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A New

of Thought

IMAGINE A CLASSROOM WITHOUT DESKS. IMAGINE TEACHERS WHO DON’T RELY ON TEXTBOOKS. IMAGINE STUDENTS WHO CHOOSE WHAT AND WHEN THEY WANT TO LEARN. THIS IS THE POPULAR MONTESSORI EDUCATIONAL APPROACH — AND IT MAY BE COMING TO A FRUM SCHOOL NEAR YOU

12 familyfırst August 29 2012 13 controlled learning environment, we em- request permission. Sometimes the other power children to become adults who make child says, ‘No, I’d like to work alone.’ So he good choices,” says Morah Esther Green, respects his privacy and moves on. It’s like a a preschool teacher at Netivot Montessori, successful big family where they learn that a school that goes up to eighth grade, in although their needs are respected, they’re Highland Park, New Jersey. “Especially as not the only ones on the planet.” , we want to produce adults who will Adds Mrs. Blum, the mother of a four- stand up for what’s right even when others year-old who attends an Al Pi Darko school, around them are doing differently.” “!e older children in class constantly give !e Montessori Method also stresses indi- lessons to the younger students. !ey are vidual growth. “I used to teach in a standard bred in the mentality. My son woke yeshivah,” says Morah Yocheved, an Al Pi me up early yesterday to gleefully tell me, Darko teacher. “Every week, we would pre- ‘Mommy, I know trup. Leibel taught me.’” pare a lesson plan for the class. But here, Stick a group of young children in one we make lesson plans for each child for the room and you would expect some chaos, and upcoming week. Is each individual student certainly a few screams. But that’s not the thriving? If not, why not and how can we case in Morah Yocheved’s classroom, where help him or her?” the teachers model the behavior they want !is approach allows for the inevitable the students to emulate. “When the kids * MALKIE SCHULMAN — and natural — disparity in skill level. have difficulty talking nicely to their class- adding lesson. Together they walk to the named Maria Montessori opened up a school “Some primary age children are reading flu- mates, we give them the language. Visitors math work area. Today, they will be learning called Casa dei Bambini in Rome. Based on ently and others can read short vowel words, are struck by the subdued speech between It’s 9 a.m. Four-year-old the number 4,500. First she holds up the her observations of children, she believed but no one is concerned that another is on the class members,” she notes. Bentzion hangs his coat in his cubby, ex- number on a card. that by tailoring the learning environment a higher level. !ey don’t have a sense that “We labor to instill the idea of shalom in -, changes outdoor shoes for indoor shoes, and “!is says 4,500,” she enunciates. to each developmental phase, students what they’re doing is what another child the children from a young age,” affirms Dr. ,+*) -(+  steps into the classroom. If he wishes, and She pulls out bead cubes (cubes made of would experience optimal growth. !is was should be doing. !eir self-esteem remains Aly Mandel of Netivot. To that end, ev- he usually does, he runs to Morah Miriam varying numbers of gold beads). She takes a radical notion, drastically veering from the intact,” says Morah Esther. ery preschool classroom has a “peace rose,” for a good morning hug. From there, he four of the thousand-bead cubes and lines standard educational approach in her day. !is is in contrast to what one mother of a flower in a vase. When two children are As I continued to marches over to a shelf to choose a “work” them up side by side. More than a century later, there are over a non-Montessori student laments. “My six- arguing, the teacher will direct them to the daven (for many years) (a set of manipulative materials designed “!is is four thousand,” she tells him. 22,000 Montessori schools worldwide in year-old cries to me every day because her rose. First Meyer will hold it and air his to be zoche to my own ben to teach a particular skill). !is morning, She lines up five of the hundred-bead at least 110 countries. More notably, there friends are reading and she can’t read yet. grievances. “You grabbed my sweeper from , it occurred to me that sponsoring forty days of learning he starts with a sand tray from the alef-beis cubes. are currently 37 Orthodox Montessori/Al I know she’ll eventually get it, but she’s al- me.” !en Shlomo takes his turn, “I had it as a zechus toward this end would work area. He brings it to a table, pulls out “!is is five hundred.” Pi Darko schools in the US — and that’s ready learning to feel like a failure.” first!” !ey go back and forth, only speak- be most appropriate. I surely couldn't lose, as either way, I would a chair, and then slowly traces an alef in the Pulling all the cubes together, she says, just the number affiliated with the Jewish !e structure of the school day is as ing when holding the flower. Each child is gain the zechus of Torah. sand tray with his fingers. “!is is four thousand five hundred.” Montessori society. !ere is an undeter- carefully designed as the “work” activities. heard without interruption until the issue is B"H, within days of the Sitting beside him is three-year-old Levi Nearby, at the practical life corner, three- mined number that calls themselves Al Pi “When the children arrive in the morning, resolved. By the end of their first year, most completion of the forty days I with a project from the practical life corner. It year-old Ephraim is painstakingly cutting Darko, but are not officially connected