“The environment must be rich in motives which lend interest to activity and invite the child to conduct his own experiences.” —Maria Montessori
If you had walked through the Inly Middle School this past week, you would have seen Montessori’s words in action. Students have completed their first novel, The Alchemist, and are finishing a final essay exploring the Hero’s Journey in literature. Their “This I Believe Essays” are finished and recorded—you will get a chance to hear them in the coming weeks. They are preparing for a cumulative exam in science. They are also preparing with a group for their culminating project by researching a local religious tradition in history class. Soon, the cathartic, end-of-cycle process of cleaning out their daily work binders and transferring the work to the Cycle Binders will happen.
Although there are many projects to complete, the students are motivated and working with purpose. The culminating assignments are spread out intentionally and much lead time is given for each assignment. Teachers plan a variety of different ways for the students to synthesize and demonstrate their learning. The workload is certainly at a peak right now due to these longer term projects being near completion. The students have been very mature and reflective about how they have planned their work over the last few weeks and the lessons learned will certainly help moving forward.
[This is an excerpt from the weekly portal updates that the Middle School teachers post for Inly parents.]