Time for a nap!

I finished my practical exam this morning. I chose "how to walk around a mat." This should be really easy but I goofed up and had to redo it. Luckily I goofed on remembering which way to put my mat on the ground so I could unroll it towards me without crawling on it. It always trips me up, even during practice sessions, so I wasn't embarrassed. Plus, it wasn't the part of the work I was being observed for. It was good to redo it and I "passed." I guess I didn't have to actually redo it, but I wanted to. It also helped for me to be able to come out of the room and tell everyone I messed up; they seemed less nervous then. Lead by example?

So then we went to see the final project presentations for the women who trained last year. They had done a year-long culture project, which we will have to do as well. I have already chosen my culture. I was struggling trying to pick one I identify with and will have fun learning about. So....dum dum duuuum....I will do it on Appalachia! I am so excited and think it will be a great learning experience and very relevant.

Because I finished my exam this morning, I was able to leave class early and got back to Chad and Valerie's at 4:30!

So I will finally get a much deserved nap!

Next I need a really good back massage from all that driving.......

"All I want is to feel this way

To be this close, to feel the saaaaame. All I want is to feel this way, the evening speaks, I feel this waaaaay."

Toad the Wet Sprocket came on my Sirius satellite radio today on the Coffeehouse channel. It was a wonderful distraction from the ONE HOUR I spent in traffic on the way home from training today. I stayed late at training to finish the first part of a practicum and figured I would miss all the traffic. But there was a multi-car accident on the 267 Toll Road that had me rolling along for an hour chillin' to the Coffeehouse channel, my guilty pleasure channel (which I won't admit here... just ask me and you'll see why, the DC traffic channel, Raw Dog--dirty comedians like George Carlin, and the Laugh channel which featured Jeff Foxworthy and Steve Martin.) Sirius is wonderful and if you are thinking about getting satellite radio, go with them.

As for training today, it was just invigorating. We spent most of the day practicing the practical life works and I just really felt like I was in my zone. My imaginary child's name is Joseph and he is a wonderful child. You all should meet him. (Yes, it's weird. I am the only person who named my imaginary child.) BUT, in my defense, I was more tired today than the others. I didn't go to bed any later last night than usual, but maybe Ben wore me out.

Like I wrote earlier, we had practicum. This meant that we pantomimed giving a lesson to our imaginary children. Joseph. The lesson I chose from the hat was "Cutting on the Line." Of course it was the only work I hadn't practiced and gone over 800 times. But, no worries, I just took a deep breath and channeled Donna, as I have been doing for all of training. The indoctrination worked; I cannot escape it. (This is not a bad thing.) Aaaanyway, cutting on the line is a work that teaches the child how to cut on a line, duh. The first work a child masters in scissors is just cutting a plain strip of paper with no lines. The work I chose has vertical lines on the strip of paper that the child cuts with one stroke. That means that the strip is the appropriate width for the child to cut with one snip. That is a "control of error" (one of our follow-up quiz questions.) The Montessori mantra should be "Control the environment" (or so says Donna...gee, you are coming up a lot here, Donna...). So that means that the adult in the environment tries to ensure that the child will be have optimal success in his attempts. In the cutting work, the controls of error are rounded-tip scissors, a strip of paper that is cut thin enough for one snip, lines on the paper, child-sized scissors, etc. We were then asked the indirect purposes of the work. In this case, hand/eye coordination, concentration, independence (well, those are really in all the works...) Some of the works have indirect purposes like preparation for sewing or reverence for beauty, patience, manners, etc. Everything in the Montessori classroom has a purpose and is set up to ensure success for the child. Just brilliant.


I am spending this weekend in Fairlington and hope to go see An Inconvenient Truth this weekend. I will have to round up some NOVA peeps for this one.

Next week we start learning about the language work. So pretty soon I can teach you all how to read.

Okay Austin is snoring so that means is is really zonked out and it must be time for me to sleep. There's nothing like spooning with a yellow lab. (Almost as good as spooning with a certain 18 month old!)

"Listen, I don't mean to be ignorant, but..."

Or so said a lady tonight at the Ben Folds concert when she was trying to quiet down a group of people next to her. It made no sense and we were perplexed and eruditely amused. We being me, Emma (!!) and Emma's friend Ryan. We saw Ben Folds at the Merriweather Post Pavilion with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. As usual, he was amazing and played brilliantly. Some of the songs went REALLY well with the orchestra and he said he is putting out an orchestra album in the Fall.

