Staff Blog

By Joel Batson  – Totara Teacher

Have you ever heard that phrase, “Hasn’t that child got such an active imagination?”  It’s often said in relation to a young child acting out some story with or without props, with or without other young children.  While there is truth to the statement it is actually referring to a behaviour, which is often misunderstood.  A clear understanding of what imagination is and how we, as humans, use our imaginations increases the chances of a child reaching towards their full potential.

So then, what is imagination?  Is it something weird and mystical?  Something which some people have and some people just don’t?

Imagination is a creative power of the human brain.  It is the ability to create new ideas based on what is already known and it’s also the vehicle with which we are able to traverse time and geography.  It’s a process based on what is known (reality) and moves to what is either unknown or unknowable.  For it to be used correctly, the use of the imagination must start with the known.

Imagination, therefore, is different from fantasy, thinking and reasoning.  Fantasy is that place of make-believe and is largely based in an alternate reality.  Think elves, fairies and other brands of escapism.  Thinking is not necessarily a creative power and can be defined within the bounds of mental recount and memory.  Also different from imagination is reasoning; more of a deductive power.

These definitions help us to understand the difference between the use of imagination at the first (in the pre-school) and second (in the primary school) planes of development, in the context of how the brain is operating at these stages.  The first plane is concerned with the construction of the individual, giving real experiences the child absorbs with the help of their absorbent mind.  It’s all about the ‘what?’  The second plane is more about the ‘why?’  The child loses their absorbent mind and develops the reasoning mind they’ll have for the rest of their lives.

The first plane is the set-up, laying the building blocks for the use of the imagination that begins to develop in the second plane (and stays with the child for the rest of his or her life).  In the second plane, we begin applying this imaginative power to problems and solutions.  This is what has allowed humans to spread across the earth, adapting to pretty much any environment.  This is also where we see that the imagination is tied to the power to choose our actions, meaning that we actually have a responsibility to use our imaginations wisely.

Following are a few examples of how the imagination is used in class at the second plane: solving problems, creating business opportunities, imagining life in locations such as Ancient Egypt and how they used to re-measure their fields every time the Nile flooded and solving conflict by imagining how it is for others.  This all is based on what is already known.

By Tania Gaffney – Deputy Principal, Preschool and Primary

This year I have had the privilege of having my workspace situated in the pre-school.  It has been 20 or so years since I have spent time within a preschool environment for any great length of time.  I have been having a great time watching the kākano (3-6 year olds) and seeing what they are capable of in their environment.

The other day I walked past 2 little girls on the deck, one was leaning over the other girl’s feet, practically with her nose on them, putting all her effort into helping put the shoes on.  When it was finished they both hopped up pleased with the result.  No words were even exchanged, but by the looks on their faces, I could tell that each was happy with the outcome.  Another time there were two boys on the deck, one helping the other to put on his top.  When I first saw them, the top was on and the first boy was saying, as he helped to tug it down, “Mmm, now is it meant to be scrinched up like that?”  And it certainly was! I had wondered how he had even managed to get it on.  I went away and when I came back they were still there and the top was off again.  The helping boy was using his words of encouragement “You nearly got it that time. Let’s try again.”  At some stage later I saw them outside working, so I presumed that between them they had sorted it out.  For both these scenarios they didn’t need adults to swoop in and help; they were quite capable of sorting it out themselves, because one of them had a few more skills or experience and could help the other where needed.

In Montessori we strive to guide ākonga towards independence in many different ways. Examples include the way in which the class is set up, the lessons that are given in the area of practical life and the amount of adult intervention that we allow.  A well-known saying in Montessori is, “Every unnecessary help is a hindrance to the development of the child.”

As human beings, we strive for independence, not only so we can help ourselves, but so that we have the skills to be able to help others.  We might be highly skilled in one area, but not quite so capable in another and this therefore grants the opportunity for others to be able to help us and for us in turn to reciprocate by assisting them.

It’s sometimes easy for us as adults to forget just how much our small children are capable of, given the right guidance.  The trick we adults should always try and remember is to stand back, instead of rushing in and instead, let our children develop this side of themselves – it is a gift they deserve to have.

