Montessori Education

My perception on Montessori Preschool

This piece of advice from Dr Maria Montessori has always been my guide when working with children. Montessori encourage children to take ownership of their own learning. 

There are 5 big ideas in Montessori Method:

i) The absorbent mind - 

Children's mind is like a sponge, It absorbed information and sensations from the surroundings effortlessly, continuously and indiscriminately. 

ii) Sensitive period

From birth to age 7, a child is more responsive to certain stimuli and learn effectively through hands-on and physical sensation. 

iii) Prepared environment

Children develop vast in an environment that are calm, orderly and supported of their needs. Child-height shelves and furniture to maximize self regulated activity. 

iv) Control of Error

Children prefer to correct by themselves rather than being corrected by adult. The sensorial materials in the school are made for "self correcting" purpose. 

v) Practical life skills

This exercises help the child to gain control of his movements and adapt to his own society as a full functional member. 

In view of the above, I imagine a Montessori classroom is like room with the right tools at the right place where a group of little children moving freely, working on their own quietly with the self corrected sensorial materials. No unnecessary aid is given by the teacher. 

Montessori advocate outdoor learning too. "Garden was a natural extension of indoor environment". I am very interested in the concept of free flowing Montessori environment where we can take the indoor environment out and the outdoor environment in. 

What I have learnt from a local Montessori School

Prepared enviroment: 

We can see child-height shelves and furniture in the classroom so that minimal assistance is needed from teacher. Children appreciate an order in the surrounding. Thus, the sensorial and other materials are arranged in an orderly manner so that children can work independently in the classroom. Freedom also carries responsibility in which the children need to work on a mat that identifies their work space and return items to where it belongs after working with it.  

The school has a very spacious compound which can be use to maximize their outdoor activities. 

3 Period Lesson: 

Introduction (This is...)

Recognition (Show me...)

Recall (What is this...?)

The teacher will show how to WORK (not PLAY) with the sensorial materials in SILENCE. Children were trained to observe (self directed engagement) before practise the skills on their own. 

Materials:

All Montessori materials were carefully designed with purpose. For example, 

• Red Rods (length) 
• Brown Stairs (weight and height)
• The Pink Tower (size and dimension)
• Sound cylinder (soft and loud)

Challenges : Fidelity of Implementation 

It is difficult to find a high fidelity classic Montessori Program in Malaysia. The implementation of the approach have to compromise with the "market demand" and parents expectation. It is always due to the reason of "adaptation" to the national curriculum. 

Montessori Education is an appealing approach to train a child to be an independent learner who has the desire to learn. Isn't this an important trait for a student? Educators understand that but unable to convince the parent and the community to believe in it. 

We lost the attributes of mixed-age classroom and uninterrupted work time concept. The children were divided by age group and conventional school activities were added into the time table. Children are unable to work on a same material at the same place uninterrupted for 3 hour. 

Waldorf Education

My first understanding of Waldorf Early Childhood Education

When we ask the general public in our community about Waldorf, many will say:" Ah... I know, the children PLAY ONLY in the school, no study one..."  Is that so? Yes, it is. It is very Child-Centered in which children learn at their will.

PLAY is an important element in Waldorf philosophy. Play unleashing the creative potential of the children and thus encouraging their spiritual nature to blossom and finally developing the academic capacity of every child. Children need connection to the environment. Because the children play a lot, they form a healthy relationship with the environment. Thus, they will be compassionate to the nature and all living things in it. This is HUMAN!

The curriculum is non academic and arts is integrated in every subject. The fairy tale curriculum builds a strong foundation for imagination and creative thinking. The children learn through imitation, diverse sensory impressions and movement. Rhythm and repetition are important elements in effective learning. 

In 2019, Waldorf is celebrating 100 years of Waldorf Education. 

#Anthroposophy

# Eurythmy

A visit to Taska Lin

When we first enter the school, we were "welcome" by a very spacious compound. It is definitely a great place for outdoor activities. There are small hills, trees and swings and also a brick house left after the story of Three Little Pigs. 

