The Montessori Method:More Than Just Wooden Toys.

Unlock the secrets of the Montessori method with our heartfelt exploration into the life and legacy of Maria Montessori. This episode promises a journey through her revolutionary approach to education, born from a blend of engineering, psychiatry, and keen observation. We delve into her story, the challenges she overcame, and how her vision continues to influence educators worldwide. Together, we'll uncover practical applications of the Montessori principles that can breathe new life into today’s classrooms.

Step into the serene world of Montessori learning environments and discover what makes them so unique. We compare and contrast these carefully crafted spaces with traditional educational models, discussing everything from child-sized furniture to the iconic Montessori materials like the pink tower and sandpaper letters. We'll share insights on the importance of hands-on learning, the incorporation of nature, and how Montessori's methods help shape young minds to better understand mathematical concepts and develop cultural awareness.

Finally, we tackle the big questions about integrating Montessori strategies into modern education. How can we maintain the integrity of Montessori’s vision while embracing technology and creativity? We explore strategies for adaptation, from personalized learning activities to conflict resolution corners, providing a fresh take on balancing tradition with contemporary educational needs. So, join us to see how Montessori's timeless practices can be tailored to benefit today's learners in diverse settings.

Sources

 Sunshine Teacher Training on youtube Sources https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ktR43Z9UcU

The montessori Baby, Toddler and Child books by Simmone Davis and Junnifa Uzodike 

American Montessori Society website https://amshq.org/ 

Happa family- youtube account https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDs6BiaaXKiPy28wNpyUpoQ 

Transcript

Speaker 2 0:10

Hello and welcome to the earlier staff meeting, the place where you can listen, learn and laugh with us about all things. Early years.

Speaker 1 0:21

Hello, hi, welcome, welcome back, welcome back. So this week we are going to be doing something a little bit different, sort of a new and improved version, hopefully, yeah, yeah. So this week we are going through the research of the winner from. So on social media, we put out to pedagogies that you could have chosen from. So we are going to go through the research of that and what we found out. But first we just want to say a big thank you, because we had quite a lot of engagement, yeah, loads of votes and engagement and likes on social media.

Speaker 2 1:10

We are getting the hang of TikTok. God, we sound so old? Yeah, we do, we are getting the hang of it.

Speaker 1 1:18

We are getting the hang of TikTok. Yeah, we did, and you voted. And so, out of the two pedagogies, which was Montessori and Reggio Emilia, that's it.

Speaker 1 1:34

And the winner. We need a drum roll. We need a drum roll. I don't know if you can hear this. And was Montessori and actually happened on International Women's Day, which was actually very appropriate because, as I found out in my research, she was quite a trailblazer for women actually. So, yeah, that was really really nice. So, yeah, we put that on our socials that the Montessori method was the winner. So that is what we are going to go through today. We are going to go through who she was, what it is all about, what their environment is like, and then any takeaways that we might be having to go in our own settings. So, yeah, shall we make a start? Let's go.

Speaker 2 2:29

So, sarah, you have done the bulk of the research for Montessori. I did so. Do you want to start by telling us a little bit about who Maria Montessori was?

Speaker 1 2:41

Yeah, so she was. She was Italian, and so she was born in 1870. So that just sort of shows you the time period, and it was sort of the early 1900s that she sort of was making herself known with her little theory, which is incredible, really, really.

Speaker 1 3:02

Oh, my goodness, about 120 years ago, I know so, if you think, what it was like in England, what the education system was like 120 years ago. It was very much wrote learnings at a table, with a teacher dictating what you needed to learn, and that was it really. There was no nothing of what we see today really. So it is incredible what she achieved. So she started life as training to be an engineer. Her parents were fiercely into education, so they advocated that she must go to school, which, again, for that time period girls did not really go to school. So she started training to be an engineer and she decided she didn't like it. So she wanted to become a doctor and so she sort of headed into psychiatry. There was lots of chat about her online being the first person in Italy to be given a doctorate as a woman, but she wasn't. She was in that first wave, but it was still like an amazing thing because it was still incredibly rare what she did I bet it was yeah.

Speaker 1 4:07

And yeah, she threw her, you know psychiatry and psychology route. That's when she ended up observing children and she was just fascinated by how they were. She ended up looking at a group of very impoverished children whose parents were at work all of the time and they kind of didn't have much to do and I think they were causing a bit of trouble.

Speaker 2 4:28

So what were the children doing? They were just sort of out and about.

Speaker 1 4:31

They were just out and about, they were just set free. Basically, how old were they? I think they were sort of mixed age range which you sort of learn about later. There was a whole range of children range of ages, but they were all deemed to be very low Troublemakers.

Speaker 1 4:47

Troublemakers are very low in all of their areas of development. So she was given like her first nursery. If you like, it wasn't really a nursery, but it was her first. It was called like a children's house and they've got it in Italian here and I'm not even going to have a try, is it not? Cassidy Bambini, something.

