Creative Learning and Shifting our Paradigms.

This post has had me in neutral for a while.  it is so hard to put into words my thoughts on the subject of what is learning.  Mostly because what is learning to me may not be what is learning to my student.  If we all could have our own individual educational plan in placed and revised daily.

I am constantly redefining and fine tuning the lens of what learning means to me.  It was a natrual occurrence and needful transition for me when I observed in public education that much of the daily learning was a grind of conditioning the child to obey and do as they are told, with that being the red herring goal and the focus of many hours of the school day.  This just wasn't in a special needs classroom either.  It is a big part of what I saw public education doing to all children.   It feels like it grinds us down as individuals to be manageable test takers and obedient workers.  The rout memorization of daily public education learning with only a vague and limited understanding of what you are memorizing and the relentless constant teaching to a standardized testing policy forced me to shift my views as to what education is or what it should be and more importantly focus a clear lens onto what is learning.

The symbols of knowledge and the point of learning in measurement for me are more on the lines of the Bloom's Taxonomy of Knowledge click here for charts
Learning could consist of a measurement based on observations and assessments in the following areas: Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation.  Not to confuse learning with a widget or product either.  Is the product a true reflection of the learning that happened in making it, is just one question in an assessment to what I see as learning.  A true or false or multiple choice test as a measurement of learning fails to show many areas of non cognitive learning and only a fraction of cognitive learning.  Yet be hold those measurements of the grades in such high standards. To me Bloom's definitions of the components of learning, synthesizing a reflection of mastery are more in tune with a holistic approach to learning.  As an educator it may means letting go of the scripted lesson plan an allowing learning on the child's terms to happen.  This is a difficult thing for teachers to do, as we tend to be performers and work hard on our dog and pony shows.  Even school administrators have lost their way to what they should and could be doing, like offering support and encouragement and creating whole communities of learning, instead of forcing lesson plans to align with state and national standards for the testing multimillion dollar business.  It amazes me how this testing industry that doesn't have anything to do with learning has infested our school system like a parasite.  A great example of how our blind and unquestioning obedience to authority has dumbed down our work force and limited critical thinking skills.  What would happen if all of the parents and teachers just refused to allow testing to take place?

Back to Bloom's
I am also referring to, by using the phrase, "What Does Learning Look Like", to the process the individual uses or needs to define and classify in applying knowledge and differentiate data while then taking that process to the next level to create, develop, assess and summarize the material for themselves into something in their own paradigm of consciousness.  This process is where the assessment needs to take place.

Assessing the Assessor
I am constantly reassessing what learning looks like to my learner, subject by subject and day by day. Forcing my consciousness and or agenda on my child is not learning either.  That is a hard power to let go of and I will speak more about controlled learning verse open learning later here.  You almost have to let your brain get use to the concept of "allowing learning to happen" and "allowing the child to lead".  These phrases take a while for us to soak up.  Most of us are conditioned to "I teach, you listen" models of education.  Teacher student roles that are ridged and give little time for learning through experimentation and/or trial and error. We get stuck in the "repeat after me" or "Are all eyes on me?" language of teacher to student and that is about control and isn't so much about learning as it is driven by ego of "I as your teacher want your full attention, you do not think now but listen and repeat what I say."  We use words like sit up straight, hands in you lap ready to learn, eyes up here to set the tone and condition behavior. That by the way is a trick in conditioning and control, it is not learning, it's being made to shut up , be still and listen to the teachers show.  Learning isn't all a lesson in power and control or it shouldn't be.  We need problem solvers not more crushed down obedient performers who can not think and have never worked on learning their strengths with a individualized, self directed learning plan.  Could this be done in public education, yes but.  Open learning where people have the opportunity to play, discover, experiment, create and collaborate with other learners is a much more conducive way to allow learning to happen.  Unfortunately this kind of learning can't be measured on a standardized test.

So enough of me waxing on about it.  Here is some examples of open ended STEAMS learning.

The materials above are Lego Education curriculum and resources.  My son is working on this projects.   He is creating an original robot.  This material allows for open learning and I am merely a supportive aid to him.  He is learning.  I may throw out ideas or trouble shoot for him.  Most of the time we use lesson ideas from Lego ed or other open source lego educational sights..  We have several books that teach us programing for the bricks that come with the Lego Mindstorm and EV3 robots.  My son may choose one of those lessons and he self directs to it.  I provide the resources and environment and research materials and he teaches himself.  I also act as an assistant to him in finding parts and organizing materials.  Lately I am the one who records what he does, but he use to film his work and photo journal it more.  I think he will go back to filming and journaling but he is creating right now.