to they hang up their coats, remove their out- children can use the rose without teacher in- did indeed meet I did indeed contains a glass bottle filled with blue liquid, a tomato to put in his salad. He peels the any central Montessori organization. !ese door shoes, roll out the mats before doing tervention. my bashert. meet my Feeling that bashert a large dropper, and a smaller glass pitcher. cucumber and slices it. He pours on dress- schools span the country, from Atlanta to a “work” on the floor, and roll up the mats “!ere is zero tolerance for physical ag- Torah would be Holding the dropper bulb in a three-finger ing. He takes the child-sized sweeper and Lakewood to Seattle with some in Canada when finished. !is way, a child develops gression,” Dr. Mandel adds. “We never have such a powerful grasp (preparation for gripping a pencil cor- dustpan and cleans up the fallen peels. !e as well. clear thinking,” says Morah Esther, adding playground fighting. By the time the chil- zechus for the crucial days of my engagement and chasunah, rectly) and squeezing it so the blue liquid is best part is next – he gets to eat his salad! One of Maria Montessori’s basic tenets that “parents often put their child’s coat on dren are in upper elementary, we have no I sponsored an additional eighty sucked into the tube, Levi transfers the col- Afterward, he takes his bowl and utensils to was to offer students the ability to choose when he is perfectly capable of doing it. We incidents of physical aggression at all.” days. B"H, here I am, looking back at the seven years I spent ored water to the glass pitcher. the sink and washes them. Once dry, he puts freely within a “prepared environment,” a want the brain clicked on — put hand in No physical aggression? Having had a few in shidduchim from the vantage Around the classroom, children are them back on the designated shelf, ready for classroom carefully set up with specific ma- sleeve, zip up jacket.” sons pass through the standard yeshivah sys- point of a year of marriage. busy with their individual “works.” Morah the next child’s use. terials, each designed to foster a different tem, I was eager to witness this. I walked For those who are still waiting, I am sharing my story in the hope Miriam roves around the room; she is on Sounds incredible? Welcome to the world aspect of the child’s total development. A BEYOND THE A, B, C’s into the upper elementary classroom, where that it will pass on some chizuk call, waiting to assist any child who needs of Montessori. child who could make his own choices, she “My classroom is one big middos lab,” says I found work areas designated for culture, and ideas for further hishtadlus. help. asserted, would gain the most academically Morah Esther. “!e children, ages three to science, practical life, math, limudei kodesh, M.P., Passaic, NJ Bentzion, now finished tracing the alef, A RADICAL APPROACH and developmentally. five, learn to live in a community. !ey de- language, and arts. In the science area, there Binah Magazine, January 8, 2010. Reprinted with permission returns the sand tray to its proper place and TO EDUCATION “In life, we’re constantly forced to make velop empathy and patience. When a child was a mold of the human brain, in the prac- approaches Morah Yocheved, requesting an In 1907, an Italian doctor and educator choices – what to wear, say, eat. In this wants to work with another child, he must tical life corner, a saw and other tools. !ere   '&%$#' "! & , '#'"$ 14 familyfırst were no desks, simply tables and chairs. Kids were to the back field of Torah Montessori to pres- to teach prefixes, suffixes, and how to break working on mats. One child was studying math ent the first impressionistic lesson. She places down the words. At six years old, the kids with his teacher, Mr. Greg. He was using blocks, of a black felt cloth timeline on the ground. It’s know that ‘eilecha’ is a pronoun suffix while various colors and sizes, to teach fractions. 200 feet long, the length of a football field. ‘ohalecha’ is a possessive suffix. Although I noticed children peacefully working in pairs. “We tell the children this is the time for they’re both ‘lecha,’ they can recognize the “Since ages nine to twelve are a sensitive period for walking, not talking. As they walk, we tell difference. When the children receive their socialization, we encourage peer interaction,” ex- them a story — ‘A long time ago there was Chumashim at the end of first grade, they plains Mr. Greg. “In traditional school, talking in nothing, no sky, no sun, no birds. But really, are able to open them and see the words in class is not permitted, so the kids end up passing there was something, do you know what that color.” notes all day, waiting until recess to hang out to- was?’ And they all answer– ‘Hashem!’ !en Mrs. Schack cites another example of the gether.” we lay down a picture of Briyas Ha’Olam, multisensory approach to Torah. “We stud- Observing 29 children each doing their work and they continue walking to the pictures ied the 39 melachos this year. We actually either individually or in small groups was over- of Noach, Avraham, further on through the did every one of them – weaving, grinding, whelming. And indeed, at least for the hour I was generations. !ey pass , all the way planting, and plowing. !e children now there, there was no fighting. I couldn’t imagine how to the Siyum HaShas in America, today. It understand d’rabbanan and d’Oraysa. !ey the teachers could possibly know what each child takes nine minutes to make this walk. have a deeper understanding of the Shabbos was up to and if they were actually completing their “!en,” continues Mrs. Schack, “we say, laws. And they’re excited about it. tasks. ‘All this came before you and this is where “You know,” she adds, “we have much “We have goals and expectations for each you are now. !ere are only a few incidents more at stake than a secular school. If a child child,” Mr. Greg said. “All children have plan- “We studied that haven’t happened yet. Everything that fails in a secular school, he won’t go to col- ners. Together with the teachers, they map out Hashem promised would happen has hap- lege; if a child fails in our schools, he might what needs to be covered each week. !ey have the 39 pened, and soon these next events will occur chas v’shalom leave Yiddishkeit.” a check-off sheet for when work is completed. I as well,’ and we lay down the !ird Beis inspect their planners twice weekly. Aside from melachos HaMikdash card and the techiyas hameisim THE DETRACTORS that, I constantly roam the classroom observing card.” If the Montessori approach is so extraor- and giving lessons. I have an excellent sense of this year. We Another one of the lessons focuses on the dinary, why aren’t all frum schools switching where each child is at.” actually did creation of Adam. “We have a huge world over to this method? !ere are detractors map,” explains Mrs. Schack. “We place dirt who have reservations. BRINGING TORAH TO LIFE every one of on each continent. We demonstrate how “When I hear there’s a child coming from a “!e Montessori methodology is in complete con- Hashem took dirt from everywhere and Montessori preschool,” states Mrs. Mitnick, sonance with Torah,” says Rivkah Schack, director them” formed Adam. We then show how Chava a first-grade teacher at a Bais Yaakov, “I think, and teacher in Torah Montessori, Chicago. “!e was created. We explain that this took place Oh no, here’s another little girl I’m going to have variant is in some of its philosophy. !at is why we right before Rosh HaShanah, which is when to re-train. I don’t find them advanced in any seek to establish Jewish Montessori schools, usually we teach this lesson. We connect past to the way — academically, socially, or emotionally. referred to as Al Pi Darko, and our own teacher- present, tangibly revealing how our lives I do find, however, that they have difficulty training programs.” today are intimately connected to what’s making transitions from one subject to the !e major difference is apparent in the elementa- written in Torah.” next. !ey might say something like, ‘I’m ry grades. Authentic Montessori schools will begin Before I left the upper elementary class- not ready to put this away. I haven’t finished each year with five “impressionistic lessons” based room at Netivot, I watched a teacher yet.’ Because in Montessori, they’re used to on secular beliefs. !e Jewish schools take these presenting a lesson to three boys. going at their own time and pace. general topics and teach them through a Torah Unlike the younger grades, there were more “In general,” adds Mrs. Mitnick, “they lens. textbooks, Chumashim and Mishnayos on seem to have difficulty with the group dy- Presented to the whole class, these lessons are the shelves. Although texts are used to teach namics when something is demanded of intended to give a context to and connect all the subject matter, the chazarah is done through them as a whole group. And I often find that subjects the children will learn throughout the year, what’s referred to as “manipulative materi- the parents have expectations that their child whether it is Chumash, halachah, science, or math, als.” For example, a student learning about will be more ahead of the class, but that isn’t to a place within that framework. Instead of asking, the Mishkan might be asked to label dif- the case, in my experience.” “Why is this subject relevant to me?” the child ques- ferent parts of the Mishkan using a mini !e teaching method may also not work tions, “How does this new subject fit within what I model. for every type of child. “My daughter didn’t already know to be the interconnected framework As for Netivot’s lower elementary, the limu- do well in the Montessori environment,” of all knowledge?” dei kodesh teacher Mrs. Melody Margolis, says Mrs. Laufer, a mother from Toronto. Every September, Mrs. Schack takes her students LSW, expounds, “We use colored triangles “She couldn’t handle the freedom. She’s the

16 familyfırst THE WOMAN BEHIND THE METHOD Born in 1870 in Chiaravalle, Italy, Maria Montessori showed exceptional intelligence and ambition at a young age. In an era when few women even went to college, Maria became, in 1896, the first female in Italy to obtain a medical degree. Working later at a psychiatric clinic, Maria developed an interest in special-needs children and became an advocate for them. She paid close attention to each child’s individual capabilities and their interaction with the environment. So began her “follow the child” educational approach, which helped her “special” students not only master self- care skills, but also to pass academic tests given to mainstream children. In 1907, Maria opened a school for poor children in a slum section of Rome. Here too, she made astute observations — one of which was that kids are less motivated by rewards and sweets than by the satisfaction gained by their own accomplishments. Her careful notes about child behavior eventually resulted in a manifesto on teaching. And her students in Rome, and in the other schools she opened up, became her success stories.