Speaker 2 5:08

Bambini. I knew Bambini was. She's so sweet, it sounds so lovely, it is so lovely, but I'm sure it wasn't. You probably said it completely wrong.

Speaker 1 5:15

We probably did, but I'm sure it wasn't very lovely, I'm sure it was quite challenging. But what she observed was that, despite the children being very poor, but because they were so free, they did enjoy playing and they were very curious and that sparked something in her, because I think these children sort of had their card marked as they were useless.

Speaker 2 5:41

So would these children have had any education available to?

Speaker 1 5:44

them? No, I don't think, probably not very much. They probably didn't attend, from what I heard, but they were poor. So I don't know if you had to pay for education back then in Italy, but yeah, basically they would have been your working class children, like what we would have had in England. So she then was given the go ahead to sort of turn it into a school and she just sat back and she observed children and that's where her Montessori method came from and once she'd sort of got her thoughts together about how children learn and what children need, then she started promoting it around the world and it's still going strong today.

Speaker 2 6:32

And I suppose it's not until you think how long ago it wasn't like we're talking over a hundred years ago. Yeah, it must have been so revolutionary At the time.

Speaker 1 6:42

Yeah, unbelievably yeah. And she, she was doing all of this through the war. Yeah, she did work with lots of other theorists in Germany and of course you know what was going on at that and period of time. She did have to go into hiding at one point and because of something, because of the. There was like a conflict going on in Italy around the wartime and she was. She wasn't involved, but she was kind of seat deemed as a free thinker yeah, and obviously if you were a free thing, yeah, then they didn't want you, so yeah, but that is when, when she was in hiding, she did most of her work.

Speaker 1 7:20

So so she turned a lot of negatives into positive. So for me, on International Women's Day, that was she was very much and she was all about Women's rights and promoting education and opportunities for women quality, I guess she's.

Speaker 2 7:35

She was, you know, fighting the corner of these children that would have otherwise been written off society. Yeah, she sounds like. Yeah, she was an amazing lady wonderful person yeah so a bit more than about the Montessori Method or approach, you want to call it what, what in a nutshell? Can you kind of sum it up?

Montessori Pillars and Child Development

Speaker 1 7:58

Oh, so it's basically she. She wanted children to be independent. So there there are about like eight pillars of the of the Montessori method and with the first thing is about practical life. She really wanted children to have to be able to learn, not on their own, but to be able to do things Without adults being around, because obviously she noticed these children probably didn't have adults around at home, so she set about teaching them skills so that they could be independent and look after themselves. And that pillar is called practical life and we see that all the way today where we in Montessori Inspired or Montessori schools, where they teach children how to do up their own codes for, say, order how to wash their hands.

Speaker 2 8:52

It's kind of that fundamental, isn't? It you want children to be able to be Be able to look after themselves and go forward and have a set, a skill set, to take with them through life, and I suppose that is reflective of our early years now, isn't it as well?

Speaker 1 9:08

Yeah, very much so. She wanted children to have freedom of choice and she didn't want there to be like a, like a cap, or for adults to dictate their learning, like perhaps they did More so back in those days, yeah, and she wanted the teacher to be a guide or a coach rather than like a dictator.

Speaker 1 9:30

Like you must do this, you must do this and I think, just because of the the Motley crew of children she was probably given she had like mixed age groups. Okay, so she was very much. The younger children can definitely learn something from the older children, and vice versa. So she would not like how we do. Now. We stream children by their age, don't we? She had very large age gaps of about three years, three or four years, which, if you think about it, that's our nursery and all the way up to year one.

Speaker 2 10:02

Children. But then, but then yeah, you can kind of see that where you have children, that actually their skill set is more, it's very it varies, doesn't it? It does. We know children don't all develop at the same time. So, yeah, or even, like you saying, we stream through age. But even more than that in some schools, in some Settings, they, as the children get older, they stream from ability. Yeah so they're never getting to. Yeah, you know.

Speaker 1 10:29

Yeah, so they're from each other. No, no. So that is like a you know cap on their learning, if you like. And so, again, she wanted children to have self-directed learning, so a part of their independence, and she wanted them to be able to choose what they would wanted to learn and how they wanted to learn. So that's how she set up her environment, and we'll talk about that in a minute. But, yeah, it was very much an emphasis on the child with hands-on Materials that tended to be made from wood and because that was the material that they had an abundance of then. Yeah, they didn't have plastic, but that's what was easy for them at the time.

Speaker 2 11:16

So so the whole sort of the Montessori being wooden toys stereotype. Yeah, sorry, it's become a bit of a thing, but it was more to do with the practicality of well, that's what was available rather than it being a material of choice.

Speaker 1 11:30

And also she had it in her mind because she had a very, very good mathematical background. So she Created, she made a lot of her own resources, and of course wood is easy to manipulate, isn't it to?

Speaker 2 11:45

make them.

