Designing and Implementing a Montessori Secondary Program at the High School Level A Step-By-step Guide

1. Designing and Implementing a Montessori Secondary Program at the High School Level A Step-By-step Guide

2. Overview A Step-by-Step guide successes but wait… there is morE

3. Overview Who are Montessori High School students? What are their needs? How do you design an ideal community that meets the needs of students and parents and takes into account the expectations of society at large while holding true to the teaching and philosophy of Maria Montessori? These are tough questions. But they are the questions faced everyday by teachers in a Montessori high school environment. I have been a teacher in a Montessori high school for the last seven years. I have spent countless hours asking those I work with and myself these questions. Some of the answers have come through reading and dialoging. This is the easy way. Most of the answers have come through complex and demanding everyday experiences. This is the hard way. While the easy way was not very meaningful, it is the answers that I gained the hard way that are the most valuable.

4. Overview The design and implementation of a Montessori program at the high school level requires an in-depth study of the needs of middle adolescents (15-18 years), Montessori’s idea of Cosmic Education, sustainable learning communities, the needs of parents, and current societal expectations.

5. A Step-by-Step guide Setting Goals Designing Implementing Receiving Feedback

6. Setting Goals • A program that follows Montessori Philosophy • A program that meets the physical, cognitive, psychosocial, and moral needs of students • A sustainable learning community • A college preparatory program

7. Setting Goals A program that follows Montessori Philosophy • Montessori credentialed (12-18) teachers • Master of Montessori Integrated Learning

8. Setting Goals a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students • Adolescent Psychology • Current Trends and Issues • Communications and Counseling Skills • Teaching Strategies • Classroom Leadership • Observation, Record-keeping, and Assessment • Curriculum Development

9. Setting Goals A Sustainable Learning Community • Cosmic Education: Using the wonder of the universe and story telling as the central element of the Montessori high school curriculum. • Embracing Chaos: Learning to embrace the chaos of life and harness the energy of disorder for creativity and innovations. • Practice of Dialogue: Creating common meaning through discussion. • The Learning Environment: Preparing an environment where learning can occur.

10. Setting Goals A College Preparatory program • State Graduation Plan Requirements • Minimum Graduation • (22 credit hours) • Recommended High School Program • (24 credit hours) • Distinguished Achievement Program • (24 credit hours + advanced) • College Application Process • Time Management Skills • Study Skills • Problem Solving Skills • Personal Finance Information • Interpersonal Relationships Skills

11. Designing a program that follows Montessori Philosophy Teachers Credentialed in Secondary I and II Meet with administration to design a hiring plan that requires the Secondary I and II teacher education program within the first five years of employment. Master of Montessori Integrated Learning Meet with administration to design a continuing education program that allows teachers to take advantage of the on-line masters program.

12. Designing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students Adolescent Psychology Before designing a program that meets the psychological needs of students, teachers must first come to terms with their own adolescent issues. This prevents teachers from getting involved in daily ups and downs of adolescent issues and allows them to be an objective member of the classroom.

13. Designing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students • Current Trends and Issues • Essential to the Montessori secondary classroom are some main practices and elements. These practices and elements are in harmony with Montessori philosophy and current trends in education. They are: • 1. Community Building • 2. Master Learning • 3. Meaningful Work • 4. Cooperative Learning Groups • 5. Erdkinder: Land Laboratory • 6. Cosmic, Global and Peace Education • 7. Interdisciplinary/Transdisciplinary Curriculum • 8. Student led Family Conferences

14. Designing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students • 9. Service Learning • 10. Appropriate Assessment • 11. Personal Reflection • 12. Career Education/Internships • 13. Economic Experiences • 14. Exploration Classes/Experiential Learning • 15. Multi-age grouping • 16. Block Scheduling • 17. Rites of Passage

15. Designing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students Communications and Counseling Skills A secondary program must provide a wide variety of intrapersonal, interpersonal and community building activities. Teachers must learn how to incorporate community meeting, personal reflection, community building cooperative games and ROPES courses, counseling strategies, Socratic dialogue, and NLP (neurolinguistic programming) into the high school program.