My job is to support the creative learning.  With this material I become the parts girl.

If I as teacher can let go of my lesson plan and agenda and allow my son to learn on his own, following his natural learning plan.  This take me working on my ego and character as an educator.  I no longer have to perform but encourage, engage and support.  Our roles become a relationship of equality as we both learn and explore the material in a new way. As my son examines and rearranges and predicts what creating with these Lego materials will do, he is learning.  He is learning in a way that I as an educator cannot teach him in a lesson, or book and a test would not show how he is learning here either.

Part of this shift in my consciousness of "What is Learning" was instigated by meeting the people at Self Design Global.  Monica Cochran the Director of Global Learning at SelfDesign was instrumental in my shift of what learning is.  The creator of SelfDesign, Brent Cameron's writings also were catalysis in my shift to natural learning.  My son and I were lucky to be matched with a mentor, an educator Michael Bender who with his wife Lori Bender are creating a new educational paradigm of their own with facilitating a MineCraft group of learners.  All of these people have given me a new perspective of What is Learning.  This has been life changing.
Here is our Michael Bender's Bio on SelfDesign Global's network.
Michael Bender's Bio
The SelfDesign method use a interest based learning modality called Natural Learning.  It is all passion based.  The assessment and measurement for learning they use is a concept call Observations for Learning.   You can read more about that HERE

Another step in this journey to observe my student and understand how my son's mind is wired to learn, was the class I took on line last spring at MIT's Media Lab.  The course was Learning Creative Learning taught by Mitch Resnick.  It was free, and being offer every spring now.  Something I found by clicking around the media lab at MIT's web sight.  During this class I found out more about open learning and interest based learning.  One of our 1st exercises was building a structure out of uncooked spaghetti noodles and marshmallows.  The object was to see how high you could go. My son and I did this together.  We quickly learned that triangles are the strongest shapes to support weight and our base need to be wider to support the height.  We also learned about pressure and gravity and how those factors relate to the strengthen of our materials.

All of this creative learning brought me back to a roots in Montessori's Method of learning through play and how important it is for all of us to learn through hands on projects and how and what we learn through out the process of imaging, creating, reflecting and experimentation.  Our society desperate needs creative problem solvers, yet we as a nation here the US, we are so sold on testing and measuring success by that test that the test has become the symbol of learning, the edification of mastery.  Yet in all this testing and scoring how much is usable to our society?  A test score that the state can hold up as progress is not creating learners who can solve problems, think out side the box and rarely after 12 years of this formula will most people have a desire too. We are loosing to many learners to this system of ed is just not worth it to me.  More and more young people are dropping out or failing to learn the skills that will make them successful learners at a college level.  Our students drop out statistic proves to me that kids weigh out all those years of education and testing and often come to the conclusion, that an education, as they know it, is a worthless thing and not worth the effort.  Open learning teaches the child that effort is everything.  If you do not put in the effort of creating and experimenting you do not get results.  If the learning plan is based on the learner's passions and interest  they will work on the project and do whatever it takes to make it work.  Even if the project doesn't work they are learning through the mistake process of experimentation.  I can not teach that process, I can only create the environment and support system where a learner can get there on their own.  It isn't about the widget they make, the process is the learning, not the widget.  You often can not look at the widget and see ALL what the student learned.  What they learned though the project is harder to measure.
This brings me to Non Cognitive learning and how important that is to our society.  None of these factors show up in Standardized testing, yet they are imperative to how we use what we learn and how we contribute as individuals for the greater good.  Here is a list of Non Cognitive skills to give you an idea about what I am talking about here.

