Chinook Montessori Charter School Analysis

Chinook Montessori is a “school of choice”. This school is an alternative to the regular public schools. Chinook Montessori Charter School uses the Montessori approach of teaching that was designed by Dr. Maria Montessori, which it is named. Montessori Education “is a child-centered educational approach based on scientific observations of children from birth to adulthood” (The American Montessori Society, 2016). Chinook Montessori uses various learning environments that is fostered from children’s curiosities and questions. Chinook has a very high level of academic standards, but gives its students a great amount of freedom. Chinook does not have sport teams or competitive activities, but parent volunteers organize before and after school activities …show more content…
He had several binders to show me and did an awesome job of describing the work he performed. The binder was categorized according to subject. The three subject contents that stuck out to me were Math, History, and Technology. The history portion of the portfolio was quite detailed with subjects such as Ancient Egypt. He had several different ways he could show his understanding of Ancient Egypt, by drawings, telling stories, and traditional means of assessment. When I asked him question about Ancient Egypt he was able to tell me in great detail what he had learned. We also viewed some of his technology lessons on his laptop. He showed me how he was able to designed programs and categorized activities on his laptop. Lastly, he showed me some of English and language art activities. He told me the types of stories he likes to write. I was able for a brief time read some of the stories he had written. He had several stories on science ideas and things he wanted to do when he grew up. “Fin” was extremely prepared and was able to answer my questions clearly and accurately. I could tell right off, that he was skilled at presented portfolios. I enjoyed my time learning about Chinook Montessori. I grew up in areas that did not have access to these types of schools, so it was great to see firsthand what possible alternative there are to public schools.
Chinook Montessori school uses the portfolio …show more content…
They also used oral presentation, especially when presenting the portfolios. In our textbook it gives us the components to a good classroom assessment. They list them as purpose, why are we doing the assessment, measurement, how will gather the information, interpretation, how we will interpret the information, and lastly, use, how we will use the information from the assessment. The portfolio that was presented by the students followed all these components of a good classroom assessment. As I was listening to “Fin” describe his portfolio to me, I understand what the purpose of the portfolio. It was great way to measure the student knowledge. As a pre-service teacher it was easy for me to interpret the information in the assessment. Lastly, the teachers at Chinook Montessori can use this knowledge to help understand what the student has learn and were there may be gaps in the students