Thursday, August 16, 2012

Building Classroom Materials



This morning we arrived early to SHCJ and began gathering all of their Montessori materials into the common room. We decided that we would spend the first half of the morning inventorying what they already have and presenting lessons on those materials that the teachers do not yet know how to use, or would like clarification on how to present.







After our morning inventory and presentations we took a short break and then began preparing for phase two: materials building. First each MSM staff member took a turn demonstrating how to create a Montessori material from the things that were already available at SHCJ, including explaining the philosophy behind the material and how to modify it throughout the year to increase difficulty and work towards abstraction (when the concrete material is no longer necessary for the child to carry out the activity).

The heat today was absolutely murderous, and yet while we were demonstrating how to build Montessori works, Mike and Malcolm volunteered to paint the school for Sister Mary Alice.




After lunch we were invited by the staff of SHCJ on a tour of the Batey. It was a pleasure to see many familiar faces as we walked through the village.











After our tour, we assigned the staff of SHCJ to work in groups to build their own Montessori works. They were charged with presenting the material to the group, explaining its direct and indirect aims, as well as explaining how they could modify the material throughout the year to increase its complexity. We were thrilled to see how much the staff of SHCJ had internalized from the work we had done with them so far!








After a very long hard day, we were treated to hand-picked coconut water, complete with a VERY unnerving demonstration of how the young coconuts are picked!





Afterwards we were invited back to the mission house where Mary Alice, her fellow Sisters and volunteers live. We were treated to a pizza party on their roof top. Pizza in the Dominican Republic is very different from New York City. The sauce is very sweet (from all the added sugar!) and almost tastes like ketchup. The pizza toppings are also very different. We were quite surprised to see corn!







We all had a lovely time socializing with Mary Alice and her staff. After a very long and VERY hot day, we all needed a shower and some rest, so we bid everyone farewell and headed back for an early night's sleep. Tomorrow we begin classroom set up!

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