Emma is in DC now working at a foundation for pulmonary hypertension (or PH as those in the biz call it I found out tonight). I can only go that far to explain it because 1) I don't remember the name of the company and 2) I don't want to screw it all up. So surely Emma will fill me in on the correct details. Her office is in Silver Spring so I picked her up on the way up to Merriweather Post. In a fun spark of destiny, I parked in front of the campaign office for Ida G. Ruben, a wonderfully cute elderly woman running for reelection. The windows were filled with signs about reelecting her, including 2 very large window sized posters that said "Reelect Ida." I think Emma can walk to campaign headquarters from her office and I'm sure the campaign needs an extra volunteer, right Emma? Someone's gotta get me a sign!

Friday is my practical exam for the daily living part of the Montessori training. I am so wiped out from this week and my back is killing me. I think the back has to do with sitting in the car for 2 hours a day. As for the tiredness, everyone at the training is on par with that one. It is so much concentration and focus for a very long day. But the people I am meeting are wonderful and the work is so beautiful that it's hard to complain. We don't have trouble feeling bad for ourselves and our aches and pains, however.

My favorite work in the Sunshine Room with Donna was leaf washing. We learned how to give a lesson in the Primary class on that work today. The children choose a plant that has dusty leaves and carefully sponge the dust off the leaf. Every work has many purposes beyond the obvious one, in this case, washing leaves. Other purposes in that work are learning order and sequencing, gentleness, patience, etc. The instructor also used the phrase "companionship with nature." So I am now more in love with the work and will never have a classroom without it.

Today's fun break was Ben Folds. Next week it's DMB with Evan! So I'm not committing 24 hours to the Montessori boot camp...but close to it!

Oh! Emma gave me a present today in honor of my training program. Two wonderful books about teaching, one called Ms. Moffett's First Year by Abby Goodnough and the other Educating the "Right" Way by Michael W. Apple. Both are about education in America, flaws and strengths. So perfectly relevant and thoughtful. See why she's part of the posse? I am ready to make my life about education and children and already see the books piling up.

I will change the world here, guys, you betcha.

Maria herself

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Montessori

This will give you a Wikipedia version of Dr. Montessori. It is flagged for quality control so I suppose someone read it and found fault. Still, at least it'll give you an idea.

Plus, it will help to know about her because, as my instructor today said, "Remember, She is watching." (I found that a little creepy, but I went with it. I guess that could be a good personal check...)

"If help and salvation are to come, they can only come from the children, for the children are the makers of men." -Maria Montessori (more quotes where that came from, no need to worry!)

Day 1 of the Blog, Day 6 of NMI

I have been having such a wonderful time at my training and have been wanting to share every juicy story with all my juicy fans so I thought I'd give a go at the blogging thing to keep everyone updated.

Today was the first day that we really got into the classroom materials, beginning the section called Practical Life. This is the area where the children learn various skills for Daily Living, like buttoning and pouring and food slicing and washing, etc. etc..

I am proud to say that I am not alone in my passionate and thorough pursuit of each individual work (this being the industry term for each material on the shelf for those of you non-Montessorians) so there are many other women who share my enthusiasm. BUT, during our practice sessions, I paired up with a new friend to go over the lessons. The course is set up so that the instructor shows the entire group a lesson and once we have seen several different lessons, then we have time to practice pantomiming a lesson to a child just as the instructor showed us so that we have due practice for the exam on Friday.

A big part of the practice session is taking pictures of each step to add to the big album of lesson plans we will turn in for grading. I am a stickler for details and deliberately exaggerated each step and followed the model of the teacher to the T as well as take pictures. My partner, however, was so concerned with picture taking that my exaggerated pantomiming and communication with the imaginary child was causing her undue stress and she rushed me through the lessons I was practicing. You'd be surprised at how many steps there are to pouring liquid from one pitcher to another! Needless to say, I was devastatingly agitated and had found a perfect opportunity to cultivate the virtue of patience in the Montessori adult. Her practice lessons were so rushed and messy that I literally started to feel the bug of Middle School grade competing and think to myself, "She is totally gonna get a C on her practical exam." Now if that's not Maria reincarnated, I don't know what is.

So, tomorrow I will try to be patient.....okay, it's true. I will actually just find a new partner.