Speaker 1 11:46

So yeah, that's why they're the wood. And also, she did bring a lot of nature in, yeah, because again, it's, it's she wanted the children to experience nature. Yeah, and it's, it was also a free resource, mm-hmm. So yeah, that's why there's a lot of wood, but it doesn't necessarily mean that she thought that wooden toys were the only way, sort of superior.

Speaker 2 12:08

Yeah, that's what it? Was yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 12:12

She also had a real respect that and there wasn't a one-size-fits-all for all children, that every child is different and it is every child as an individual, every child has interests, and that she wanted to promote and actually that children learn best when they were really interested in something, whether that was a theme or a skill, and which we would probably call schemers now, but she didn't call them schemers. But yeah, she was very much on the skills.

Speaker 2 12:44

It's actually talking through and you're saying all these things. It's going Ting ting, ting ting.

Speaker 1 12:49

Yeah, you know, just thinking about that, just the early is curriculum, really the only is, yeah, and foundation stage, it's interesting and again, adults were there to support children, to observe them primarily and to assist them, but to not do everything for them, to model things and to help them but let the children with the leaders in their learning. Basically so, yeah, that was kind of like the pillars, if you like, of Montessori. From what? For my research? Obviously I'm not and I'm not accredited, but this is just what I found for my research. I apologize in advance if it's not correct.

Speaker 2 13:35

Well they, I have one of the things that I decided I sort of did a little bit of it. Yeah, that's not as in depth as you, sarah, but just so I could kind of carry my own in this conversation and I was researching that there isn't actually any. Anyone can call themselves Montessori, yeah so, and there isn't an accreditation or a Sort of a mark or anything like that. So that's you know. It can be quite some settings take it on, but they might not be sort of Pure to all of the no.

Speaker 1 14:08

I think the term is Montessori inspired. I've seen a lot right, okay, and on the American Montessori Is it a socio-scientific society? Their website they used a lot of the word Montessori inspired. Okay, because I think you're right. Yeah, there isn't anything to say.

Speaker 2 14:29

No. So for anybody, you could have a few wooden toys and say this is a Montessori approach, but you've not really grasped the full.

Speaker 1 14:35

I think there are courses that you can go on, but as you say, they're not as I would call it. May possibly pure, I could be wrong. Yeah, I mean I don't know, so I'm not trained.

Speaker 2 14:44

If you know, we're wrong, please correct us, please do.

Speaker 1 14:48

Come in, yeah. And the other thing that they absolutely believe in is the daily rhythm, so routines, and I know we've spoken a lot about routines in the past. Having that predictability for children enables them to take that anxiety away so they're able to learn. And the other thing I thought was really interesting was about rewards. They do not believe in extrinsic, if I said the right rewards, ie a sticker and they're incredibly mindful and careful about the wording they use in their praise so they wouldn't say well done, good boy, or great job. No, they definitely believe that praise should be targeted and specific and explaining what the child has done really well and maybe, oh great, next time you could do this. So it's scaffolding children to know what they've done really well and what they can do next. So, yeah, definitely no stickers in the Montessori. Yeah, very interesting.

Speaker 2 15:58

I can't imagine stickers being invented in the time of Montessori.

Speaker 1 16:02

No, that is true, but I don't know what they would have had at that time, if they maybe just a good job, I don't know. So, yeah, anything you want to add, my lovely.

Speaker 2 16:16

Just that they had an interest in thinking about the fantasy stories as well, didn't they?

Speaker 1 16:22

Yeah, so I think one of the not negatives, but one of the sort of people sticking points that people were getting really upset about was that Montessori don't actually advocate the use of fantasy stories so much more characters, because they believe that children should have a firm, concrete grasp of the world around them before they get into using things that are abstract and they class like Father Christmas or fairies and elves as being abstract because they're not real.

Montessori Learning Environments Comparison

Speaker 1 17:07

Well, that's down to interpretation but yeah, I think also the flip side of that I have read from people is that at the time that this method was created, children's development was not as it is now. So children have definitely picked up and developed a lot quicker Because they weren't exposed? I guess no, and they didn't have the technology that we do. They didn't have televisions or anything like that. So, yeah, definitely, children's way they grasp fantasy and storytelling is very different to when this was thought of, and so the kind of thinking is that we just need to be mindful that some children may find aspects of fantasy really difficult. And I do kind of get that, because when you do a pretend so like in class where I've pretended that you know a dinosaur's left footprints on the floor.

Speaker 1 17:59

some children really take that as real and they do get very scared by it, or they might get scared of people dressed up in suits.

Speaker 2 18:07

Yeah, we've had that as well.

Speaker 1 18:09

And it's not every child, but there's definitely a handful of children, so I do grasp.

Speaker 2 18:14

It's just reminded me of when we had the chocolate monster visit and we smeared brown paint everywhere and some of the children licked it to see if it was real chocolate. It wasn't, it was brown paint.

