Final Thoughts

       Elementary education is something we always should be looking to improve because it is our kids future and our countries future in the world.  If our education system does not improve we stand to fall behind in the world in innovation and thinking, but on the other hand if we reassess our elementary education and take it from the archaic out of date system that it is now and adapt it to today’s environment then we stand a chance to stay ahead.

       We are in a day and age of diversity and group dynamics where we can be almost instantly in contact with anyone anywhere in the world.  Gone are the days when we look forward to doing exactly what our parents, grandparents and their parents did all their life.  Everyone sitting at a desk in elementary school has been learning how to take instructions and do them which is exactly what is needed in a industrial society.  Go to work, pull this lever, and then do it again.  Our world now calls for group dynamics of working with different people to build an idea that another person has.  Self initiative and problem solving are at an all time premium.  Making classrooms multi-age groups and getting rid of the desk and chalk board environment and going towards an open classroom where kids move around and interact as much as possible, problem solving with each other, talking to each other, and then using the resources that are available like a teacher or another older or more knowledgeable student.

       Having the freedom to select the lesson they want as an elementary child helps develop self initiative.  This combined with the ability to take a subject as far as one wants without a cap on what can be learned, fuels that fire in a child to learn as much as possible.  Our current education system tells kids when to learn something and exactly what to learn which turns kids into people that wait to be told and then when they accomplish something and have the desire to do more, the extra work is not available.  Having curriculum that is based on where a student is at, and not on what grade they are in, will help students to be self motivated and reach for their potential.

       My topic started as Montessori vs traditional methods of elementary education and really opened my eyes to allot of the great concepts that the Montessori system has and showed me that we have our current system in allot of ways because that is how it’s always been and it can be really hard to change.

Dr. Steve Hughes is a leading neuropsychologist who lectures about education and brain development.  Just as a simple statement, he sends his children to Montessori school.  Below is a link to several lectures that he has given on the Montessori Method.

http://www.goodatdoingthings.com/file/Montessori_Lectures.html

Why I was Interested / Interesting Findings

       I became interested in the topic of the Montessori Method because both of my kids attend an elementary Montessori school.  I wanted to see what the research said about the method and the different aspects of it and how it would affect my kid’s long term.  I also wanted to be more informed about making a decision on whether to continue the kids past the third grade.  At first when the quarter started I selected the topic of milk and how it may be unhealthy for a person but because of lack of academic research on the subject I abandoned it and went in search of another topic.  Based on the first free write exercise we did where we listed our interests and community groups that we were in and the roles we have in life, this subject lined up with all of them.  Being a father having kids and an interest in education even just based on the fact that I am going back to school, it fit.

       Another of the free writes that helped my was the mapping or outlining of our subjects.  Whether it was drawing boxes that have words in them or just doing a descriptive outline those helped to organize the paper.  Based on those it was easier to figure out what order to put things in and it allowed me to add content easier by seeing what may be missing and when adding it knowing better where it should go.

       In general the free writes were very helpful because often they were parts that were needed in our papers and instead of just writing a paper all at one time from scratch it seemed that we were putting it together piece by piece.  We did free writes on signal phrasing and quotations for our in text citations, thesis work shopping , lead writing, title testing, data warrant and claim writing, and some others that I haven’t mentioned but each one was something that we could add to our paper writing.  It seemed that when I went to write the actual papers that I could look in my notebook and take material that had been produced in class.

       One of the most interesting things that I found out in my research was something that was stated in an interview that I did.  The person was talking about Montessori vs tradition education and posed the thought about how traditional students have to raise their hand and ask to go to the bathroom and how demeaning that seemed.  I hadn’t thought of that before but it just goes to show that there is a lack of initiative being taught in our public schools and most students grow up wandering if they can do something rather than taking the initiative to go get it.  The Montessori Method is built in a way that promotes freedom of movement within the classroom.  In addition in the same interview they mentioned that because of the freedom of movement conflict happened more.  While that seems like a bad thing really it’s a great thing at the elementary level because kids learn how to resolve conflicts early with allot more practice.  Kids sitting in desks in a classroom have very little real conflict throughout the day and when there is conflict the teacher uses one of their stick to control it.

Survay Monkey

               I asked questions in the survey that the answer actually seems pretty obvious but would say something about our education system.  The questions were about if two paths led to your dream job would you rather go to a trade school or a university, and what environment would you rather learn in, a stale environment or a dynamic environment that you could move around in.  The answer, at least to me seems pretty obvious that you would rather be in a dynamic environment and a trade school that leads right to your dream job.  Seeing these questions will point out that our elementary system of sitting at desks in a stale environment is not helping and should be changed.

                The other questions in the survey were about the Montessori Method and how much people understand about it.  Hopefully it would pique their curiosity to maybe learn more about it and the different aspects of it.  Other questions in a way point out different aspects of the method like how would you teach a child to read, would you learn if it was left up to your own initiative.  These are things that are answered in my paper and I wanted to see what people’s reactions to them would be.

