflected the practices of other Montessori teachers and schools out there.  These practices are not strictly done at the three schools that I talked about.  They are used all over the place, with similar justifications.  I was using those stories as examples.  And one of those schools is AMS accredited and works closely with Sister Anthonita Portia, so you know it is actually a pretty good school!  At another one, I specifically worked closely with Sr. Anthonita as the school grew and progressed.  And the other one has started the accreditation process a couple of times, but it is a long and arduous process.

I have another question for people regarding the use of unbreakables in the classroom.  What do you do when you have a group of children who have issues that prevent them from maintaining body control?  For example, the boys with Sensory Processing Disorder who cannot regulate their bodies and are still crashing into things as they make their way through the evaluation process and determining the appropriate sensory diet?

What do you choose to do when you have a class of mostly three year-olds who have never been entrusted with glass before in their lives?  Their mothers still have them drinking out of sippy cups so as not to stain their carpeting and cause unnecessary cleaning?

In an ideal world, parents would be easily convinced to start using glass at home, but realistically it is difficult to convince them.

And the jury is still out on helping children with SPD in the Montessori classroom.  I have had both good and bad experiences with it.  I have also been in contact with the professionals, and they have also heard mixed reviews, but mostly that Montessori is not an appropriate environment.

I guess this post has kind of taken two directions all mixed into one.  I wonder what Maria would do? (WWMD? haha)

I think she would like to have smaller groups of children and would work really hard with them in the beginning of the year to reinforce careful movements and handling of fragile materials.  Perhaps starting with something like wood would be better, as it is still naturally beautiful, and yes wood can break when it is dropped!  I’m just curious what you all think?

So, the last post was created as we were sitting in the Days Inn in Albany, bored out of our minds.  I couldn’t find anything online that looked remotely fun, and I like to entertain myself, so I just wrote and played on the laptop all day.  Finally around 5ish, we emerged from the hotel room cocoon and headed downtown again.

Dinner was at a cute little Bayou cafe that played a lot of Pearl Jam music - both studio and random b-sides - as well as other fun Seattle music.  It made me happy.

We wandered down to the theatre around 7 pm.  We had to make sure that we looked at the tour buses, and dork that I am, I took photos.  It was kind of funny to look at the license plate that had been ripped off, even though the incident pretty much wasn’t funny (if you were in the EV crew).  I took a few of my other dorky pictures, such as the Pearl Street sign.  (If you knew me in college, you’d understand, let alone the significance of Eddie being in Pearl Jam).

I bought my second poster, and another t-shirt, and we settled in for Liam Finn.  I do love listening to him, and especially watching him onstage.  As my friend (and the guy in front of us) pointed out, he looks like Animal from the Muppets when he plays the drums.  I just don’t know that I would listen to him on CD, because it just wouldn’t be the same. 

The second night’s seats were Orchestra Level again, this time on the far left on the outer aisle.  We were in row F, which I believe actually put us about 10 rows back?  The advantage was, again being on the aisle, allowed for easy access to rushing up for the last song, “Hard Sun”.

The show was good (of course!!), but I didn’t feel as connected as I did the previous evening.  Lots of good music and covers, but please don’t ask me what he sang!  (Visit the tenclub website for a complete listing!)

After the show, we returned to our spot from the previous night, preparing to again wait a long time.  This time we wore sneakers and jackets and long pants, in preparation for waiting in cold rain.  It didn’t rain, but the time time flew, as we conversed with several other fans. Most notable was the man we dubbed “Random Hot Pearl Jam Guy”, as we never did find out his name, but enjoyed listening to all of his stories.  I love other Pearl Jam fans!

And then the moment we were waiting for.  Ed’s security guy came over and said that there would be no signing and no pictures with him, as there were just too many of us, just some handshakes, and we were more than welcome to take photos of him as he came around.

The crowd of 30 swelled forward, clamoring for pictures and a chance to shake his hand.  I was shaking, because I feared that I wouldn’t have a chance to do it again, as there were so many of us, and I couldn’t push my way up front.  I took photos with my phone (see above), and then he was close by.

I made eye contact and extended my hand.  He took ahold of it, starting to say his “Nice to meet you” line.  I said what I have always wanted to say:  “Thank you for the last eighteen years of my life.”  He paused, squeezed my hand, and said, “Wow……really?”  I said, “Yes, you have been a part of my life for the last eighteen years, and kept me going.  Thank you.”  He thanked me, finally let go of my hand, started to move on, but then stopped again, turned around, looked right at me, and said, “Stay alive.”

I turned to my friend with tears welled up in my eyes, absolutely thrilled that I had finally said what I have always wanted to say to that man.  And I started shaking again.