Speaker 1 18:27

Kind of spoiled the we had to come up with some reason why the chocolate tasted like chocolate.

Speaker 2 18:32

It tasted like paint.

Speaker 1 18:33

Yeah, we did. Yeah again. So, yeah, I guess they also see that as lying to children and they want to be very clear that this is concrete, this is real life. So I see it. But yeah, you kind of have to take that with a pinch of salt.

Speaker 2 18:51

I think yeah. So what might a Montessori learning environment look like?

Speaker 1 18:57

So I mean, I can definitely see some parallels to our own environment and probably many environments in the UK. Yeah, but she definitely so Maria Montessori definitely trail about. Is this idea of having shelving at children's height, children's furniture which wasn't a really a thing back then, okay, so yeah, and it was all wood again because it was all custom and it was all open shelving with children's sized everything tools, cups and you know, paint brushes at their level and it tends to be on trays wooden trays for children to access it all at one time. Oh, yeah, but yeah, I can definitely see that. Yeah, so is it sort of muted tones? Very much so.

Speaker 1 19:52

So, it's all about bringing nature in. It's very brown, accessible kind of resources.

Speaker 2 20:01

So we have got some photos that we're going to share on social media and just sort of glance in at your photos that you shared. Yeah, I can see one of the differences is where we would have things sort of labeled up. Yeah, they don't kind of have that really they don't label things up.

Speaker 1 20:20

It's all on a tray and children and so because you haven't got a basket which encloses everything, because it's on a flat tray, children can easily see what they are. So I guess they don't need to put a label, I guess. So yeah, and I suppose I have been reading lots of things about labels versus non-labels Really, yeah, and I think it's a lot to do with the adults actually.

Speaker 2 20:42

Yeah.

Speaker 1 20:43

Because the children can't necessarily read it.

Speaker 2 20:45

No.

Speaker 1 20:46

It's about the adults knowing where things are. So they can tell children when to put them away and how to put them away. Yeah, so yeah, there's definitely a trail of thought about labels, no labels, but that's for another podcast.

Speaker 2 21:00

So just very, very open and inviting, I guess.

Speaker 1 21:03

They talked about having a huge space in the middle so children could pull those trays out which might have a cutting skill on there, or they might have tweezers separating objects from each other so that they're building up their fine motor skills. They do have sections to the classroom, like we do, yeah, so they definitely have a practical life area which is about buttoning and zipping things up, about pouring they're juice or they're water into a cup at certain levels, washing hands is a big thing, a preparing snack. And then they have something called a sensorial area which is Sounds like something you find at a spa.

Speaker 2 21:51

It does.

Speaker 1 21:54

I think it's to do with like colors, like Color matching and textures, that kind of sensory yeah thing that you would find in the environment and being very tactile, that kind of thing.

Speaker 2 22:08

So there are these very specific which I didn't know about. There's very specific Resources on there like the pink tower and the brown yeah.

Speaker 1 22:16

Stay are the things that she created herself. She designed them because she had a a mathematical, yeah, wave thinking. Yeah, she was really into geometry, geometry, geometry, that's it. Yeah, geometric Geometrics. She was really into that and and so, yeah, she created a lot of these resources. The Also you'll quite often see like a block that have got different sized cylinders in and you have to. For the younger children, they have to match all of the blocks up by sight and Quickly so, and they're like puzzles also as well. She designed a lot of her own puzzles, yeah, which we wouldn't really have. We don't really have also bead strings they come from Maria Montesourie and those sort of deans, yeah, apparatus as well, 10 frames decimals they wanted.

Speaker 1 23:13

She wanted them to be able to hold a hundred in her in their hands and that kind of thing. So it was really tactile and really concrete for them. She did so. When it come to phonics, I noticed there was a lot of what they called sandpaper letters, where they would feel what and you know the letter s feels like and it'd be sandpaper which, again, it's about being tactile and using all of your senses and all of your body. So yeah, she. So the areas she, there was quite a few.

Speaker 1 23:44

So they, they had a maths area, a Language area which I guess is not just letters, but for younger children it would be matching animals to pictures that thing and when they would have curious objects for children to talk about which just made me think of the curiosity approach and she would bring things from outside in, yeah, so, whether it be bugs or animals or plants, and they would come in and they would have a discussion about it to bring on children's language and a cultural area which is Geography and history. K and you, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 24:26

Yeah.

Speaker 1 24:28

World. For older children it'd be botany and looking at Animals and that kind of thing. Because she did, this approach went all the way up to the age of 18.

Speaker 2 24:41

Yeah, so when?

Speaker 1 24:42

you're a sort of you when you're in your adult who's which. I don't know what age the school leaving age was back then, but that's what it is at the.

Speaker 2 24:50

Moment.

Speaker 1 24:50

Yeah, but yeah, there'd be science.

