June Montessori Teacher Training

Hello! Hope everyone had a *Happy 4th!* 

This update is a couple weeks in the works - a recap of our Summer Montessori Teacher Training from Friday, June 17 to Wednesday, June 29. Woohoo! At the moment, I’m getting things ready for Round 2 of the training at the beginning of August, and after concluding this session in June, the teachers are looking forward to it ...and so am I!

The following are reflections from a log that I wrote each evening of the June training. Also, there are 80-something pictures here; we took over 500, so this small percentage seems fair to share. Hope you get a sense of the project, what we did, and how motivated and enthusiastic my teachers are! :D

Day 1 - Friday 6/17

Friday kicked off the Capacitacion y Elaboracion de Materiales Didacticos - Teacher Training for IDENE. For the first day of Montessori Training, we talked about the origins of the methodology and learned about Maria Montessori, an Italian doctor and educator responsible for developing the pedagogy. We showed a movie about her life and life’s work, to give a sense of who she was, what she did, why she did it, etc. Afterward we had a long discussion about the film and didactic materials she made and used.  

It was a pretty simple day - a movie and discussion - but I was really impressed by our group of teachers in the discussion part. Every single one of them had something positive to share, and the movie about Montessori really seemed to leave an impact. At one point my project partner said, “The Montessori method can help any child, but I think especially our students.” In our group, we drew similarities between Maria Montessori’s situation in Italy and our students here in the Dominican Republic and we went on to talk about how anywhere, an education will always last longer than politics and government, and why teaching even just one student matters. And I shouldn’t get ahead of myself, because it was only the first day after all, but I was just really happy - finding myself de acuerdo with everything the teachers were sharing, and feeling lucky for it. I’m positive that every volunteer here could cite reasons why DR education is such a lucha sometimes. And when you invest time, energy, money, and especially that of others into something, regardless of what it is, you want that something to be good. And who knows how the remainder of these two weeks will go, but the fact that school’s out, it’s summer, and yet every teacher showed up today, compartir-ed something encouraging, and seems interested in the training, I don’t know - I just think that bodes well for...something. 

Day 2 - Monday 6/20

This was the first day of the hands-on learning part of the training. And so far so good. We gave an introduction for the first part of the morning, and afterwards began presenting the materials. Montessori apparently has many materials, and right now we’re primarily working with the ones that I’ve spent the past few months making. Marina, Wendy (the facilitators) and I work together to choose what we’ll present on which days - so today we presented language materials to be used in “Inicial” and “Pre-Basica” our two youngest classrooms. Obviously M and W have much more experience in this whole Montessori thing than me, but the method involves a lot of order and organization in its presentation, with the goals of instilling these traits in the students who will work in this manner. For instance, every material, to be used either on the floor or desk begins with laying out a rug to mark the work space, and every material used rests on its own shelf on its own tray. So in the presentation, we read and talk about each material, what its used for, and then demonstrate how its used. The materials are designed for students to work on individually or one-on-one with a teacher. Today Wendy played the role of teacher, and selected a different teacher for each activity to act as the student. I think the teachers benefited from this.

Everyone was here today, and we had teachers from other schools for a total of 17 participants! Exciting.

language materials presented on Day 2

Day 3 - Tuesday 6/21

We continued with a similar schedule as yesterday and presented more language materials. Many of the materials are meant to develop and classify vocabulary for students as well as identify things that they are probably already familiar with. My project partner says that its all about developing students’ abilities - so it makes sense to do that starting with vocabulary they're already familiar with. We presented the language materials in the same form as yesterday - with a description of the material, what it’s meant for, and then two teachers act out the activity - as profe and student. It’s been fun to see the teachers get into it. Montessori emphasizes order, and steps and doing the work a certain way so students can develop these traits outside the classroom too, I imagine. So the activities seem really straightforward and they are, but a certain manner must be followed to carry it out right. It’s funny to see the teachers correct each other from their seats - “No you have to put the tray on the left corner of the rug!” or “The student needs to sit on your left!” “Everything from left to right!” The teachers will call each other out if a step isn’t being followed which means they’re paying attention and wanting to practice the method correctly. Super bien.  

Today we finished about a half hour early. After announcing we had finished for the day, my project partner told the group they were free to go or stay, practice, or plan if they’d like. The teacher next to me said “Vamos a aprovechar esto tiempo,” (or “Let’s take advantage of this time.”) and everyone stayed. Since our training is a “Capacitacion y Elaboracion,” after teaching our group about the materials, we left time for them to plan or make some for their own classrooms. And oh my gosh, this was a cool moment. They were all just really enthusiastic, going to their classrooms organizing things they already had and wanting to make the missing pieces to have a Montessori set. 

language materials presented on Day 3

one of our students participating in the Montessori training with us

Day 4 - Wednesday 6/22

On Wednesday we presented more language materials - specifically ones that aim to help students with the vowels. This went well, and is a session that will be applicable to all the teachers. Since the school has students ranging in age from 4-22, the classrooms and abilities of each student are pretty diverse. However, in each classroom, no matter what age, there are students working on identifying A, E, I, O, U. The majority of the students at the school struggle with literacy in some way - whether it be reading, writing, and the youngest are just learning to recognize the letters. So that’s why our training has placed so much emphasis on the language materials. 