16. Designing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students • Teaching Strategies • Creating responsive middle and high school environment includes focusing on learning how to learn, learning styles, thinking skills and lesson planning. • Understanding the way in which each student learns is a key to a responsive high school environment. The three modes of learning are: • 1. Auditory • 2. Visual • 3. Kinesthetic

17. Designing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students Howard Gardner’s nine intelligences are another aspect of learning styles. Gardner believes that people have all nine intelligences but different people have different unique combinations of those intelligences. This unique combination affects the way each person views the world. Gardner currently lists the nine intelligences as: Linguistic Intelligence Logical/Mathematical Intelligence 3. Musical Rhythmic Intelligence 4. Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence 5. Spatial Intelligence 6. Naturalist Intelligence 7. Intrapersonal Intelligence Interpersonal Intelligence Existential Intelligence

18. Designing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students • Classroom Leadership • “It is necessary for the teacher to guide the child without letting him feel her presence too much, so that she may always be ready to supply the desired help, but may never be the obstacle between the child and his experience.” (Montessori, Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook, p. 55) • The teacher is responsible for coordinating and facilitating the day-to-day operation of the classroom. This means that the teacher must empower the students to participate in this operation. It also means that the teacher must give control of some activities to the students. When students work with a clearly defined daily and weekly schedule they feel able to participate in maintaining the day-to-day operations.

19. Designing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students • Observation, Record-keeping, and Assessment • The secondary program needs to include a variety of forms for appropriate student and teacher record-keeping and long-term assessment systems. The use of study guides, homework and behavior notices, transcripts, and self-assessments are a few ways to keep accurate records while communicating the student’s progress with parents.

20. Designing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students Curriculum Development Creating a curriculum where one subject area is linked or connected to other areas contributes to a student’s ability to view knowledge as being interconnected and not isolated into prescribed areas of study. Montessori middle school environments create this connection by use of a theme. The same theme is used in all subject areas for the entire learning cycle. At the high school level, themes are not explicitly given; rather, students are asked to discover themes as they move through the curriculum.

21. Designing a Sustainable Learning Community Cosmic Education Maria Montessori believed that giving students a vision of the whole universe would allow them to discover relationships and inspire them to find answers to their questions. She called the introducing of students to this vision “Cosmic Education”. In most Montessori schools cosmic education is approached through the telling of stories. These stories are an introduction to each of the five main areas of study. They are commonly known as “The Great Lessons”. Once these “strike the imagination” stories are told, the teacher presents choices of work to the students that are extensions of the story.

22. Designing a Sustainable Learning Community Embracing Chaos The study of chaos theory as applied to systems, human or otherwise, has recently become a topic of many books and articles. Experts in business, science, management and education are just now beginning to understand what Maria Montessori accepted many years ago: systems that embrace chaos can reorganized, respond, and be resilient. At first glance a Montessori classroom may appear to be mass confusion, but a close observer notices the patterns or order in the chaos. Freedom of choice and self-correcting materials are two ways that “organized chaos” is integrated into the Montessori classroom. Students who are freed from rigid schedules and direct instruction learn to self-organize and be flexible.

23. Designing a Sustainable Learning Community Students are traditionally taught that chaos is not a desirable state and schools spend time and money trying to maintain order and control in their classrooms. While this is the accepted way of educating our young people, it is not the best way. There is no way to avoid chaos. Nor should we want to avoid it. From chaos and disorder comes creativity and innovation, those things that are necessary for a sustainable learning community.

24. Designing a Sustainable Learning Community Practice of Dialogue The ability for people to communicate effectively with one another will have a significant impact on the future of human society. Few people would argue with this statement. But what do we mean by communicate? Many educators believe that teaching students about communication involves refining and practicing speaking. They give very little thought or time to the practice of listening. Dialogue is not easy. It takes practice. But the process of dialogue can be just as rewarding as the outcome. Educators who want to prepare their students to be positively contributing members of human society must engage in the practice of dialogue.

25. Designing a Sustainable Learning Community The Learning Environment • Establishing a healthy and dynamic learning community where cosmic education, embracing chaos and practicing dialogue can occur is the major responsibility of the teaching staff. Three key parts of a healthy learning community are: • 1. Education Philosophy • 2. Teacher-Student Relationships • 3. Individual Learning Styles • Each of these parts provides the space for students to move beyond themselves and into the world of community.

26. Designing a Sustainable Learning Community When school districts dictate which concepts should be taught when, and teachers must adhere to this strict schedule or fear losing their job. The teachable moment is lost and spontaneity disappears. Each teacher specializes in teaching one specific class in one subject area. Another key part to a healthy learning community is the teacher-student relationship. An environment where students are afraid of or cannot respect teachers is not the kind of environment that fosters community.

27. Designing a Sustainable Learning Community Learning is the goal of all education. Each student learns at his or her own pace and own way. Learning communities should work to discover each student’s individual learning style and trust that in time they will acquire the education they need

28. Designing a College Preparatory program State Graduation Plan Requirements Minimum Graduation Requirements

29. Designing a College Preparatory program State Graduation Plan Requirements Recommended High School Program

30. Designing a College Preparatory program State Graduation Plan Requirements Distinguished Achievement Program

31. Designing a College Preparatory program College Application Process College Placement Intensive Application Process Interview Skills Essay Writing Financial Aid Awareness

32. Designing a College Preparatory program Time Management, Study, Interpersonal Relationships and Problem Solving Skills All of these skills need to be integrated into multiple classes across all areas of study. In addition to integrating these skills into the curriculum it is also helpful to give lessons and have activities to practice each of the skills you are expecting the students to master before graduation. Personal Finance Information With the number of credit cards and financing options that are available to college students these days it is vital to have a class that specifically addresses the financial opportunities and challenges that are available at the college level.