Speaker 2 24:53

So, looking at collections of rocks and shells and Would there be like a traditional Role play area, like a domestic role player like we?

Speaker 1 25:03

have? I don't think so. I think they did have role play, so they, but that was in there. What did they call it Is? It the grace and the grace, and courtesy area, which sounds quite nice actually, but it would be more activity base you might have like I don't know, a tray with a tea set on, and it would.

Speaker 2 25:22

that would be it. Yeah, yeah, and they will close.

Speaker 1 25:25

You'd have an adult in there who would Be monitoring children's social interactions and they classed, you know what they would be a lot of objects in there and so lots of dressing up kind of things, but Staff would be very close by to sort of interject and make a learning point out of, like you know, snatching or, yeah, turn taking, or thoughts about how the game should be.

Speaker 1 25:51

So that's what the grace and courtesy area is Very nice and a very big on manners as well, they did have art and music areas and definitely very much into like Observational drawing and painting, that sort of fine art kind of thing. The technique of painting and drawing, rather than just being free with it, does that make sense. Yeah, I mean I could be wrong, but that's the sense that.

Speaker 2 26:21

I got so it would be more of a you know, it wouldn't be just like what do you want to make or what do you want to paint, but it would maybe be something to copy, to think so, yeah, looking at like fine artists, yeah, yeah, bringing in something from the outside to like really dissect and then draw, yeah kind of thing, and then learn all about it, yeah.

Speaker 2 26:43

I Wonder what Maria Montessori would make of. Yeah, because this is just painting this picture of just serenity and calm and just focus. And and, yeah, I wonder if Him, I wonder if in reality that's how it was, or if it ever felt More chaotic, or I'm wondering is the children have never experienced anything like that.

Speaker 1 27:15

So you imagine these impoverished children. They've come from the streets Playing around all day, probably being at school and then not being at school, their parents being at work all the time. I mean, you can kind of see parallels to today. Maybe they'd be getting up to slightly different things, yeah, but I Think they probably had all and wonder if you've never seen anything like that before. Can you imagine if an adult wasn't was actually present?

Speaker 2 27:45

Yeah, for a change and I'm was and was praising you and yeah, interested in yeah as a whole person.

Comparing Montessori to Contemporary Early Years

Speaker 1 27:52

And not just what grade you got or how you performed. Can you imagine? I imagine it was probably a, like you say, very calm and yeah, I mean, children's expectations would back then are different what they are now. Okay so Should we just talk about, like, some of the parallels to what we have in our settings? Yeah, just quickly. So in our setting we do have open shelving, don't we?

Speaker 2 28:27

we do, yeah, and I think that that is quite common, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, many earlier settings.

Speaker 1 28:36

And it doesn't matter what budget you have.

Speaker 1 28:38

It could be an old bookcase or it could be you know something from expensive from early excellent or it could be a palette, yeah, or it could be an old drawer system, but whatever it is, they are accessible to children and they can see what is on the shelf. So If you are using continuous provision, that is 100% what you would be using. So I can definitely see where that ideas come from. Skills teaching as well yeah, you do teach skills, Whether it be mathematics or just general provision skills or knowledge. Again, I can see those parallels.

Speaker 2 29:15

Yeah, so we tend to be our setting meet more of a skills base, not necessarily following a topic or a theme which no in some other.

Speaker 1 29:25

Yeah, like we would do people who help yeah yeah, we don't do that. Yes, the children, you, yeah, or a really interesting itself to yeah, some skills really yeah, and we do Encourage children to be independent. We do, you know, expect them to be able to put their coat on and do their zip up? We do expect them to be able to wash their hands and manage their toilets, their own snack rolling.

Speaker 1 29:56

Yeah, and we do. They do do chopping and we do do a lot of cooking. So yeah, I can see those sort of parallels things like how would work.

Speaker 2 30:06

Yeah, yeah, you know, like you say, the cooking being independent.

Speaker 1 30:12

So, yeah, I think there are lots of parallels, there are there are and I can see Actually there are quite a lot from the Montessori method that have been taken into our curriculum.

Speaker 2 30:23

Absolutely yeah that's lovely yeah you can really see, because you know, really, it's all about the unique child, isn't it? That's what she was pushing right from the start and the adult as an observer and Interjecting and teaching in the moment.

Speaker 1 30:40

Yeah.

Speaker 2 30:41

Rather than directing. That is what she was doing. Yeah, probably Probably more, even more so, to more of an extreme than we do, because we do do some directed Teaching time, although we don't do a lot of sort of adult guided activities where we expect our children to come over? No, we don't we bring the learning to them in what they're choosing to do? However, you know, it's still that principle still.

Speaker 1 31:10

We do relate a lot to nature, so we do observe all the seasons. Yeah, we do. Like a Wouldn't say it was pure forest school, but we do yeah, we have a forest area. We do spend a lot of time, most of our time outside, yeah, have access to outside, yeah, so again I can see, see that as well, and we've also moved away from using stickers. We have. Actually, when I saw that was like oh, I thought that was quite a new thing.

