Before the discussion with the teacher, I consulted a number of 'expert Montessorians' across the world who are on various relevant yahoo groups. The feedback I got was unanimous and everyone explained that there should not be expectations and that the cleaning obsession should not be curbed, instead, it should be further encouraged.
So I arranged a number of meetings at the school and these were all useful and productive... I met the Head of Junior School and the Nursery Head before the meeting with the teacher to get their viewpoint as well... They were quite surprised about the 'classroom expectations' and convinced me that overall the school sticks to the Montessori dictum of self-directed work. They were convinced that there was a misunderstanding and that they would look into the matter (speaking to the teacher, observing the class and so on). They advised me to speak to the teacher and were quite sure that the meeting would go well...
My meeting with the teacher was quite productive. She was completely open to all of my suggestions and completely understood my point of view. She knew that this is Shariq's sensitive period for order and movement and had already started getting him to window clean, table wash and so on. I gave her a long list of ideas on incorporating more cleaning activities in the classroom and on channeling this current fixation into more academic stuff slowly. I let her know that I would provide support in making activities and materials and she was appreciative of that. Also, she had not removed the cleaning stuff from the class, but had put it in a different place since she wanted to expand the activities to include cloth washing and so on as well.
The problem was that she has had bad experiences in the past with parents who themselves do not know anything about the Montessori system and expected that their kid must do all the academic stuff. As such, they react negatively when they learn at the end of the term that their kid has only been cleaning all term and does not yet know his colors!!! She has tried to educate parents about the Montessori system, and though this works most times, it does not work all the time. This is her way of sounding the alarm much before the end of the term so that parents do not get at her neck at the end of the term or year.
The problem here in Dubai is that there is very stiff competition for the top schools and everyone wants the kids to go there at 4 years!!! Some of these schools hold their assessment tests at around 2.5 years and the children are expected to know their numbers, alphabets, colors and shapes by then. This is why parents tend to pressurize teachers in the nurseries to train up the children.
Horrible system I know!!! This is why I plan to keep DS (dear son) in the Montessori system for as long as possible, before he has to subject himself to exams and assessments.
Anyway my problem did get solved, I have started making up activities for school and will be sending these across to the teacher at the beginning of every week. I have also brought a lot of new and shining cleaning equipment for DS at home so that he can clean as much as he likes at home as well. I set up a separate cleaning area for him with tray activities for glass cleaning, sunglasses polishing, dish washing and so on. I have also made some printables such as a cleaning equipment 3 part cards set, a cleaning equipment half puzzle, a cleaning color matching, a vacuum size matching and so on. I will be writing a blog including all of my cleaning 'themed' ideas alongwith the ideas presented here, with pictures and so on. I will also soon put up the printables for download... I am sure someone somewhere has a son just like mine!!!
So I arranged a number of meetings at the school and these were all useful and productive... I met the Head of Junior School and the Nursery Head before the meeting with the teacher to get their viewpoint as well... They were quite surprised about the 'classroom expectations' and convinced me that overall the school sticks to the Montessori dictum of self-directed work. They were convinced that there was a misunderstanding and that they would look into the matter (speaking to the teacher, observing the class and so on). They advised me to speak to the teacher and were quite sure that the meeting would go well...
My meeting with the teacher was quite productive. She was completely open to all of my suggestions and completely understood my point of view. She knew that this is Shariq's sensitive period for order and movement and had already started getting him to window clean, table wash and so on. I gave her a long list of ideas on incorporating more cleaning activities in the classroom and on channeling this current fixation into more academic stuff slowly. I let her know that I would provide support in making activities and materials and she was appreciative of that. Also, she had not removed the cleaning stuff from the class, but had put it in a different place since she wanted to expand the activities to include cloth washing and so on as well.
The problem was that she has had bad experiences in the past with parents who themselves do not know anything about the Montessori system and expected that their kid must do all the academic stuff. As such, they react negatively when they learn at the end of the term that their kid has only been cleaning all term and does not yet know his colors!!! She has tried to educate parents about the Montessori system, and though this works most times, it does not work all the time. This is her way of sounding the alarm much before the end of the term so that parents do not get at her neck at the end of the term or year.
The problem here in Dubai is that there is very stiff competition for the top schools and everyone wants the kids to go there at 4 years!!! Some of these schools hold their assessment tests at around 2.5 years and the children are expected to know their numbers, alphabets, colors and shapes by then. This is why parents tend to pressurize teachers in the nurseries to train up the children.
Horrible system I know!!! This is why I plan to keep DS (dear son) in the Montessori system for as long as possible, before he has to subject himself to exams and assessments.
Anyway my problem did get solved, I have started making up activities for school and will be sending these across to the teacher at the beginning of every week. I have also brought a lot of new and shining cleaning equipment for DS at home so that he can clean as much as he likes at home as well. I set up a separate cleaning area for him with tray activities for glass cleaning, sunglasses polishing, dish washing and so on. I have also made some printables such as a cleaning equipment 3 part cards set, a cleaning equipment half puzzle, a cleaning color matching, a vacuum size matching and so on. I will be writing a blog including all of my cleaning 'themed' ideas alongwith the ideas presented here, with pictures and so on. I will also soon put up the printables for download... I am sure someone somewhere has a son just like mine!!!
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