33. Implementing A program that follows Montessori Philosophy Teachers Credentialed in Secondary I and II Implement the designed hiring plan. Support the teachers in their training activities including mid-year seminars and research. Encourage faculty and staff that have not yet completed their credential to audit the Montessori Philosophy component of the teacher education.

34. Implementing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students Adolescent Psychology After spending many hours considering our options, our faculty has established a few age-appropriate academic and social markers. Some of our academic markers are grades, honor roll, and study hall. The high school level is the first level where students are given grades in class. Some of our social markers are graduation, sports, and dances. While most schools have a graduation for each grade level, our school has a moving-up ceremony for everyone with graduation only for high school seniors.

35. Implementing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students Our school does not start organized sport until the middle school level. The middle school students have a casual dance while the high school students have a formal dance or prom. Each year, there is always pressure from parents to change some of our markers. They mention what is done at other schools as a way to persuade us to change. We always listen, and then we explain that we do things to meet the developmental needs of the student.

36. Implementing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students • Meeting students’ needs touches every part of a Montessori classroom, including building design, classroom set up, curriculum, and scheduling. • The physical needs of high school students include: • 1. Large sturdy furniture • 2. Open Spaces • 3. Real work The cognitive needs of students in the third plane include: 1. Creative expression 2. Academic choices

37. Implementing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students The psychosocial needs of students in the third plane include: 1. Independence 2. Consistent Adults The moral needs of students in the third plane include: 1. Problem Solving 2. Causes

38. Implementing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students • Current Trends and Issues • Community Building - A trusting, caring community doesn’t just happen. The staff and students must spend time and energy building the community. Cooperative games, trust building activities and physical and mental challenges all support a healthy, caring and nurturing classroom and school community. • 2. Master Learning - Mastery learning holds that everyone can learn, given the right circumstances and environment. The secondary environment is designed to give each student the time needed to master the objectives. The teacher’s job is to design clear objectives for each area of study and to break the area into small learning units. At the end of learning unit the student is assessed and may only proceed to the next unit when he/she has demonstrated understanding of the previous unit.

39. Implementing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students • 3. Meaningful Work - Adolescents crave the opportunity to do meaningful and valuable work. Meaningful work is work that has an impact on the school, local or global community. Projects that incorporate designing and building, or problem solving and implementing solutions, are particular engaging for students. Being able to see the results of their projects make them feel that the work done was valuable. When students author school policies, plan social events and build structures used by the school, they feel important and valued by their community. • 4. Cooperative Learning Groups - Cooperative learning is an instructional method in which students work together to solve problems and complete projects. Clear guidelines and learning objectives are established in order to assure group interdependence and individual accountability. Students plan and accomplish each activity together. Cooperative learning allows students the experience of working with peers of different abilities and leadership styles.

40. Implementing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students • 5. Erdkinder: Land Laboratory - Provide required and optional opportunities for work on the land. Places that are ideal for high school students are small farms, horse farms, ranches, city gardens or communes.

41. Implementing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students • 6. Cosmic, Global and Peace Education - Montessori believed that the fundamental goal of cosmic and global education was peace. She had a vision of children growing up in a world of peace and respect. The peace education curriculum can be introduced at all levels of Montessori; the important part is to match the activities with the needs of the students. Activities that are appropriate for early childhood age children will not necessarily be meaningful to middle or high school students. At the high school level, students participate in a variety of centering, community and cultural awareness activities. Centering activities include journaling and meditation. Community awareness practices consist of participation in daily community meeting, trust building exercises and classes which emphasize positive ways to contribute to the school community. Some cultural awareness activities available are classes in world cultures and religions, cultural celebrations and opportunities to experience other cultures first hand through travel.

42. Implementing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students • 7. Interdisciplinary/Transdisciplinary Curriculum - A key to engaging adolescent cognitively is to show the interconnectedness of things. Interdisciplinary/Transdisciplinary curriculum that integrates subjects and focuses on themes, is one way to emphasize the interconnectedness of all areas of study. It is not, however, as simple as bringing literature or creative writing into a science curriculum. Transdisciplinary curriculum must have overarching themes that touch every subject area. • 8. Student led Family Conferences - Family conferences are held multiple times throughout the year for students to develop and update their educational plan. The teachers’ and parents' roles are to guide each student in setting realistic goals, and then support the student to meet his/her commitments. Students are asked to evaluate their progress in academic work, personal responsibility and group responsibility. Students then request their parents’ and teachers’ points of view in each area.