I find that when you follow you passions and pursue learning what interest the learner, teacher's roles become mentors and directors of learning,  we stay on the peripheral of the classroom, just wandering into learner's line of vision when the need arises.  Teaching becomes less of a performance and more of relationship with the student of mentoring.
Once my mind shifted to included a supportive learning environment for creative learning I began to finding all kinds of educators to teach me more.  One of those educators who sparked me and my son was Arvind Gupta. Mr. Gupta is an engineer in India who appeared on TED Talks. Arvind Gupta
He has a web sight as well which shows more of his experiments with turning trash into toys and how he uses that process to teach children creativity and problem solving.
http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/toys.html

Carol Dweck has also changed my mind on how to educate by her research on Mindset and how it  effects everything.  She reiterates how important mistakes are to our learning process and that effort is everything.   She speaks of how our mindsets cripple us from learning and keep us tethered to a idea that we cannot learn because we are not good enough, smart enough or unable to learn.  I love how she uses the phrase when a learner tells her they are not good at math of:  "You are not good at it YET."  Leaves room to change your mindset and keep trying.
Here is a wonderful video on her research.
Mindset

I just found the Froebel Gift's and am planning a summer camp enrichment session.  I'll blog about it.  Here is a wonderful educator named Tiffeni J. Goesel, who works as a consultant for the Gift's. here is link to her sight which will take you to the shop to buy them as well.  here for Froebeltoday.com

Please feel free to add your resources below.

Science Stuff-ATOMS-ELEMENTS-MOLECULES

Another fun activity we currently are wading into is upper elementary Chemistry work.  We used the card materials from ETC Montessori's lower and upper elementary curriculum bundles.  These are resources that Maria really did not develop as a manipulative or lesson, however the developers at this  company have done well at keeping to her over all method and philosophy of learning and I am impressed with their scope and sequencing.
We started with Physical Science materials earlier this year and learn some basics concepts on light and sound.  We have since moved on to learning about elements of the Periodic Table and their properties and how they combine to become molecules.

This is the atom board by ETC Montessori. It is Bohr Model Method and the ETC web sight will have more information, if you are are interested.  The cards that came with the board are the final level of the lesson at the end cognitive level.  No pictures just the information, beyond 3 or 5 part cards for a more mature learner.  This company is branching into middle school material and I am curious to see what they will come up. We had our own marbles for electrons. You can all use something to show protons and neutrons.  Since the nucleus area here on the board is flat I suggest a flat glass drops in two colors.

We love this activity and use an ipad app to help us visualize the concept too.  The app my son likes is the Atomics HD shown below.  This App allows for, in building the atom, some math skills of finding how many neutrons and electrons and protons are needed in a kind of game format.  The child quickly deciphers that formula from cues in the game on the apps.  I love the creative and intuitive open learning that happens when kids play games.  Here is the screen shot of the build an atom part of the app.

We haven't gotten into Ion's and Isotope yet but it is there work for him when he is ready.

 The project below is a Molecule kit I purchased before Christmas on clearance at our local craft store. It came with everything but the paint.  We got a bunch of  plain white Styrofoam balls and we got busy organizing them to size following simple instructions to paint them certain colors.  Here is my son prepping up each ball with a colored marker to let us know what color it was to be.  I did take a little too much artistic license with carbon and instead of black, went with brown,  so that my son says it is "all wrong" but it look delicious, just like chocolate.  My son painted the big orange magnesium model by hand but most of the others we just dunked into zip locks filled with acrylic paint and made a day of painting and drying out the elements. We decided to use tooth pick to pull them out of the zip lock baggies of paint, sticking them on a cereal box to dry.   It was a big messy project.  We sprinkled glitter on a few of them while wet to make them sparkle.  After they were dry I took them outside and put a clear finishing coat of spray paint on them.  They look great.  My son then created his own cards of them with some old poster board material we cut into 5 x 5 inchs and colored markers.  He use the information on the ETC Montessori Chemistry cards for research.

Color coordinating the styrofoam balls

The organizing of the elements and marking them by color took us a while but Conor did it all.  I helped with the reading.

painting Magnesium orange

Clear coating the hydrogen, nitrogen, sodium and magnesium models

the Box it all came in

Proud creator of the Molecules work

Learning in Progress

Something about making your own maniulatives gives the learner pride

I just love how he took over on this project and made the cards.  We will keep going with this work and as we get to more complicated molecules he can draw the on the cards and the manipulative will be less of a desire to work with.

