Tag Archives: wonder

The Wonder of Childhood

04 Monday Nov 2019

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Kids can surprise us. They say cute and quirky things from the moment they learn to speak. They ask questions that catch us a bit off-guard and leave us scrambling for an adequate response. They are genuine, approaching life from a place of innocence and certainty that we, the adults in their lives, are there to accept them, guide them and help them as needed.

As children enter adolescence, moving quickly into their teen years, they are more reserved – at least when adults are present – and less willing to ask those questions and behave in those ways that are so endearing when they are younger.

The best thing that can be seen in schools is when adolescents don’t do what is expected – those times when we think they will shut down and they rise, times when they are expected to disengage only to lead the charge for a new idea or initiative. Experiences like these are quite simply jaw-dropping. What conditions allow this to happen? What circumstances allow kids to feel comfortable enough to take a risk, to dare to do something their peers may make fun of or laugh at? How do we create an environment that encourages them to put themselves out there, engaging in situations that are not always familiar and comfortable?

That is our charge as educators working with all children; it cannot be abandoned when the children are entering adolescence. They are kids trying to figure out their world, just like they did when they were younger. Our charge is to establish environments where kids can continue to surprise us, and where curiosity and wonder are the order of the day.

Energy in Schools

20 Thursday Sep 2018

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As this school year gets underway, I have had the pleasure of working more closely with a few classrooms. This has meant everything from meeting about supporting students, to discussing potential field trips, to helping plan lessons. Though these are not my “typical” responsibilities as head of school, they are things I thoroughly enjoy. Getting closer to student learning is always interesting and energizing.

When many of us were in school, each teacher was in charge of his or her classroom. Teachers followed the textbooks given to them from the school and were responsible for making sure all of the topics within each subject were adequately “covered.” Coverage. We may think of that when painting a wall or protecting a passer in football. Does it belong in school? Is the goal coverage? Or is it something much more? Continue reading →

Who are you?

05 Thursday May 2016

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blog DNAYou might think of WMS as a small independent Montessori school. You might think that, because we end in sixth grade, our students don’t have access to the same breadth of knowledge of those schools that end in eighth or 12th grades. You might think we are only thinking of “little kid” concerns. You might be wrong. Continue reading →

The Whole and its Parts

21 Thursday Jan 2016

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Montessori quote - teacher universe
I was recently reminded of how important it is to know the “whole” and not simply its discrete parts. A fraction only makes sense when you know the whole. If offered a chance to participate in a 50-50 raffle and 10 people are putting in $1 each, many people would not join in because they can only win $4 more than they contributed. However, if 1,000 people are putting in $1, more may take a chance because they have the opportunity to win more money, even though the odds of them winning are actually lower.

The same is true in school. We live in an age when information inundates us; it is literally at our fingertips. How do we determine what children should know? How do we decide what to teach or how their time in school is structured? We could continue to do what schools did when we were young, and that is what most schools do. Or, we could look at the whole and work together with children to learn about the parts that make up that whole.

Maria Montessori said the teacher and the child must first learn to love and understand the universe. That seems like a daunting task, for the universe is enormous and multifaceted. However, learning about the universe and its enormity helps us begin to understand ourselves in context, or how we make up a part of the whole, for each of us is a critical part of the world in which we live.

It is wonderful to work alongside children who are looking at the world and realizing its vastness while simultaneously recognizing that children throughout the world are a part of the same world, a fractional part of the whole. They recognize the ways in which they are the same and embrace the differences working to fit all of it into the puzzle of the whole world. When children have the opportunity to ask questions, delve deeply into something that matters to them, manipulate ideas and wonder “what if,” they are learning. Through this discovery, they recognize their part and that they matter. One drop of water is a minuscule amount. Many drops taken together sustain life. Our children make up the whole that will create and form our future. Recognizing the importance of the whole world and not just their tiny corner matters.

Reading, Writing and… More

07 Thursday Jan 2016

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“Reading and writing should be the floor, not the ceiling.”
– Yong Zhao

Room 19 - Dioramas 2The past two weeks have brought time to reflect and catch up on some reading. As I’ve done so, I was moved by the statement above. Yong Zhao is the Presidential Chair and Director of the Institute for Global and Online Education in the College of Education at the University of Oregon. I heard Dr. Zhao speak at a Learning and the Brain Conference a few years ago and have been captivated by his thinking ever since. He is not only entertaining; he also understands the challenges our students will face in a rapidly changing world.

“Reading and writing should be the floor, not the ceiling.” Reading and writing are the basis of an educated populace; our goal is that all of our citizens are able to read and write. That is not the end game. If it were, how would we compete in a world market? How would we inspire our students to create and innovate? It is not enough to read and write and, I might add, to compute numbers. We need these skills to be able to do so much more.

As we begin 2016 and I consider the goals of students at Wilmington Montessori School and at every school, what I know is that the children are at the center of what we do and why we are here. Children are eager to learn, to ask questions, and to play with materials and ideas. They are naturally curious and willing to try and try again. They are thrilled when they unlock the squiggly lines that make up the words they learn to read and write. They can’t get enough.

Our responsibility is to keep that wonder alive. We must create a strong and sturdy foundation of those skills in order for them to apply them to increasingly challenging and interesting work. We cannot simply pat ourselves on the back when we can prove through test scores or other measures that our children can read and write. We must challenge ourselves to do more. The “more” is creating an atmosphere where learning is valued and everyone is a learner. That is what we strive for each day and each new year at WMS.

Learning is at our core, and learning is not defined by a grade, an age or an ability. It is defined by the very children in our midst. What is it that each child needs to remain engaged and inspired and wanting more? That is the question we ask ourselves each day as we greet the children at WMS.

Purpose of Education

15 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by in Learning, making a difference, Montessori Education, Wilmington Montessori School

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GCAP Web 1Last week, I had the incredible opportunity to hear two speakers who shared ideas that cause me to reflect on the value and purpose of education today. There is inspiration in learning from others.

Chris Lehmann is the founding principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. He is a bundle of energy and dares us all to think more deeply about what we need from schools. He shared his “biggest” idea early in his presentation. He views the primary goal of education as creating citizens of the world, people capable of making informed decisions that benefit others. Where have we heard that before?

In To Educate the Human Potential, Maria Montessori says, “Children in the first plane of development (birth to 6 years old) have already absorbed the immediate environment and the restricted society they and their families have dealings with. You must try to give the child what he now longs for: the understanding of the world, how it functions and how it affects the life and behavior of humanity.”

The purpose of cosmic education, which she proposes is the task of the child in the second plane of development (6 to 12 years old), is to help us understand ourselves and relate to the world in which we live. We do this by learning about and understanding others; this prepares children for the future.

Schools, educators, parents and the general public worry about the skills being taught in schools. Public education began as a way to make sure that we had a literate populace. That continues to be the general goal of school today. However, it is not the primary goal. Our children have access to facts in more ways than ever before. They can learn and practice skills in so many ways that we could never have imagined. What they need is to learn to think, to wonder, to question, and to consider what has been done and what is possible. They need to understand facts that are presented and consider how they have evolved over time.

If, as Chris Lehmann and Maria Montessori propose, fostering engaged citizens to make responsible decisions for our world is the purpose of education we are well on our way at WMS.