I’m Janani, a new Assistant Teacher in the primary classroom here at Waterfront Montessori.
Montessori is as new to me as the sky is to a fledgling. I’m looking forward to sharing my journey and discovery of Montessori with you, as I navigate the physical classroom environment, and prepare for my year-long, official Montessori teacher accreditation.
I have seen and experienced traditional learning environments before, but the Montessori one is fundamentally different to me, because it rests on the cornerstone that people are naturally independent and self-aware.
As people, we are meant to go through life discovering the power of being independent, the joy brought by freedom of choice, and the liberation that self-awareness and self-motivation bring.
In a Montessori classroom there is a perfectly curated mix of materials designed to create a sense of harmony and focus for our students. I never realized how elastic our minds could be until I walked into a Montessori classroom just a few months ago.
The whole Montessori environment has a magical aura to it, each wall and material waiting to be uniquely explored through a student’s individual sense of touch, sight, smell and sound.
The materials are organized into different sections, one of the more fascinating ones for me being Practical Life. Activities that appear simple to us like pouring, scooping, weaving, folding, screwing, and sorting build fundamental life skills This area requires focus, discipline and practice, and serves as a springboard for mastery of math, science, language and reading.
A Montessori classroom is a masterpiece underpinned by fundamental elements of human nature. I experience deep mindset shifts occurring as I discover the Montessori way in everything.
I’m still tip-toeing my way through the classroom with my little friends and colleagues. With each passing day, there is so much learning to reflect on, so many discoveries that have been unlocked, so much potential that is being realized in magical ways.
I’m excited to keep sharing more discoveries from my Montessori journey.
Sincerely,
Ms. Janani