…the teacher must bring not only the

capacity, but the desire, to observe natural

phenomena.

(Montessori, 1912/2011, p. 100)

A Window to the Heart: Observations That Change

Teachers’ Views of Children

American Montessori Society 2011 Annual Conference Friday, March 25, 2011

Chicago, Illinois 

Presenter: Josh Thompson, PhDTexas A&M University-Commerce

observation

• transformational

• informing

• reawakening

• a learnable skill

• requiring patience, persistence, and guidance

In our system, she must become a passive, much more than an active, influence, and her passivity shall be

composed of anxious scientific curiosity, and of absolute respect for the phenomenon which she

wishes to observe. (Montessori, 1912/2011, p. 100)

Eexperience

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3320937/Observation

Others words added during session by participants: Experience, passion, love

Kid-watching • an action, something we do

• a presence and awareness, affirming ‘I see you!’

• a state of being, who we are

Kid-watching

a stage of becoming, how we want to grow our true selves

“unless you become like a little child, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The teacher must understand and feel her position of

observer: the activity must lie in the phenomenon.

(Montessori, 1912/2011, p. 100)

General Education Teacher Preparation in a Public University

• Schools & Society • Intro to Teaching • Child Development • Programs for Children • Curriculum • Internship & Residency

Observation Assignments

• Schools & Society – 15 hours in 3 schools • Intro to Teaching – 30 hours in one school • Child Development – 5 children,

3 + case study • Programs for Children – 5 programs, observing • Curriculum – practice lessons • Internship - >20 eight-hour days • Residency - >60 eight-hour days

A simple liberating thought came to our

aid, namely that things about children and for children are only learned from

children. (Malaguzzi, 1998, p.

51)

What the pre-teachers saw

• Child behaviors• Adult behaviors • Child-adult interactions • Child-child interactions • Engagement with tasks (reading, eating,

playing, watching, etc.)

How the pre-teachers described their Transformation

• “I didn’t imagine going into a child care center would show me so much about teaching and learning.”

• “Thank-you for making us go and look at children.”

• “When I first read about this, I just wasn’t sure. But now I see how important it is.”

Incidental changes

• transition to professional behaviors• insight into school administration and

operations• content area information and background• links between home life and school• fine arts in education• self-discovery, e.g. ‘schooling is not for me’

…the observation of the way in which the children pass from the first disordered

movements to those which are spontaneous and ordered—this is the book of the teacher; this is the book which must

inspire her actions; it is the only one in which she must read and study if she is to

become a real educator.(Montessori, 1912/2011, p. 106)

Next steps

• Partnership for 21st Century Skills • Khan Academy • Intel Educator • Nugent and Brazelton – Newborn Behavior

Observation System • Big Thought – Dimensions of Quality in Arts

Education• ?

Follow the Child

Josh Thompson Texas A&M University-Commercehttp://faculty.tamuc.edu/jthompson