Montessori Musings
Thoughts on Montessori teaching, Cosmic Education, and navigating the world of Inspired Learning
A Teachers' Moment of Inspiration
Who can say where and when inspiration may strike? More significantly, why does it matter? I believe, as a teacher and guide for children, it may be all that matters.
How to link "Appropriate Work Choices" to "Inspired Learning"
“To stimulate life, leaving it free, however, to unfold itself, that is the first duty of the educator.“
Where to start with Cosmic Education? Here’s What a 35-year Montessorian Would Do
Cosmic Education is the heart and soul of Montessori…especially for elementary, but really for all ages. Since I’ve been standing on my Cosmic Education soapbox for so many years, I get asked this question a lot: “How do I start?”
Wonder, Discovery and Academic Skills…Unlikely, Impossible, or the Essence of Cosmic Education?
All teachers want their students to be engaged in learning, inspired to go deep into a subject, and, when everything works well, filled with WONDER! Even for Montessori teachers, in today’s world of high-stakes testing, much of the focus is on drilling academic skills using beads and cards, leaving the wonder behind.
The Greatest Help is Letting Go
One student would choose to read the whole morning long; another to do a research with a friend on some topic out of the blue; another might choose to clean their cubby and get organized. I always learned something - many things - on these special days when I took a backseat to the workings of “my” classroom. I became witness to the children’s inner desires, and ended with the gift of a fresh, new perspective.
A Learning Environment Prepared for Independence
Does your learning environment inspire independence? Has your environment gone stale? Is it cluttered or disorganized? Are your children engaged with it? In this article, I examine 4 fundamental areas to consider in creating a learning environment that works.
The Montessori Teacher Transformed
This article’s not about Maria’s transformation, it’s about yours: the Montessori adult. You may be a parent, a trained guide, a support teacher in a Montessori school…it really doesn’t matter. To Dr. Montessori, your most important task is to be transformed.
Love in Plants: How One Chart Inspired My Cosmic Task
If you’ve been reading my words through this blog or joined Demystifying Cosmic Education, you know I spend a LOT of time reflecting on how our Montessori practice leads children to the discovery of their cosmic task, no matter the age of the children with whom we spend our days.
In this quiet, you will have refreshed yourself. You may have made some wonderful observations, too, but mostly you will have taken some time for you. A gift in the middle of your morning. You’ve found that you can get that refreshment within your classroom, and, as you extend the time little by little, you’ll come to discover that you are regularly observing…and it feels wonderful!
Sharing the Ways of the Scientist
In Montessori we talk a lot about becoming like a scientist as we strive for personal transformation. We know that this involves observing, analyzing, hypothesizing, testing, recording, observing again…often over and over before we make assessments or plan a response.
How to Teach Your Children to Love the Earth
Since teaching played such a major role in the establishment of Earth Day, it seemed fitting to write a blog to support you, teachers and parents, in teaching your kids about loving and caring for our planet home.
Be Who You Are…but Get $#@! Done!
Tips for the Start of the School Year
At this busy back-to-school period, when even seasoned teachers feel there isn’t enough time, I’m reading a LOT of online posts by tired teachers and parents whose exhaustion is causing them to wonder if they are doing the right thing, if they’re just not up to the task, or if it’s even worth it.
Behavior Challenges that Surface in the Fall, Part 1
At this busy back-to-school period, when even seasoned teachers feel there isn’t enough time, I’m reading a LOT of online posts by tired teachers and parents whose exhaustion is causing them to wonder if they are doing the right thing, if they’re just not up to the task, or if it’s even worth it.
Could They Lead to Normalization?
Normalization has been elusive this fall. Teachers and parents lament the levels of unrest, lack of engagement, and, in some cases, downright unruly behaviors that are reaching epidemic proportions. Likely this is the result of the unnatural life we’ve all led the last two years and the emotional toll that the disruption to our normal lives is still taking.
Becoming a successful Montessori practitioner takes time, patience, and guidance!
Wait a minute, Claudia…Why “Montessori PRACTITIONER”? Why didn’t you say Montessori teacher or Montessori guide?