Posted below is a link to the survey

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HC68W9X

2nd Half Emergence / Fieldwork

                What emerged in the second part of the essay process were different types of sources that are less academic in nature.  I brought in a book I had read a while ago called Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell that I thought tied in well to my arguments about children and why they may or may not be seen as smart.  Malcolm pointed out in his book that when you have kids all in the same grade you assume that they are all the same age when really every kid is at a different age.  One six year old if they are almost seven is much older then another six year old that just turned six.  But in elementary education we assume that all ages in the six year old range can handle whatever we give them.  The truth is the older students get labeled as smart and the younger ones at times get labeled slow when really they are just young.  

                Other aspects of Montessori emerged that I found research on and that was multiage classrooms.  What I found is that these settings help get rid of labels that kids give each other because in a multiage classroom all kids are working on something different which makes it so there is not as much comparing.  I looked into more the aspect of teacher based learning verses the child centered learning philosophy.  The teacher based learning was based on the theory that kids are empty vessels to be filled and teacher know everything and must then give that to the students.  A child focused learning is where the child is seen as a co-worker in the learning process and that knowledge can be developed and drawn out of them through experience and learning that is appropriate for where they are at.

                I interviewed the director of a Montessori school and the things that came out of it were that Montessori helps students learn to solve problems based on their own initiative verses the memorizing and regurgitation of a traditional school environment.  Long term Sean, who I interviewed, who had gone through the Montessori system up to the eighth grade, said that he was farther along in math and English then his peers entering high school.  In addition he could solve puzzles and problems faster than most of his peers who were used to being fed all their information.  The interview confirmed much of what the research had been showing about multiage classrooms, labels and the initiative that is built up in Montessori kids that traditional kids may not have. 

Counter Argument / Scope Inform Synthesis Paper

                Writing a counter argument first helped the synthesis paper be more balanced and thoughtful.  There is a tendency when one has a certain opinion about something to not want to look or hear anything from the other side or another perspective.  So when we were forced to look at it from there first it made us look at the other side and even take up its position and argue it.  When you argue something, no matter if you agree with it or not, you get a way better understanding of the material.  The counter didn’t really alter my first hypothesis that the Montessori Method has great attributes that I think would improve traditional education, but it did inform me of the aspects of teacher training and how there is less training for a Montessori teacher.  I also was forced to look at the perspective that kids will not learn unless they are forced to learn.  There is some truth to that but by and large if kids are into something or exited about something they will learn and maybe grow more than if they were forced to learn in the traditional classroom.  Another big aspect of the counter was the reward system that traditional education sets up with grades and stars and other awards that Montessori does not.  Montessori just looks at the mastery of skills and moves on relying on the reward that the child feels for having mastered and accomplished something.  Test scores are a huge argument when it comes to education and the need to make sure that the way we teach reaches a certain standard that is measured by tests.  What I was informed of during the counter argument is that the test scores for both methods are very similar up to the eighth grade.  So then that shapes the argument of, well if they lead to the same place which journey is better for the child.  I came in thinking it was a no brainer that Montessori was a better more fun journey, but I think that there are also students who thrive in the traditional environment and could fail to progress as well when give the amount of options to choose from that are in the Montessori method.

Changes/Direction from the Scope

                I began the journey of the research paper with the thought that I would be researching the harmful qualities of drinking milk.  Through a few painful hours of not finding any academic research that would support that hypothesis I decided to change directions and go with another interest.  I decided to study the Montessori Method of education because both my kids currently attend a Montessori school.  A question I have always pondered since we first sent them six years ago is whether it was a better alternative then traditional school.  So the paper is sort of around that question and then has evolved into looking at the maturity rate of kids and how that interacts with both traditional and Montessori.

Portions of Counter Argument brought into Paper

One aspect that I am bringing into the synthesis paper from the counter is the idea that teacher driven teaching, like is done in traditional education where the teacher controls the lessons and when they happen, and how that compares to student driven learning, like in Montessori where the student selects the lessons they are interested in and when they want to, and the advantages and drawbacks to this aspect.  It is true as far as research shows that kids have a real disposition to learn and want to learn and so the free environment of the Montessori classroom is perfect to foster a child that gets into lessons and gets going.  But on the flip side there are students who are easily distracted and may tend to focus on socializing or messing around in that environment.  Therefore the traditional environment may be better for some students.  Some psychologist have found that when the options for learning are open ended or there are too many choices, learning tends to stall from indecision and to many options.

                Teacher training is another aspect that I will look at from the counter argument.  It is true that Montessori teachers have less training then traditional teachers which can have some negative effects.  More people can become Montessori teachers because it is easier and that will lead to more bad teachers coming into the schools.  There might be psychological issues with different students that they are not equipped to handle because their main focus is observing and offering suggestions to the students.  Whereas a tradition teacher through their four year degree will have taken child development classes and be better equipped to handle certain challenges in the classroom.

                Another aspect that I will bring is the award system differences between Montessori and the traditional classroom.  Traditional classrooms award grades and gold stars for achievement while Montessori relies on the fact that the reward for a student’s is learning and mastering something and the sense of accomplishment that comes from that.  I think that there are many different personalities in this world and either one can motivate different kids.  Yes it is fun to learn something new but at the same time kids love trophies and gold stars and get a great feeling inside when they have earned them, that may propel them to learn at a faster rate.