Montessori in a New Reality: reflections on remote learning

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So many questions! So many good ideas! We are all better if we do this work together.

THANK YOU to everyone who joined us (virtually) on June 16th for discussions about remote learning for Montessori Adolescent Communities! We heard from 36 people in a variety of school settings in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. 

Our overarching theme was this: What did we do well? What can we do better? 

In the spring of 2020 we did the best we could while in crisis management mode. Now we have some time to reflect, to share our observations and experiences, and to ground our planning for next year in the foundations of Montessori educational principles. 

Themes that emerged from the discussions:

Communication and Community! 

  • Be in touch often with students and families. 

  • Hold an open parent forum online every few weeks. 

  • Have advisory meetings at least weekly. 

  • Make sure students know how to get a hold of you and when you are available. 

  • Group work was essential.

  • The students asked for opportunities for social fun, whether online or events such as birthday parades. 

  • Have community council meetings 1-2 times per week.

  • Try moving to the platforms the students like to use - Tik Tok, Minecraft, etc.  

  • Create cooking challenges such as making a particular type of cookie or creating a delicious dish with a strange ingredient.

  • Organize small groups of students to do menu planning and cooking. The cooking would happen in their own kitchens. The meal would be to share with their family, perhaps with some formality. 

  • Create a cookbook of recipes created by students.  

Routine and Consistency

  • Be intentional and consistent about how you communicate, when work is due, when students are expected to be online. Decide on a platform and teach everyone how to use it well.

  • Some options for work and study structures online: 

    • Start together, log off (or use breakout rooms) and do follow up work individually or in small groups, then check back in as a whole groups. Be available during the “second period” work time. 

    • Have seminar discussions. Math seminar can happen by individual students presenting their screens and explaining their work.

 Balance of Head and Hand

  • If there are animals to feed or chores to do at school, have families rotate weekly responsibility for them. 

  • Take on challenges such as the “egg drop” or “egg catch” where students must construct protection for an egg dropped from up high. Record these and share the videos.

  • Do building projects in person with small groups of students, wearing masks, outdoors. 

Engagement and Balance

  • Take pictures of Creative Expression and Physical Expression adventures to share weekly. This is both for accountability and inspiration.

  • Have a pre-recorded online coffeehouse that is then watched all at the same time.

  • Hold a virtual art show.

  • Encourage creative writing about the experience of remote learning during the pandemic.

  • Encourage small groups of students to work together on video calls to paint, cook, or take on other creative activities. 

  • Food for thought: are we demanding more during remote learning than we would have been in the classroom because we feel like we should be providing something? Are we prioritizing and modeling rest and reflection during a stressful time? This does not have to be the most productive time of one’s student years. 

 Student Safety  

  • Create a policy about acceptable numbers of adults and students on a call. Check out school and local regulations for guidance.

  • Create an Online Technology Use Agreement together as an Adolescent Community. Write it up and have everyone sign it. Include norms for video calls and chats, intellectual property, and more.

This is a beginning. It does not answer all of our questions or make remote learning easy. However, it was comforting to find patterns in our observations and inspiring to hear stories of what went well. Hopefully it is the beginning of ongoing, rich conversations.

What is next? 

We plan to host more discussions throughout the summer. Please feel free to suggest topics for discussion at contact@montessoriadolescent.com and check the Events tab for announcements and instructions about registration. Have a story about something that went really well in remote learning so-far? Please reach out to us. We are happy to have guest bloggers share their experiences.