One Week Left of Training!
I am absolutely amazed that 5 weeks has gone by so quickly! When I started this 6 week training program I thought they would just drag by, but we have been learning so much so quickly that I barely have time to process it all.
Everything we are learning is AMAZING. Psychology of the child, management skills, philosophy of the method, how to present materials, curriculum, it's all fantastic.
Are you thinking of taking 3-6 training?
If you also want to take the training to be a certified 3-6 Montessori teacher, here are my tips that I've learned.1.) TAKE PICTURES WITH YOUR PHONE AND LABEL THEM IMMEDIATELY
part of your training requirements are to make "albums", or huge binders filled with your manuals on how to present lessons. To pass off those albums you have to "make them your own" by adding notes, pictures, rationales, and more. And of course you're going to want to take pictures of the way your trainer presents the lessons because sometimes that can be unclear in the manual.
So here's my tip: take pictures with your smart phone using this app TEXTSPHOTO. if you don't have an iPhone, search for another app that lets you add a caption to the photo. That way, you can write as soon as you take the photo what lesson that picture is, because TRUST ME! You will have HUNDREDS of pictures, and by the end of the day it is very difficult to remember "was that presentation 1 of math lesson 3 or variation 6?"
2.) Don't waste time, get Google+ to upload all your pictures to your Google account for you!
You are going to be busy enough logging practice time, writing rationales and making original lessons, you don't need to see at your computer manually transferring all the pictures from your phone/camera to your computer. Download Google+ and it will put all your pictures on your Google account. You can access them from any computer that way. AND they are private, unless you wish to share.
The girls in my training have shared all our pictures in case one of us missed a day or had camera malfunctions.
3.) BUY YOUR BINDERS AT THRIFT STORES!
For your albums you will need to buy some HUGE binders (I got 3 inchers) and if you go to Wal-Mart or Office Depot they are around $5 a piece! If you do some searching, you can usually find binders in good shape at thrift stores like Goodwill, Savers, or Salvation Army.
I suggest going to your Goodwill (that's where I found mine) especially the one next to your local college.
Well! those are my tips so far! Hopefully I'll have more as I continue my last week of instruction and continue my year-long training as an intern.
Let me know if you have any questions about Montessori Teacher Certification Training!