43. Implementing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students • 9. Service Learning - Service learning goes beyond community service. It is an approach by which young people learn through active participation in thoughtfully organized service experiences that meet an actual community need and are coordinated in collaboration with the school and community. Service learning provides students with opportunities to use newly gained academic skills and knowledge in real life situations in their community. It broadens student learning beyond the classroom and helps to promote the development of a sense of caring for others. Reflection, thinking, talking, or writing about the experience, is also necessary. Students in the high school program spend 200 hours volunteering at a variety of organization in the community. During the volunteering experience, students keep a daily journal. After the volunteering, students give brief presentations to their peers about their experience.

44. Implementing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students • 10. Appropriate Assessment - To assess a student authentically, the teacher must provide assessment to the student that is developmentally appropriate. Assessment techniques used in the Montessori secondary classroom include portfolios, presentations, and written and oral examinations. • 11. Personal Reflection - In our hurried society, students need to learn to spend time reflecting on goals, reducing stress and creating a personal vision. Activities for personal reflection include guided self-knowledge activities that are recorded in a journal, power naps (short 20-30 minutes naps meant to refresh), creative arts (drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry) and group discussions.

45. Implementing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students 12. Career Education/Internships - Career education and internships are opportunities for students to explore their interests and talents, to contribute to society and to improve critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Students in the high school, participate in 250 hours of career education and business internships. High school students spend 100 hours as apprentices in businesses of their choice. Before interning, students write a resume and a business letter explaining the goals of the experience. During their internship, students create a portfolio of projects completed and write daily in their journals. Afterwards, students share their experiences with their peers and write a thank-you note to the business. Students spend 100 hours in college placement/career education during their junior year. During the two-week session, students create a portfolio of their high school honors and extracurricular activities, write college admission essays, participate in mock interviews, and compile a list of six to eight colleges and universities to which they plan to apply.

46. Implementing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students 13. Economic Experiences - The opportunity to earn money is one of the most important activities in which an adolescent can participate. Students feel empowered by working hard and getting paid for that work. At the middle school level, all students work in businesses run by the middle school class. At the high school level, each student is required to take one semester of business entrepreneurship. The goal of this class is to coach students through planning and implementing a small business. Students can work individually or with a team. In addition to establishing their own business, students also participate in a stock market project and learn personal finance.

47. Implementing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students 14. Exploration Classes/Experiential Learning - As in all levels of Montessori education, there are opportunities for discovery and experiential learning in which participation is the goal. Experiential learning is the goal for career education, internships, service learning, and field study trips. These activities are one- or two-week intensive experiences that include visual or performing art classes, local community service, global community service, language immersion, business internships and Erdkinder experience. Students are required to participate and keep a daily journal or log of their activities. After completing the experience, students give a short presentation to their peers. This presentation includes what they gain from the experiences and how they can apply this new knowledge to their lives.

48. Implementing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students 15. Multi-age grouping - The ideal Montessori classroom includes a three-year age span of students. This multi-age group promotes peer teaching, students learn that all members of the class are teachers and students. The middle school level incorporates multi-age grouping in all classes. Multi-age grouping is utilized at the high school level in math, social studies, science, additional language, electives, health education, and experiential learning. Students are placed in classes not by age but by academic level or interest.

49. Implementing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students • 16. Block Scheduling - Allowing students to have time to plan, work, present, and evaluate their work all in one block gives students the opportunity to increase their skills in concentration, problem-solving, and time management. Blocks of time are of different lengths and occur at different frequencies depending on the goal of the class. In classes in which skill building and practice are important, such as math or additional language, the blocks are shorter (one and one-half hours) and occur every other day for the entire year. Classes in which studying material by concept or topic is the goal have longer blocks (two or three hours) and occur every other day for half of the year. In all classes, students are responsible for choosing their work, planning their time, deciding on due dates, presenting, and evaluating the finished products. • 17. Rites of Passage - “There seems to be a built-in human need for some kind of process to mark the shift from childhood to adulthood” (Bruetsch, p. 3). It is important that the school acknowledge this process by implementing a challenging and unforgettable experience that marks the physical, social and emotional transition the adolescent makes from childhood to adulthood.

50. Implementing a program that Meets the Physical, Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Moral Needs of Students Communications and Counseling Skills Community meeting is a secondary school version of early childhood and elementary community circle. This is a student-led activity in which students have the chance to share, acknowledge their peers, and problem-solve with the community. This meeting usually begins or ends the day. At the high school level, a group of three students leads community meeting.