September – Back to … Back to What?
For many children, back to school means back to homework and cramming, report cards and “How long is it until spring break?” For most children, school is a necessary evil; but does it have to be such a trial?
What if……
What if children couldn’t wait to go back to school? What if they were excited about their next steps in learning?
What if they knew they would be valued for who they are and what they know, and their guides listened to them and helped them follow their own interests?
What if each child had a unique learning path which they decided?
What if students helped each other and were never compared or labeled or graded?
What if they had the freedom to learn outside as well as in, and climbed trees and built hay forts, gathered eggs and ran in their natural playground with baby goats?
What if they grew their own vegetables and ran their own businesses and traveled around their community and their country?
What if they knew they could help the earth and really make a difference and really change the world?
Remarkably, there is a school which has provided these opportunities, for more than 20 years. Since 1985, one of the Lower Mainland’s well kept secrets, Roots and Wings Montessori has been preparing babies to young adults to make the changes we need in the world. How?
1. By nurturing independence. At every opportunity, they are given opportunities to do for themselves, from hanging their coats on child-height hooks, tying their shoes and pouring their own water to new readers researching their own projects and making their own learning goals, creating and selling their own products and banking the profits, choosing and caring for farm animals, planning trips and creating environmental projects in the community.
2. By ensuring daily connection with the natural world. In his book, Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv mourns children’s “nature deficit disorder” and notes how vital it is for them to roam freely in the natural world, exploring marshes and studying beetles and gazing at clouds without anyone teaching them the names to memorize their next test. At Roots and Wings, hay is a construction material and trees are climbing frames, animals are played with and cared for, vegetables they have grown are served in the 9 – 12 year olds’ weekly hot lunch business and teens may be seen sketching or having group discussions sitting on the swings, with Mt. Baker framed in the background.
3. By preparing the environment, rather than lessons. Each classroom provides an environment rich with appropriate learning materials which stimulate children to manipulate, experiment and take risks, in order to gain the knowledge and skills that will enable them to progress.
4. By allowing each to learn at his or her own rate. Following their own passions of interest, children are engaged and enthusiastic, working without interruption until they have satisfied their desires before choosing other work. Each progresses at his or her own level, sometimes teaching and sometimes learning from peers, delighting in each others’ progress and celebrating successes together.
5. By empowering students to make a difference. From the youngest preschoolers, children make decisions that affect their classrooms or the whole school, and create projects to make a difference in their community – such as the plastic bag project in March of 2008 which made a huge impact on reduction in grocery store plastic bag use in the community; or performance of their original “Come Join our Call to Action” at the Environmental Congress in Montreal in May.
6. By practicing stillness and peace. Starting each day with a minute of silence, children learn the value of stillness and mindfulness; they may also participate in yoga or tai chi; they resolve differences at the “peace table”, where they learn harmonious conflict resolution.
7. By valuing all people. Children experience holidays and customs from all cultures, visit houses of worship from a variety of religions and learn to respect and value the richness of our differences.
What is the result of this kind of education? Students emerge as grounded, thoughtful, contributing citizens, socially competent, eager to problem solve, earth stewards working for equality, empowered to give their gifts to the world.
What if all education were like this?
Kristin Cassie
Kristin Cassie has worked on improving education for 35 years, first in the public system, then founding Roots and Wings Montessori school in 1985. A finalist for the Governor-General's award for teaching excellence and a nominee for the YWCA Women of Distinction award, her real rewards come from preparing children, from babies to adolescents, as capable ambassadors for world change and peace.
