Goals

I got my practicum assignment today.  I am so excited to get back into a classroom working with students!  I'll be working with Kindergarten at Cowles Montessori (which it looks like will be a multi-age classroom with pre-k and kindergarten, but I'll have more information on that later).

When I looked at the school's website, I found a section on Montessori Outcomes.  I was thrilled to see a list like this since we have been focusing and talking about goals so much in methods class.  Their outcomes for student learning align well with our class goals for students, as well as Dr. Kruse's goals for students.  All of our goals are important for different reasons, but the following four ideas showed up again and again as I bounced between the three lists. These themes are probably being repeated because they are important.  I feel these are very important goals for teachers to have for their students to grow academically and in everyday life.

curiosity - Curiosity welcomes avenues for life long learning,  asking new questions, and making connections.  Asking questions is human nature, and seeking answers is how we learn. 
critical thinking - Critical thinking is important to discovering new ideas and build deeper understandings.  Critical thinking builds higher order thinking skills as students push beyond and question what is known to them.
confidence -  Confidence frees students to take a different path, to try a theory and fail, and to express oneself.  Being confident will allow the student to take more risks which will lead to new experiences and further knowledge. 
responsibility and conscientious citizenry - Being a responsible and conscientious person promotes collaboration, respect and awareness of the students' own  role in the world, community, classroom, family, and friendships. Students must learn how to interact with others.  It's essential for living in society whether that means working with classmates, playing on a sports team, working in a factory, building a dam with a group of engineers, building friendships, etc. 

When we as educators know specifically what our goals are, whether it be for our whole year or one lesson, we can then plan for our students' growth and success. 
Now that I am more aware of this, I am excited to watch for this in my practicum...and in our own class. 

Also, when addressing the outcome of academic preparation, the site states that "Academic skills are essential to learning and knowing, not the aim of learning and knowing."  This makes me think back to Schrauth's ice hands article.  He discussed the importance of students understanding the structures and processes of science.  It seems that the Cowles website is expressing something similar.  Students are not just focusing on what to learn but how to learn, how the individual student learns and building those important skills.  Rather, than at the end of their education, graduating with a skill set, the skill set is continually developed.