School is great! It's hard to describe this... sometimes organizations get a bit dogmatic. But within those organizations are super awesome people, and they are not dogmatic at all, they just rock and are great at what they do. I don't actually know how dogmatic the AMI (that's the biggest, oldest, fanciest of the Montessori organizations) is. I think they are in general pretty cool. There have been a few official things, like the no notes, and the one teacher-of-teachers-in-training that I asked about where to go to learn how to present the materials, who just kept saying I should just not do it until I'd been officially trained for that age group. But the no recording isn't a huge deal. It's a bit irritating, but understandable. Though there's no reason I shouldn't be able to record things. I'm taking notes anyways, it would just make the notes more complete, and I am trustworthy. But they don't know that. And I don't know what was going on in the head of the instructor-in-training. And she didn't really know what my situation was. So meh, nothing bad.
And, the main teacher I've had so far is super awesome. She knows her stuff, she is hilarious, she isn't afraid to modify things based on her own experience and what she things is best, and she has a huge about of heart. This is why I went half-way across the US: I want to absorb this persons way of being. When she talks about the theory, she talks from her own experience and synthesis of it. She gives examples from her life, and she adds little tidbits that the books don't mention or have gotten wrong, like the fact that Montessori wasn't the first female doctor in Italy, there were other women who were doctors of pediatrics and such things, but she was the first surgeon. Which was very much thought to be a mans job. Doesn't take away from the fact that she was a super strong and smart woman who didn't back down in the face of societies pressure to conform. But just adds a level of keeping it real, and lets me know she's done her homework and fact-checking. This is not just the wikipedia version.
In any case, I wrote wrote wrote today, I wrote wrote yesterday, and I've got a lot more write write writing to do tomorrow and every day thereafter. The homework is to write short (2-4 page double-spaced) essays about each of the topics we've got presentations on. the purpose is for us to synthesize the information and then express it in our own words. I"m sure many of the people will do more of a regurgitation thing, but at least theoretically, and potentially, I highly approve of this as a learning method. She wants us to actually understand these concepts, make them our own, and get as creative as we want, in presenting the knowledge back to her, as long as she see's that we're understanding it. Is it the very best technique for knowledge acquisition? probably not, but that's fine. It's a good technique, it means she's thinking about us deeply understanding and internalizing this stuff, and that is sufficient. You don't need the best hammer in the store to pound in the nail, you just want a good hammer. Many teacher just give you the nail and no hammer. Or maybe a potato or a screwdriver. That's when you have to wonder about them, especially if they're supposed to be teaching you about how to teach well.
OK, what else. Did some laundry, worked a little more on getting my room set up as a proper living and working space. (went to Ikea and got a cheap shelving unit.)
I think that's about it. Hopefully going to go to bed nice and early and get up super early so I can get some more essay writing done while I'm nice and fresh. We'll see. I still have one more must-do thing, write something to my girlfriend, a ritual I'm trying to turn into a habit as long as our relationship is long distance.
OK, pip pip, cherio!
-I0
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