For out first class back, our Montessori group, hosted again by Kelsey Keller, explored the topic of assessment and the idea of “tools of responsibility”. Terry Millie wanted us to think about these 4 key questions while we learned today:

  1. What are the ways we encourage responsibility in a Montessori classroom?
  2. What is the approach to assessment within a Montessori framework?
  3. What are society’s expectations of us and our students?
  4. How many ways can we gather assessment?

The first major concept Terry brought to our attention was that in a Montessori classroom, freedom and responsibility are the keys to student independence. Both freedom and responsibility must be in balance with one another within the learning context in order to be successful. This flow can only be cultivated through explicit practice. Any non-ideal behaviours (i.e. being off-task or unsafe) are called “deviations”. Terry acknowledged that deviations are common when trying to bring independence into the classroom, and that students need the individual choice to join the learning community we are creating. If they are not ready to join, or do not know how to engage with the community, he suggested we pose this question to our student – “how do we flow through this energy in a positive way?” Giving space to the emotions and behaviours but re-directing their efforts in a positive way toward the learning is the intention. In the greater realm of our humanly desires, we seek material needs (i.e. food and shelter) and spiritual needs. Education fits under the umbrella of a “spiritual need”, so we must be thoughtful with the possible psychological outcomes of how we create our space and culture. Deviations are to be expected, re-directed, and acknowledged, rather than stamped out and over-corrected.

After independence is achieved, Terry suggested that the students would be able to access the tools of responsibility. He spoke on a metaphorical level that these are not meant to always be taken literally and can take shape in different ways. The 3 major tools of responsibility are: the work journal, the child/guide meeting, and the curricular mandates. The work journal is a symbol of how a student is keeping on top of their tasks. It could be a planner, a journal, an e-portfolio, etc. When a student has a work journal of some sort, they can take that into their child/guide meeting where the intention is not for teachers to assess student work in a one-on-one setting, but rather a reflective and interpersonal meeting of the minds. In this meeting, the work a student does connects with their interests. What have they done this week? Do they prefer one learning task over another? In this meeting, the teacher and student have a moment to create a personal connection not based on evaluating their work habits and the quality of their work. The students are responsible for their own learning and we are the supports that can brainstorm ways to be more efficient, next steps, or modifications needed to the learning. The personal connection of the meeting is meant to teach the student that they can trust their teachers with a myriad of conversations and can seek help from the trusted adults in their lives. Terry also mentioned that in keeping with the interest of the work journal and the meetings, to utilize the curricular mandates in a student-centered responsible way, we should have the competencies and big ideas written at their reading level readily available. Students need to see what the province’s expectations are of them. In a split grade class, he suggested only keeping the highest grade’s curriculum out, so it is seen as an ongoing goal for the younger students. For example, in a grade 1/2/3 class, you could have the grade 3 mandates available and tell your students that “by the end of grade 3, we must be here. Anything we learn from when you’re in grade 1 and 2 will directly help you attain these goals. Once students are independent and have the necessary supports in place, we can begin assessment.

“When dealing with children, there is a greater need for observing than probing.”

Maria montessori

When assessing in the Montessori classroom, observation is touted as the primary source of information. We must only report on what we see, not what we assume. The observation must be an unbiased factual account. In order for an observation to be accurate, Terry suggested that both students and teachers should spend time in nature to experience the world around us, simplify our lives, say less – give ourselves the permission to not react, cultivate mindfulness, and maintain a scientific approach to work. Some of the tools Terry recommended to aid in our observations include: work cycle graphs, anecdotal records that string many anecdotes together to create a formal observation, running records, on-the-fly jottings, mapping/tracking of the space to see patterns in work flow, time samples to quantify how much time a student might be allocating to different behaviours (working, observing, random, socializing), social connection socio-grams, work samples, and the Developmental Environmental Rating Scale (DERS).

Image by Vicki McKinnon

When undergoing an assessment, Terry asked that we be mindful of the controls of error. A control of error are what most people would consider a “margin of error”. In a Montessori classroom, all of the materials come in neat organized sets, like the base 10 beads. If a string of 5 beads is missing from the set meant to make 100, that missing string would be considered a control of error. Our goal in assessment is to reduce that control, so the observation is as accurate as possible. We also have a duty to continue to have a friendly attitude toward error where we have the control to say “no” in a situation that does not work for us and help express when errors are made, but it is not the end all be all for the scenario. This goes for students and teachers.

