Volunteering in the Atrium

We are always glad to have parents in the atrium. In order to keep the atrium running smoothly, please sign up for a specific date with the catechist.

Responsibilities of a Montessori Assistant

Please keep in mind:
You are the teacher’s assistant and not the children’s. Your main focus will be helping to make the teacher’s job easier, not helping the children do their work.

Therefore:
Much of your time in the classroom will be spent making materials, preparing and maintaining the environment (making the children put things back on the shelves after they have worked with the materials), or perhaps sitting and just doing nothing. (This last activity is okay; please don’t feel useless.) Much of the time a well-run classroom operates smoothly without adults, and a typical Montessori classroom is not adult led.

Observe a child before approaching him/her. Never disturb, distract, or talk to a child who is working (not even to comment positively on the work). It is our highest priority for the children who are absorbed to be left to work.

It is important in a Montessori classroom that the children are left to interact with the material and one another. We do not want them to learn to rely on the adults in the classrooms for anything but lessons (except for the lighting of candles and the adult must stay near the materials at all times when a candle is lit).

Never do for a child what he/she can do for himself/herself. (This includes cleaning up any spills or mishaps. Each room has a broom and dustpan for accidents.)

Maintain the quiet work atmosphere by speaking softly and never calling to a child. Exaggerating a soft voice in the classroom helps the children realize that they, too, must speak softly. It is important that it is quiet enough for the children to work, but we do not ask for complete silence. It is essential that children share their feelings with one another. Furthermore, one child observing another child without disturbing him/her is not “doing nothing.” Observation of others is an important way children learn.”

When in doubt, ask yourself, “What is best for the child?”

Limit your movement in and through the classroom. When necessary, move slowly and purposefully.

Even when you are busy doing some task, it is important that you be aware of the classroom as a whole and continue all your responsibilities while tending to just one of them. (For example, if you are helping one child and another is disturbing others or being loud, quietly excuse yourself and tend to the latter right away before returning to the former.)

Specific Responsibilities

When the catechist is giving a formal presentation, it is your responsibility to help the presentation proceed with no interruptions. This may include showing an observer a place to sit, redirecting a child who may be wandering or disturbing others, or assisting with some minor emergency. The presentation is the priority.

Help keep the classroom straight and neat. Replenish any of the supplies, such as paper, polishes, cotton balls, clean cloths, etc. File children’s artwork in their folders.
Make materials as needed. This may include cutting, sorting, and pasting. The catechist will show you work that can be done.

If a child is being disruptive to another, redirect the disruptive child. First, quietly tell her she is disturbing another – speaking too loudly, distracting, etc. If the child does not stop immediately, do not get upset or say much, just, “You need to bring your work over here next to me.” Keep your interactions simple and direct. Do not explain or negotiate; the child knows full well what is going on. The less said the better.

When a child comes to work near you, either because you have asked him to or by choice, be very careful to avoid “rewarding” him for that by talking to him or paying him much attention. Work time is for working, not seeking attention.

Do not suggest to a child what to draw as an art response. This is the work of the child. However, artwork should have some relationship to the presentations (for example, armies and fighting airplanes are not appropriate drawings).