Early this week, I was giving a clock lesson on half hours to first graders when I noticed the shadows of several second graders, lurking on the edge of our little circle. It started with one or two, slowly sidling by, eyes sliding over the work. Before long, they were hovering, hands on hips, jaws dropped open with outright jealousy. At the end of the lesson, more than one approached me indignant, "When are we going to get a lesson with that?" Outraged, even--as if I have withheld beautiful Montessori secrets from them for an entire year. "How come we didn't get that lesson when we were first graders?"
Ah, the Hello Wood Montessori Teaching Clock . . . I don't blame them. I'd be jealous, too. It is truly a gorgeous piece of work.
Much to my high-pitched, squealy, hand-clapping delight, over the summer we received ALL of the "Magnet One-Time Funds Requisition" materials request that I submitted to the district Magnet Department, including Golden Beads that are actually beads and gold colored (rather than the wooden cubes, with which we made do for years), two new Small Bead Frames (to replace our 25-year-old, chain-hanging-on-by-a-thread frames), a cloth Checkerboard (so that the beads won't roll around necessitating that students restart extensive multiplication problems from the beginning), an additional box of fraction pieces, a full set of Solid Grammar Symbols, a box of flat wooden grammar symbols, and . . . the piece of material that excites me most of all, actually makes my Montessori mind drool, just thinking about it: the Hello Wood Montessori Teaching Clock.
I began to covet this clock the moment I spied its beautiful brilliance in Montessori Life. It is more brilliant that I can explain. The circumference has a groove for the blue five-beads, marking five-minute segments with a material with which the children are already familiar from the Colored Bead Stair and the Bead Cabinet. The clock also has a cut-out in the center to demonstrate "half past," "quarter past," and "quarter 'til," using the Montessori Fraction Circles with which the children are also familiar. It's the sort of obvious cleverness that makes one wonder, "Why didn't I think of that?" or perhaps more appropriately, "Why didn't Montessori think of that?!" (Sacrilege, I know.) It even comes with a fabulous toolkit! Since I first laid eyes on it, I have visited the clock at conference booths just to fondle its smooth wood finish and rededicate my devotion to its design-brilliance, but the cost of this clock is $109 and I never dreamed it would actually find its way to the shelves of Room 28! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Heee, heeeeeeee! Hel-lo, Gorgeous!
It's certainly beautiful, and I can see why everyone would want to use it... But I think the reason Maria Montessori didn't think of that material is because it's not necessarily needed. When I introduce the Kindergarteners to the clock, I also refresh their memories on how to skip count using the long five chain, and we explore fraction nomenclature at the same time. However, I don't tell them what the connection is between all three. Then, I allow the children to come to the necessary conclusions, and sooner or later they do (it'll take them a while, in most cases, but that's ok). I think that's what true knowledge is about: Taking seemingly unrelated information and finding the link that makes you say "a-ha!" It's up to the children to reach the "a-ha" moment, and it's up to us to guide them, not spoon feed them.
ReplyDeleteI realize Montessorians disagree as to whether it is appropriate to bring into the classroom that which was not invented by Maria Montessori (or in many cases at the Elementary level, her son Mario). Reluctance is appropriate. A Montessori child myself, I believe strongly in the principles of Montessori’s philosophy, the efficacy of the method when implemented as a whole, and the beauty and design of the materials. However, I also believe we should approach the classroom as scientists, observing what calls to and engages the children and leads them to a deeper understanding of a concept. Montessori did this herself, borrowing cleverly designed materials from others (such as Seguin). I think that to offer children such a clear concrete representation of an abstract concept (such as the way in which our culture uses a clock to mark increments of time) is no more spoon-feeding than it is to offer them Golden Beads with which to develop a concrete understanding of place value. Why obfuscate when it comes to the clock? By bridging the clock to Montessori materials with which the child is already familiar, we offer the child’s brain the same connection to existing knowledge that we offer when we bridge from Golden Beads to the Stamp Game.
ReplyDeleteA few more thoughts:
ReplyDeleteAs a responsible steward of a Montessori “prepared environment,” one is obligated to make conscious decisions about the materials in the classroom. Thank you for pushing me to reflect on my choice and articulate my thoughts. The key question to ask oneself is, “What is the goal of this lesson?” For me, the goal of clock work is to help children more independently manage their time in the context of a culture that relies heavily on clocks and schedules (not to help them discover hidden aspects of Montessori materials). The materials are in service to learning, rather than the reverse. If there are materials in the classroom (fraction pieces and the five chain) that will help the child discover an “ah, ha” about the clock, it is appropriate to use them for this purpose. When I presented this material and asked the children if they could explain why adults might sometimes refer to the time on this clock as “half past three,” their intakes of breath, the excited looks on their faces, and their clear explanations convinced me that this is a material worth bringing into the classroom. “Ah, ha!”
Certainly, sometimes the goal of a lesson is less direct. Rather than giving him the name, I might push a child to independently identify a tree by making observations and using a field guide. In this case, my ultimate goal is for the child to gain independence by learning to find information himself. This is less the case with a clock lesson. Here, the clock itself is a tool for independence.
The materials are in service to learning, rather than the reverse.