Tea with Laura: It's all about Independence

This morning, Laura and a small but mighty group of parents/guardians gathered to once again focus on the challenges and pragmatics of allowing our children to flourish in their academic independence while learning remotely. 

The purpose of the Teas with Laura, our Educational Program Director (most like a principal in other types of schools) is to provide opportunities for discussions about topics that are directly impacting our students and their families. In preparation for these talks, Laura has conversations with our teaching staff and with families which inform the content of the Tea. If you have an idea you'd like Laura to explore, please send us your suggestions: [email protected].

Today, Laura began her meeting with a quick review of what she spoke about last time - the Prepared Learning Environment, the need for students to have all learning tools with them when they attend each lesson, supportive seating for the children, the value of setting routines, and the importance of observing your child in the home - learning space - is it working?

She then launched into what independence looks like in the classroom, and how this might translate into the home during remote learning. She touched on the importance of daily care of self and of the environment including meal prep, and chores; checking in on the environment including using Chrome bookmarks and alarms; easily accessible materials (stored at child height); the importance of sticking to a regular daily schedule and perhaps color coding the schedule for easy viewing. And finally, she talked about the importance of stepping away from your child during his/her learning time. Not disappearing, but being available if or when they absolutely need guidance, but ONLY if advocated by the child. In other words - let them ask for help (from you or better yet from their teacher via email if they are old enough, or conference). Don't solve their problems for them, but WITH them by asking questions, giving options of how to advocate and/or seek resources to solve problems on their own.

Laura ended with some gems about the power of observation - something we hold dear in our Montessori world. She encouraged participants to look on at a distance as their child engages in learning; make notes of what they are seeing; ask questions later about how the child feels things went; sharing those observations with the child and engaging problem solving - or celebrating - together! 

Unfortunately, Zoom let us down this morning and did not capture the entire meeting, but here is a clip of the first 8 minutes or so of the gathering.