A work cycle normally lasts 2.5-3 hours long, and there can be one in the morning, and one in the afternoon in a Montessori setting. These are the lesson times. Seem long? They probably do to be honest, and most people I speak to are shocked to learn that this is the length of lessons. However, there is a BIG difference... Within each work cycle, children can do many different things... They can:
- Be presented lessons on a 1-to-1 basis by the teacher
- Practice those lessons as long as they want to (so they are not rushed to finish something to move on to something else, they can carry on as long as they need to, and sometimes this can be for hours!)
- Practice lessons they have already been taught - they independently choose to do this from the materials on the shelves which are always available.
- Have a group lesson on a particular subject
- Help themselves to a snack and drink when they want to (children are not always hungry or thirsty when break time comes around at school - this way they can regulate their own needs)
- Be talking to friends or watching other children working
- Teaching a younger child how to do something
- Resting or sleeping
- Taking a toilet break
This means that in a 3 hour period, a child may have done maths, language work, art work, geography, science, history, had a snack, read a book, had a rest and been involved in some group work. Another child may have spent the whole time practising his or her maths skills!
I love the idea of work cycles - they give children something mainstream schools don't give - time. Time to learn, to digest, to ask questions, make mistakes, correct mistakes and practice what they learn. If they need more time to learn something, they can have it. They do not have to move on when the rest of the class does, or when it is dictated to them. If they need to do multiplication over and over and over, they can. And particularly with the maths materials, children get so engrossed in using them, I once taught a child who used the Montessori bead material (I will get round to explaining this at some stage) to practice skip counting and his times tables for the WHOLE DAY! He loved it, was so proud and happy with what he had done, and so excited to tell his mum, who then brushed off his amazing achievement as 'oh that's nice'... (charming!)
Anyway, yes, the work cycles allow for that time, they allow the children to choose what they will do next, they create their own learning paths, under the direction and constant observation of the teacher (who makes sure they get a good variety and are always getting introduced to new things when they are ready to learn them)...
This is all so interesting. Can I ask a question? How do you avoid a child having gaps in their education? In a main stream school, the subjects you dislike tend to be the ones you're not naturally good at. If I'd had the choice to stop doing PE or French half way through a lesson and go read a book, I'd know no french and have turned into a very unhealthy child! Id not miss those skills too muh, but if it had been maths or writing I struggled with I'd be in trouble.
ReplyDeleteThe answer to your question really is the whole Montessori method, the way it is set up to intrigue and be inviting for the child to learn, and kids are not given, for example, maths concepts on paper. They have physical materials they can manipulate to learn the concepts, and these have been designed to be very attractive for the child (and the teacher helps to fan this when teaching). From an early age, seeds are sown, that get the children interested in most things. This is then built on later over and over as the child grows.
ReplyDeleteI think the materials Montessori uses help a lot (I will be covering more about this in later posts), and it is the teacher's duty to make sure that every child covers what they need to learn, so they need to be constantly observing and recording and analysing what a child is doing, or not doing, and tailoring the learning to that child. It is an individualised education. Later it becomes the child's responsibility to complete and do work too.
The curriculum is based on 3 year cycles, so each child has 3 years to learn specific skills, and there are different ways to teach them if they show no interest at first, and this is left for a later date. Also, the teacher can see after she has introduced a new concept whether the child gets it or not. If they don't, they just try again to introduce it later, because the child is obviously not quite ready for it.
For example, my nephew hated writing and refused to learn his letters until he went to school. Normally nurseries have introduced this and kids can write their names at least before going into primary school. He refused. When he was about 5, and around the time Montessori says is the time they can learn to read and write more naturally than at any other time, he learnt everything quickly, and now is 2+ years ahead of himself in reading and writing, and was reading Roald Dahl books only 2 years later, while his friends were still reading phonic stuff.
Also, as the curriculum is cyclical, the same things get covered every teaching cycle, normally with a slightly different approach (obviously aimed to a different age group though), so the introduction of French, for example, could happen in years 1, 4 and 7 and because the curriculum is tailored to individual children, they will get an opportunity to study it again later. Also they can see other children studying something and might want to join in after they see they are missing out...
It is quite hard to explain actually, now I am trying to put it into words here... For example, also, things are not taught in isolation, so students learn why something is being taught, the history of it, what it does for them, etc. So with learning grammar, they are not just taught 'this is a noun'. They learn the history of languages through time, and why we have ended up with our language we have today, they are introduced to easy ways of recognising nouns using Montessori materials, and other parts of speech, and are then given the tools to construct their own sentences etc. This also then helps with learning foreign languages.
99% of the time, the child will cover the things needed, but there are also remedial things that can also be done. Hopefully over the coming weeks, I will be able to demonstrate how the whole method works so you can see it rather than me try to explain it! :-)
Interesting concept! It makes sense that you are ready for certain things at certain times - I had extra help with maths at junior school, but ended up with a phd in it, and I remember setting my brother basic algebra problems when he was maybe 10, and him picking it up really fast. By the time he did it in school he really struggled though!
ReplyDeleteI'll keep reading as you post :)