“If salvation and help are to come, they can only come from the children” - Maria Montessori
Education for Peace Children are God’s salvific blessing to our world. Regardless of how horribly we stray from the good and perfect plan of the earth, disrespecting our fellow plants, animals, and humans, there is always hope laying in a crib somewhere sound asleep, waiting to change the world. This glorious opportunity to sculpt a new world without bias and full of love for what is alive lays beneath the drooping eyelids of sweet babes all around the globe. Somewhere lays a baby black girl who will see engineering as a possibility, a baby boy dreaming of tutus and dolls, and sweet child with down syndrome dreaming of college. In this new universe constructed by youth in the correct environment exists the great wonders of equality and opportunity previously unimagined. As servant, saint, and scientist in my classroom, I promise to observe, wait to be called, and serve where I am needed as the link between child and environment. I promise to maintain the child’s independence and uphold their honor. I vow to trust the child to do great and glorious works previously unimagined. I swear to bow at the feet of all children, graciously providing them with whatever they need to succeed. I will fight on behalf of the child and their needs, balancing fire and water in a single glide through the classroom. I will be the Montessori Directress Dr. Montessori envisioned, providing poise, beauty, and strength at every turn. Special Education lies close to my heart as the stories of many of my students will mirror and draw out my own. An IEP is not merely a document I have studied nor a simple plan from A to B, it is the heartbeat of classroom success, a living document designed to continually serve the child, just as it served me. Legislature like FAPE and IDEA uphold the dignity of the individual. As a part of my pro-life identity I feel called to uphold the dignity of life as inherently valuable. The neurotypical child and the child who needs special education bring the same intrinsic divine spark. All children bring beauty and benefit to the classroom. This inclusion philosophy is not only exposing children with different abilities to the general curriculum, but supports social integration and provides an environment for the synthesis of social skills they may be working on with a specialist. While this technique is effective for the child with a need for more support, it has infinitely more benefits on their neurotypical classmates! Imagine the empathy, social adaptation, and communication skills built in this scenario! Peer to peer scaffolding, in which one child with a higher level of comprehension helps bridge between where the child with lower levels of comprehension is and where the child with higher levels of comprehension is, is an effective comprehension extension. They say you remember 90% of what you teach, and for a peer to work side by side with another struggling peer upholds the value of both students! You are trusting that your students have something to share, providing opportunity for language reception and expression, and incorporating Bandura’s Social Learning Theory. Now, imagine how proud a student with differing needs might feel after teaching a peer about a passion area of theirs. This happens frequently in a Montessori classroom, or any classroom which allows for it. Focusing on the strengths of children does justice to the wholeness of person. Celebrating the process rather than the result is effective educational practice! When we meet children where they are rather than asking them to meet us where we are, we are targeting genuine learning. Capitalizing on strengths logically makes sense, yet so few individuals begin the conversation with the family of a child with special needs with, “what is his greatest strength?” When we practice the Ignatian Value of Cura Personalis we have a significantly greater chance of reaching the child. We must scaffold between where the child is and their zone of proximal development, rather than banish them to a corner to try to figure it out themselves. Direct, personalized instruction focused on strengths or restricted interests accomplishes this goal. The child is our great salvation. Offering a genesis of hope, I pray it will never by I who would get in the way of this ambition. By lifting up the regality of the child and opening my eyes to the precious gift within every little one I hope to create a classroom consistently bubbling over with child independence, celebration of difference, and an insatiable, deep, organic, adventurous, curious love of learning!
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AuthorHi! My name is Brittany Wells, and I am a Montessori 6-9 major. I was born and raised in Cincinnati and attended Xavier University Montessori Lab School, Mercy Montessori, McAuley High School, and now Xavier University! Archives
May 2020
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