Montessori in the Making

Day One of EMTTA Training: OVER.

Exhausted? Check.

Spent entire wad of money on 7 books all about children? Check.

Thrilled to be on one of the most important transformative changes of my life? Check.

The first day of class is always the introductory class, but this was unlike any group introduction I've ever had. We shared names, and stories of names, and views on names, and the importance of names. Then we moved on to beliefs and knowledge, asking each other whether our beliefs stem from our knowledge or whether our knowledge stems from our beliefs.

Think about this for a moment. What about you? Is the knowledge you hold separated from the beliefs you hold? Do you integrate them in your mind? Or does one stem from the other?? 


So interesting.

I could go on, but honestly, I'm beat. I'll share one interesting idea I've taken from today. We were watching a beautiful video of a Montessori classroom in Japan, children ages 1-2. They were making cookies together, collecting chicken eggs, watering vegetables, and using all of these things to make a lunch which they then set the table for and ate together in peace and harmony. Such a beautiful, hopeful vision of the world.

I noted that in the video, the teachers were very rarely speaking. Most of their teaching was done with hands. Marlene talked about how from birth, children begin as visual learners. They watch everything and take in understandings from what they see. She asked us which part of the body children will draw first, and usually draw the most.

Do you know?

Typically, it's the face. Children will draw the face because this is the first thing they see and something they see often -- the face, when mothers are bending over them and changing their diapers. Children become very familiar with this, and it is translated through their drawings.

Fascinating, right?

So much more to come. Off to bed.