There’s a lot of frustration in the Montessori community. By this time of year, experienced guides expect their classrooms to be buzzing with focused excitement.
Tips for Returning to Work after a Holiday: Rest – Restore – Rejuvenate
I still remember the exhaustion that seemed to accompany this week of Thanksgiving. When I started my Montessori training, after a couple of years working as a music specialist and classroom assistant, my children were quite small: 2 and 6.
Most people would have skipped the seat I spied. A young mom bouncing a little one on her lap. Was this a signal for a noisy flight?
In the Weeds? Burnt Out? Blown? or Fired Up? Where are you at the end of 2021? Part 1
Let’s be honest: 2021 offered up a ga-zillion challenges. Opportunities, too. How’d 2021 hit YOU?
Montessori Cosmic Education: Must You Follow a Set Curriculum and Have Shelves of Materials? PART 1
Maria Montessori’s great gift to humanity is, for me, Cosmic Education. Her big vision of interdependence, how the natural world fits together in service to all, is both a mindset worth developing and a commitment to bringing disparate groups and ideologies together in peace.
Cosmic Education: Speaking to the Soul of the Child
There is literally nothing more wonder-filled for children than the natural world. So, it stands to reason that the heart of Montessori Cosmic Education is to provide as many opportunities to encounter that world as possible.
In Honor of All Who are Teachers in Today’s World
Teacher, YOU.ARE.AMAZING! I’ve been fortunate to be spending my days face-to-face with teachers on the front lines. I’ve been able to see first hand what classroom look like right now in the midst of a pandemic and great division among all peoples.
The Function of the Prepared Environment
In a week of school observations, over and over I was awestruck by what I saw. I don’t really know why, in class after class, the carefully prepared environment was working its usual magic. Children engaged, most working independently, preparing their day abe their work in a familiar routine that guided their action.
Cosmic Education: What the World Needs Now
Cosmic Education is a vision intended to serve humanity in harmony. In
Cosmic Education, Montessori saw the possibility of creating not only a
new human being, but also a new world. We need that vision reborn in our
lives, and we need it now.
Cheating or Short-cut: Why Teacher-Perspective Matters
I received a question from a teacher who had removed the math cards containing answers on the back from her shelves. Why? She said the students were “cheating” and she couldn’t get the students to change their behavior. They had talked about honesty, etc. but the cheating continued. The following is my response to her…which is followed by a brief reflection…
Observation is the Foundation of Montessori
Maria Montessori told us we need to be meticulous as the scientist. It was through observation that she learned about human development and then how to be an aid to that development. That is the true method…more than the materials (which I adore!) or the peacemaking (which is my guiding principle). It is the observation that allows us to follow the child…and that was her instruction to us!
Clear, Connected, Cosmic, and Calm
Maria Montessori told us we need to be meticulous as the scientist. It was through observation that she learned about human development and then how to be an aid to that development. That is the true method…more than the materials (which I adore!) or the peacemaking (which is my guiding principle). It is the observation that allows us to follow the child…and that was her instruction to us!
With Training Complete, Are You Ready for the Classroom?
I still remember the warm May afternoon when I completed my elementary training. I sat with my 10 or 11 fellow trainees, knowing I was about to take on the leadership of a well-established classroom. I was filled with thoughts of “Am I ready?”
Happy to return to the order of the space, with just a few new items on the shelves to pique their curiosity, the children settled quickly into new inquiries with a focused attention born out of familiarity, competence, and confidence. Those first few weeks were idyllic: calm, peaceful, and focused.
Why Observation is Key to Science and Sanctity
Mindfulness and Montessori seem to go hand in hand. Dr. Montessori’s prolific writing on education and peace reminds us to infuse awareness, attention, thoughtfulness and respect into every corner of our daily activity. So it should come as no surprise that mindfulness practices have found their way into the lives of Montessori teachers, classrooms, and children.
Are Micro-fears Managing Your Day?
This reflection is about fear, specifically the tiny fears that shape our daily decision-making and choices, forcing us to maintain habits we’d like to change and keeping us from genuine growth.