H2O and the final card in close up

Art as an App

Many people feel strongly about tech.  Cell phones and tablets seem to bring out extreme responses in people.  The way we are focus on these devices so strongly and the way we have wired ourselves into these devices so quickly, integrating them into our lives so fast, is UN-nerving and it is changing how our society interacts. We have become brave new world writers, evident in the morphing languaging of texting and who knows where a universal dialog of text will next take us in this global economy.  So be it our dystopian culture pulling us to a new source of interaction or a simple haphazard turn of events that drags us along kicking and screaming, the tech is here to stay.  Why not embrace it?  At the least learn how to utilizes it to our advantage.  I have found art is one of those areas where we can ease into the transition of tech world.  It is fun and simple to master many of the apps out there for art.
One of the art apps I have fun with is CamVas.   It allows you to use your photo roll of your device, tablet or phone and manipulate your photos into different styles.  You can choose a traditional water color like style and then change the color values.  So your photos, their software, you become an instant fine arts master in moments.

Actual Photo

 In the original photo above of a blooming aloe plant in front of a fire cactus and plastic 3 gallon bucket, I tried to get a textural shot to show how you can manipulate style and color value to create app art.

Watercolored style version

Another tweaking of color and style

You can choose between several different stylizations of art and the manipulate each style by color values.  It really is a wonderful app.

This is the Van Gogh style with the colors tweaked out.

 It is possible to crop with this app but I decided to keep the bucket.  There are all kinds of other features and ways to manipulate your photos.
Here are a couple more style features.  You do get to where you can see the light of you photos and see where certain shots will lend themselves to this app as you get more masterful at operations.  It is a very intuitive app.

A Watercolor style with a little color change

This is a colored sketchbook book style.

The CamVas app is made by the company Auryn INC. You can use the company name to find what they offer. They keep changing the name of this app and I have a hard time looking it up but it is out there.  It was called Auryn Cam when I bought it but it has been renamed.  There is a on line community with the app where you can check out other artist albums.  They also have a pure version art for the purists of water coloring with no photos, just fine art with a finger called Auryn Ink. They also make book apps.

Auryn INC APPS


 They have an adorable version of The Little Mermaid and Van Gogh and the Sunflowers.  My son is past these sweet stories but I never will be.

I wanted to share my Pinterest Board of Art I created with this app.
My Art on Pinterest

I will add to this post as I am still wanting to add other art apps. Almost all the major museums now offer apps.  MOMA app  review and tutorial coming up.
MOMA link

Making Montessori Fit

I have been doing a very open form of Maria Montessori's educational method with my son.  I have many Montessori materials and albums with lessons.  I worked in a Montessori school which wasn't really wasn't a very traditional Montessori school, but I did learn a lot about what to do and what not to do.  We are not purist with Montessori at home.  I tend to try out the curriculum and adapt it to fit my son's needs.  Some parts of Montessori work for us some ideas do not.  I love the math materials and how the learner is followed and is hone to become self directed.  I do pay attention to scope and sequencing but do not follow it religiously as my son is far below his grade level due to his impairments.  We do what we can and try to stick to the over all philosophy, using the materials and lesson but doing things on a different time scale and adjusted my son's learning needs.
Some of the materials that have worked best for him are the math manipulatives.  He love the division board.  Not the beads and tubes long division work, but the lower lesson work.  He says it helps him understand and see it.  He also likes the hundred board and bead work with all the bead materials.  We do an eclectic self directed form of the 3 hour work time.  We take sensory breaks and recess and being as we are at home schooled sometimes my son's work lays our for days till he does it or not.  We recently added up all the squares and figured out how much they came too, also the cubes of our bead cabinet were added up.  If my son makes his own lesson up I follow.  He is learning when he plays with the Montessori Math materials.  I find my son will stay engaged with these materials for long stretches with fewer breaks.  They work interest him.  He needs encouragement and prompts but he is accurate and likes to line things up and index his toys so it makes sense that he would like Maria's materials that are methodical and progressive and follow a sequential pattern.  You get the concept with these manipaultives.  They have been teaching children all over the world for a long time.

