The Silent Journey & Discovery – A Photo Essay

Feb

Barbara Gordon recently visited our school to lead an event for our parents entitled “The Silent Journey & Discovery” (J&D). Ms. Gordon is well know in Montessori circles; she is the founder of the Barbara Gordon Montessori School, an AMI school in Texas, and now travels the country helping schools to implement the J&D with their parents.

The J&D is a powerful and emotional event for many parents. Unfortunately, most parents did not attend a Montessori school as a child; although they can read about Montessori philosophy, attend parent nights and observe the classroom, it can be difficult, at times, for them to really understand the experience that their child has every day at school. The J&D provides and opportunity for parents to explore the entire continuum of the school and experience first hand, just like their children, the amazing things that an authentic Montessori program has to offer.

Rather than write a long winded post about the experience, I though that it might be a nice change of pace to post pictures of the event with brief captions. Just as the purpose of the J&D is to help parents experience Montessori, I hope these beautiful images help you to feel the spirit and energy that existed in our school during the event.

I did record an audio interview with Ms. Gordon about the creation of the J&D and her storied history as a Montessorian. Look for that to posted on the site in March.

Matt Hillis
Executive Director
Bergamo Montessori School

Barbara arrived at our school a day in advance to observe the classrooms and meet the teachers.

The teachers prepared the environment for the event by displaying a variety of lessons throughout the classroom.

Barbara met with the group for about 40 minutes when we started on Friday night. Most parents contributed to our discussion about their educational experiences and their perception of their child’s experience at our school

After the discussion ended, the group was led into each classroom environment (about 15 minutes each) with strict instructions not to speak. An questionaire was provided for each environment and participants were invited to write their observations to share with the group at the end of the “Silent Journey”. The group met and discussed their observations before going home for the evening.

After a group breakfast on Saturday morning, Barbara met briefly with the group. Participants were instructed to choose work of interest among the jobs and lessons that were displayed in advance by the teachers.

The group went to work!

Each material had a associated card – some had instructions, others said “Ask for a lesson!”

After spending 45 minutes in the Primary, we moved to the Lower Elementary.

We finished the “journey” in the Upper Elementary classroom.

After finishing in the Upper Elementary, we came back to the group to process our experience. Many participants were deeply moved. Most parents indicated it was the most important Montessori “parent education” event that they had ever attended.

24 Comments

John Snyder says:

February 12, 2011 at 8:07 pm

Nice photos, Matt. Barbara Gordon just led the SJ&D at Austin Montessori this weekend, and it was a wonderful time for everyone.

In the discussion at the end of the day, a number of parents were talking about how hard it can be to swim upstream in the culture and trust that one’s Montessori child is going to get everything they need without traditional regimentation, assignments, homework, exams, etc. After the SJ&D, they were all so much more confident because they had experienced for themselves just a taste of the riches Montessori offers their children every day. One mom said, “Until now I didn’t even know what it was I supposed to trust!”

I would like to see good Montessori schools around the country organizing the Silent Journey & Discovery for state legislators and education officials!
Seemakarecha says:

February 12, 2011 at 8:24 pm

Thank you so much for sharing! I am deeply moved.

I am a mother of two boys, a four year old and the other, who is just a year and half. We do not have any Montessori school in our neighborhood, and hence, I am trying my best to inculcate the Montessori methods of education at home. This photo essay is a great help in terms of what is a Montessori classroom looks like and what and how, are the materials used.

Looking forward to many such beautiful posts.
Ingrid says:

February 13, 2011 at 9:18 am

Beautiful photos! I hope to be at the next J&D event!
Susan says:

February 13, 2011 at 1:40 pm

I have been an AMI 3-6 Directress for 22 years in Sydney, Australia & since moving to California have been subbing at a few different schools. Thank you for sharing this, I wish I could work in a classroom like the ones shown, they are just beautiful. It makes it so much easier for the parents to ‘trust’ that it will happen when they have an experience such as this.
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February 13, 2011 at 1:58 pm

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Kari Jensen says:

February 13, 2011 at 3:07 pm

What a fantastic opportunity for those parents to get to see first hand what it is like to be a Montessori student. And what a wonderful way to build confidence in those parents that their children are indeed learning and are in the right school.
Irina Isaeva says:

February 13, 2011 at 9:39 pm

How inspiring! I believe they all wish to be your students!!!
erum says:

February 14, 2011 at 12:06 am

beutiful….i’m alsoa MOntesorie directress in KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA…..and i really in love with maclassroom
Margaret says:

