Monday, March 16, 2009

Assistant's Album

For all of you who asked, following is the breakdown of the Assistant's album that we are using at our school:

1. Brief History of Montessori
(First Theory Lecture from AMI Training from my own Practical Life Album)

2. Key Concepts of Montessori Education
(Prepared Environment, Human Tendencies, Sensitive Periods, Mixed Age Group, Respect for the Child, Self Correcting Materials, Areas of the Casa- a summary of each concept)

3. Comparing Montessori and Traditional Education
(Handout from AMS website)

4. School Overview - Staff Names and Phone Numbers
Children's Names and Ages
School Calendar

5. Schedule of the day in detail- with detailed assistant tasks (where to be, what to do)

6. Role of the Assistant in the Classroom
-List of assistant duties both before, during, and after school
-End of day tasks (Clean up list)

7. Communicating with Children
-Classroom Ground Rules
-Hints for effective discipline (from Becky Bailey)
-It's not what you say, it's how you say it (tips about how to positive phrase, and communicate clearly with the children in a respectful manner)
-How to recognize real work with materials and concentration

8. Observation Tasks
To further familiarize the assistant, each day/week there are specific things to
notice and note when observing.

8. Helpful Articles: To be read as home work during first weeks and discussed at meetings. To be supplemented as time goes by with articles that support the further development of the assistant.

*The Four Planes of Education- by Dr.Maria Montessori
*Freedom and Discipline- by Judi Orion
*The Role of the Teacher and the Role of the Assistant- by Annette Haines Ed.D.
*Setting Limits- So Little Understood, So Greatly Needed- by Judy Orion
*Conflict Resolution in Young Children- by Lori Woodard
*Working with your Assistant- by Shannon Helfrich

9. Lessons: Modes of Activity
As the assistant becomes familiarized with her duties and tasks, more can be
added to the list of possible lessons/activities she may direct

-Songs
-Language Games
-Counting Games
-10 Ways to dismiss children and re-engage them with work
-Sound Game
-How to read a book
-How to tell true stories
-How to have a conversation about something that a child noticed
-The Question Game

8 comments:

Patty said...

That is such a great idea! I am going to try to put an album together for my new assistant. Thank you.

Andrea said...

Beautiful idea and fantastic list of materials to benefit assistants! I am, however, wondering where the article by Annette Haines can be found ~ If you could share that would be lovely! Thank you.

Susanne said...

Hello Andrea,

The article by Annette Haines was copied from one of the AMI Bulletins that have really excellent articles in them. At my training center they had a huge library of said Bulletins, and my friend and I raided it and copied many excellent articles from it. I don't have the exact volume, but perhaps in the NAMTA library they would have it.

Good luck!

Susanne

Anonymous said...

Brim over I assent to but I contemplate the post should prepare more info then it has.

Honey said...

I wondered if you would share copies of the articles? I would be interested in learning about what would make a good assistant & as a mother I saw many things that would be supportive to our learning at home.

Honey

Anonymous said...

I have been searching for these articles, only finding two of them. Any other suggestions to locate them? They would be so wonderful to read and share!

Anonymous said...

This is very helpful. Thank you for sharing.

Anniebelle
Montessori at the Gardens
New Zealand
http://adventuresofalexa.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

This is so helpful. Thank you for sharing!

Would you be willing to share your:

- Schedule of the day in detail- with detailed assistant tasks (where to be, what to do)

- List of assistant duties both before, during, and after school

- Classroom Ground Rules

I am currently assembling an assistant album, and I am curious how others structure their day and manage their environment with help from their assistant.

Thank you!