Tuesday, January 18, 2011

To encourage or not ...



This young boy enjoys using the moveable alphabet and is capable of reading the words but reluctant to reading them on lists or in short books. When asked to read, he declined but Mrs. T paid no attention, sitting with him, coaxing him to read a simple book. He plodded through, and upon completion of the last page, he gushed, "Mrs. T, I'm glad you ignored my complaints!"

We find that many children need a bit of nudging, in reading as well as math. These are important areas and areas where the children themselves are happy to make strides. I imagine that is because their parents value progress in those areas. In this way, we still "follow the child" while helping those who need it, to make the right choices.

4 comments:

Gigi said...

This is my son! It is hard sometimes to find ways that he will enjoy math and reading.

Marian said...

Hi Gigi,
Thanks for commenting! It gave me a chance to see your Montessori Spanish blog. For reading, child just has to be made to do a little each day. Once they get a bit fluid, they'll naturally enjoy it.
In math, try showing him something that may seem advanced, therefore more interesting. Like fractions! I'll next post a fraction game I made. It's easy, children love it and they learn a lot.

Gigi said...

Marian,
I remembered another teacher giving me this advice at the beginning of our school year so I started doing that last week and it is working very well! We've been doing fractions, geometry, and money work.

He is enjoying it. He is really enjoying fractions. I love those lessons.

Thank you!

Diamira said...

I'm go glad to hear this. I feel sometimes we push with our nudging. I feel it's not the "Montessori way." I feel the same way that children sometimes need a little push to move on.