Three Pillars

Work Plans

As with all aspects of a Montessori program, the goal of work plans is to inspire independence and a tool for organization. Teachers give out work plans every 1-2 weeks and students have the opportunity to plan their work in the way that works best for them. Work plans provide a checklist of the work for that cycle, and also preview vocabulary and other important dates to keep track of.

Work Cycles

A work cycle is the Montessori term for a class period, but it’s also an important distinction for what happens during that time. Work cycles are between 100 and 120 minutes. Students have core work cycles each day: one for humanities and one for math/science. During the work cycle, students may do any number of the following: small group lessons, whole group lessons, independent work time during which they are working through their work plans, shelfwork (hands-on activities to reinforce concepts and content), conference with the teacher, or work on collaborative work with their peers. Montessori programs believe that students need sustained, uninterrupted time to effectively tackle their work. This is also a reason why Lakewood does not typically use its intercom.

Group Initiatives

Maria Montessori believed that adolescents are “social infants,” and that teens’ big work is to determine their role in society. Middle schoolers have a need for play, connection, and talking with each other. Group initiatives are group problem-solving activities and games. At Lakewood, community teachers try to incorporate at least one group initiative per week. After initiatives, we spend some time processing how things went. Even simple, open-ended questions help students make insightful connections to their academic and personal lives.

Community Meal

Community meal is a time, usually twice per year, when each community plans, prepares, and shares a meal together. This ritual helps us meet multiple goals that we have in our Montessori program. First, students learn important life skills about budgeting, planning, reading recipes, and food preparation. Second, our middle schoolers have to collaborate at every stage of the process, with a tangible result of their work at the end. Finally, we know how important food and sharing a meal is to building community.

Morning Meeting

Every day, students participate in morning meeting or “community meeting.” At Lakewood, students have morning meeting in community three days per week, with their advisory one day per week, and with the entire school (all 300 students and faculty) once per week. Meetings are led entirely by students. Meetings are started with lighting a candle and sounding a chime. The basic agenda is as follows:

1. Greeting - a question that everyone can respond to, something to help us know each other better or get everyone laughing first thing in the morning.

2. Announcements - a student will share the school updates for the day or week gathered from the white board in the center of the building. Others will be invited to add to these and all students update their planners at this time.

3. Random fact - a student shares a random fact that is interesting or a life hack.

4. Acknowledgements - students are invited to acknowledge others in their community, recognizing positive character traits. E.g. I’d like to acknowledge Jose for his helpfulness. He gave me some ideas about how I could tackle the cell project when I was feeling overwhelmed.

5. Reflection - a student is in charge of sharing a quote to reflect upon as we end our meeting.

Solo Time

Solo time is a Montessori practice that we describe as “still, silent, and sacred.” Each day, Lakewood students are given a 15-minute period during which they are invited to do a non-academic activity that allows them to reset for the rest of the day. Examples of solo activities are: knitting, drawing, reading for pleasure, silent meditation, playing solitaire, or working a puzzle.

Student led conferences

Twice a year, students prepare a sample set of work and reflections. They prepare a packet of materials to share with their parents at a student-led conference. This is not a parent-teacher conference. Students facilitate a discussion with their parents about how their work has been going, share items they’re proud of, and consider what they need to work on. While the teacher him/herself is not involved in student-led conferences, we welcome parent-teacher conferences any time!

Leadership Rubrics

A leadership rubric is a reflection tool for students to consider their progress and effort based on the three pillars: academics, community, and self. The ability to be reflective is a kind of muscle, and we know that students need practice exercising. Leadership rubrics are a routine that allows this to happen.