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The History of Redbud Montessori
By
Patricia Wallace, 1st Redbud Director
(Updated by Karen Gill, current Redbud Director)
Redbud Montessori opened on September 4,
1984. The school was founded by a group of 22 families and 3 staff members
who had been together previously in other Montessori schools in Davis and/or Woodland.
This group started meeting in the spring of 1984 to discuss the possibility
of creating a new Montessori school in Davis, which would be characterized by a
unique set of elements. They were bound together by a shared commitment to
that approach to education developed by Dr. Maria Montessori (1870-1952),
the first woman physician in Italy. In addition, they shared
some common visions having to do with organization, physical setting and
curriculum emphases they wished to combine with this educational
philosophy.
SCHOOL
ORGANIZATION
Respect for the unique capabilities and
prerogatives of each child are fundamental to a Montessori classroom. It is
equally important for the adults who support that classroom (parents and
staff) to present a model to the child of caring attitudes in their
dealings with one another. Moreover:
1. The founders felt it followed from
this premise that basic school policies should be arrived at through a
process of joint decision making. They believed that there would be many
ways to provide for parent involvement in the life of the school even when
parents pursue full-time careers, attend school, or otherwise lead busy
lives.
2. The founders were committed to
providing staff with the best possible working conditions and a sense of
support so that they would be a stable element in the school community.
3. The founders wanted a school that was
involved in the life of the community and open to all who wished to learn
more about the Montessori approach to education.
To facilitate these goals, Redbud was
legally incorporated in June of 1984 as a nonprofit, public benefit
corporation governed by a Board of Directors consisting of 4 parents, 2
staff members, and one representative of the community with expertise in
the field of education.
CURRICULUM
EMPHASIS
There are several goals that Maria
Montessori sought to promote by the design of her classrooms that are not
often realized in American Montessori schools. Redbud wanted to emphasize
these goals:
1. Redbud wants to help children acquire
a sense of common humanity that binds peoples of all races and cultures
together so that they might grow up to contribute to a more peaceful and
cooperative world. In Montessori's own words:
"Peace is what every human being is
craving for, and it can be brought about by humanity through the
child." (1)
2. Redbud wants to help children achieve
a powerful sense of "connectedness" with the natural world around
them. Montessori felt this was essential to the development of physical,
intellectual, and spiritual well being in the child. Speaking of the young
child, she said:
"…we must allow him the freedom to
move in the natural world…Indeed the child needs not only to know nature
but to live in nature. What is important is the liberation of the child
from the bonds which isolate him in the artificial life created by
cities." (2)
3. Redbud wants to help children achieve
a sense of self-respect and pride in their growing competence while at the
same time developing their ability to behave in ways that shows respect for
other people's interests and capabilities. Many people have the impression
that Montessori classrooms are "free" in the sense of being
overly permissive and therefore chaotic. Others have heard the opposite,
i.e., that Montessori classrooms are highly "structured" and
stifle individual initiative and creativity. What Maria Montessori actually
proposed was neither of these extremes, but something in between:
"The liberty of the child ought to
have as its limit, the collective interest of the community in which he
moves… It is our duty then to prevent the child from doing anything that
may offend or hurt others… But as regards all else, every action which has
a useful purpose in view… ought not only to be permitted, but it ought to
be kept under observation [by the teacher]…" (3)
4. Redbud wants to free the child to
pursue knowledge and skills most relevant to him or her at a pace that is
most comfortable. Dr. Montessori felt that early learning, which is
intrinsically motivated by natural curiosity is joyful and produces an
enthusiasm which is the key to becoming a life-long learner able to adapt
to an unpredictable and fast-changing future. This model of education
stands in stark contrast to the model prevailing in American public
education which advocates that the child, like an empty vessel, must be
filled with a pre-selected body of knowledge chosen by experts for its
apparent "usefulness" to society rather than being chosen by the
child because it is "interesting". Fortunately, the child knows
instinctively what Thoreau tried so fervently to urge upon his fellow man,
i.e., that
"…this curious world which we
inhabit is more wonderful than it is convenient; more beautiful than it is
useful; it is more to be admired and enjoyed than used." (4)
Unfortunately, Americans tend to view
Montessori as "the academic preschool", focusing on the fact that
children in Montessori schools sometimes display intellectual precocity,
but forgetting that although this may be a by-product, it should never be
the end-in-itself of a Montessori school experience. Montessori wrote:
"…we cannot make a genius; we can
only give each individual the chance to fulfill his potential possibilities
to become an independent, secure, and balanced human being." (5)
PHYSICAL
AND SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
Having determined the educational goals
and organizational format of our school, the founders of Redbud Montessori
were then faced with the task of funding appropriate materials and finding
a physical setting for the school. They knew these were important tasks,
for Maria Montessori taught that:
"The naughtiness of small children…
can be a form of agitation caused by mental hunger when the child is
deprived of the stimuli of the environment or by a sense of frustration
experienced when he is prevented from acting in the environment." (6)
School Materials
Dr. Montessori spent a great deal of her
lifetime designing exquisite learning materials that would be conducive to
creative yet orderly self-teaching activities. Most Montessori
"didactic apparatus" is manufactured either by Nienhus in Holland or by Gonzagarredi in Italy and
is very expensive. One of the greatest testimonies to the commitment of the
families that started Redbud is the fact that over $8,000 was raised for
capital expenditures through outright donations from parents, relatives and
friends of the school. In addition, countless volunteer hours were put in
building child-size furniture, hand-making certain learning materials, and
preparing a fenced-in playground that would meet specifications of the
Community Care Licensing Division of the State Department of Social
Services. Redbud is proud to say that our school not only meets State
requirements, but also constitutes an attractive, easily managed, and
intellectually stimulating environment for young children.
Physical Setting
The physical setting found for our
school is probably one of the most unique things about Redbud Montessori.
The school building itself is set amidst 6 ˝ acres of wooded property to
which the children, accompanied by staff, have free access. Hands-on
studies of plants, animals and ecosystems can easily be had at a moment's
notice. Many native species of trees and shrubs are on the grounds,
including Oaks, Buckeye, Toyon, and Redbud (after which the school is
named). The grounds are full of interesting contours that invite the child
to explore. The sounds that surround us are not those of traffic, but those
of horses, sheep, roosters, frogs and wild birds.
Such a setting is essential to achieving
Montessori's goals of bring the child in harmony with nature and in touch
with the larger world. Montessori felt that geography, botany, zoology and
ethnography were all appropriate subjects for the young child as long as
they were related concretely through the child's five senses. In her own
words:
"There is no description, no image
in any book that is capable of replacing the sight of real trees, and all
the life to found around them… Something emanates from those trees which
speaks to the soul, something no book, no museum, is capable of giving…myriad's
of lives around the trees, the majesty, the variety are things one must
hunt for and which no one can bring into the school." (7)
Many studies establish that the best
foundation for a school science curriculum is to give children an
opportunity to experience the natural world when they are very young, for
that is when they are most capable of "absorbing" their
environment. (8) We feel fortunate to provide children with this
opportunity at Redbud, for we agree that:
"…there is no science and no art of
greater importance than that which teaches seeing, which builds sensitivity
and respect for the natural world…" (9)
Social Setting
Just as the Montessori school without
free access to some wild place will fail in the goal of bringing children
into harmony with the natural world, so will the Montessori school which is
too homogeneous or which lacks a sense of community fail to adequately aid
the child in becoming a healthy part of the human family. Children need to
learn acceptance of individual differences and develop social skills
through intimate contact with a varied assortment of real human beings.
Montessori saw her "Children's House" (as she called her schools
for 2 ˝ to 6 year olds) as a kind of metaphor for the extended family
compound. She recognized that older children are often the most relevant
role models for younger children. Therefore, she felt it was imperative for
any classroom to encompass a 3 to 4 year age span composed of children who
enter the class around age 3 and stay at least 3 years (until they reach
age 6 or 7).
Redbud Montessori has been successful in
meeting these ideal social conditions. The "hominess" of the
setting and cooperative spirit between parents and staff help the school
seem like a community. Also the present group of families includes the full
age span and a mix of ethnic and religious backgrounds.
SUMMARY
In summary, it can be said that the
distinguishing characteristics of Redbud Montessori are as follows:
1. Redbud is housed in a cottage set
amidst a wide expanse of open space. Hands-on studies of plants, animals,
and ecosystems are a regular part of the curriculum.
2. Redbud's population encompasses the
full age span from 2 years 9 months to 6 years.
3. Redbud's families are intimately
involved in the operation of the school.
4. The families in Redbud are committed
to keeping their children in the school for a full three years, insofar as
possible, to provide them with the continuity essential to the development
of a sense of "community".
5. The professional staff is well
qualified and the parents and Board of the school are committed to
providing the staff with the best possible working conditions and a sense
of mutual respect and support.
FOOTNOTES
Quoted by Lena
Wilramaratne, The N.A.M.T.A. (North American Montessori Teachers'
Association) Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 2 "The Child in Nature,"
Winter, 1976, p. 31.
2. Quoted from the same source, p. 28.
3. Maria Montessori, The Discovery of
the Child, Trans. Mary A. Johnstone, Adyar, Madras, India:
The Theosophical Publishing House, 1966, p. 79.
4. Quoted by Eliot Porter, "In
Wildness is the Preservation of the World," Sierra Club and Ballentine
Books, 1967, p. 11.
5. Quoted by Aline D. Wolf, "A
Parent's Guide to the Montessori Classroom", Leaflet No. 2, Penn-Mont Academy
(Altoona, Pennsylvania), 1968, 1969.
6. Maria Montessori, The Formation of
Man, Trans. A.M. Joosten, Adyar, Madras,
India: The
Theosophical Publishing House, 1965, pp. 48-49.
7. Maria Montessori, From Childhood
to Adolescence, Schocken Books, 1973, p. 36.
8. Maria Montessori, The Absorbent
Mind, Dell Publishing Co., 1967.
9. In Eliot Porter, op. cit., p. 6.
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