Montessori, Waldorf, and Reggio Emilia are common approaches through Europe for some time. These programs are influencing programs in North America and they are programs built to improve human society by showing children their full potential. These programs view children as authors of their own development and they open their way toward learning. Working with parents is important in all these programs, parents are highly valued.
The Waldorf teacher role is to model many group activities that integrate academics and artistry. The teacher provides an environment that has a sense of harmony and is focused on caring of the community and the natural and living worlds. It is the teacher's role to encourage a child's "natural sense of wonder, belief in goodness, and love of beauty. This teacher role would benefit children that live in the US. With the amount of violence, carelessness, and apathy that's in our society, I think creating an environment for children that is filled with harmony is vital. In a Waldorf classroom, the materials or toys are handmade and the environment is "homelike". If we can have the classroom represent a home setting, the children will be better able to take what they are learning in the classroom to their home and vice versa.
The word "unobtrusive" is the word used to describe the teacher role in the Montessori classroom. The teacher works to create an environment that is calm as children alternate between long periods on concentration mixed with recovery and reorganization. The goal for a Montessori teacher is to encourage children to "develop confidence and inner discipline" so less of a need to intervene a child's development. Children will learning at their own pace and aligned with their own capabilities. Since Montessori teachers fully understand this, interrupting children when they are engaged in an activity can interfere with their interest and thoughts. The teacher relates reality through sensory investigation and an activity to promote curiosity in the child.
In the article, I liked the term "artful balancing" when describing the teacher role in the Reggio Emilia program. The teacher plays a role through engagement and attention. Through listening, observations, collaboration from other adults, the teacher works to guide the children. Teachers in Reggio Emilia work in pairs and continuously collaborate with others. This aspect of the program I favor because it is not exaggerating to say that it takes a village to raise a child. In the classroom, setting this saying can also be true. Although the teacher plays a big role in the classroom, there are assistants, and aides that also work with children in the classroom that can share what they know about each child. I think not matter where you live, this teacher role will benefit children. However, the assessment that Reggio Emilia uses does not allow someone on the outside to understand outcomes and measure impacts over time. If someone outside the classroom cannot understand the assessment on what a child knows, areas of improvement, or their needs a responses it does not make it an effective tool.
If I had to favor a certain aspect of the each program, it would be the teacher roles. I feel that the assessments are very different from each other and I would need to go into more detail of each aspect of the program before I can say what assessment will work and what wont. However, each teacher role no matter what program allows the child to completely dominate their learning. Children should be the ones to tell us their interest and show us what he or she likes not the other way around. By allowing each child to work uninterrupted, you are showing the child respect and building confidence that they can make choices for themselves.
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