type of child that needs to be told exactly there are few frum Montessori preschools, recent upsurge in the Montessori Method what to do every minute. She was just all even fewer elementary schools, and no Al Pi among frum educators. Two years ago, an over the place.” Darko high schools. What will the child do Al Pi Darko preschool program opened Even those who work in the Montessori when he has to sit behind a desk and listen in Lakewood, New Jersey; this past year, school system have their complaints. “A to a lecture? When his feelings are not un- Bais Yaakov of Boro Park opened one as drawback of this environment is that a child derstood, certainly not respected, when he well. “We b’davka chose children without who has trouble taking initiative can slide enters the real world? issues so it wouldn’t be perceived as a spe- by doing the ‘works’ by himself, whereas “Besides,” she adds, “usually children, cial-needs class,” says Mrs. Miriam Berg, in play-based preschool, the children must even in standard playgroups, are happy and Bais Yaakov’s preschool director. “In the interact with one another,” notes Batsheva, thriving. !e real test is whether the children beginning, the parents had a few reserva- who works for an Al Pi Darko preschool. are still thriving when they hit elementary tions. But now when they see the gentle “I also believe the class would benefit from school.” way their daughters speak, the middos they a dramatic play area because it’s a wonderful Mrs. Schack is familiar with these com- display, their ability to make good choices, way to develop social skills. And I disagree plaints. “Parents and educators seem to fear and their academic accomplishments, they with the minimal circle time. !ere are that if children don’t learn to sit behind a are thrilled. some children who aren’t self-motivated and desk at age five, they will be unable to do so “To date,” she continues, “we don’t walk around disturbing the other children. at age 14. !e opposite is true,” she argues. see any drawbacks to this program and !ere’s one child who has difficulty focus- “If children receive what they need devel- we’re looking to expand next year. We ing and can only do simple ‘works.’ !ese opmentally when they need it, they will are adding three-year-olds to our already children thrive in circle time. !ey know be more successful academically and emo- four-and-five-year-old group because we everything about the parshah. I believe they tionally than if forced to do things they’re understand the benefits of the mixed-age would gain from direct teacher instruction. ill equipped to do.” She adds that the first program. And we’re not doing this in a “Lastly,” continues Batsheva, “as a phi- and second grades in her school are an entire vacuum; we hope to expand this to our el- losophy, Montessori believes it’s either all or year ahead of their non-Montessori counter- ementary school.” nothing. But why not combine the best of parts. A grateful parent, Mrs. Nussbaum, con- the standard educational approach and the Still, as Mrs. Schack acknowledges, no cludes, “Sometimes we forget the other half best of Montessori?” Jewish Montessori high school exists at of Shlomo HaMelech’s dictum, which I be- Mrs. Singer, a veteran teacher for 40 years this time. As such, “we work on transition- lieve is an essential part. Chanoch la’naar al in a New York yeshivah high school, also ing starting in sixth grade. We pull children pi darko. Why? Gam ki yazkin lo yasur mi- weighs in on the method. “I’ve seen the Al Pi out of class periodically and give in the menah. Educate the child according to his Darko method in action and it is impressive. standard yeshivah style, for example. And way so that even when he is old, he will not But what about when the child has to make we teach test-taking skills.” deviate from it. !is is our hope. !is is our the transition to a regular school? L’mayseh, Despite the complaints, there’s been a prayer.” 

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