Speaker 2 31:37

We had a look, we had a big, big discussion around the use of stickers. We did in our settings and it was. You know, it was felt that children didn't really Understand why they were getting a sticker, or they were getting very upset if they didn't get a sticker. Yeah, or they lost their sticker, or they wanted to do something like they wanted to Tidy up and then get a sticker because they tidied up rather than just tidying up, because that's our rules and that's what we do.

Speaker 1 32:04

Um and we watch parents when their children would come out of school. They go oh, you've had a good day, you've got five stickers and it's like, well, actually that child could have had a.

Speaker 2 32:12

Really bad day. They just had five good moments.

Speaker 1 32:14

They've had five good moments that staff were just sort of praising to try and build their confidence. Yeah, so actually wasn't a true reflection of how they were doing in school, um, and we just ended up feeling really Negative towards stickers, so we just went fine.

Speaker 2 32:31

No stickers, don't have them in it. Very, very, very occasionally there might be a sticker. If a child does something exceptional, and yeah, they go to show sort of somebody Like in the skinny leadership team, they might get a sticker, um, but we just don't give them out, is it? It's not how we praise. We sort of have group Group incentives, don't we?

Speaker 1 32:50

we have cubes in the jar, we do when they feel the yeah, and they only so. If they do something amazing, they get to put a point or a cube in the jar and as a class, as a team, they fill that jar up. Um, and when they get to the top they get to have a choose, a treat, and that again that comes into that.

Speaker 2 33:09

British values choosing. That is still hard because they still do things sometimes to try and get the cube.

Speaker 1 33:15

They do. Can I have the?

Speaker 2 33:16

cube now, because I just did this. You're like no, well, no, but that's what we were expected to do. I know and choose it, use it, put it away, but yeah, it's, it's hard it is hard.

Speaker 1 33:27

But yeah, I did think oh, oh, that was. I thought that was a new thing and clearly not it's, it's a an old thing. Um, so, what are we gonna? Um, well, should we talk about the critiques first?

Speaker 2 33:41

Yeah, so obviously, when you've done a bit of research on something like this, there are some things and you think, oh, I don't know how I feel about that. Um, so one of the things that I I read that maria Montessori had said was that one of her beliefs was that children would rather work than play, and she felt that a lot of their tasks and their activities were sort of work based, like the making the dinner or, um, you know, washing up or chopping the food. It was, it was a work. It was work rather than play and I.

Speaker 2 34:14

I just didn't know if that undermined a little bit. I get where she was coming from, where children love to do these tasks, where they feel like adults and they love to do those work tasks. But I don't know if I believe that should be in place of play because, I, I still think there should just be spontaneous play with no, with no sort of Hidden agenda behind it because I think you're underestimating then some of the Psychological benefits. I mean, she was a psychologist.

Speaker 2 34:44

Not me what do I know, but I just think it's sort of maybe under underestimated some of the power of all the research. Since then she wouldn't have had access to that. She was the pioneer.

Speaker 1 34:54

She was a pioneer, wasn't she? She was at the infancy of the whole movement. Yeah, so maybe we'll give her.

Speaker 2 35:02

Anyway, like the brain, I guess she wouldn't have. No with the brain development. No information that we we know now.

Speaker 1 35:09

No, because we, we don't. We think play is the same as work, it's all play. Everything that children do is play, whether it's self, yeah, directed or not. Yeah, it still plays, isn't it? And I think maybe it's. It's just the wording, maybe I don't know, but yeah, that is definitely. Yeah, it did. That did made my stomach go, oh.

Speaker 2 35:32

I bet that, and then I don't know how I feel about as well. I mean, I know we've talked about the fantasy and how it wasn't really a thing, but yeah, I think that element of it I can't get on board with it because I just you know, I think the magic of you know the fantasy story that children really love, and all of the language and the imaginative skills that come from fantasy.

Speaker 1 35:56

It's a safe place for children to think about things that maybe aren't safe, or Think or take risks in their imagination that they wouldn't do in their daily life. So I, yeah, I'd, I'd find that very difficult. I don't think I can get on board with that either.

Speaker 2 36:13

Um, and and then I've also read another critique of it nowadays is that, although obviously it wasn't set out when it was first invented or created, wasn't set out to be elite. It was actually to support sort of the most vulnerable disadvantaged children. I, I, I don't know if the Montessori movement nowadays it's, it's a lot of money. You know, I don't, I don't think, especially in like the uk, you wouldn't necessarily have government funded Montessori, would you?

Speaker 1 36:40

would it? I don't know that. I mean, there is one local to me, but um, and they do take on children, you know, with the funded albums, okay, but um it, they're. Obviously. There also is a private payment element to it. Yeah, but um, I don't know.