division board and tiles with control

It's isn't just the stuff that makes me like Montessori, but it helps.  Sensorially enchanting, engaging neurological materials are useful for small motor work and development as well as cognitive comprehension.  I   love how they educate to a child's organic intelligence and never dumb it down.
We also use  all the other Montessori subjects as well often using  the three card lessons and 5 card lessons. These have helped my son so much with reading comprehension because he is interested in reading about this material. He loves non-fiction and the cards are perfect for his attention span.  He loves science lessons and the physical science materials. Also the geography research materials have motivated him to learn.  I read to him out-loud many of the ETC Montessori upper elementary cards as they are written far above his reading ability.  I am a firm believer and living proof that if you read to a child who cannot read for themselves at their comprehension level for whatever reason, they will eventual become readers themselves.  You fall in love with learning and then push yourself to read. Eventually you figure out decoding and become fluent or you learn about books on tape and libre vox and just soak it up another way. One of my favorite quotes is by Oliver Sacks who said at a conference I watched at MIT that- "We are hard wire to adapt."   I find it true and that we are innovative and resourceful in how we adapt and what we use for tools.  I am extremely dyslexic and am a vicarious reader. My Mother read to me for hours each night and for years.  She made me want to know what was in books.  I have a hard time reading small print these days as my visions even with new glasses is horrible for up close. I do it though, large print, computer aids, love listening to books on audio recordings too.

Measurement cards ETC Montessori.

The Pythagoras Board

The Pythagoras Board is one of Conor's favs.  It helps him nail those trick multiplication facts.  Something that is very hard to do.

Geometry Work

We still use the triangle materials for Geometry.  I bought a set of upper elementary advance geometry lessons and task cards and they will be a challenge for us for a while.

Geography

My favorite the study of the world and cultures.  He likes the science side of it more.  Below is Conor sorting through some more materials from ETC Montessori on Biomes.   We recently have purchased some materials for Biomes lessons from Waseca Montessori.  This company is a small non profit that makes some beautiful materials that I fill so blessed to get.  I will add a page on Biomes as we are about to go into this subject and stay in this unit for the rest of the school year and summer classes.
I have zoology and botany materials to feed into the biomes so it will tie it all together.  I'm really excited about this unit and how Conor will like it and be effected by it.  He is self directing to illustrate and make books of many of the cards we work with.  Creating his own materials is such a measure of learning it is thrilling for me as an educator.  Some Montessori teacher do not like the 3 and 5 part cards.    They work well for us.  I think there is a useful thing about picking up the cards and crossing over the medium of the brain in hand to hand cross cortex matching and organizing.  The trays that come with some cards help with the executive functioning skills of this work.  I do not have any trays like this but need some.

Biomes

Science Fun

My son loves Science.  In this house we try and do some science every day.  I am able to create many experiences with the help of internet and buying curriculums with materials included.   One of our favorites is the Quirkles.   The Quirkles are characters in a series of books based on science. We read the books and do the experiments in the back of the books.  I also bought the curriculum package with a huge boxes of everything you need to do all kinds of other experiments.   This is a fun curriculum and has enough lessons and ideas to keep a student busy for a couple of years.
The Quirkles' Web Sight.

We also have used an online system called Super Charge Science.  This was a more intense and advanced series of lesson and we did not stick with it due to it being a bit over my son's head developmentally.  It's still very good and has so much to offer.  I had issues with loading the videos and also there was so much reading material that was far to advance for my student.  We may go back to this source in coming years.  It is very complete.
Sciencelearningspace/ Super Charged Science


Another venue we use is the Arizona Science Center's homeschool classes program.  These courses are taught by Mary Katherine Campbell a certified teacher.  At least once a month we attend a classes that can range in content from Simple Machines to Insects Study.  Last week was by far my son's favorite as it was a class on organs.  My son was able to dissect a cow's heart, lung and kidney.  Nothing like  project bases learning to give hands on synthesized experiences.  We watched as a Professor from ASU  hooked a shop vacuum up to a cow's respiratory system.  The lungs and trachea were all kept in a plastic bag to keep it neat and tidy.   So the teacher fit the hose of the vacuum on the trachea ( it fit perfectly) and the lungs filled up and the children got to see how and feel the process of full and empty lungs. The kids love it,  I could not help wondering how this experiment was conceived.  I picture grad students in a lab, late at night fooling around with a cow's lungs and the shop vacuum. Someone figured out the hose of a shop vacuum fit perfectly on a trachea.

