Whatever is happening

"As we learn to have compassion for ourselves, the circle of compassion for others - what and whom we can work with, and how - becomes wider."
Pema Chödrön

 A terrible flu kept me in bed a few weeks ago and caused a lot of unforseen changes in plans I'd made. While being sick, I thought about how taking care of myself is a skill that I shouldn't relegate only to times of sickness. "Health is wealth" was written on some product, I don't remember which, but after some visits to the doctor recently, it really dawned on me that healthy habits are sometimes hard to come by. Where do we learn to eat well, sleep deeply and enough, to balance work and home life, to stop and rest, to exercise and laugh, to find time to connect with each other? Where do we learn consistently do all those important things in life that keep us happy and in good condition physically and mentally?

 Taking good care of myself is not something that I remember learning at school, and for some reason I don't think I learned it at home either. As far as I can tell it's been a process that I've come about in adult life, slowly and with much repetition of mistakes. I often forget, and then either my body tells me in some painful way, or my mind becomes unbearable and I realize, hey! "slow down and pay attention." If it was a subject taught deliberately somewhere it would certainly be worth the tuition. It is indispensable to know how to care for ourselves especially when others are in our care.

In terms of our time in the classroom, how do we model this self care? Do we take enough breaks during the day? Drink enough water? Take time to sit back and just observe? Stay home when we are sick?

I am thinking about this as I get over the effects of a body meltdown and normalcy returns. I want to be mindful enough to create a normalcy that is sustainable and that will point my sails towards wellness.

Beyond Grace and Courtesy

"My hope and wish is that one day, formal education will pay attention to what I call education of the heart. Just as we take for granted the need to acquire proficiency in basic academic subjects, I am hopeful that a time will come when we can take it for granted that children will learn, as part of the curriculum, the indispensability of inner values: love, compassion, justice, and forgiveness. "

~ Dalai Lama

Sensorial Games

‘Interrupt the deviation; and give them something interesting to do’
Rita Schaefer Zener – AMI Primary Teacher Training Course 1981-82

The refresher course in Tampa this year was hugely productive for me. Ginni Sackett, my trainer from MINW in Portland, was the presenter for the Primary level and she is very engaging and an excellent communicator. I often return from the refresher courses with an overwhelming feeling of needing to change things, but this year most of the urge had more to do with philosophical implications of our work as opposed to practical ones. (More on that to come later)

 There are many parts of Ginni's presentation that I am still processing, but one aspect of the course that had immediate applications to the classroom was a good old reminder of the importance (and existance!) of the sensorial memory games. I had a good look at our sensorial materials after returning. Some of our 5 year old materials have taken a little bit of a beating, and I spent some time giving them care and repair. (For any of you out there with leaky metal thermic bottles, for example, we solved the problem by pouring in about a 1/4 inch of liquid epoxy and let it cure for 24 hours. Problem solved!)

Ginni tied the importance of these games to the process of connecting children with sensorial reality, especially in the face of a popular culture "invasions." Because they respond to children's natural developmental needs and human tendencies, they are meant to be very attractive to the children. They are a great way to deepen a child's work with the sensorial materials once they have lost interest in the original presentation, or on the other hand, to extend the work of a child who is very interested.

To reignite interest in the games, I added a tray of new "sensorial markers" to the shelf (a quartz crystal, a cross section of a geode, and a smooth piece of galena), and bought two new blindfolds from Montessori Services.

I reviewed my albums and Ginni's handouts and made a list of the memory games:

*Games in 2 locations- This is a game for matching or grading at a distance. The child sets up the work on two rugs or two tables that are far apart from each other. With a marker, the child selects one of the items and then walks to the other set and finds the corresponding object (for pairing.) For grading, the child places one set of the materials at one table and brings them to order on another table (or rug) one at a time.

Ex. The geometry cabinet. I don't see very much repetition in my room of the orginal geometry cabinet presentation and this game helps keep children's interest. We use the cards a lot as well. I am interested in presenting this with grading a lot more than I have been for older children who still love to work with the pink tower, for example, but could use a bit more challenge.

