Well, I'm on to week two of this experience, and at this point I can hardly keep my eyes open I'm so tired. We had quite a bit of work due this morning for class, and my roommates and I were up awfully late to complete it- in fact, I don't think one of them even went to bed. One of our tasks was to write a paper based on the four planes of child development, as Montessori saw them, and talk about how each stage contributed to the development of the adolescent. Our other work due today was a list of words taken from Montessori philosophy, which we were supposed to write our own definition for and then provide at least two quotes from Dr. Montessori on each specific term. This is called our lexicon work- we have a new list for this week, and one for next week, too.
We only had a morning set of lectures today, which were on the topic of "occupations." This term refers to a type of work done by the adolescent students that seems like it would be work around the farm, but it really incorporates the science curriculum along with many other subject areas. My occupation for the day was "chickens." (Generally occupation studies last around 4 weeks.) My group began by going out to the chicken coop for some good ol' observation. We looked at how they communicated with each other, how they moved about the pen, and how they reacted to things in their environment. We got the chance to try to pick up a chicken, and I am proud to say that I managed to do it on my first attempt :) After we were done in the chicken pen, we headed back to the classroom, where we all put forth ideas for research. I was curious about what it would take to make the keeping of chickens a self-supporting endeavor. Others were interested in area needed for chickens, the different vocalizations of chickens, and more intensive anatomy studies. We had a bit of time to compile some information and then we had to present our findings to the large group. Some of the other occupations included pond studies, beekeeping (yes, they did don the traditional white beekeeping costumes, complete with smoke thingy), archaeology, organic gardening, and micro-economy. The idea of occupations is to not only to cover all the science topics, but to have as many interdisciplinary connections as possible. Some examples of occupation work left here by past students include a shiitake mushroom garden and a full-size log cabin. What I came away with was not only an excitement about what occupations we could do with my own crew of middle schoolers, but also a strong desire to get some chickens for our school...
I also unpacked my bags here at the farm, where I am staying for the next four days. I have three new roommates for the week, and we are all happy with our bunk arrangements (I got a bottom bunk- yeah!) My chores for my week on the farm include morning meal prep, dinner crew, and mucking out stalls- I've got my boots all set :) Our homework doesn't decrease just because we are at the farm, and in between daily lectures and class, morning chores, afternoon chores, and evening chores, I have studying to do, which I should be getting to...
Monday, June 27, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Day Two...
I am two days into my Adolescent experience here in Cleveland, and what full days they were.
I reached Cleveland around 6:30 Sunday night, quickly delivered my belongings to my apartment (I am sharing an apartment on campus with three other girls) and then I headed off to a welcome/get your info party for the adolescent program trainees. There are quite a few of us- well over 50, and we hail from all over the world. One of my roommates is from the Philippines, and there are others from Mexico, Australia, Sweden, Columbia, New Zealand, Spain and India. We have met each morning together in carpool groups to head out to the farm, which is about an hour east. The ride over and back has been a great chance to get to know each other, as we spend the two hours chatting about our schools and our lives back home.
Once we reach the farm, then it has been straight to lecture. The last two days' lectures have really been for the benefit of those trainees who do not have much or any Montessori experience. I am surprised by the number of attendees who do not have previous Montessori training- those of us with a primary or elementary certificate are very few. We do have a few heads of schools looking to gain in knowledge of the adolescent age group, but most of our group seems to have been hired fairly recently by a school and then sent by that school to this training. Even though I am fairly familiar with the topics we have covered in our classes, it is still wonderful to hear all the philosophy again. David Kahn presented our opening lecture, and Jenny Hoglund and Laurie Ewert-Krocker have done some of the speaking, too. All three have been instrumental in the determining the path of and implementing the Erdkinder (what Montessori called the Adolescent program) here in America. There are lots of notes to take, and there is quite a bit of homework to do each night.
The Hershey Montessori School (the farm) is beautiful. It is far out into the countryside, surrounded by rolling hills and greenery. I have only gotten to go into two of the buildings so far: our lectures are taking place in the newest addition to the farm, and we meet in the community building for lunch. Lunch is prepared for us each day by some of the adolescent residents at the farm, along with a few adult helpers. After lunch, we meet in Socratic seminars to discuss our readings from the evening before, and then at the end of our day, we divide up for chores. My chores so far have been wiping tables and vacuuming. Next week will be my week to spend living at the farm. Then my chores will include care of the animals and the farm environment.