After the cow lung and vacuum experience we move on to the organs.  Conor was skilled and curious.  He had several tools but preferred the little sharp scissors.  I am squeamish and not the best lab partner on dissecting day but I dealt with it and helped.  Conor was amazing and he rocked.  I kept my self together.  It was a good day with guts.  We go back again this year for pig's eye and rattle snake dissecting classes.

Cow's heart

Cow's Lung

Cow's Kidney

Another science homeschooling resource for us is Mr. Q. at http://www.eequalsmcq.com/  He covers K-8 in Life, Earth, Chemistry and Physical Science.  Eh also has some advance studies for High schooler's in Biology, Anatomy and Physiology.

All our favorite links to cool free things.

newtons-laws-of-motion-learn-about-auto-physics

National Science Foundation resources K-12

http://smartr.edc.org/

http://snap.berkeley.edu/ programming with blocks

http://www.brainpop.com/

http://scratch.mit.edu/

Nasa Mission

BBC UK schools resource link

Maker's Camp Google + community

http://az.pbslearningmedia.org/

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/

We also watch TED Talks and many You Tube videos on science.  There is so much out there for free if you google search for it and are curious.
My Pinterest board for Science has some fun stuff on it as well.
http://www.pinterest.com/desertnocturn/science-fun/

The Accidental Bystander goes Beyond Curriculum

I always struggle with staying on track with curriculums. Keeping to the structure of a one size fits all education plan of anything is difficult for any educator. Trying to make a neurotypical geared curriculum fit my child's needs educational always takes adaption and innovation.  I have not had the best of luck with the big curriculum packages that are sold as special need's curriculums.  Often they are pricey and not that workable for my child.  I like bits and pieces of different programs but to just go with one whole package never seems to work for my learner.
 For one thing these bundled curriculums that are sold specifically for special need's students do not take into account that cognitively no two neurologically diversed students are on the same level developmentally.  There is vast spaces on the spectrum of autism alone not to mention the many other cognitive impairments that effect learning.  Just because children have the same diagnosis and are in the same grade doesn't mean they can function of the same level intellectually.   The one size fits all plan of education for all students is not a plan, it is sales tactic, driven by marketing and commerce.  Following someone's designed plan as how to educate my child is hard for me to just blindly accept especially when I have never met the creator of the program and they have never assessed my child.  I compare it to allowing a stranger to buy clothes for your child, who has never seen your kid and bases their purchase on your child's age or grade. It basically comes down to someone forcing their consciousness and agenda your child.  Maybe it fits, maybe it doesn't.  Who is writing the curriculum is as important as what is in it.  Common core or state standards, it doesn't matter, the question ultimately is where are they taking my child?  How are they preparing him for his future. So why do we blindly follow these so called experts?

The Assessment

Needs 
Defining the students needs requires some assessment.  I look at what we need academically as:
 A. What we need now?
B. Where are we going next? - What we will need at the next developmental level?
C. Big Picture-where we are going in the big picture?
D.What does my child want to learn and How do I best teach to how his brain learns it?

At this point my son is young and needs more guidance at learning the basic core concepts of how to learn and what is considered a primary education.  He will grow into a more self designing learner as he finds his own way. As he has a harder time assessing his own needs at this time, I have to observe and assess more for him and make adaptations in the classroom, so he can eventually self educate as a life long learner.   He does lead and I do follow his needs and desires.  How he learns and the flow of his thoughts is how I gear his lesson's or focus the lens on what I am going to bring to him, to engage and sequence his learning.  To me learning is thinking.  If I am the source of what he will learn and how,  I need to constantly reassess his needs and I must create a rhythmical flow of his needs based on my observation of them.
Considering the end needs is crucial in evaluating the whole picture.  Ultimately marketable skills fall into necessity.  We must pay the rent and eat.
Along the way to living authentically independent lives comes the desire to do meaningful work.
Satisfaction with oneself is paramount and I focus on the intention to teach/mentor to all my kids the way to a skill or skills where they can develop the ability to be creative.
The emotional intellegence skills of being adaptive, resilient and able are equally as important.  You need a boat load of faith to get by and you need confidence and the discipline to keep going and bounce back in a world that will knock you down.

Abilities

I have a visual learner with high functioning ability to spatially size things up.  My learners is creative and artistic, can work for long times at what interest him.  Amazingly ability to detail he works best alone. Another strength is his an acute senses and fine tuned sensory perception.   He is interested in science, art, designing, gaming, engineering, some math, geometry and algebra.  He likes nature and animals.  He is social and likes people but struggles with social skills. Almost photographic visual memory and universal pitch in music.