*Games in scattered locations- One set of the materials is placed on a table or rug, and the other is scattered in different places around the room. Or the materials are brought to graded order at one table from mixed locations. (The group has to be prepared for this game so that a child's work that's spread out all over a room can be respected. )


*Matching materials to the environment- the isolated quality of the materials is matched to the environment by either bringing the matches to a table (like objects that match a particular color tablet), or taking the material to the environment (like laying a red rod across a shelf that has the same length).

Ex: Bells. I heard of people matching the bells to the environment and thought that was really fantastic. I haven't tried it yet, but am curious if we would have matches for all the bells within our classroom. More typically what I see in my room is matching the color tablets and a few times the red rods. I'm sure that with some presenting some of the children could enjoy matching dimensions of the pink tower, and the color box 3 tablets among other materials.


*Group games- Materials are shared among a small group and brought to order by either pairing or grading.

Ex. I've found that this game is a great way to bring attention back to the purpose of the material and reinforce its correct use. We play group games with the sound cylinders (why do children like to build with them so much?), color tablets (make such great small fences), and the pink tower.

*Memory game with language- This game is played with one child or a small group. The teacher says the name of the material or a quality of the material (for example, "The largest"), and the child brings it. We play this game a lot in small groups since most of the children in our environment are not native English speakers we rely a lot on language games as enrichment of vocabulary. It can also be played with writing for children who can read.

“The object is to keep busy being something...as opposed to doing something. We are all sent here to bring more gratitude, more kindness, more forgiveness and more love into this world. That is too big a job to be accomplished by just a few.”
― Richard Nelson Bolles



I was surprised when suddenly it was Friday this week. It was a very active time in the classroom. There were moments where I realized that what I'd been doing for the past bunch of minutes was reacting to things that were happening around me. Since things in a classroom really don't stop happening EVER, I was rushing from one thing to the next- helping, suggesting, mediating, preventing, presenting...  Time passes very quickly  when I'm putting out fires and jumping from lesson to lesson. I can't really distinguish if the reality of the room is being influenced by my mental experience, or if it is the other way around.

This morning I had a wonderful reminder of how the way I'm being is often more important than what I'm doing. It was the same feeling in the room as yesterday (of a LOT going on in loudness) but I didn't have the same feeling in me. This morning I had been contemplating trust: in the process, in the children, in learning and mistakes, in gentleness, in connection and listening, and most importantly in observing.

Every year the group of children is different and the flavor of the challenges is different. As much as the permutations of the environment change, I'm still there, as I've been for a lot of years now. Today I noticed that these kinds of days happen, it's inevitable, but I've changed in how I am during the day, and also in how I process the day when it's over. I mentioned it to my assistant, who'se been right there with me for three years plus, that gradually and slowly we've also changed. I remembered how I used to feel during these kinds of heavy days, how I would think, and how I would be.

This work is a marathon work, and you get better at it (better, meaning: a better observer, a lighter person, more patient and optimistic) very slowly. At least I do. I was happy today to remember how I was, and to notice in the midst of the small chaos, how I can now be.

Stages of development.

The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise. 

~ Alden Nowlan

Chosing what is

I vow to choose what is.
If there is cost, I choose to pay.
If there is need, I choose to give.
If there is pain, I choose to feel.
If there is sorrow, I choose to grieve.
When burning, I choose heat.
When calm, I choose peace.
When starving, I choose hunger.
When happy, I choose joy.
Whom I encounter I choose to meet.
What I shoulder I choose to bear.
When it is my death I choose to die.
Where this takes me, I choose to go.

Being with what is, I respond to what is.
by Hogen Bays


Presence, I've found, is the greatest gift I can give the children when I'm in the classroom. When I am fully present, I can respond more appropriately to what the needs of the group are. Often, a mental dialogue about how things "should" be, and how they "should" look, and how I "should" feel come up. I get really agitated because reality doesn't match what I think "should" be. Instead, when I let go of that thinking and observe, Really observe, without judging, without "should", then I can really see what the path is.

After a very present holiday, with so much play, walking, fun, swimming, and listening, because I think I'm really good at vacation, I try to bring that same quality of attention to school. Being with what "is".

