Monthly Archives: August 2015

Preparing for the Future

28 Friday Aug 2015

Posted by in Learning, Parenting, Wilmington Montessori School

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Reading this article once again reminds me of the hard work we are doing at Wilmington Montessori School – the work of igniting curiosity and wonder and of keeping alive so that when our students graduate they will take advantage of opportunities to learn, to make mistakes and to discover. Writing as a parent and educator, Jessica Lahey says it much better than I can:

Maybe it’s time to share some truths with her as I figure out where I went astray, and together we can help our kids rediscover their intellectual bravery, their enthusiasm for learning, and the resilience they need in order to grow into independent, competent adults. With a little luck, they will look back on their childhood and thank us; not just for our unwavering love, but for our willingness to put their long-term developmental and emotional needs before their short-term happiness. For our willingness to let their lives be just a little bit harder today so they will know how to face hardship tomorrow.

As we get ready for another school year, let’s work together to allow our children the opportunity to struggle and develop the “bones” needed to face their future.

Making a Difference

22 Saturday Aug 2015

Posted by in Camp Montessori, Extended Day Programs, making a difference, Wilmington Montessori School

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Mark BomgardnerMany years ago, I worked with women who did not have the opportunity to finish high school due to difficult life circumstances. It was interesting work and I loved helping these women gain the knowledge and skills needed to get jobs and move on with their lives; it was meaningful work. What I was never quite certain of was their perception of the work we did. Did it matter? Did we make a difference?

Several years after I left that job and moved to Delaware I received a card from one of the women I worked with thanking me for helping her and letting me know how she has moved on in her life. She let me know that I did make a difference in her life, just as she did in mine.

Earlier this month, one of our Extended Day teachers passed away. By remembering Mark Bomgardner we recognized the difference that he made in our lives and the lives of our students. People honored his memory with stories, speaking of his influence on their lives. What we know is that his life made an impact on those people and many others who were not able to be there but shared stories through Facebook and our website.

Many people in education do the work they do because they want to make a difference, for a child, a family, a school or society in general. What we may not know is exactly how we do that or who we influence. We do the work anyway. September is quickly approaching. We will be influenced by faces new and familiar. We will work together and try to make a difference for each other as we begin another school year.

Why teach?

07 Friday Aug 2015

Posted by in Learning, Teachers, Wilmington Montessori School

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I became a teacher so that I could help students make their voice louder. Help students believe more in themselves. Help students grow, learn, and thrive.”

“I became a teacher to help students find the guts to say, ‘This is what I need, this is what I want.'”

“I became a teacher not to kill a child’s love of learning, but to protect it.

Pernille Ripp, a teacher and blogger in Wisconsin, wrote these words in her blog this week. She teaches language arts and is working hard to do her best with the students she teaches each day. I couldn’t have said it better.

She, like the teachers at Wilmington Montessori School, strives to help children find their voice and learn to ask for what they need to learn and to grow. She, like the teachers at WMS, works to nurture and protect her students’ love of learning. She, like the teachers at WMS, puts herself in her students’ shoes and walks in them for a while before asking them to do something that will push them to the next level of learning and growth. She, like the teachers at WMS, is building a future…for the students she sees each day and for our world.

Happiness

02 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by in Learning, Montessori Education, Wilmington Montessori School

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HappinessI was catching up on some blogs, saw this engaging picture and had to read more. The post was about happiness; it went on to list things that happy people do. Not too far from the top was this item:

They see like a scientist (with an open mind and objective analysis), think like a farmer (with reverence and interdependence), and behave like an artist (with creativity and disavowment of convention).

There are many other items on the list that you will find interesting – perhaps things that you do or would like to do – but this one made me stop and think. What I have learned about myself during the past few years is that I like to think and learn new things; engaging my mind is relaxing to me. Playing with ideas is fun. I know… most of us recall days in school where we “had to learn” and it was hard, didn’t make sense or appeared irrelevant. If we were lucky we encountered a teacher, a subject or a small area of interest that ignited curiosity and engaged us on a deeper level of learning.

This statement about happy people seeing like a scientist, thinking like a farmer and behaving like an artist is exactly what we strive to do at Wilmington Montessori School each day. Children from the youngest ages have opportunities to approach ideas, familiar and new to them, to notice as much as possible and then consider them and how they relate to their world and the wonder contained there. They interpret ideas in a variety of ways and are asked questions that help them see more deeply and prompt further questioning and understanding. They do this hard work and try to fit their new knowledge into the framework of their world, which expands to include the broader world as they grow. Children are able to see the world with an open mind, to appreciate the connections and dependence between people and our planet, and to approach it with a creative spirit that will lead to solutions that demonstrate an appreciation for and care of our future. That is happiness; that is learning.