When we enter the school building, it fits the definition of Home-Like environment. The colours of the walls are warm and safe. The flow of the curtain do create harmonious feeling in the room.

We were introduced the daily routine of the children which looks like a breathing cycle. The have morning circle (breath-in) as well as 2 hours outdoor play (breath-out). 

Besides the toys made of natural materials (rocks, wooden blocks, seeds, clothes etc), the school also prepared "structured toys" like legos and plastic animals. It was meant to connect the child with their home. 

Site visit is an interesting part of experiential learning. I understand the practical way of Waldorf Education here compare to the Waldorf philosophy. There is no identical Waldorf school in the world because of different culture and legal requirement. However, the Waldorf educators do hold firmly in Anthroposophy and Eurythmy.  

Anthroposophy has a strong spiritual dimension. I did not understand this philosophy entirely. To me, it is an inner development that we gain control of our thinking, actions and feelings. Being conscious of the ugliness but know how to look at the beauty and goodness is a positive attitude about life. 

Eurythmy is something very abstract. It is a movement without sound but with meaning. Imagination plays an important role. For example, every alphabet is associated with a sound that expressed through dance movement. 

Is this Waldorf approach still valid after 100 years?

"Waldorf hold great potential for the future because human being is put in the center. It naturally embraces the spiritual side of a person." - from a Waldorf educator 

Waldorf engaging head, heart and hands in learning process. 

Hands - The children use their hands to do house chores and helping each other (imitation) to develop goodness body. 

Heart - Play, music and art (imagination) helps the children to express their feeling to develop beauty soul.  

Head - Problem solving (intellectual) to develop authority thinking.

We do, we feel, we think. This is the way we learn. Of course this approach still valid! 

"Within these children, lives a future that we want to allow to unfold, rather than forming them into who we are" - from a Waldorf educator

Global Perspectives of ECE - Introduction

WHY? TO INFLUENCE

Before I decided to further study in Early Childhood Eduction (ECE), I has involved in this field for 8 years. Even though, I viewed myself at the Stage 1 of the pyramid. For the past 8 years, I took advice from ECE practitioners, I attended workshops and seminars, I read articles and publications just to find out more about ECE and what it entails.I tried my best to prepare myself before embark my journey in Part Time study in USM.   

After following the course for 2 semesters, I have changed. The lecturers and the contents of the course changed my concepts and understanding about ECE. Slowly, I have moved up to stage 2 where I understand the essential principles of ECE. After the "training" I get from our mentor, Dr Kim, I am able to place myself in stage 3 in which I can share my knowledge in relative to ECE and provide appropriate feedback to others. 

Currently, I am trying to interprets the principles and practices of ECE to parents whenever I have a chance. I need to do more to extend this interpretations to the members of the community. Sometimes, I do fallback to stage 2 and 3 but I will integrate my knowledge and experiences in ECE to make myself stand firmer in stage 4 in near future. Hopefully 10 years later, I can move up to the top of the pyramid to contribute my works to the society especially children. 

HOW? EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

"They must TALK about what they are learning, WRITE about it, RELATE it to past experiences, APPLY it to their daily lives." - Chickering and Gamson (1987)

Based on the above principles, we are encouraged very much in doing experiential learning instead of content learning. This is 21st century. Knowledge around the world can be obtained easily and quickly. It depends on our will (our choice) to learn or not to learn. We can engaged with the more knowledgeable parties around the world to make our learning authentic. We are able to archived what we learnt in shared multimedia for critical revision and reflection. Reflections from every lesson make us THINK. Our Dr Kim really wanted to provoke our thoughts in order to re-conceptualize or even create new Early Childhood knowledge. This method of learning is totally NEW to my generation and yet essential to CONNECT to the future generations. 

WHAT? FOLLOW THIS BLOG AND YOU WILL KNOW WHAT WE HAVE DONE