Welcome to our classroom! During your observation, please be as unobtrusive as possible. Please remain in the observation chair and observe the classroom at large. The children are used to being observed, but if you are asked why you are visiting, give a brief reply explaining that you are here to see the children work.

I have found it helpful to offer a guide to observing and interpreting the dynamics of the Montessori classroom. There is more to the Montessori classroom than the activities of one particular child. Try to observe in a context - alternate between a wide-angled view of the entire classroom and focusing on a particular child. Listen to the activity level as it rises and falls. There will be some individual learning activities, some small group learning activities, or a large group lesson being presented.

Here are some aspects of the classroom to make note of as you observe:

___ Notice that children learn in different ways. With some types of materials you will see groups of children working cooperatively, and with others you will find an individual child working alone intensely. Still other children are walking through the classroom seemingly not engaged in any direct activity. Very often, this last type of child is engaged in actively absorbing information through observation of the children and the materials in the classroom. It will help if you alternate your focus on these different learning patterns.

___ Note the ease and joy with which the children work. You will see the intense self-gratification that the learning process affords the child. If your child has experienced a Primary Montessori education, you will notice different behavior patterns in the Elementary student. While Primary students are focused on process, Elementary students become aware of finished accomplishment and product as well.

___ Watch the way teachers interact with children and compare it with the traditional classroom mode by which you were probably educated. Notice the way in which a teacher corrects a child, and look at the instances in which she does not. Listen to the teacher's tone of voice with the child.

___ The directress is a facilitator of the child's autonomous learning process. She guides rather than insists. She prepares the environment, gives the child the tools to utilize the materials and then does whatever else is necessary to help the child interact with the environment without assistance. Sometimes this involves direct encouragement, at other times indirect appreciation, and even a judicious absence. There is a basic respect for each individual child's particular style of learning in the Montessori classroom.

___ Sociability: Watch the ways in which the children offer assistance to one another - with the materials and with everyday tasks - and the ways that they are directly sociable with on another.

___ The Montessori classroom contains a wide range of both ages of children and of materials that are appropriate to the different developmental levels. Note how the children go to the materials that are appropriate to their developmental level. Note also how the younger children absorb the older children's work simply by being near them, and how, conversely, the older children will assist the younger ones with work that they have already mastered.

___ These activities have a strong social component to them - one that incorporates a sense of responsibility for and community with all those in the class. There are always pockets of purely social activity present in any Montessori classroom as the child's natural desire to form friendships and be part of an ongoing community is ever present.

___ Autonomy: The generation of autonomy is a function of the prepared environment of the Montessori classroom. What this means is that the child will have available all needed materials, in good working order, to complete a task that has usually been self chosen. The structure of Montessori provides the child with as much time as s/he needs to complete the task. Elementary students have assigned work as well as free choice in their academic presentations. It is their responsibility to stay focused and current with their assignments.

· Conclusion: I recognize that you will not be able to sort out and see all the dimensions of the classroom that are outlined above during your observation. Please feel free to take this guide home and think over these aspects of your student’s environment at your leisure. I know that learning how to read the Montessori classroom is difficult as first, but I know that with each successive observation your skills will become increasingly honed. I look forward to your next visit to the classroom, and am eager to share with you the excitement that I feel in being a part of your child's growing years. Please contact me with any questions that were raised during your visit.