I Love MontessoriAmerican Montessori Society (AMS) Certification PapersNovember 11, 2008 by Miss Norma | No comments
Hurray! I finally got my certification. Everything has been approved and I am officially a certified primary Montessori teacher. I am certified by the American Montessori Society (AMS). It feels great to be able to say I am finished with my training. It was hard and intensive work, but it is all over now. Now it is time to put it into practice and enjoy doing it. I am certified as of September. I am considering undergoing more training for a different level, but that is a while away.
I cannot believe it is over. I thought that this day would never get here with all the papers and materials I had to write and put together. It was such hard work! Now I have to work on my next big milestone, which is to become a successful and effective teacher.
My certificate was all I needed to become an legitimate Montessori teacher.
Share and Enjoy:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Adjusting To and Accommodating An Assistant TeacherOctober 12, 2008 by Miss Norma | No comments
I had a couple of rough weeks. My computer broke down and I was having difficulty with my assistant teacher.
It has been really hard adjusting to being a head teacher and delegating duties to my assistant. I was having difficulty with the way she works in the classroom. I am also used to having someone free to watch the classroom and help the children that need assistance. I felt she was constantly down while I was giving lessons and had too many disruptions since there was no one for the children to just go to and ask for help.
I think she does not give the children enough freedom to choose their work and to be independent. I was expecting to go into the classroom with the children having the freedom to watch other friends at work or observe the classroom and choose work independently. But I was seeing it differently than my assistant teacher. She has been with the children for a couple of years so she new them more then I. I felt she took that to an extent where she was not allowing the children to make their own choices. I do agree that sometimes you need to make choices for them but that is only if they are not choosing any work and are being disruptive. I also felt that even though some children were not challenging themselves to their full extent we did not need to push them so much, since they just came back from summer break and needed an adjustment period.
So I have had to get used to some of her ways and try to get her to understand my ways. This week is going much better with her. She is more open to my changes and ways. We are planning together and agreeing on things together so that is so much better than having to feel like you are alone and having to convince someone to do things your way.
Aside from all of that I love my group of children. They are so smart and eager to learn and that makes it so much easier on me. I have a few children who are in the period of just constantly vocally communicating everything so that classroom at times can be noisy.
This week I have been trying to have the children get used to being responsible for their self and their choices. I want them to be able to realize that they are in control of themselves and the decisions they make. So we have been talking about making good choices and worrying about one self.
It has been a couple of weeks of getting to know myself, my assistant teacher and my students. It has been a bumpy, but a knowledge full, roller coaster.
Share and Enjoy:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
The Week of PresentationsOctober 9, 2008 by Miss Norma | No comments
I never thought that I would be giving so many presentations in one day. The last two weeks I have spent most of the day giving presentations, although the children have been adjusting really well. I need to give refresher presentations since the children have been off for two months. They have forgotten a lot of what they have learned. The mornings go by pretty quick and before I know it it’s usually circle time. I have been working on circle lessons and songs. I plan to start singing song for the International Day Celebration that goes on at my school.
I have a great group of children: they are hard working and respectful. All the parents I have met so far seem very supportive and have volunteered for different things in the classroom.
Share and Enjoy:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
The First Two Weeks Back to the Montessori ClassroomSeptember 3, 2008 by Miss Norma | No comments
I have enjoy so much being back to school. I have a lot of energy and excitement towards my daily day with the children.
It is amazing how children adjust to their daily routine. The children have gotten right into their daily activities. They all have their way of saying I am here and I love that. I enjoy so much getting to know them and seeing how they work and communicate with each other.
The children are great and my year is going so well. I hope that I can keep all my energy and excitement all year, so that all the children are happy and learning with my excitement too.
I love that now I have more chances to observe the childrens work. This is when I feel that I have succeeded in having a true Montessori classroom. I love to observe the children at work. I get to see another side of them when I stand back and see what they are interested in and what they are really capable of doing.
The first weeks has been hard since I been giving a lot of presentations and not been able to observe them work as much I would like to. But like I mentioned before it is getting better since now have I am getting more chances to observe them. I feel a great sense of pride when I can just stand back and let them be “just like it should be, the children working where they want to work and with what they want to work.” These are the times when the teacher can really see where a child is and how and where she/he should be working with the child.
I have been so busy with the daily school planning that I have not had a chance to write on the blog more often. Hopefully I will get in the rhythm of things and write more often and longer posts.
I will leave you with this from Maria Montessori, which I strongly agree with “The Teacher, …., must have a kind of faith that the child will reveal himself through work” (Montessori, 1967, 276).
Share and Enjoy:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
The First Day With All My StudentsAugust 31, 2008 by Miss Norma | No comments
On Monday I had orientation with the new children in my classroom. The first group of children were really nice and orientation went smoothly. The second group was a little more difficult because one of my children had a hard time leaving his mommy. So his mom joined us for orientation. In all the day went pretty smoothly. I also got a lot of paper work done since I only had an hour with the new children. I made some new materials for the classroom and finished my lesson plans for the week. It was a productive day.
It was a great day! All my children are great. I have a good group of children. I gave a few lessons and got to observe the children working. The children worked f though they have always been there. Even the new children to the Montessori Method were amazing. I am so happy to have all of them in my class. I think they enjoyed the day as much as I did. I hope to always have happy children. I will do my best to keep the children happy and involved in their learning.
I am so proud of having my official lead teacher position and to be able to work in such a great environment. I am proud of what I do and hope to always be as enthusiastic as am now. I want to always enjoy what I do. So I hope to always be able to serve the children in a positive and encouraging way. I hope to be a guide that gives them the desire to always want to learn. I am glad that I got to learn and work with the Montessori Method. It is a great way for children to learn.
Here is to many days of happy children and great experiences!
Share and Enjoy:
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.