By Kerry Pratchett – Rewarewa Teacher, Preschool

Last year Jan told us that she had handed in her notice after many years of working at Wā Ora.  I think, whilst it was a shock, we also knew that she wouldn’t be with us forever.  Whilst transitions can be testing, I think that Jan prepared the community well for the changes ahead.  We did not have long to wait before we were told that Ava would be taking over in the role of Principal.  We even had a chance to sample the change when Jan went on a sabbatical and Ava came to ‘visit’ us for a term.

As we begin this new term, the preschool has had a number of tamariki move over to the primary school; at the same time, we have also welcomed new children into our preschool classes. This time of change can be quite stressful for a class or family, where we are getting used to new people, rules and expectations.  Orientation is a human tendency. Dr. Montessori spoke about how all humans need to orient themselves to their environment.  If we think of a child coming into a new environment they need to familiarise themselves with the new teachers, classmates and surroundings.  Once they have completed this process and feel safe, they then begin to explore and concentrate with certainty.

We are very lucky at Wā Ora to have our education go from 18 months to 18 years, as this means that students can see, ahead of time, where they will be moving to.  This hopefully makes those times of transition a little easier and since Montessori classes are grouped in three year bands, children don’t have to do it so very often!

Notwithstanding, these times of adjustment can still be challenging. To make life a little easier for everyone during these times, there are a number of ways support can be offered:

• Communicate with your child about the changes that will happen and when they will occur.
• Build a relationship between yourself and the new teacher – it is important that your child does not see your anxiety.
• Punctuality – arriving on time allows for a relaxed start to your child’s day.
• Allow time to chat – this does not need to be you directly questioning your child about school; often children will open up during those quiet 1:1 times.
• Be prepared for your child to be upset, quiet and missing their old friends.
• Allow time – parents, who have already been through a transition with a child, know that after a while all of the worries that you both had are just a distant memory.

As the school goes through a huge transition, I can see that both Jan and Ava have prepared us well.  I wish Jan all the very best in her new position in Bali and really look forward to getting to know Ava better.  Happy Transitioning!

By Richard Goodyear – Kawakawa Head Teacher – High School

In the wonderful book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice has many encounters with the Cheshire Cat who baffles and amuses, confuses and helps and at one stage disappears to the point where only a grin is left. Alice remarks, “I have seen a cat without a grin, but never a grin without a cat”.

Those tendencies to amaze, adapt, amuse, push boundaries and occasionally perplex us, can also remind us of our wonderful teens. They are inconsistent but not untruthful, frequently helpful, often mischievous. In equal measure sincere and sarcastic, robust and fragile, bumbling and straight talking, watchful and oblivious.

Dr. Montessori put it like this. ‘It’s a delicate age…an age of doubts and hesitations, of violent emotions, of discouragements.’

As educators, our job is simple (but not easy). Understand the characteristics of the age-group, prepare the environment and remove obstacles for normal development. Considering the flip-flop nature of the adolescent as outlined above, what environment is needed?

Dr. Montessori named it ‘a school of experience in the elements of social life’. This is one of the ways we think about what we do in the high school. A place where our rangatahi (young people) can try out aspects of the ‘real world’, but where it is safe to make mistakes and where they will have a strong community around them. There are many aspects to this. I’d like to highlight some of the ways we address the need for a healthy emotional environment.

We place a huge emphasis on relationships, and on building a strong, supportive community. We consciously provide many layers to this approach, some visible to the students, while some work away in the background.

Each student has an ‘advisor’ who is their key person for any pastoral issues. That teacher builds a strong relationship with the parents, who are another vital element. If things get too much, a counsellor is provided by the school.

We provide many opportunities for issues to be resolved including restorative meetings. We meet in groups once a week where all those students who share an advisor can discuss what’s going on in the classroom, in a slightly more public way. Then we have our weekly community meetings where students acknowledge each other’s efforts and where class issues can be discussed and resolved.

In the background are regular advisory teacher meetings where we discuss how the teens are going as individuals and how the community is ticking (or spluttering) along and what needs to be done in the coming week as a response. In our full high school meetings (which regularly include specialist teachers) we can have similar discussions but with the full teaching team.

All of this can seem like hard work, but actually what’s happening is that our adolescents, like the Cheshire Cat, are reminding us that life is rich, unpredictable and varied. The more we work to provide an environment that acknowledges this, the more interesting our job is.