Mainly what we focused on today was presenting and explaining as many language materials as possible. All materials exclusively focused on the vowels. We followed the same presentation method that we’ve been doing - explanations with the teachers acting out the roles of student and teacher and using the materials together as they would in the classroom. Two people participate at a time, and the observe what’s going on. We all sit at desks in a circle, so everyone can see what’s going on, and at any time the teachers can as questions during the demonstration. We didn’t really plan on this circle-style arrangement, its just sort of the only way we could fit everyone in the classroom, but it has worked out. 

For resources we have the texts that my project partner, Marina has used from her Montessori courses in the capital, and I’ve been making copies for each of the 6 classrooms so each will have it year-round as reference. The text calls for specific materials to be used in making the materials, and one of the most basic is sandpaper letters mounted on strong card paper. I don’t really know the word in English for the type of material we buy, in Spanish its "paspartu/papatu" but its basically very heavy poster board. So for today, I made 6 sets of the sandpaper vowels. We gave two of these sets away as prizes for participation, and I wish I had video recorded the excitement when I handed them to two teachers who have participated in the most demonstrations. Four days ago, I don’t think sandpaper vowels would have generated as much excitement as they did this afternoon! That counts for something, right?

language materials presented on Day 4

panorama of training

Day 5 - Friday 6/24

Thursday was Corpus Christi, a holiday, so we didn’t have our training and furthermore everything in town was closed. Everything. Which made preparing/getting funds/setting up for Friday’s session sort of a challenge. A “challenge” as in, nearly impossible. And to top it off, I still can’t even figure out what exactly we were celebrating on Thursday because no one in town could tell me. There was a parade, everyone dressed in white and went to mass, and a man sang on the back of a truck in the streets, but the most I got out of anyone was that it was a “church holiday.” (Claro, casi all holidays are church holidays here). One guy told me that this day means it is the end of Semana Santa, but he was wrong since Semana Santa, or Holy Week, only lasts a week...as the name implies. Bueno, I’m pretty sure Corpus Christi is an international day, and I could just Google it instead of rambling on about how I don’t know what it is, but I feel like if the whole town is going to shut down, at least one person here should be able to tell me the reason why. But no such luck. That’s okay, my Dominicanos, I’ve moved on to Friday.

And Friday was great for our Teacher Training. Today was our last day of language preparation. The way Montessori works regarding language materials is that the alphabet is presented in different groups, first the vowels (the red group) then M, P, L, D, T, N (or the yellow group) and so on. So students are introduced to the letters and master them before moving on to the next set. As you can imagine, the language materials start off very basic, forming simple two-syllable words with the same 11 letters, and then become more complicated forming longer words as more letters are introduced. 

Each day the facilitators and I have been staying late preparing for the next day. I get there in the mornings to prepare at 7am, our workshop lasts 8am-12pm, and then most days we stay until 6pm. I know, I know this is basically just the length of any old American work day, but we’re working constantly the entire time so it is kind of busy! Most of the materials themselves I’ve been making since March, so those are all set, its just a matter now of organizing and doing more last minute prep. Anyway, today is Friday so we didn’t stay late obviously, but in general the schedule has had pretty full days. 

Day 6 - Monday 6/27

Today we switched from the language presentation and demonstrated sensory and math materials for the teachers to use. Like the language materials, the math presentation starts simpler with number recognition and identification, then moves to more advanced activities. And just as in the language presentation, all of the math materials were made by hand. 

Many of the Montessori activities in this area call for using wooden bars. In accordance with the methodology, these are meant to be hands-on ways for students to learn. I mentioned this a while ago, and will say more about it in another post, but we’ve been working for a few months with a local carpentry shop to purchase and make a lot of shelves, rug stands, backpack hooks, and even a full-size staircase for students with trouble walking to practice climbing and descending stairs at our school. All of these new carpentry projects are meant to improve our classrooms for next year. So, since we’re giving this carpenter a ton of business and sometimes even free labor (what? oh, meaning me helping build things/partly fulfilling a very real, but unspoken dream of working in construction), I negotiated in Spanish to get two sets of these wooden bars built for free. Which was really nice of the carpenter to do, because even though the bars only required cutting, it still is free material nonetheless. 

