There’s a lot of frustration in the Montessori community. By this time of year, experienced guides expect their classrooms to be buzzing with focused excitement. Typically, you’d find even the youngest students choosing work and finding interest in the prepared activities on the shelves.
But this year is different. And Montessori teachers around the globe are resorting to teacher-imposed silent time, assigned seats and independent work choices, and often without any real change in student behavior.
What about a different approach; one that worked with the incessant chatter instead of trying to stop it? What about freedom, even encouragement, to talk?
Why would I do THAT?
Most importantly, because talking may be the exact “work” the children need to be doing. Among the items on a list of appropriate responses to traumatic experiences is…drum roll…talking! (I attached the full list along with some suggestions for application in class situations as a little Freebie!)
But mindless, unbridled talking all day would not be an acceptable exercise of freedom, so I have a couple of suggestions to get your students focused on talking with a purpose.
- Plan a debate Even with the youngest students, using their opinions to express themselves
about just about any topic can lead to skills of critical thinking, communication, and responsive
listening.- For example, try something simple: Soccer or Softball (Two team sports that tend to be
non gender specific. I’d choose two that were popular in my community.) - Divide your students into two random groups and assign one of the topics to each.
- Break the large group into small discussion groups to create their list of evidence for
preference. - Have the small groups write legible lists of at least 4 arguments in favor of the topic.
- Next, trade lists and have the small groups write rebuttals.
- Then have a large group discussion following, albeit loosely, the “rules” of a debate.
- For example, try something simple: Soccer or Softball (Two team sports that tend to be
- The “1-work-period” research and presentation This can be attached to any topic of
interest or subject in which you’d like to inspire some engagement.- Choose a few topics related to something you’ve introduced in class. Have enough age-
and ability-appropriate resources available for each topic so that a reasonable amount of
data can be gathered within a short period of time. - Share guidelines:
- Each student is responsible for discovering at least one, and no more than two,
unique and interesting facts about the topic. 10-15 minutes - Small group discusses the facts found and decides on the facts they will share
with the large group. 15 – 20 minutes. - Create a visual to aid in your presentation of information. (30-45 minutes)
- Plan for questions: discuss the kinds of questions they might anticipate from their
classmates. - Present.
- Discuss the interest and quality of the presentations as a group:
- What made presentations interesting?
- What was an effective visual aid?
- What did you learn?
- What do you want to learn now?
- Each student is responsible for discovering at least one, and no more than two,
- Choose a few topics related to something you’ve introduced in class. Have enough age-
- Shared Reading I’ve used this with a variety of texts, but I designed this activity to go with our
Paleontology for Kids books because there is a fairly well-balanced design of illustrations and
text.- Choose a book with a partner.
- Go through the book and look only at the pictures. Talk about what the pictures mean or
are saying to you. (You could stop here or go on to the next instruction.) - Go through the book again and look for interesting words. Discuss with your partner why
you would choose a certain word. Write your words in print and cursive. - Go through the book again and try reading the words. Did the pictures give you clues to
the information? What did you learn? Choose something you learned that you’d like
other students to know. Plan to share this with the class.
These three activities give students permission and guidance in talking. The activity of talking will soothe them and the work will refocus their attention to something less anxiety producing.
Once you’ve had some success with these strategies, I’d encourage you to have small sharing circles in which students can reflect on how they are feeling in their bodies. You can begin to teach calming activities and brain breaks as a way of making your students aware that they can actually take care of the heightened feelings in their bodies.
You can also plan a free drawing time. We did this at the very beginning of every day, providing a sketchbook and drawing pencils. Students could return to their drawing any time during the day, but they were encouraged to start every day with drawing. It was a calming way to begin and to ease into the activity of the day.
Don’t forget to try some of these suggestions yourself, perhaps with a group of staff. Find a book that everyone would be interested in. (I’ve got a few by my bedside, but your staff might be particularly interested in What Happened to Your? by Dr. Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey. It’s easy to understand, conversational, and filled with hope!
Did you know there’s a thing called compassion fatigue? We teachers are certainly feeling it and these strategies will help you, too! You can bring about support for yourself and your adult colleagues as you come together to face this period of adjustment to the collective trauma we’ve all experienced. Rest and rejuvenate…make it a daily priority that you share with your children!