By Sharon Udy – Totara Teacher – Primary

Whenever I meet someone for the first time, we seem to have a conversation along the lines of, “What do you do?” “I’m a Montessori teacher.” “Oh, what’s Montessori?”

When I was a new teacher I would sometimes avoid this by just saying, “I’m a teacher” but I soon realised that not enough people know about this gem we have discovered, so I changed my answer to, “I’m a Montessori teacher” and tried to answer the inevitable follow-up question the best that I could. This is a daunting prospect, as there are so many aspects that could be discussed, but so little time to do it justice. You may only have a minute or two (at most) to give a compelling and clear statement about the essence of Montessori education.

One term for a short explanation like this is an ‘elevator speech’ – so called because the speech can be given in the time it takes for an elevator to go up (ie. 30 seconds to two minutes).

My Montessori ‘Elevator Speech’ has varied greatly over the years and I have given more or less information based on who I am speaking with and the reaction I am getting from them. As a parent of a Montessori child, as well as a teacher, I can now add more to the speech, but the problem has always been how to fit enough in, and what to leave out!

The Montessori philosophy encompasses all aspects of human development. We learn in our training about the four Planes of Development, their characteristics, and how we can meet the needs of each in our learning environments. Then there are the Human Tendencies and how these manifest in each plane of development. This is the incredibly valuable knowledge which forms the basis of our work, but it is far too much jargon to inject into a short speech.

Instead, I talk about the innate curiosity of a child – their deep desire to learn and their endless questioning. I talk about how students in traditional schools often lose this love of learning very quickly. I talk about students in Montessori schools choosing their own work and choosing how long to continue with it, or about our long uninterrupted work cycle and our open-ended, integrated curriculum.

I talk about the three year levels in each class, where children learn from each other and become teachers – where there is no stigma when 9, 10 and 11 year olds have a lesson together because they are ready for it, or it is a topic of great interest for them.

I talk about how traditional schools are only now experimenting with discovery or inquiry-based learning, flexible seating arrangements, individual and small group lessons, personalised learning and learners and teachers working together – these are all integral parts of the Montessori philosophy and have been for over a century!

Have you got a Montessori ‘elevator speech’? What core elements do you include?

By Jackie Kirk – Kauri Teacher – Primary

In a Montessori primary environment there are certain freedoms given to the child which must be balanced with responsibility. The amount of responsibility that the child has, determines the amount of freedom that can be given to them. In other words, the more responsible a child is, the more freedom they will have.  The teacher assists the child in being accountable for not only their own learning, but for their social interactions within the community, which in turn aids each child in his/her own ‘self-construction.’ “Only through freedom and environmental experience is it practically possible for human development to occur.”  Maria Montessori

Some essential tools used in the primary class to assist freedom and responsibility are the child’s personal work journal, regular meetings (conferences) between each child and the teacher and societal expectations.

The work journal is a written account of how the child spends their day. The journal is not a place to plan work ahead of time or write down feelings. It is simply a responsible monitoring of the lessons and freely chosen work that the child participates in daily. This includes the date, the name of the piece of work/lesson, and the start and finish time. The child using their very best handwriting skills, can add their own individual artistic flare to beautify their journal and include details, so that they may recall what they did at a later date.

Another tool used to assist with freedom and responsibility is conferencing. This is a formal meeting between the child and teacher, ideally weekly. Older and extremely responsible children may meet less often. It is a time for the teacher and the child to look over their work journal and take a close look at how the time is being used and to share finished and unfinished work. These meetings enable the following questions to be explored: Is the child responsible for the freedom given to him/her? Is the work of expected quality? Has the child explored all areas of the environment or just a favourite? These meetings allow the opportunity for the teacher to be prepared to offer supportive guidance to enable the child to think of alternative solutions, improvements and suggestions to be responsible for their education. Whatever is discussed during these meetings must be followed up on in the future.  If the teacher neglects to follow up, the child does not have a clear responsibility check on their freedoms.

The final tool is societal (Ministry of Education) expectations and are talked about with children and incorporated into conferences for the child to consider when looking at what lessons they would like /need to have.

The teacher is responsible for using these tools in order for the child to be able to explore the universe while fostering freedom, responsibility and social development.

By Jan Gaffney – Principal

Last term, while I was on sabbatical, I went to the states and attended two international conferences and visited schools. I was looking at established high schools mainly and what they were doing to ensure their programme fitted the needs of the students and stayed true to Montessori philosophy. More on that later.