February 14, 2011 at 2:35 pm

We do not have the financial resources to bring Barbara Gordon to Canada but are fortunate enought to have a Montessori teacher working with us that had experience with the Journey both in Texas and Florida, so we did it ourselves. Having now done it twice it has become a “hot” event for our school but we limit our numbers so it is sought out, because the parents do not take it for granted and the experience is transformative. Thank you for encouraging other schools to take this on. We have had parents and non-parents, other educators, come and their incorrect understandings of MOntessori were shattered and they went away converts.
Jody says:

February 16, 2011 at 8:03 pm

I am part of the Parent Education Team at Highland Community School, a Montessori school in Milwaukee, WI. Our team is in the process of organizing a “Silent Journey” and I have some questions. If anyone is willing to talk about your experiences with the silent journey, could you message me at: jodyjessupyahoo.com. Thanks!
ayesha says:

February 23, 2011 at 11:17 am

hello
i am a montrssori directress from Pakistan currently living in jeddah ,Saudia Arabia .This is an ideal class room for training i wish there r institutions like urs in Pakistan for montessori traning
thanks
AYESHA RASHID
LeeAnna Lutz says:

February 23, 2011 at 1:59 pm

I was part of a silent journey led by Tim Seldin in TN recently. I am a primary lead teacher. It was a very moving, beautiful experience. I am hoping we can have a silent journey for our parents soon.
Leslie says:

February 23, 2011 at 3:20 pm

This sounds wonderful! Thank you for the post and the great pictures. I would loved to do something like this for our montessori based Christian formation program. Is there somewhere to learn more about this process? In particular, can you say something about the questionnaire from the first night? What kinds of observations was it encouraging?
aly in va says:

February 23, 2011 at 6:37 pm

absolutely lovely.
aly in va says:

February 23, 2011 at 6:39 pm

Absolutely beautiful!
Deirdre says:

February 24, 2011 at 6:02 am

Amazing and touching to see the parents so engaged and involved in what they are doing, also seems to be healing for some to experience a non-threatening spontaneous learning environment….. making my heart ache… ALL children should be able to experience this. Well done!
Sneh Damaria says:

February 24, 2011 at 7:11 pm

Hi, I teach at a Montessori school in St. Maarten (one of the caribbean islands). ‘Silent journey’ is an excellent way of making the parents aware of their childs daily experiences in a Montessori classroom.
MontessoriAbuela says:

February 26, 2011 at 1:18 pm

What a wonderful idea! And it is so true that most parents just don’t know what to expect, what is going on, and what to trust. I guess 100 plus years of Montessori history haven’t changed that.
Pilar says:

February 27, 2011 at 11:49 am

This is absolutely stunning! Silent Journey has always been a transformative experience for the parents with whom I’ve had the privilege to work. Thank you for posting such gorgeous shots!
Bobby and June George says:

March 5, 2011 at 7:28 am

Absolutely lovely. Especially enjoyed the photo montage.
bjg
Prathima Anil says:

July 9, 2011 at 6:25 am

A very beautiful way of helping parents to get a fair idea about Montessori Methodology. I am Montessori adult ,I would like to implement in our Sprouts Montessori House of children.I need some more information and process how to go about SILENT JOURNEY AND DISCOVEDRY
T.Grant says:

July 15, 2011 at 12:43 pm

There is no better way to communicate the value of a Montessori education to parents…than to allow them to experience it for themselves.
Sandy Houston says:

September 6, 2011 at 5:55 pm

Great photographs. I’m a seasoned Montessorian of 43 years, trained by Dr. & Mrs. Claremont, Ms. Lena, Mario Montessori, Estella Palmarie for primary and Betty Stevenson for elementary (6-9). I’ve opened and owned several Montessori schools and am a pioneer in the opening of Montessori Charter Schools. Knowing that it is sometimes difficult to have parents attend meetings I came up with an idea that has been successful for many years now. I named it changing places. We know from experience that parents will attend when their children are involved; those Christmas performances. I have the parents show up and be the student and their child be the teacher. I speak with the children before the event and have them think of their favorite Montessori apparatus they would like to show/teach to their parents. For the event I had cards made nameing the material, the direct purpose and indirect purpose. I also included the price of the material so parents have an idea of how expensive Montessori materials can be. After this event we find parents are more involved. The more parents know about Montessori the more supportive they are!
Amy Stephenson says:

December 6, 2012 at 9:55 am

We are conducting a similiar event in January and I am preparing some marketing materials to promote the event. Your photos are amazing. Would it be possible to get your permission to use 2-3 of them. I would be happy to send you a copy of the final product. I would also cite your school as the source of the photo. Please advise.

517 351 3655.

Thank you in advance for your consideration.