by Alex Chiu and Sue Gallo
A teacher’s carefully prepared environment
Montessori teachers possess a special passion for their chosen field of education and a strong desire to promote the growth and well-being of children in their classrooms. They approach teaching with warm hearts, open minds, careful attention to detail, and a strong commitment to the Montessori Method and to their students. Here’s a peek into one teacher’s preparation and progression through a ‘typical day’.
I have thought long and hard about how best to describe a ‘typical’ day as a Montessori teacher. The first thing that comes to mind is preparation. Preparation is one of the essential elements in the Montessori classroom, and a typical day begins with preparation for the children even before we enter the school. Every day, Montessori teachers have a ‘plan’ for each individual student. We believe it is important to follow the child, and to do that we need to know the children and provide each one with guidance in the areas that will help him or her grow. Being prepared for every school day means knowing which students are ready for new lessons, which need a bit of support in completing a work, who could use some extra attention, and who might be ready to take on new class leadership roles. Using her or his skills of observation from each day in the classroom, the Montessori teacher plans how to approach and work with the students on a daily basis. This preparation is ongoing, and many Montessori teachers find themselves involved in this type of preparation at home, in the car, and in the classroom, as they are always looking for ways to make the most of each day for each child. As Dr. Montessori said, “Our care of the child should be governed, not by the desire to make him learn things, but by the endeavor always to keep burning within him that light which is called intelligence.”
Beyond preparing how to work with our students, another type of preparation we engage in is the preparation of the environment. Monthly, we prepare our room with work that focuses on a variety of Practical Life skills. We try to keep the work fresh and inviting to draw the students to this area so that they can continue working on skills that develop eye-hand coordination, left-to-right orientation, and concentration, just to name a few. Using seasonal colors, or enticing objects, we carefully arrange the materials in an organized and beautiful way. We teachers often try out the work ourselves to make sure it is appropriate for a young child to use, with just the right level of difficulty. We also change our Science activities or add something new to the Cultural shelves or the Art area in order to engage and challenge some of our older students or to extend a lesson of interest to the class. According to Maria Montessori, “The environment must be rich in motives which lend interest to activity and invite the child to conduct his own experiences.” She also believed, “The teacher must not content herself with merely providing her school with an attractive environment; she must continuously think about this environment, because a large part of the result depends on it.”
On a daily basis, we always take care to make sure that each area of the classroom is in order, with clean shelves that hold complete, carefully placed materials. When we arrive at school around 8:00AM (or earlier), we make sure chairs are in place, fresh water is added to the necessary materials in Practical Life, fresh food preparation work is set out, and that the work in each part of the environment is inviting. In some MCA classrooms, we prepare other items, such as the classroom job chart, fresh paint in the Art area, or pet food for the feeding of the class pet. Each day we remember, as Maria Montessori did, that “To assist a child we must provide him with an environment which will enable him to develop freely.”
Once the physical classroom is prepared, we remember to prepare ourselves with a smile and a positive attitude, grateful for another Montessori day! Dr. Montessori stated, “It is not enough for the teacher to love the child. She must first love and understand the universe. She must prepare herself, and truly work at it.” So we teachers work to present our best selves every day. By 8:30AM (or earlier in some classrooms), we begin to greet the children at the door. We welcome them in and depending on the classroom, the Assistant Teacher may read a story or have a conversation with the children at circle as they wait for their classmates to arrive. In other classrooms, students may begin choosing their work from the shelves for their work cycle immediately upon entering the classroom. It is always a joy to see our students in the morning, as they come to school filled with anticipation and excitement about what they will be doing that day!
At some point during the morning, students will have the opportunity to go outside on the playground. Outside playtime is an essential element of childhood. The children need fresh air and outdoor movement, and their free play is a chance to socialize and play creatively outside the classroom walls. As teachers, we use this as yet another opportunity to observe, facilitate, and enjoy time with our students. We observe both the leaders and the children who need some help interacting with others. We see opportunities to foster relationships on the playground and in the classroom. We take very seriously Dr. Montessori’s tenet that “To stimulate life, leaving it free, however, to unfold itself – that is the first duty of the educator.”
When we return to our classroom, students may finish their morning jobs, teachers may present new work, and other students may share something with their classmates, which encourages listening and speaking skills. After being outdoors, we are ready to go back to work. The children are allowed and encouraged to choose work to which they are drawn. Teachers facilitate a work period during which children can become absorbed in what they are doing with few interruptions. The children are absorbed because they have the freedom to choose to work with something that is fascinating to them in their particular stage of development. All the while, the teachers are observing, presenting lessons, and facilitating learning. We enjoy hearing the delight in students’ voices as they make new discoveries, achieve goals, and solve problems. The steady low hum of classroom activities tells us that our classroom is productive. We strive to achieve the goal set forth by Dr. Montessori when she said, “The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, “The children are now working as if I did not exist.””
After the work period, some teachers ring chimes to end work and prepare for lunch. The children clean up their work, wash their hands, and get their lunches. Lunch is an extremely valuable learning time. Children are encouraged to be independent as they set up their lunch spaces and open their containers. Teachers help them to ‘do it themselves’. As we learned from Maria Montessori, “We must support as much as possible the child’s desires for activity; not wait on him, but educate him to be independent.” Throughout the day, students practice grace and courtesy, but this is especially true at lunchtime. Just as we do on the playground, teachers use this time to join in casual conversations with our students and to listen to how they interact with one another, all the while tucking our observations into our memory banks to help us in the future. When finished, the children clean up after themselves, taking good care of their classroom before they leave.
To end the morning session, students and teachers gather together on the carpet to conclude the day with songs or a story and always good conversation. As children await whoever is picking them up from school, they have this final time as a community until we meet again the next morning. After the last child has left, we will check our emails or voicemails for any parent communications, confer with our Assistants or other Teachers about the day’s events, and perhaps attend a school meeting with the Director or other staff.
Once the students are dismissed and any teacher meetings have concluded, the typical day ends in much the same manner that it began. We inspect each area of the classroom to make sure the materials are complete and in order, put away any water or food work, complete the clean-up of tables, chairs, and the floor, and ensure the environment is safe and clean. As we move about the room, we also reflect upon our observations of the day, taking down notes about student progress, concerns, and the general classroom climate. We take time to consider which lessons students will need the next day, what types of guidance to provide to certain students who were especially quiet (or noisy or unsettled), and how to make sure each child is challenged, secure, and attended to – all in preparation and anticipation of… tomorrow!
“Whoever touches the life of the child touches the most sensitive point of a whole
which has roots in the most distant past and climbs toward the infinite future.”
~ Maria Montessori
