A Holiday Gesture of Kindness

Saying "we care about you" during the holiday season may seem commonplace, but when our elementary students recently presented a gift to a former teacher, it was filled with deep, heart felt meaning.

Their kind gesture was in the form of cookies...very special ones that every one of the 19 students in our class had helped to make, and a treat which they initially couldn't wait to feast upon themselves. It's a tradition in our class to carve fresh pumpkin and several weeks later use it for holiday baking. Scraping the flesh of the squash, spooning out the cooked vegetable, and then mashing it are all tasks that are organized by the children and performed in small groups. The final few students follow a favorite recipe as they cook up a huge batch of pumpkin oatmeal cookies overflowing with chocolate chips. By the time the project was completed this year, nineteen mouths were watering, eagerly awaiting their hard-earned treat.

But, just as the cookies were coming out of the oven, one short lesson about the Middle Ages and St. Augustine's work in Britain brought about a discussion of monastic life and a twist in our plans. It seemed a good time to share information about a similar current day lifestyle of sacrifice and a former teacher's decision to enter a contemplative monastery almost a year ago. Ms. Hurley, now known as Sister Hurley, is living a new lifestyle of prayer and hard physical labor with NO talking. This concept was difficult for the students to digest.

The children were stunned for a moment, but after questions, discussion and collaboration, they turned their surprise into a response filled with love. They asked if they could package up their pumpkin cookies and send them to Sister Hurley by overnight mail so that she and the other nuns at the convent might share them on their holiday table.

And so it was done...a caring gesture to begin the holiday season of giving and tender thoughts for a dear teacher and friend of AOC who remains in our hearts.

A High School Senior’s Tribute to Montessori

             On my first day of seventh grade, I was bewildered by the idea of sitting at a desk. Every classroom was filled with desks, carefully placed in straight, orderly rows. How strange middle school seemed, after spending ten years in a close-knit Montessori environment. The idea of a desk was fascinating and yet, disturbing – I now had my own, assigned space, but how was I expected to work with my classmates if we were separated? The desks seemed like they would hinder learning, rather than facilitate it. A strong contrast from Montessori school, this concept of desks triggered my concern with conventional education.

            At three years old, wearing an over-sized apron, I had used a yellow basin of water to determine which objects would sink or float. By seven, on my stomach with feet in the air, I had exhausted encyclopedias and organized note-cards for a research paper. I had wondered, discovered, and achieved in every physical position all over my classroom. Never had I been asked to listen to a lecture for forty-five minutes, or memorize dates, grammar rules, or names of countries for a test. Instead, I had learned the countries, capitals, and flags of the world before age eight by labeling maps with my friends.

            I have always been eager to explore and understand as much as possible about the world. I wanted to know everything, and that was that. Thoroughly researching and analyzing has always been my passion, never a chore. It was a shock to witness classmates in middle and high school complaining about homework. Advocates for the Montessori curriculum understand that it is natural for a child to enjoy learning. However, I soon realized that in conventional schools, teachers believe students need incentives to learn, like gold stars or good grades. My unconventional experience convinced me that traditional schools emphasize convergent thinking, leaving little room for creativity, exploration, and discovery.

            I have no doubt that the boy who fell asleep during physics class, and the girl who copied a few answers on the history homework were once excited by the prospect of learning. Montessori theory demonstrates that it is possible to learn effectively and still maintain an interest in the world.  Though I have often heard my classmates insist that they will never understand this or that concept, I believe that everyone possesses the ability and motivation to reach an answer. I owe my inextinguishable curiosity and views about education to my Montessori experience.

            Throughout my college search, I have sought a school that will encourage me to ask questions about so-called norms. Why do most schools suppose that children learn best when sitting at a desk? Can learning and freedom of movement not go hand in hand? While I have adapted well to conventional education and deeply respect my teachers, I often recall my Montessori education with longing. We learned by asking questions. We absorbed information by examining and analyzing. We understood that experience is not acquired behind a desk.

A Gathering of Heroes for Halloween

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates tried very hard to program things when we sat down to our meeting this morning. Abe Lincoln tipped his hat to Wyatt Earp and Stonewall Jackson, who were determined to keep everyone in line. They were trumped by Hillary Clinton, though, who reminded us that Sitting Bull’s position is now set in stone. Things would have been just fine if Julius Caesar and George Washington hadn't vied for a leadership role in the process. Fortunately, Paul Revere warned us that trouble was on the way. Thomas Edison figured everything out while Amelia Earhart and Ponce de Leon navigated the room. Thanks to Clara Barton everyone remained in good health throughout. Good thing, because for a moment we thought we were seeing double when Martin Luther King Jr. showed up twice, but Helen Keller clearly knew what was going on! Little did modern day Bindi Irwin realize that she and Donald Hayes have something in common...they both are passionate about frogs!

Hope you can tell that we had a great day!

Creativity and Precision

Creativity and precision sometimes develop out of the simple desire to discover a beautiful symmetrical pattern. Third through sixth grade elementary students at AOC, who still learn by doing, are careful and exact as they construct elaborate geometric designs using a compass and a straightedge.

Most of these students have been handling two and three dimensional shapes since they were just three years old. During their preschool years they learned to identify quadrilaterals, regular polygons, seven types of triangles and many geometric solids. They traced numerous outlines, subconsciously absorbing the regularity of the shapes while incorporating geometric terms into every day conversation in their classrooms.

During their early elementary years the same students studied the lines and angles that formed the plane figures and solids they had talked about and handled when they were younger. They inscribed figures using equivalent fraction insets, trying to determine "which shape fit where," renaming them as they did so. They learned new terms, measured perimeters and areas, and discovered that all of these figures coexist in nature as well as in the man-made objects around them.

With careful control of the sharp points of their pencils against their rulers, these determined young scholars have been able to discover and test geometric theorems, long before they will be formally tested on those proofs in a high school geometry class. Unwittingly, from their own experiential art work, they have become familiar with many postulates derived by Euclid nearly 2000 years ago.

Our current society seems to rush students through the curriculum, rather than giving them a steady, thorough approach to learning a concept. It is quite refreshing to witness the tremendous satisfaction and deep understanding that comes from personal discovery, in this case following the creation of some beautiful designs. Creative freedom is a powerful motivator which can drive students to continue a personal study of the fine art as well as the science of geometry.

- Mrs H.