Master of the classroom

Yesterday I did a lesson with the kindergartners in the afternoon on the animals of Africa and their biomes.   I had laminated a fairly large stack of animal cards, and we were playing a ‘game’ with them.  Basically, I would show them a card and ask them to place it on one of three rugs (one for desert animals, one for forest animals, and one for grassland animals).  These were brand new cards, and the students didn’t know there was a small picture on the back of each card of either the desert, forest, or grassland.  After going through about half the cards, a student asked me, “How do you know where all these cards go, Mrs. Scott?  There are so many animals!”  I was about to tell him about the control of error on the back of the cards when another student chimed in, “Are you kidding?  Mrs. Scott has been in this classroom FOREVER.  She is the master of this classroom.”  It startled me when he said that, and then I remembered that after a student practices a lesson for a long time, there is a point when I sometimes say, “You have worked so hard on that!  You mastered that lesson!”

                This got me to thinking, though.  How do the students view me?  On one hand, I think it’s great that they might think I know everything there is to know about the classroom.   They would never doubt what I say!  But I don’t know if this is the image of me that I want for them.  I know I have said, “I don’t know, but let’s look it up and find out” to questions they have had about various things.  I think that this is a sign to me, though, that I must not be doing that enough.  Maybe I should share stories about how I didn’t know something, and then researched to find the answer.  I certainly never tell students the answer when they ask me a question.  I always give the standard, “Well, what do YOU think?” 

                People often underestimate the abilities of the young child (age 3-6).  They are so capable, as Montessorians know.  I treat the child with respect and constantly try to provide challenging work for them, but I am certainly not master of the classroom.    The classroom belongs to the children, and the only thing I want to be the master of is myself.  J