After he made his way through the crowd, he started heading to the other side to greet everyone by his bus.  But before he left, he again stopped, turned around, looked at us and said, “Sorry for all the f*ck-ups tonight, guys.”  I was one of the people with whom he made eye contact at that point, and I simply said, “It’s all good.  Don’t worry about it.”  We smiled, and he went away.

So, then we ran with RHPJF guy around the buses, just to go watch and listen to the other side.  I was a little jealous because people over there were actually able to reach out for hugs, but at the same time, the emotional exchange that I had meant more than the physical contact.  When all was said and done, RHPJF guy looked at me and said, “I feel like we have experience something profound together,” and gave us each a big hug.  He has literally been to double the number of Eddie and Pearl Jam shows that I have, but has never had the opportunity to meet him before.  Apparently he waited outside after a solo show until 5 am, and Eddie never came out.  So, I feel even more fortunate that I got to do it…..TWICE.

Every school year, a hot topic of conversation at our “grade level” meetings is “To graduate, or not to graduate?”  We go round and round for a while, and often end up doing the same thing.

Our school’s tradition for those K’s moving on to “first grade” is to set up a Moving Up Ceremony.  Working with our music teacher, the children learn songs reflecting our multicultural diversity, education for peace, and self-empowerment.  All of these are ideals that are taught throughout the child’s journey in our early childhood program.  Often sign language is incorporated, and they perform a dance.  When all is said and done, they are each given a certificate celebrating moving on from the 3-6 classroom to their next adventure in life.

Questions pondered include the following:

• If it is a moving up ceremony, why aren’t all the children moving up?  (My boss has a dream of the children literally crossing a bridge to symbolize moving to the next level.)
• If we want to encourage children to stay at our school, why do we give them that little diploma/certificate, that symbolizes completion of the program?
• How can we make the celebration more reflective of what the children have learned throughout the year?

Our production, though highly stressful to prepare for, always ends up being a huge success and the children step up to the performance, and almost everyone cries during the slide show.  It’s a concept that parents understand, but does it really reflect who we are as a school?

The elementary children this year did a “Show What You Know” sort of fair, in which they spent several weeks researching a favorite topic, created reports and visual aids, and displayed them for parents to see.  It was a true culmination of what they had learned over the year.  Could a scaled-back version of that be appropriate for the 5-6 year-olds?

Other Montessori schools I have worked at and attended as a child also have annual programs with song and dance that reflect what the children have been learning in music and foreign language classes throughout the year.

How does your school celebrate the end of the year? 

Should we encourage graduation at such a young age?

I’m interested to hear your thoughts.

One more week of school, then it’s summer vacation.  Ok, so teachers have to stay one more week afterwards to clean up, but that’s not a big deal.

So, what will I do with myself this summer?  I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I have made the following goals:

• Average 2 articles per day
• Regularly update this new blog
• Keep my garden weeded
• Clean my house
• Go to a few concerts

I’ve come close, already, with almost 2 articles a day in the busiest school month of the year (next to September), the backyard is cleaned up, I put away the clean dishes this morning, and I’m going to two nights of Eddie Vedder in just over a week! 

Ooh, let the mental ping-ponging begin:  I’ve already been reminded of my favorite beer cap, given to me by a friend of mine.  It was from Magic Hat and said, “What could be better than a beer with Eddie Vedder?”  For me, probably not too much.

Other random thought of the day…….last night I was out gardening.  On my way back from the greenhouse, I saw another one of those Smart Cars.  I appreciate their economy, both financially and environmentally, and am seeing many more of them on the local roads. Usually there is only one person in the car.  Once I saw two people.  But yesterday, there were three people crammed into this Smart Car, and I just couldn’t stop thinking of those clown cars at the circus.  The image is still amusing me greatly this morning.

And now with that image firmly implanted in my mind, I must be on my way to weed and mulch for other people……..

My name is Andrea Coventry.  I am a former Montessori child who has now grown up to become a Montessori educator.

When we were graduating from 6th grade, we were asked to pick our favorite hobby and showcase our talents in it.  I chose writing.  Do I remember what I had written?  Not so much, anymore.  But I knew even then that it was a passion of mine.

Alas, I got away from writing anything that wasn’t a paper for school and the dream got away from me.  When I started teaching, having to write regular newsletters allowed me to start exploring that creative side again, and people encouraged me to start writing. So, I started with Associated Content in 2007, and have grown since then!

As a Montessorian, I am interested in a wide variety of topics and love to learn. I also love to network and share my knowledge with others. My article posts reflect that.

I hope you will join me on my never-ending quest for knowledge and that we can engage in some conversation!