Child's Wants

Ultimately this rules.  We only learn what we want to well so why not embrace it and bring the lesson into the perimeters of the students interest. Make it interesting,  Make it something they want to learn. If it isn't change it into something they are interested in.  The individual's educational plan is all about what the child is willing to learn.

Limitations

I refuse to think in this way. Limits can be strengths. It all depends on your thinking and thoughts.

Instruction and materials.

I am a firm believer in using whatever it takes to teach. One hundred different tools or the one, the tools can be homemade or specifically geared for what ever you are wanting to learn and teach with it.  I like open ended questions and materials.  I am educating a problem solver, I am instructing a life long learner and i want to cultivate that longing to know, I am educating a whole person and I do not know what his life will be or where he will go as he makes his way and finds his own purpose as to why he is here on our planet living.  My hope is to have the wisdom to prepare him for his purpose whatever that will be.  My favorite question for my learner is: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO LEARN TODAY.

Finding Our Way Back from Winter Break

Back to school after the holidays is always a challenge for me.  Getting back in the groove, finding the pace, re-adjusting to the the classroom and my mid winter classroom overhauls.  I find being present in the moment and living authentically requires planing and strategy.
We are settling into this 2nd semester with more emphasis on physical science and language arts.

Language

I have been sorting and organizing for weeks the Montessori grammar language cards that I got from ETC Montessori.
http://www.etcmontessorionline.com/curriculum-bundles/language-reading-bundles/lower-elementary-reading-bundle-level-6-9-1

It has taken me a while to figure out how to sort it for one, but since I did not buy the traditional montessori many colored rectangular boxes for speech I had a hard time figuring out how to present the materials in a functional way.  I did get it figured out with my friend/mentor Liza.  She suggested the little drawers you get at hardware stores for screws and bolt organizing.  It worked beautiful and now I can pull out a couple of lesson's at a time and rotate the material in and out till he masters it.  It is the early years of elementary education for language arts but I am baffled that this material is introduced so young in the Montessori system.  Seems to me very few children of 6-9 can understand language taught at this level.  Perhaps a few super students but for the masses I consider the approach too advance for most children of this age. Try thinking of how to explain and definite and indefinite article to a 6 year old?  I was taught the parts of speech in this detail in Jr. high and really it did not sink in until college how language all comes together.  I learned Spanish as a 2nd language with a similar approach with emphasis on the part of speech rather than conversational organic learning.  The organizing of the mass of manipulative cards that came with the bundle is done now and I am able to use them to teach.  My student can now go and select a lesson and self direct his learning.  My son rarely chooses language art anything so I usually pull it out and present it to get him to engaged in learning it.  The work we are working here is the grammar boxes, where we use language cards to identify parts of speech.

Parts of Speech Symbols

Grammar Box Cards

Language Shelf

Science

We have been using the ETC Montessori materials for physical science too.  Here are cards and materials on light.  He looks at theses cards, matches up label and pictures to definitions and then writes the definitions down in a journal.  Sometimes we make our own little books of the cards.

Music

I am also teaching Conor how to read music on the piano.  I have been trying to do this process for several years.  He resisted music lessons and after years of music therapy he was non compliant on participating in any form of music, be it lesson or therapy.  One of the issues we face with my son is due to all the years of multiple therapies and the influx of professionals who have worked with him with music, occupational, speech, behavior and habilitation therapies is, he is sick of people telling him what to do.  Who would like all these professionals coming in who you have no relationship with really, that you do not know and don't know you, who come in and have him jump through their hoops, having him do the task, many of which are pointless and ineffective.  We have had some great therapist and we have had some real stinkers too.  After ten years of therapy he has learned some tricks to asserting his will over theirs.  So my challenge in teaching him anything is getting him to see the worth and advantage in learning the particular skill.   He doesn't want to learn to read music or play the piano so I have to make him.  Just like any neurotypical child I have to force him to play and practice.  Just like my Mother did to me.  In the last post about Waldorf I lied and said I would not force him to practice but sometimes I do make him play and practice. It would be great to figure out a way to get him to want to but I haven't yet.