Our evenings back at the dorms have also been quite full. We ate dinner our first evening at the cafeteria, which was filling but not quite fulfilling :) Tonight we ventured up to Cleveland's own version of Little Italy, which happens to be only a few blocks from campus. There are many museums around our area, too, so tomorrow night we are going to check some of those out. Mostly though, we have been sorting through our lecture notes and doing lots of reading.
Speaking of reading, it's time for a few chapters in To Educate the Human Potential (my reading that is due for tomorrow) and then off to bed. Oh, there's also my daily journal left to write...
I reached Cleveland around 6:30 Sunday night, quickly delivered my belongings to my apartment (I am sharing an apartment on campus with three other girls) and then I headed off to a welcome/get your info party for the adolescent program trainees. There are quite a few of us- well over 50, and we hail from all over the world. One of my roommates is from the Philippines, and there are others from Mexico, Australia, Sweden, Columbia, New Zealand, Spain and India. We have met each morning together in carpool groups to head out to the farm, which is about an hour east. The ride over and back has been a great chance to get to know each other, as we spend the two hours chatting about our schools and our lives back home.
Once we reach the farm, then it has been straight to lecture. The last two days' lectures have really been for the benefit of those trainees who do not have much or any Montessori experience. I am surprised by the number of attendees who do not have previous Montessori training- those of us with a primary or elementary certificate are very few. We do have a few heads of schools looking to gain in knowledge of the adolescent age group, but most of our group seems to have been hired fairly recently by a school and then sent by that school to this training. Even though I am fairly familiar with the topics we have covered in our classes, it is still wonderful to hear all the philosophy again. David Kahn presented our opening lecture, and Jenny Hoglund and Laurie Ewert-Krocker have done some of the speaking, too. All three have been instrumental in the determining the path of and implementing the Erdkinder (what Montessori called the Adolescent program) here in America. There are lots of notes to take, and there is quite a bit of homework to do each night.
The Hershey Montessori School (the farm) is beautiful. It is far out into the countryside, surrounded by rolling hills and greenery. I have only gotten to go into two of the buildings so far: our lectures are taking place in the newest addition to the farm, and we meet in the community building for lunch. Lunch is prepared for us each day by some of the adolescent residents at the farm, along with a few adult helpers. After lunch, we meet in Socratic seminars to discuss our readings from the evening before, and then at the end of our day, we divide up for chores. My chores so far have been wiping tables and vacuuming. Next week will be my week to spend living at the farm. Then my chores will include care of the animals and the farm environment.
Our evenings back at the dorms have also been quite full. We ate dinner our first evening at the cafeteria, which was filling but not quite fulfilling :) Tonight we ventured up to Cleveland's own version of Little Italy, which happens to be only a few blocks from campus. There are many museums around our area, too, so tomorrow night we are going to check some of those out. Mostly though, we have been sorting through our lecture notes and doing lots of reading.
Speaking of reading, it's time for a few chapters in To Educate the Human Potential (my reading that is due for tomorrow) and then off to bed. Oh, there's also my daily journal left to write...
Saturday, June 18, 2011
The Night Before the Night Before...
I am sitting in a hotel room in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where I have spent a weekend of soccer with one of my boys. I will be leaving him with one of the other families and begin my ten hour trek to Cleveland, Ohio, tomorrow morning. The car is all packed- computer, printer, food, clothes, sleeping bag, pillow, and Green Bay Packer blankie...all I need to do is throw in my small bag of stuff from the hotel here and head off at 7am. I should be reading over the essay we will be discussing on Monday in my first day of training. Instead, I am staring at this screen wondering what to write as I prepare to embark on my five week adventure in to the world of adolescence- or at least the world Maria Montessori envisioned for the adolescent. I have little to no idea of what my time in Cleveland will be like. I imagine something like my elementary Montessori training mixed with summer camp. I hope to come away with a beautiful plan for my own group of adolescents waiting for me in Chaska.
But first, I have to get to Cleveland...in my husband's stick-shift Corolla...with no cruise control...
But first, I have to get to Cleveland...in my husband's stick-shift Corolla...with no cruise control...
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