A Montessori Method Lesson

Montessori Educational Method (some combination of TPR (not much), CLL, NA and SW): Traditional Educational Method ( for instance: TPR method): 1.Cognitive Social, Emotional and Moral development emphasis 1.Social development emphasis 2. Teacher prepares the environment with learning materials 2. Teacher is center of classroom as instructor 3. Emphasizes inner discipline 3. Teacher is primary enforcer of discipline 4. Mainly individual instruction 4. Group and some individual instruction 5. Mixed age grouping 5. Same age grouping 6. Much teaching is peer teaching and modeling 6. Most teaching is done by the teacher 7. Curriculum is structured for each child 7. Curriculum is structured for the whole class 8. Child internalizes concepts through exploration of educational materials 8. Child is taught concepts by the teacher 9. Child is self-paced and usually continues with an activity for an extended time 9. Child is generally allotted specific Instructional time 10. Child sets own learning pace 10. Group sets learning pace 11. Child identifies own errors from feedback from the educational material 11.Teacher identifies errors 12. Learning is reinforced internally by individuals repetition with learning materials and an internal feeling of competence 12. Learning is reinforced externally by group repetition and rewards 13. Multi-sensory learning materials for physical exploration 13.Paper and pencil approach to learning 14. Purposeful movement in the classroom is encouraged and believed to be an aid to learning 14. Child usually assigned own chair: encouraged to participate, sit still and listen during group sessions Our lesson: The Planets in the Solar System /for 4.5- 7-year-old children/ Lesson Plan – it is something that teachers elaborate: Objectives: Students should be familiar with…. symmetry, spherical objects, etc. Contents – the topic, structure and function (sciences – physics, astronomy, mathematics, drawing) Procedures: Story listening, giving out materials Discussing colours, … 4. Defining pedagogical issues – was the subject easy or difficult, how did the students feel? How can I (the teacher) improve the lesson and extend it? - Dwarf Pl. Pluto Then, a bigger picture from: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=73 Things the teacher is to show, to say: 1.Asteroid Belt 2. Planets 3. My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Neptune. Asteroid Belt – the order of the asteroids in comparison with the planets resembles a belt. 4. The Rings of Saturn consist of small particles=water ice+ little dust; the word is “ring” as their shape reminds of a 5. Comets (icy objects)= a coma+a tail The lesson is for 5-year-old children (a little younger or older), it is about sciences: physics, astronomy and mathematics. It is at least 2 classes long – 30 minutes each. We should show the children and then give to each of them a big picture of the Solar System we know, like the one above with all planets on it. Then the teacher says that it is the sky we often see at night and more exactly we can never see from where we are (even with a telescope) one of the planets, because we live on it and he/she shows it and says: it is planet Earth. And the brightest and the biggest object is the star that shines above us in daylight: the Sun. (5 min.) The teacher says the sentence: My very educated mother just showed us Neptune. He/she explains it is the order of our planets. Then asks the nearest to her/him students to distribute a copy of the planets – the small pictures at the beginning of this document, they are in the same order, but with a little different colour. The teacher tells the students to point at the planets and to discover which planet it is (they are put in the same order). (5 min.). The teacher says about the colours of the planets – how they are commonly accepted. (3 min.) Then the children discuss the difference of the planets in colours and say what their colours are – to their reckoning; even their size - if they, on the picture, are too small or too big. This discussion can be done in pairs, and they can write down about each planet if they both from the pair have agreed on its colour and size (writing with x- both agree; 5 min.). The teacher says there is no correct answer about the size when they look just at the small pictures. Then the teacher says something about their sizes. In the next class of 30 minutes the teacher is to give them carbon paper and to suggest they repeat the lines of the Sun and the planets with the given picture over and a blank sheet of paper beneath the carbon paper. The teacher can also give them transparent square sheets of paper (so that the images can be seen beneath) which size is as big as to encircle (describe) a planet – the children can have a pair of scissors and cut the excess part of the square to make a sample, then to outline it on a big sheet of paper. The teacher can go to any of the children and ask which planet the child prefers to start with – whether it is easy to her/him to start with a small or a big one; or even to tell the children to raise hands (who starts with a small planet, who with a big one) – raising the hands is just for merriment and stating their opinion. Here the children can choose which planet to start with – as they may say they like the red colour, and they will start with red, although the fastest way may be considered to start from the biggest size- the Sun and then by order. Foreign languages lessons: game - different or similar (every pair of two children is to think of their fictional planet and to think what of the components – water, air, high temperature, low temperature, gaseous or solid (hard) surface it has – in the second language) – they say if the planet they have thought of has the components and when there is coincidence we write “+”; when there is no coincidence, we write “-”, then we all count in the second language the pluses, then we count the minuses; and if the pluses are more, we say similar.