It's Montessori Education Week!
How gratifying to see the spread of Montessori love from around the world. There are photos of classrooms, quotes, and simple expressions of how Montessori continues to change the world, one child at a time. Here’s what one friend shared to Facebook…offering it as a gift that we could use to share the love.
Best Teacher Preparation Course? Dr. M. Says Study Yourself
Long story short, even my emotion-laden dreams had me working through my discomfort subconsciously. And, as is often the case, a bit of clarity came through in my morning meditation.
How do you model being a learner for your students?
What did you learn yesterday? Personally: I learned the distinction between equity, equality, and a host of other social justice vocabulary, framed in an interview with Dr. Derrick Gay; I learned that flexibility is a valuable asset when it comes to collaboration.
Staring out my window at the stillness around me, save for the birds that seem to never stop moving, I yearned to share the highlights of days in the classroom when I just sat and watched. Those days, the result of careful orchestration developed over long periods of time, didn’t happen as often as I wished, but they were like magic. The children were truly working as if I did not exist. But how could I impart this message to the crazy, disoriented pandemic learning spaces and the teachers who were trying to manage them?
Three Things to Do NOW for a Relaxed Montessori School-Year Start-Up!
We’re talking long- game here. Any one of these 3 items will lighten your load in the first weeks of school, so don’t worry about doing them all. Choose just one and I guarantee you’ll have a leg up on those first days of prep week!
Why won’t this child, these children, BEHAVE?
I woke to just such a plight…Facebook, of course. The plea was for some way to deal with a student who talked incessantly and was constantly up and down, moving around the classroom. The teacher was seeking advice beyond some things she’d already tried, including withholding recess.
Behavior Challenges that Surface in the Fall, Part 2
The problem we face are students whose behavior is not settling in to what we Montessori guides call normalized. It’s eight weeks into school and these children are still unfocused, talkative, and disengaged with the learning opportunities you’ve presented.
Maria Montessori called it deviant behavior…deviant from the normal, focused, concentrated attention to activity that she realized could be achieved by all children given a stimulating environment, freedom within limits set by a code of respect, gentle guidance and time to explore.
What energy this fall has brought! It seems like everyone is vibrating at a higher frequency, especially the children who are simply not settling down, and we’re all busier than ever.
Getting to the Heart of the Holidays
Montessori blogs, just like this one, reflect our practices of being with children in respectful ways. Do we keep the “Santa secret” or stay truthful to our children?
What lessons matter most? Who decides? What drives one to learn a thing? What lessons shape us…why?
Challenged with “Meaningful Work”?
Do these two words come up in your Montessori conversations? In my Montessori upbring, (ie: when I was in training and the early years), meaningful work was the goal. As I saw it, my role was to provide “meaningful work” to all my students. I accepted the challenge without question.
Clearing the Clouds; Being a Rainbow…Where are you at the end of 2021/Beginning of 2022? Part 2
What makes the clouds clear for you? We all go through emotionally challenging times when our mood doesn’t match our desires. Especially when future plans have begun to spin an exciting list of ideas, sluggish procrastination adds guilt to the mood and there’s not a shred of incentive to be found. Digging out can be tough.
Montessori Cosmic Education: Must You Follow a Set Curriculum and Have Shelves of Materials? PART 2
Montessori wrote often and ardently about the need for an education that would be an aid to life. Her entire life’s work focused on developing an approach to working with children that was less about “educating” than to learning from them so well-meaning adults wouldn’t get in the way of their natural growth into adulthood.
Help or Hindrance? Aid or Obstacle? -- Which are you?
Maria Montessori faced obstacles…many of them. She was a female at a time when women had few rights and few opportunities. She was passionate about science at a time when the greatest career goal for a woman was that of teacher…and in her early years, she adamantly designed NOT to become that.
The Virtues that Guide our Practice
If these words were Dr. Montessori’s only directions, we teachers might feel mighty free to make up those virtues on our own. But of course, Dr. M wouldn’t leave us without some guidance, so the entire paragraph is worth a read: