FWM will again be featured in the NEWTOWMOMS.COM Blog-Around Town. Newtown Moms is a local website with a social media presence on Instagram and Facebook. We were featured in an interview on Nov. 8th – Learn About the Fraser Woods Difference. This time, Newtown Moms wanted the greater community to hear from some of our teachers as well as from me. Our Primary teachers, Mrs. Doyle and Mrs. Lopes and our Humanities teacher, Mrs. Lamb were also interviewed (virtually of course) for a February post focused on Peace.
I thought I would share the interview with you. Also, please click here and listen to some of our students share what Peace means to them.
Here is the interview:
I loved reading about the concept of the “Invisible Curriculum” and how Peace, Grace, & Courtesy all tie together. Can you describe the framework and share a few examples from your classrooms? How are the lessons adjusted by age?
Gina Tryforos shares what this looks like at Fraser Woods Montessori School
Cultivating Peace in the Classroom
“If we are to teach real peace in this world… we shall have to begin with the children.”
—Mahatma Gandhi
It is well known that Montessori education has been referred to as “peace education”. Even Gandhi praised Montessori’s approach to world peace.
How do we cultivate Peace in a Montessori classroom?
If you visit a Montessori classroom in action, you will see children who are joyful, relaxed, engaged, and happy as they move freely about the room, choose an activity or lesson, and work on it for as long as they like. The teacher (often referred to as a directress/director or guide) is there to facilitate student engagement with the lessons and activities. This is what Montessorians call “purposeful work” (as opposed to “busy work”).
The process of engaging in “purposeful work” evokes a sense of calm in children. Grace and Courtesy presentations contribute to the harmony in the room. The Grace and Courtesy framework allows us to teach in a proactive, rather than reactive, way.
From an activity where the teacher models how to walk around someone’s work set up on the floor, to modeling how to ask for help from a teacher/friend, or how to agree to disagree, these teachable moments in grace and courtesy are presented sometimes with words and sometimes without words and give children tools to navigate their environment and social landscape.
Other lessons are more social and provide a classroom management technique that is child-driven instead of teacher-driven. The central theme in all of our lessons is to empower the children to be responsible, self-aware, and independent. These activities are about respecting children’s needs and considering the whole classroom community as a collective unit.
Grace and Courtesy lessons are our framework for modeling peace. In Montessori, we view the classroom as a microcosm of the larger world. Because these “rehearsed” social scenarios are a part of our everyday, we believe we are giving children some of the best tools for life.
Ginni Sackett (an AMI trainer, Montessori Institute Northwest) has said that Grace and Courtesy is part of Montessori’s “invisible curriculum.” Other “invisible” activities which can be considered part of this curriculum are spoken language, silence, and walking on the line. Children learn how/when to say “excuse me”, what to say if someone says “you’re not my friend”, how to tell someone you want to be alone, how to walk about the classroom while hardly making a sound.
This “invisible curriculum” and Grace and Courtesy presentations invite the children and teachers to work together to create a culture of responsibility, tolerance, and harmony– a strong foundation for Peace.
How “Peace” is defined in your classroom and why it is a key component of a Montessori education?
Our Primary (Preschool and Kindergarten) teachers Michelle Doyle and Amanda Lopes, share what this looks like at Fraser Woods:
Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war.~Maria Montessori
Peace education is a major tenet of Montessori education. Now, more than ever, we are witnessing relationships fracturing because so many are unable to take part in positive conflict resolution. Teaching children this skill, while ensuring that all parties feel heard and validated, is a gift not only for the children but for society as a whole.
When conflict arises in the classroom, we bring the children to our peace table. This peace table is an integral part of the classroom and can be used for two children to resolve a conflict or for a child to simply go for some quiet, peaceful time. If two children are struggling to resolve a conflict, each child will take turns holding the peace rose and sharing their feelings. The peace rose is then passed to the other child so they in turn can share their feelings. The most important part of this experience is for the teacher to step aside. We are there to facilitate but not to determine the outcome because this is something both children need to truly take ownership of. Typically, a child will come to a teacher saying “he said or she did”. When that child is face to face with the other child and has to speak to them directly it almost always changes the nature of the conversation and outcome.
How Peace, Grace, & Courtesy all tie together. Can you describe the framework and share a few examples from your classrooms? How are the lessons adjusted by age?
Primary teachers Michelle Doyle and Amanda Lopes share what this looks like at Fraser Woods:
Grace and Courtesy are built into every part of the day in a Montessori environment and go hand in hand with our peace education curriculum. Children are taught from the moment they enter the classroom about respecting others, their own self, and the environment. We speak often about the importance of each member of our community and how we are responsible for our classroom environment being a peaceful place where children feel loved and safe. Only then are children available to learn.
I read Basic Human Rights are a huge driver in the Montessori commitment to “Peace” in education, as well as inclusion and diversity. Can you share a little bit about how you incorporate this into the classroom at Fraser Woods? What role do current events play into how this is discussed?
Our Middle School Humanities teacher, Michelle Lamb shares:
From a young age, Fraser Woods knows the importance of children having a profound understanding of each other and focusing on equity. This includes personal identifiers such as race, gender, religion, who you love, etc. In a Montessori classroom at Fraser Woods, students celebrate each others’ lives and successes in these areas as well as their struggles. Open, frequent communication in safe spaces and shared, collective experiences are what make Montessori students advocates for peace and justice. Classes use the world events around them, in real-time, as educational opportunities to further the goal of producing inclusive and informed global citizens.
Interim Head of School Gina Tryforos shares that it can be summed up simply: Maria Montessori believed not only in education for peace but education as peace.
