Observing to Understand

We would love to have you come in and observe!  Again please note, that observations offer just a glimpse of how a typical morning usually goes in our classroom.  Children can have a myriad of responses to seeing their parent in their Prepared Environment (as Maria Montessori called the classroom) at school.  Your child may have been over the moon about your presence in the classroom and too excited to choose work, they may have been too overwhelmed with emotion and shut down, or they may have been so eager to show you all the things they could do.  Any or all of those reactions are perfectly normal.  Whatever the case, I hope you were also able to observe the class as a whole-- the focus and concentration that the children build toward, children experiencing different aspects of a social community (helping and assisting each other instead of always looking to an adult for solutions), the independence and freedom (within limits) that is encouraged in our environment, and the gentle redirection we teachers provide.  

 

Observation is such a wonderful tool to use at home as well.  It's so important to take a step back every so often and just observe your child's behavior.  I know my first instinct as a parent is to jump in-- help, fix, redirect, reprimand, etc.  But oftentimes the best thing we can do is take a minute to step back to see the bigger picture.  Why does my child act this way?  What circumstances led to him/her exhibiting this behavior?  Is this a cry for attention or help?  Affection or validation?  What am I missing?  Here's an article I found that really hits the nail on the head when it comes to the importance of observing our children:  "Observation the Key to Understanding Your Child" by Jarrod Green.

 

–Firefly Teacher