Education and Montessori Implementation Strategies

Speaker 2 36:59

Yeah, they're being interesting because I don't know how Nowadays, if um there was, if there's any research out there there probably is it says you know what are the backgrounds of children that are in modern Montessori? Education and yeah it may not be hitting all of the different yeah groups.

Speaker 1 37:20

Of children.

Speaker 2 37:21

Yeah, um, so I don't know if it is only it's more likely nowadays to be accessed by More privileged children, perhaps.

Speaker 1 37:28

I think it's definitely that way in America, because this movement is very big in America. It's not as big here, but in America is it's completely taken hold. Um, but they're how they do. Their education system is different, different to ours, but I definitely do think it was very much a Uh, upper class, middle upper class kind of movement. I again, I could be wrong, so don't live in America, but that is how I saw it. Yeah, when I, when I looked online, um, one of the things that that kind of struck me was how rigid it was in a way that that, um, they very much looked at one skill at a time and it was here are all these trays of, of resources and, and, yes, the children had Self, they could choose which ones they wanted to do, but, um, I felt as though there wasn't. Maybe it's linked to the fantasy thing, there wasn't as as much.

Speaker 2 38:23

Magic. No, and there's definitely not as much creativity and sort of individual thinking is there if you're going to promote Only having one skill or a single skill element, um, to an activity, whereas our things that we would add like enhancements, they've disguised the limit.

Speaker 1 38:41

Yeah, it's more open-ended it is and I think again yeah, I don't know. It doesn't appear that the movement has been as modernized as I would have liked to to have been I. There's definitely some people who are very much Um, keeping it pure to back to the old days, but I don't know again, I could be wrong, but that's the feeling I got. It didn't feel like it was Modern to reflect some of the modern children and what they are doing, especially technology wise. Yeah another thing they don't, really don't know is is technology, yeah.

Speaker 2 39:18

But that's our, that's our world, is it?

Speaker 1 39:20

Yeah, I've got a kind of place for you have. Yeah, I don't know, but yeah, they're sort of the Critiques, if you like. Yeah, so what we're gonna do about it then, missy.

Speaker 2 39:34

Well, we, we are going to try and bring in a little bit of Montessori. Yeah in our settings that we don't already do, because, as it as it appears in the research, so much of it is Like, as we've said, it's it's woven into the whole ethos of early years and the framework and the guidance and everything. So it's not like we have to do anything transformational.

Speaker 1 40:01

No, and our children. They do mix with each other.

Speaker 2 40:05

Outside to the age group there is a bit of age group mix in there which is nice, and we and we also have sort of visitors, don't we sometimes from yeah and up the school that come down.

Speaker 1 40:16

Yeah, be sort of playground buddies.

Speaker 2 40:18

Yeah.

Speaker 1 40:19

To some of our children, and we are working with a company called Opal, who are Talking about us all mixing At one point, so there will be a lot of age mixing on the horizon.

Speaker 1 40:32

So that is kind of that box. It's kind of, yeah, it's being ticked, but what so? In my classroom, what I would really like to do is Using the sort of train method, but for children who are maybe stuck in a schema or children who've got Maybe fine motor issues, and maybe creating some trades for just for them, so that they can access, if they want to, to try and bring those sort of skills on, and I might even put a little photo of their face to say that that is for them, so that other children Don't wreck it, I suppose.

Speaker 1 41:12

Yeah, they know it's them and just so I can sort of control and see how it goes, yeah, and then maybe open it up to more children if that makes sense. But yeah, that's kind of the takeaway. I think that it would really help some children who, without having to take them out to Do a group of like squiggle or do disco, that they could still do it in their play. Yeah, I wouldn't have to disrupt them. Yeah, so, um, yeah, that's something I thought. Oh yeah, that would actually work.

Speaker 2 41:38

So you're gonna give that a go, I'm gonna give it a go and I'm gonna give a go. So something I read about was the peace Corner or the peace table.

Speaker 1 41:46

Yes.

Speaker 2 41:47

Yeah, so having an area in the classroom which is for Conflict resolution, yeah, so I have a lovely I'm looking at it right now and it will tense area and I think I'm gonna Rebrand that as like a little peace corner so that if children have fallen out with a friend and they can maybe go in there, and if I put some visuals up there to sort of help them with some tools to develop, maybe like talking to each other and listening and you know some, yes, some visual clues, references to the things that we already talk about a lot in Class, and just see how they get on and have an adult, sort of if they notice children in the peace corner.

Speaker 2 42:35

And could they come over to begin with and sort of help them? Because I'd say that it's probably one of the things that is, you know, very on our radar is is is Resolving conflict with nursery children and trying to develop that Independence to be able to sort of resolve those little niggly arguments in a peaceful way, that bopping each other over their heads.

Speaker 2 43:03

And would be, would be a nice addition to the classroom. So I'm gonna give that a go, nice, so. So we're gonna have a go, aren't we? And this is our new kind of yeah thing. Yeah we do is we've had our staff meeting, we've had the information.