Rocks and Minerals cards

We left off before the holidays with a group of children excited to start rock collections and hunt for fancy specimens. A few of the children had started to notice differences in rocks in our garden, so we gladly gave some lessons in rock identification and started a class collection. Drawing from an old rocks and minerals collection I had kept for years in a cabinet, we added a few at a time to our display tray. I got to polish up on my high school geology, which was fun.

During the break I made a set of reading classification cards based on the collection we have at school, and you can have it too! Download here for free.

Perhaps this will lead into interest in fossils. Exciting territory!

A kind of resolution.

Be patient toward all that is un-resolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

I don't get tired of reading this.

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be critical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann 1927

Silent Journey and Discovery Parent Night

Yesterday we had our first parent night of the year. In the past, I've felt that the main purpose the initial parent night is to stimulate connections between the parents and to introduce the new parents to the school community. This year however, there were few new families because most of the new children are sibling of children who are or have been in our school so I wanted to try something different.

I had read about the "Silent Journey and Discovery" workshop developed by Barbara Gordon, head of the St. Alcuin Montessori School in Dallas that's been conducted in schools all over the US for more than 30 years. The workshop lasts two days and is usually takes place in schools that have programs from toddler all the way to elementary or beyond. From what I had gathered, it seemed like a monumental and transformative experience for the parents. Inspired by the written accounts of parents and teachers who had attended such workshops, I tailored a version of the workshop suited to our limited single 3-6 environment and 1.5 hour time span. A document by Mary Caroline Parker, titled “The Journey and Discovery: Empowering Parents as Participant-Observers ” was extremely helpful during the development of the workshop.

Part of what attracted me to this kind of workshop is that in all the years the parents have had in our school, I don't think any of them have ever experienced working with the materials or really ever paid attention to what is on the shelves. When they have come to observe, I'm sure it is hard for them to focus their attention on things other than their child, or other children at work. My intention for the evening, was to help the parents develop a deeper, hands-on awareness of how children work at school, and with this to enrich their forthcoming observation.

The way we organized the event was to think of it as a macroscopic three period lesson. The first period would be to observe the environment in silence and without touching anything, the second to work with materials, and the third to synthesize our experience by having an open discussion.

We invited the parents into the environment to be in silence, without touching anything for about 7 minutes. The silence aspect created a feeling among the group of something important happening. It was so nice to see everybody really taking a look at the shelves, going outside to see the environment in the moonlight, or in the kitchen. I played a bell to let them know to return to our lunch room for a short debrief.

From what they shared, they noticed the size of things, the order, how attractive the materials are, some of them discovered rooms in the school they'd never been in before (the library). Their curiosity had been awakened!

We then asked them to put aside any self-consciousness, and really get down to exploring the materials. We told them to try anything that had called their attention, and that they could work alone or with others. I had set out direction cards on some of the materials, and others simply had a card that said “Ask for a lesson.” It was interesting to see that some parents immediately knew what they wanted to work with, and others observed the other parents working (just like the children!) Some were hesitant to try blindfolds. Some took things off the shelves and tried to figure out the materials on the floor. Some gravitated towards certain areas and stayed clear of others. No one washed a table- I would have! Some went to the library to look at books. Others played the bells. Some went outside. Some stood on the sidelines and instead of touching things, asked me questions about them. We worked for about 25 minutes.

When we gathered for the last time to talk about their experience with the materials there were lots of comments. My intention was to keep the discussion based on their impressions and it NOT to become a questions and answers session and that was tricky at times. One parent said that he now felt that he had a completely new understanding and respect of what his child did at school, and that his new insight would affect the way he saw his child at home. Another parent spoke about experiencing a sense of overwhelm at how much children were exposed to in the classroom. One of the mothers said she felt she could now ask her child better questions related to her child's school day. As they left, one mother told me that this parent night had been her favorite school event in her two years of being a part of the school.

My favorite parts of the evening were to observe the parents while they walked in silence in the environment, and to see the enjoyment with which some of the parents got down and dirty with the materials. It was a very joyous occasion.

I encourage anyone out there thinking of what they can do for their parent night to try this!