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| The bead cabinet. Photo by Sean |
Today was conference day with Sean's teacher. (I'm writing this to have a record for myself, just in case you are stumbling onto this blog and wouldn't want to read this post.)
I so love his teacher, and his school. I love the Montessori method, and today was one of those great Montessori moments.
Sean is a "third year", meaning he has reached the final year in his classroom. He is a third grader. He has mastered a lot of the materials the younger children are working with, and has moved into a leadership position. In fact, Ms. Diamond said he frequently helps the younger children, or others who are also third years. When she asked him who his friends are this year, he said, "everyone, really." She told me he really has stepped into a leadership role and seems to have a good relationship with everyone in the class.
Ms. Diamond began the conference by asking him how he felt things were going with his writing. He said he feels it's going really good. She acknowledged that he has had an explosion in writing this year, and contrasted how he approached the work last year.
She asked him what his goals were this year for his writing, and he said he is working on a chapter book and his goal is to write 30 to 60 pages. (I felt my heart swell, I admit.) She asked how he chose those numbers as a goal, and he said, "Most chapter books are longer than 60 pages, but this is the first time I've ever written a chapter book, so I think I should start with less pages." Ms. Diamond agreed that when we do something for the first time we have to allow ourselves some leniency.
She suggested some areas he could work on to challenge himself, and penmanship is one. He writes small, and she suggested that he write and draw his pictures larger so the reader can focus on the content of the story instead of the work it takes to read the small print. Sean acknowledged that one of his friends frequently says he can't read his writing because it is too small. He said he writes small to save space so he can write more, but agreed to try to use the lines on the page to form his letters larger, what they call the head line, foot line and butt line.
From there we moved to reading, and she shared some scores with me. He is reading at standard, but when she assessed him with another tool she said it seems he is reading above standard, which means he is reading at a higher than third grade level. She suggested he continue to choose the "good fit" books and challenge himself. "Good fit" books are books that he can read on his own, that he understands most of the words, but are also a little challenging.
As is common with Montessori students, Sean has had that writing explosion and almost focuses exclusively on writing and reading. I know from experience with homeschool that this will likely change as the year goes on, but she looked at his work plan (the students write their own weekly work plan) and asked that he spend some more time on math. She suggested that he begin the day with writing, but put a time limit on himself so he saves time to work on math each day as well.
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| The work plan folder. Photo by Sean |
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| The fraction work I wish I had here. Photo by Sean |
Then she went over his goals for himself, and the things we would like to see him work on as well. To watch this exchange was amazing. Sean actively participated in this conversation and gave complete answers and explanations about his work and his goals for himself. He asked her for extra packets of math to take home to work on. It will be great, since we still have some of the materials here. We have the box of beads and the stamp game, which can be used with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. I wish we had the fraction boards, but I can make some with Chuck's help.
I was so proud to watch him participate in a serious conversation about his plans for his own education this year, and to hear what his goals are for himself. He is so supported and loved there, and the responsibility is put on the student. There is no brow beating or ridicule, or accusations, or demands of "why didn't you complete this work?" or "What do you have to say for yourself?" type of energy there. No threats of, "If you don't do the work you're going to fail."
Because the student has written his/her own work plan (with guidance in the beginning, of course) the responsibility lies with the student to be sure that work plan is carried out. Once the work plan is completed they are allowed to do "other," which is free choice.
Sean said his favorite free choice is origami.
He has become so mature this year. I love watching the transformation. He has always been a great kid, but today I saw a different side of him.
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