As a side note, I strongly recommend always asking for discounts/free things when carrying out community projects like this. You may possibly come off as annoying and/or cheap, but you will get things done, and (at least for me) that’s what it is all about. With companies whom you indirectly involve in the project (aka stores where you buy materials. In my case, hardware stores, bookstores, making copies at the pharmacy, working with this fun, new carpenter friend, and so on) simply explaining who you are (volunteer) and what you’re working on (attempting to improve special education), and maybe even smiling a lot helped too, who knows - I found that every single business gave me some kind of a discount. And even though asking for discuentas and free things feels like not the classiest thing to be doing, it is a good way to really stretch the pesos. Plus to be honest, I didn’t really care if I seemed cheap, because at the end of the day this project is not for me, its for the kids and for the teachers - so might as well just ask the local businesses to help me out a little, right? Added plus: it sort of makes the project even more of a community effort than it already is. I was thrifty before Peace Corps, but never quite at the level of asking, “Y la discuenta?”  (or “And the discount?”) before every project-related purchase. At this point - absolutely sin verguenza. No shame whatsoever.


Anyway, here some photos from the start of the math Montessori training, as well as some prep work:

there they are! for free!

watching Minnie do all the painting work. 

Day 7 - Tuesday  6/28

Tuesday we presented the remainder of the math activities. Since this training is meant to be a chance for the teachers to both learn about Montessori and make their own materials for their classrooms, we left more time at the end for them to continue making the materials. Throughout the training, we set up a display of all the language, math, and sensory Montessori materials in one of the classrooms on three big tables. As the days passed, teachers could go in and get a sense of what activities they wanted to incorporate for their own students. Since all our students are each at their own level with different strengths, teachers can choose what would be best suited for them. 

Tomorrow will also be a day for making materials, so today I took an inventory with each teacher to get an idea of what activities they were interested in using so I could go out and get the appropriate materials. Taking inventory was probably one of my favorite moments of the workshop, because I got to see how into the training the teachers have become. All the teachers had ideas, and knew exactly what they wanted to make for their classrooms. It was just really great. After learning about Montessori, I see that although it is a child-centered learning style, the teacher is still so crucial to the student’s success. So, it was wonderful to see the teachers so enthusiastic about making the appropriate activities for their students. Learning through this methodology is a team effort and its with motivated teachers that kids at our school are going to improve their math and language skills. Teachers were asking me left and right to come help them make different materials - one teacher stayed an extra 4 hours making activities for her classroom, and two teachers invited me over to help make materials with them later in July - aka during their only full summer month of vacation. I’ve been so happy all week at how accepting and open the teachers all have been to Montessori and these new teaching ideas, but today I was just simply floored by all the extra effort and enthusiasm. My site really is something special. 

display of all language materials we presented

Day 8 - Wednesday 6/29

On the final day of the Training, we had another day of making materials. This went well. I distributed all the resources we had purchased with the remainder of the funds, and they all got to work. Not too long after, most were asking for more materials to make the activities, but every single peso had been spent. So that’s something I’ll plan better for August’s session - who knew so many would want to go above and beyond? Awesome.

Also today we had a little graduation for the teachers - with certificates, of course! Lots of photos, clapping, and thank yous. My project partner, and several teachers spoke about how much they enjoyed the training, citing specific things they liked and learned. In addition to presenting activities everyday, we also explained the philosophy of the Montessori methodology each day, including why and how this technique could improve learning for our students. And after listening to some of the teachers’ closing thoughts on our training, it was clear that the philosophy of the method had stuck with them. Since our school is small, its really like its own family especially in that the teachers know the strengths and needs of their students well. So, having them really be interested in the workshop and then say that they saw this Montessori methodology as a way for their students to improve and learn more effectively? That was an amazing ending to the training. 

To put it simply, this training shouldn’t have gone as smoothly as it did (an American who knows little/nothing about the Montessori method, planning and organizing a training about said Italian teaching methodology, oh and in Spanish? Yup. Good luck, gringa). But later this afternoon at a family lunch with my project partner, she told me she thought the training went better than she could have expected. And I had to agree with her...and also wonder how that happened. But the answer is easy and it’s obvious - we have amazing, hard-working teachers, and a director who really knows a lot about Montessori. My project partner had a good idea, together we made a plan, did a lot of prep work, and then held a training for the teachers, all for the simple (well, simple in theory) purpose of helping kids learn to read and learn their numbers. And lucky for everyone, the teachers are completely on board with this plan. It’s cheesy, I say it often, but I’m really just lucky to be here working with them. So before the teachers and facilitators left the graduation today, I spoke up and told them exactly that. I thanked each of them for being open to learning something new, working hard and being so motivated. I told them that every volunteer wants to be in a site just like this where they can work with people who are enthusiastic, on time, want to be there, and want to learn and work with them, too. And I told them that I felt really lucky that I could be here doing this project with them and the students. Sounds corny, but it is so true. 

And on that note, cue the last pictures and end of this post. 

making materials

Facilitators Wendy and Marina at our graduation

This was a long read, so thank you for staying interested or at least reading until the end. I appreciate it. Round 2 of the training is coming within the next month! 

cuidense!

XO