Interview

Shannon Groves

Professor Lauren Rice

October 18, 2010

A Quest For Creativity

                Teach me to do it myself, that is the Montessori way. Montessori is a learning approach that uses self-learning techniques. The environment is adapted to inspire your child’s interests and promotes his understanding and learning capabilities with little or no interference from adults. Montessori is based on the natural development of children and their desire to learn from the world surrounding them, through exploring and discovering.

                One thing that I hope to accomplish in my quest is to help my child use his creativity and imagination to find the everyday magic life has in store for us. He is still growing, still learning and I’d love to nurture his growing curiosity while encouraging these characteristics. I chose to interview Melissa Cooper, a Montessori home school teacher. By interviewing a Montessori home school teacher, I would gain knowledge on how they effectively inspire children to use their own curiosity and learning capabilities to learn. I think there are a lot of activities that are Montessori inspired that I can use to create a little bit of everyday magic for my son.

                “In this country, we are not interested in cookie-cutter, we celebrate the individual.” Melissa said when I asked her what made Montessori style learning unique, “We bring out each individual child’s unique abilities by providing a suitable environment and curriculum. We let the cards land where they must when it comes to the structure and standards.” She explained that the child should be free to choose from a limitless supply of activities to discover new possibilities; you need only to make the specific purpose of each activity and material clear by laying out step-by-step instructions.

                We went on to discuss the types of environments and activities provided for children that are taught using the Montessori technique.  “By using a modest environment of carefully chosen materials, the child will be drawn to concentration, work and satisfaction. An over-crowded environment can cause a child stress.” Melissa told me. She explained that the normal curriculum for a toddler would consist of pouring activities, peg activities, sorting activities by touch, color matching games, using alphabet tiles to make words, and making finger puppets. “These activities allow the child to freely use their imagination and creativity, with little guidance. From these activities, they are able to learn at their own pace. Thus improving their self-esteem, while allowing them to use their brain power by combining the senses and their bodies to provide learning, and to be in an environment that respects their unique capabilities.” Melissa explained.

                A few changes came to mind after interviewing Melissa. As of now, for instance, we are living in cramped quarters. We are, however moving into a larger house just within the span of about a week. This is very important to me since after all, Melissa stressed the importance of more modest, less crowded learning environment. Another, important change that my interview with Melissa brought to light is the concept of self-learning. There’s a lot to be gained from self-learning, as I’ve learned. Self-confidence, expanding awareness of activities the child is currently interested in, and also a spark of interest in learning.

                I’m excited to try out some of the techniques I discussed with her. Using Montessori techniques will allow me to develop my son’s excitement and curiosity by offering him a variety of activities to stimulate and intrigue him. Parents are a child’s first teacher, and I believe that Montessori style learning techniques are a very gentle way to begin. I think this will be a process that we will both be able to draw some magical experiences from. It really seems as though, this fits right in with what I’m attempting to do with my son, and will also allow for a little bit of learning as we go along.