Speaker 1 43:16

Yeah, we've had the input and so, yeah, we're gonna Take away something that might have a bit of impact in our setting, because that's what you do when you go on courses, isn't it? You get the information. You think, well, I'm not doing that. Yeah, you already do that. Yeah, that's not.

Speaker 2 43:34

Yeah, that's gonna cost too much.

Speaker 1 43:37

But you, you take something away and you do give it a little go, all we certainly do when we go away. So that is our little takeaway. So we are gonna have a go at documenting our progress.

Speaker 2 43:48

And and then we come back to you and see how it goes in a future podcast with a little a revisit like em. An evaluation of how we've got on and how the children know. And then, if any, if anybody out there tries any or already you know, adopts a Montessori approach in spot, montessori inspired Approach or pure, and perhaps you could share some of your? Yeah, we would love to know things that we could.

Speaker 1 44:17

You know, we could also add yeah, because obviously we're not experts.

Speaker 2 44:20

No.

Speaker 1 44:24

Okay, do you want to? I have got a mindful, you have my. Okay, then off we go. I.

Speaker 2 44:35

Did have a mindful moment, but my mind is just gone blank Because I can't remember what I was gonna talk about. But so maybe if you want to do the call to arms, sarah, okay, and then I'll do the mindfulness.

Speaker 1 44:53

Okay, as we've been saying, we have had a lot of engagement on our Social media. But, yeah, head on over to tick, tock, search for us the earliest staff meeting and again on Instagram, we have been putting out like some polls and we've started adding more photos. So, yeah, we would love your ideas or your comments, and positive, negative. We've got tough skin, we can take it.

Speaker 2 45:22

Especially after this, especially after my memory, yeah.

Speaker 1 45:26

So, yeah, you know that we would really appreciate it. And, of course, if you're listening to this, just click the follow or the subscribe button. That would be amazing. And we are on YouTube. Oh, yes, we're on YouTube. Yeah, yeah, our boss sprout where we upload all of our content as Hooked up with YouTube now. So we're on YouTube. So, yeah, we are multi-platforms.

Speaker 2 45:49

We are.

Speaker 1 45:51

Yeah, please, that would be amazing, we would. We just need your support. Yeah, anything.

Speaker 2 46:00

Okay, I think I've remembered. Is it come to you?

Speaker 2 46:03

well, it's ironic yeah because, yeah, it's very ironic because the mindful moment today Was just a little podcast that I listened to. It's called seven good minutes and they have lots of different Like very short podcasts I sometimes listen to in the morning to gear me up for the day, and the message today was that Everything is sort of giving yourself a switch off and switch back on again, like everything will work again if you turn it off and turn it back on again. I feel like my brain just now I didn't work and then it's worked again now. So, yeah, it's like sometimes you need to give yourself. It's just like those, those horrible computers we have in school that just don't. They just take ages To load up and sometimes you just have to switch, press the button and yeah override it hard reset.

Speaker 2 46:57

So it's sort of giving yourself a hard reset sometimes. So that might be that if you're just having like a day where you're having a bad day or you just got a lot on your plate, you just need that hard reset. You just take a moment, you just take a break, whether that is going for a quick walk, whether it is just having a cup of tea and sitting down five minutes. Probably better to recommend doing something that's not on a screen, because you're only more likely, I think, to go down and rabbit a whole of more Musical Sing sometimes.

Speaker 2 47:30

I have a nice thing.

Speaker 1 47:31

Sometimes I might put on some like thrash metal and just go. I do do it in my car is quite Yep, right done.

Speaker 2 47:43

Or even like just a little, a little meditation, even just taking some like breaths for a few minutes, just closing your eyes. Take going to the toilet yeah, just if you're in a really busy working for me, just like I need a minute go to the toilet, sit in the toilet and just take a few deep breaths and just reset a way of resetting your brain, because everything will work again if you just switch it back on, switch it off Almost everything, if you switch it off and switch it back on again. So that is the Sort of unplugging unplugging your brain is the mindful moment to finish on today.

Speaker 2 48:20

Okay.

Speaker 1 48:22

It's obviously time you had to switch back off and switch back on my brain obviously we're.

Speaker 2 48:29

We're not in our cup today, are we?

Speaker 1 48:30

No, we're not we're in your.

Speaker 2 48:32

In your in my quiet area, my classroom and twinkly lights, fairy lights and sitting on the sofa. So, it's basically luxury.

Speaker 1 48:45

No, yeah, okay. Well, we look forward to seeing you next time. Well, hopefully we've got some insights on how Montessori went.

Speaker 2 48:52

And I think we're going to explore the regio Emilio. So if you did want to know about that, don't worry, because I've been researching that one and we're going to do that on a forthcoming podcast.

Speaker 1 49:03

Yeah, exciting, I look forward to that. Okay, well, I'll see you next time. See you soon, bye, bye you.