Content area
Full Text
- THERE'S NO ONE DEFINITION OF INNOVATION - IT'S A CONCEPT THAT MEANS DIFFERENT THINGS TO DIFFERENT PEOPLE. TO EXPLORE SOME OF ITS MANY FACETS, WE HAD CONVERSATIONS WITH SEVERAL MONTESSORIANS; THEIR REFLECTIONS FOLLOW. HOWEVER, THESE ARE BY NO MEANS THE LAST WORDS ON THE TOPIC, AND WE'D LIKE TO KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING! PLEASE WRITE TO US AT [email protected] WITH YOUR THOUGHTS, WHETHER ON ONE OF THE TOPICS LISTED BELOW OR ON ANOTHER INNOVATION-RELATED SUBJECT. WE'LL PRINT THE RESPONSES.
- THE EDITORS -
On Innovation and Teacher Education
The phrase teacher training is really non-innovative. Training implies that something is set in stone already and there are exact procedures to follow. Innovation is about lifelong learning. We do that in our classrooms, but we need to make sure innovation is in our teacher education as well. Part of it is treating albums as dynamic documents that will look different for every single adult learner. There can be a structure, of course, but adult learners must be able to adapt and add to the albums based on who they are, who their class is. And it should look different every single year. We have to embrace change.
-Gay Ward
Ideally, teacher education programs would say, "We're going to show you one way to use a material. There are other ways. And children, if you're paying attention, will show you even more ways." That, in and of itself, is innovation; it can be built into the work we do every day.
Most Montessori teachers were not Montessori children. When you don't come from a Montessori background, you have to unlearn a lot of things. One thing that is really hard to unlearn is the desire to be given the answer. But if we're trying to be critical thinkers, and innovative in the spaces we are working in, we can't just offer one way, one answer.
Teacher education unwittingly contributes to this. We are saying, "Think critically; there's more than one way," but then we're mandating albums. We're saying, "Here's your lesson plan." This can be tricky, but we need to make sure we are supporting teachers in thinking critically, even when it comes to the use and presentation of Montessori materials. The lesson plan is a...