When considering the provincial mandates, assessment can look different for different purposes. They can be expressed diagnostically (like exit cards and free writing samples), formatively (like graphic organizers and self/peer assessments), or even summatively (like with presentations and unit tests). We have to ask ourselves are we assessing for learning, assessing of learning, or assessing as learning. Our main focus of observations would fall under the formative assessment category and teachers would need more evidence to show growth and learning on a student’s part.

A classically Montessori way of working toward assessment is the 3 period lesson. This is a structure where a concept is stretched out to 3 work period where the learning serves 3 different purposes. It has traditionally been used in language acquisition, but it can extend to multiple other subject areas and can be utilized as self-assessment. Lesson 1 is the experience phase where the teacher provides the students with a new experience. Lesson 2 is the exploration phase where students get to use the Montessori materials to interact with that initial experience. Lesson 3 is the expression phase in which students use language to express the experience. This all culminates into a meeting with the guide where, through the art of questioning, students receive immediate feedback, and have their intelligence activated. The teacher allows students the chance to express what they have learned and continue to follow up with thoughtful questions that further activate that intelligence.

Linking what Terry has brought to the Montessori group today into my practice, I am intrigued by the idea of deviations. He is totally right that deviations are to be expected and directly impact a student’s ability to be independent. I’m just not sure if I buy into the idea of asking them how their energy can flow in a more constructive way. Maybe it’s because I am in a very time constrained class, where I don’t always have the time to sit down with a student and have these thoughtful discussions in this Montessori way. By no means am I cold or militant in my class, but when deviations happen in my class, I often rely on the classroom management techniques that are successful for me, and are implemented school-wide. I worry that my students may not be ready to have a conversation about how to redirect their energy, but they can talk to me about their feelings and frustrations. I’d like to speak with my Montessori colleagues to see how they have found success (if any) tackling deviations in this manner.

I really latched on to the idea of the student/guide meeting this session. I love the concept of creating space to cultivate a personal connection with each and every student outside of the academic. I don’t always have that luxury to sit and speak with all of them in that way, so that strong bond only forms when students want to open up to me. There are some students I have been teaching since they were in kindergarten that still haven’t said more than a sentence to me. I am curious as to how I can work in these student/guide meetings into my practice for at least one unit in my classes. As I’m pondering it right now, my first reaction is to try it when I get to immersing students in a Coast Salish environment through Minecraft. I’ve already planned for students to work in small groups and work through experiences such as smoking salmon, making bentwood boxes, and weaving blankets, so while groups are working together, it can free me up to have meetings with them all to create some stronger connections. I’m still a ways out from launching this unit, but if I get to trying it, I’ll be sure to do an update on how it went.

When Terry was showing us ways to document observations, I really liked all of the Montessori strategies on how to show a student how they are working and what is working or not working in the space. I think I will reach out to Terry and Kelsey to see if I could get some PDFs of what those look like again, so I can try it with some students I have in mind. There’s a student I have that has only completed 4% of a typing course I have enrolled them in. Their peers are starting to complete the course, or are on track to complete it by the end of the year. When I observe them, they are not independent to write their log in information without someone physically there to watch them and keep them on task. This student is not bothering anyone, nor are they trying to access a preferred activity. it is not considered a deviation, but rather a random behaviour. They just stop and space out, or do the routine out of order. I cannot be at their side the whole time, so I’d like to do an observation sheet that would remind me at timed intervals to see what they are doing, record it, and have a snapshot of their session. At this point in the year, their classroom teacher and I are trying our best to shower them with supports and speak with the parents, but maybe the data is needed to further document our concerns. The student I am thinking of is in Montessori, but I would also like to see how it works for the students in the neighbourhood programming would take to the Montessori style observation.

My next session with Terry and Kelsey is on Montessori Fundamental Numeracy skills. I am very much looking forward to that and seeing all of the materials in action. They’re in all of our classrooms, and I never know how to properly use them. Stay tuned!