The first conference I attended was in Austin, Texas and was the NAMTA adolescent colloquium where high school teachers from all over get together once a year to discuss what is happening. This was an amazing conference and joined with the AMI refresher, so there were teachers of all ages there. There were close to 1000 attendees all up and we joined together for the key note each day before going off to our own workshops.

The first keynote was Dr Ross Greene. His talk was fascinating and worth sharing in my opinion. Dr Greene isn’t a Montessorian, but what he said reverberated with me and with the other Montessorians in the room.

His talk started with us all agreeing that children want to do well. Then he told us that while many people thought children did well if they wanted to, his research and that of others, proved that children did well when they were able to.

He then talked to us of some children having lucky behaviours and others having unlucky behaviours.  He said both of these behaviours were designed to tell us that the children weren’t able to do what was asked, but the difference was that some children showed us this in a more socially acceptable way than others, leading to the terms ‘lucky’ and ‘unlucky’ behaviours.

He described lucky behaviours as crying, raising a hand, whining (though I didn’t necessarily agree with that one), complaining, sulking, withdrawing, asking for help, etc. Unlucky behaviours were described as hitting, biting, screaming, swearing, etc.

And then he said that both sets of behaviours were designed to tell us the same thing – that the child couldn’t do what was being asked of them and they needed help in order to do so.

He said that if we could reframe the behaviour in our own minds to be, “That child is unlucky in that he or she can’t show us what she needs in order to succeed”, then maybe we could be more empathetic and collaborate with them to help them build the skills to do so next time. He said that the problem was not that the children didn’t want to meet our expectations, but that they couldn’t. And then he topped it all off by saying, if the children couldn’t meet our expectations, then we needed to change our expectations and help them gain the skills so that they could meet them.

Profound words and ones I really enjoyed hearing. If anyone wants to find our more, he has a website www.livesinthebalance.org where he goes into much more detail than I have room for here. I’ll end though on the fact that this fits in so very well with Montessori philosophy, where we are supposed to take a child as they are and help them move on from there. Easier to do with the academic subjects – consider how much help we give to a struggling reader or writer – but harder to do with behaviour because of all the societal expectations. Harder to do perhaps, but just as important, if we are to help each child meet his or her full potential!

By Tara Israelson –Nikau Teacher, Preschool

During our recent MANZ conference, Montessori kaiako (teachers) from all over Aotearoa were welcomed by tamariki (children) from Montessori schools around Wellington.  Wā Ora was represented by both preschool and primary children and it was lovely listening to their sweet voices.  The song that the preschoolers sang was “Help me to Help Myself”, a song written by Mary Coffey, a local teacher.   I thought I would elaborate on its message here with you.

Dr. Montessori, through her years of tireless observation, came to the conclusion that children are innately driven towards work that helps to develop their bodies and minds.  They are constantly observing and absorbing the world around them and are eager to act in and on their environments without interference.

Parents of Montessori children will often hear kaiako (teachers)  talk about “work” in our learning stories and our informal chats about your child’s day at school.  As adults we may resist that word, as to us, “work” is a kind of toil – something we would rather get out of.  According to Dr. Montessori adults have two laws governing their relationship with work:  division of labour and maximum gain with minimal effort.  Basically we want to be efficient and share our load so we aren’t working so hard.

The child has a vastly different approach, because a child’s “work” is, of course, to construct him or herself.  For this reason children do not wish to “divide their labour.”  You may have experienced this as a parent when you reach out to help and they angrily say, “No!  I can do it!”  These young children also do not strive for efficiency, as their need to develop their body and their character outweighs getting the job done.

They cannot however, in all reality, do everything for themselves.  We, the adults in their world, have a minor role to play.  We are responsible for providing children with the tools to act in, and on, their environments independently, with as much time for repetition as needed.  This is the message in the song “Help me to Help Myself”.  We must be there to give the little lessons:  how to dress, how to wash, how to tidy, but we must refrain from doing the work of dressing, washing and tidying.  Dr. Montessori said, “every useless aid arrests development,” meaning that we need to think twice before rescuing a child when we perceive a need for assistance.

