The Montessori Message

The Montessori Message

Monthly Archives: October 2019

What are you reading?

21 Monday Oct 2019

Posted by Lisa Lalama in Learning

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

books, reading, reading comprehension, reading skills

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Reading is one of the most important things that schools are charged with. When children enter school, one of the first skills they are expected to gain is the ability to read. As educators, we continue to learn more about the science of reading and how to analyze reading skills that children must acquire. Once children gain basic reading skills, the emphasis shifts to comprehension – and boy, does it shift. Text is analyzed. Discussions are held. Highlighting happens. We ask children to look for details, answer questions and notice text features. And sometimes, just sometimes, we suck the joy right out of reading.

I read constantly. Every day, no matter how busy I am, I read. I read for information and I read for pleasure. In the past two days, I have read to plan visits to travel sites, to figure out “whodunnit,” to synthesize information about a student needing support, and to learn what is going on in the world, locally and internationally. I’m sure that you, like me, can remember some of the reading activities of your school years that were boring, painful, and redundant. As we learn more about fostering reading skills, one of the things we know is that the more children read or are read to, the better a reader they become. Entering the world of books, no matter their length, their format, or their subject, is one of the great joys we can share with children. What books have you shared lately?

Children are more capable than you know.

03 Thursday Oct 2019

Posted by Lisa Lalama in Learning, learning environment, Montessori Education, Teachers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

expectations, independence, montessori, motivation, toddler

Heather Siple-Roaming 925-002
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If there is one thing that I have learned through my years in Montessori education, it is that children are capable of far more than we give them credit for. This goes for the toddler who is able to pour water from a toddler-sized pitcher and put on his or her own coat to a fourth-grader who shares insights one would not expect of a child that age. Children are limited only by our expectations.

The question becomes, how do we balance high expectations without stressing children? How do we make sure that our assurances of their capabilities don’t feel like too much pressure? This is not a new question, but one that appears to be asked more and more. As simple as it may sound, one of the best ways to accomplish this is to know the children. Some of us need to be pushed to accomplish our goals. Others are more self-driven, not needing anyone to remind us or encourage us to do more or work harder.

Think about the circumstances that urge you to do your best work. Is it with someone giving you encouragement, support and raising the bar higher and higher? Or, do you find that internally? Do external pushes and prompts feel like pressure to you? We are each different. The key is the relationship, the belief in each child’s abilities, and the bar being set at the proper height for children to thrive.

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