I recently started a new job at a "Montessori" preschool. I used quotations because what I am seeing in this school and what my impressions of Montessori should look like are two very different things.
To start, the approach seems to be a combination of dictation and letting kids run free with no control. This is a group of 2-5 year olds (with most being 3 and 4). Twice a day, they are told to sit down at a table and are made to trace letters or copy words/letters in notebooks depending on skill level. Those who cannot trace the letters have their hands held as they are guided to do their letters. These forced "notebook times" can last upwards of 20-30 minutes. If a 4 year old accidentally writes the numeral "5" backwards (something, I struggled with myself until I was in first grade) she is told by the other teachers to "erase it and do it the right way."
Yesterday, the kids were getting a little restless in the afternoon. Lunch was at 11:30 followed by naptime, snack time (where the girls were told to eat without talking even after most had been silent for over two hours), and notebook time. All in all, we're looking at about 4 hours or so of preschoolers sitting. The other teacher there determined that it was too cold to go outside (it was in the mid to upper 60s- warm in the sun- especially if running around outside), so they didn't have outside time. My coworker's approach to the kids getting a little restless was to put some nursery rhyme cartoons on a tablet and make the kids sit quietly to watch.
My instinct was the opposite. In the absence of outside time, my thought was to open up as much floor space as possible, put on some music, and let the kids have a "dance party" to get some of their energy out.
I am also constantly at odds with some of my coworkers. One minute, I'm being reprimanded for disciplining the children, but the next, I'm reprimanded for letting the children do something they aren't supposed to do. On Tuesday, I told a toddler to stop throwing dirt and wood chips (after some dirt got into my eye). I was told that I am just supposed to "observe" and that they're allowed to throw dirt. Then, on Wednesday afternoon, I was reprimanded because a four year old took it upon herself to pour some Cheerios into a cup (which she spilled) despite me telling her to wait. Yesterday, I confiscated a toy car from a four year old boy who was rolling it to his friends during naptime. Without even asking me what had happened, one of my coworkers (the same one who told me not to tell the kids not to throw dirt) forcibly took the car from me and returned it to the child, telling me to "let him sleep with it." If he HAD been sleeping with it, it would be one thing, but he and his friends were trying to make the car "jump" from one cot to another. [The car was confiscated a second time from the assistant director- though other teachers, and my boss seemed to blame me; it was returned by the director after the boy continued to throw a tantrum over it. I took it a THIRD time when, while playing with it, he rolled it right over to me. That time, he did NOT throw a fit about it, and he did not get it back until after nap.]
I'm having a really hard time adjusting to the discipline styles (or lack thereof) of my coworkers. That, coupled with dealing with kids over the age of 2 who won't eat unless they are spoon fed (I was a toddler teacher previously and all of my children (who were 1 and 2) ate just about everything without any assistance.
The one thing I am finding is that I am able to- quite easily- capture the attention of MOST of the kids during circle time, etc without yelling. And, when I do have a chance to step in assert some authority, the kids do respond pretty well. I just feel trapped because there's always a chance that any amount of discipline I do (from redirecting a child to temporarily removing a child or toy from a situation, etc) will be immediately undermined by my coworkers. I cannot be expected to keep control over the children if this happens, and this can have very drastic consequences beyond dirt in the eye or spilled Cheerios. The children in the school often take off running down the hallway ahead of the teachers, or they will attempt to leave the fenced playground area. The school uses a church building, so there are often strangers in the same building. The list of potential things that could happen to a child who is so out of control and completely unresponsive to discipline seems endless, and I do not want to be the one "responsible" should such an event occur.
To start, the approach seems to be a combination of dictation and letting kids run free with no control. This is a group of 2-5 year olds (with most being 3 and 4). Twice a day, they are told to sit down at a table and are made to trace letters or copy words/letters in notebooks depending on skill level. Those who cannot trace the letters have their hands held as they are guided to do their letters. These forced "notebook times" can last upwards of 20-30 minutes. If a 4 year old accidentally writes the numeral "5" backwards (something, I struggled with myself until I was in first grade) she is told by the other teachers to "erase it and do it the right way."
Yesterday, the kids were getting a little restless in the afternoon. Lunch was at 11:30 followed by naptime, snack time (where the girls were told to eat without talking even after most had been silent for over two hours), and notebook time. All in all, we're looking at about 4 hours or so of preschoolers sitting. The other teacher there determined that it was too cold to go outside (it was in the mid to upper 60s- warm in the sun- especially if running around outside), so they didn't have outside time. My coworker's approach to the kids getting a little restless was to put some nursery rhyme cartoons on a tablet and make the kids sit quietly to watch.
My instinct was the opposite. In the absence of outside time, my thought was to open up as much floor space as possible, put on some music, and let the kids have a "dance party" to get some of their energy out.
I am also constantly at odds with some of my coworkers. One minute, I'm being reprimanded for disciplining the children, but the next, I'm reprimanded for letting the children do something they aren't supposed to do. On Tuesday, I told a toddler to stop throwing dirt and wood chips (after some dirt got into my eye). I was told that I am just supposed to "observe" and that they're allowed to throw dirt. Then, on Wednesday afternoon, I was reprimanded because a four year old took it upon herself to pour some Cheerios into a cup (which she spilled) despite me telling her to wait. Yesterday, I confiscated a toy car from a four year old boy who was rolling it to his friends during naptime. Without even asking me what had happened, one of my coworkers (the same one who told me not to tell the kids not to throw dirt) forcibly took the car from me and returned it to the child, telling me to "let him sleep with it." If he HAD been sleeping with it, it would be one thing, but he and his friends were trying to make the car "jump" from one cot to another. [The car was confiscated a second time from the assistant director- though other teachers, and my boss seemed to blame me; it was returned by the director after the boy continued to throw a tantrum over it. I took it a THIRD time when, while playing with it, he rolled it right over to me. That time, he did NOT throw a fit about it, and he did not get it back until after nap.]
I'm having a really hard time adjusting to the discipline styles (or lack thereof) of my coworkers. That, coupled with dealing with kids over the age of 2 who won't eat unless they are spoon fed (I was a toddler teacher previously and all of my children (who were 1 and 2) ate just about everything without any assistance.
The one thing I am finding is that I am able to- quite easily- capture the attention of MOST of the kids during circle time, etc without yelling. And, when I do have a chance to step in assert some authority, the kids do respond pretty well. I just feel trapped because there's always a chance that any amount of discipline I do (from redirecting a child to temporarily removing a child or toy from a situation, etc) will be immediately undermined by my coworkers. I cannot be expected to keep control over the children if this happens, and this can have very drastic consequences beyond dirt in the eye or spilled Cheerios. The children in the school often take off running down the hallway ahead of the teachers, or they will attempt to leave the fenced playground area. The school uses a church building, so there are often strangers in the same building. The list of potential things that could happen to a child who is so out of control and completely unresponsive to discipline seems endless, and I do not want to be the one "responsible" should such an event occur.
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