During the day in our Montessori classrooms there are many moments when the kaiako (teachers) could step in and help, but we resist!  We watch as water is spilled and then cleaned up, or a child struggles to put his shirt on, but keeps at it until he’s dressed.  We sit and wait for many minutes for a child to put on her own shoes before heading outside to work.

As the adults in their world, we must remember that our role is to offer the tools and our patience, so that the child is free to do the important work of creating him or herself.

By David Starshaw – Mathematics Teacher – High School

In another life I could’ve easily been the poster boy for digital, personalised learning.

– I am one of those “paperless” types.

– I can code (for a very generous definition of coding).

– I have made my own website for my students to use and I have used sites like Khan Academy, both as a teacher and personally.

In other words, I should be all for digital, personalised learning. Digital, personalised learning is characterised by the student no longer being dependent on the teacher, but being free to work at his or her level regardless of the stage at which other students are working. Digital technologies help facilitate this as computers and servers do a lot of the differentiation ‘grunt work’ and they can lead students through pre-prepared lessons at a pace that suits them. And yet…

What’s the problem? One of the most commonly stated advantages of digital, personalised learning is that the student can fast-forward, pause, and rewind videos as they’re watching them. As Dan Meyer, US math educator/blogger and international advocate for better math instruction for students, puts it, “This isn’t good instruction, this is what the technology permits.”

So why isn’t it good instruction?

When someone says something you don’t understand, how often do you ask them to “repeat exactly what you just said, only slower”? Ironically, personalised learning is unable to tailor its lessons and explanations for individual students.

This should not be a difficult expectation. In fact teachers do this all the time and yet, in 2017, digital personalised learning cannot.

Teachers also take into account the prior knowledge of their students before choosing the level at which to pitch their lesson. But if you search for an online video explaining, say, quadratic expansion, it will begin at exactly the same place for each viewer. Because it must. Because it can’t personalise itself to you.

In our Montessori high school, a significant part of the adolescents’ learning relates to their place in the world and the relationships they have with those around them. In our preschool at Wā Ora, there is no place for devices and digital technology and our primary classes can only access computers in a very limited capacity.

So while digital personalised learning can have advantages because of the technology it uses, it is not a panacea and it certainly can’t replace a teacher and hands-on learning, rather it needs to be utilised in conjunction with face-to-face learning where it is the teacher, who is ultimately guiding the student.

By Carol Palmer – Tawhai Teacher – 9-12 Primary

After our recent 9-12 camp where we focused on the ways we meet our Fundamental Human Needs and the ways early humans would have met these needs, a friend, and Wā Ora parent, commented that she had ‘never understood why you guys are so obsessed with early humans.’

My answer was this:

The early humans were the first explorers, discoverers and inventors.  They figured out how to meet their fundamental needs, such as shelter, food and water in the most basic of circumstances; everything we know, have discovered and created since, is built on the work of those who came before us.  At Wā Ora, we are teaching the children to appreciate the work of all people – those who make small, but meaningful, contributions to our everyday life.  We want them to appreciate the farmer, who discovered that the graphite used to mark sheep, could be sawn into sticks for writing; and the person who later realised that binding that soft metal stick in wool or leather would make it more durable, leading yet another person to think of encasing the graphite in wood, which would then lead still more people to work together to mass produce these tools. This means that many generations later every school child has a pencil that can neatly mark their paper without breaking or making their hands dirty.

Ours are the everyday heroes and in learning to appreciate these people and understand that every single manmade item in our lives has a history of invention, refinement and production, children see just how many people’s work goes into ensuring our needs are met.  It helps instil a sense of gratitude and appreciation to the humans who, all around the world, work to produce all the material assets.  Our job as Montessori teachers, is to build a sense of gratitude and love for all people. One of the ways we do this is to show the children how many people have put love and work into providing for us.

We are not so much obsessed with early humans as obsessed with all humans – beginning with the early ones.  When we talk to children about our fundamental needs, we want them to realise that there are a few key requirements that all human beings, regardless of time, culture or geographic location share.  The very first human beings, and every human being that lives now, share the same material needs and spiritual needs. We have these needs in common and whilst we have very different ways of meeting them, the fact that we all share them helps the children see that we are not so different. It gives a sense of affinity with people throughout the world, young and old, past and present.

And to know someone, is to understand them. And to understand them is to love them.  And to foster this love and gratitude towards all people, of all time, is to bring us a little closer to peace.