We call learning at its best “organically-structured”. We understand that education is a dynamic process of growth, movement and life. For Father Kentenich, his hope was that each student (including the adults working with them) become lifelong learners, fostering independent initiative and creativity.
What does that look like? When a parent or teacher sees a learning need and has taken time to develop a relationship with a student they look to best practices AND follow the child’s lead.
Organically-Structured Education
When my son was in preschool his teachers thought he may be colorblind because he would give incorrect answers when they asked him to name a color(s). They suggested that I take him to an eye specialist.
Easter was the following week so I decided to have some fun while sharing a lesson and testing his knowledge of colors. I opened our egg dye decorating kit and made six pellet colors from the box. My son was intrigued. I showed him the cup full of red and decided to use the Montessori inspired method. “This is red.” I said it three times. Then the next one. This is orange. He was engaged and interested.And the next...green. I stopped at three colors. Then I moved to step 2. “Show me...red.” “Show me..green”. If he could not we went back to step 1 - “this is”. To conclude, I shared all six colors and asked “what is” for each one. A few days later I asked “what is” again and he answered all correctly.
Consistent language and methodology makes a difference in learning and even more so for children with special needs. This process took us 20 minutes yet my son left the “game” and knew his colors. Fortunately, I had also saved time and money going to a doctor.
Almost any new lesson can be introduced in this manner. Often we jump quickly to number 3 in the process before giving a child the time they need to develop their skills so that it leads to true mastery - “what is”.
Try introducing your next lesson with this methodology. Scaffold with only three items at a time. Let us know how it goes:
"This is.."
"Show me.."
"What is...?"
This is another easy tip I have learned from some of the best teachers. It works well if you are working with your child on homework or in a group in the classroom:
I do. (Teacher or parent)
We do. (Teacher and student)
You do. (Student)
I also don’t think it is a coincidence that everything happens in threes.
We invite you to comment on what works and any other resources that have helped you.