Children Who Are Not Yet Peaceful by Donna Bryant Goertz

I am being blown away and challenged by a book a friend recommended.  It's a collection of stories written by a woman who started a Montessori school in 1975 with 17 students and now has a functioning Montessori school housing 285 students from pre-primary to Middle School.  Her belief is that Montessori classrooms can serve as healing agents for all children, in particular children who (what she calls) 'eccentric', meaning children who may have some emotional, behavioral, or learning concerns.  My heart is relating deeply to what she says.  And, I am especially moved because we will be welcoming a child with special needs this Fall.  It gives me such hope to think of the power our classroom can have on all the children including this new student who has been written off by many.  We believe in children at Community Montessori.  The power of believing, hope, encouragement, patience, and safety can not be measured-it can't be tested on a scan tron and it can't necessarily be 'counted' in the traditional sense.  But, those of us who know the power of children and believe in their capabilities and gifts know this is BIG!  Here are a couple of quotes that I am soaking in from this author:

'Inclusion of more eccentric children (we all have one of these children or know one personally!) in our classes affirms the human worth of all children.  It provides an opportunity to learn emotional skills as well as academic subjects.  It is an unhealthy burden for a child to be seen as 'good' or 'bad'.  We must relieve every child of that burden and allow all of them to be works of art in progress.'

'A great challenge of any teacher is to distinguish between behavior that can and must be stopped immediately, behavior that requires a sure response that takes the child the first step toward outgrowing it, and behavior that is best ignored until later.  Not every behavior can be dealt with at once.  Our children need strong, flexible, authoritative, and patient teachers-neither permissive nor authoritarian-for sure progress in their learning and behavior'.

'We (teachers) must be true observers of human development.  We must see beneath the veneer of false acculturation and defensive addictions with which the child armors himself against the over stimulation of pop culture and the oppression of deadening academic programs.  We must be observers whose high intellect, sturdy sensitivities, and keen perceptions allow us to penetrate to the inherent and essential drives of a vital, healthy, and human child.  Once we have designed an environment as such, we must leave it flexible enough to fit the exceptional children.  We must stretch our imaginations and our creativity to the maximum, knowing that we will learn as we go, becoming more pliant, more creative, through the exercise of our highest human attributes.  We will become worth of the children we serve.'

She has left me pondering things in a wonderful way...I look forward to finishing her book and taking in her words of wisdom.