This is part 4 of our series on observation! This week, we’ll take a quick look at the where and when to observe! If you’re just joining us for the first time–welcome! You may want to go back and give parts 1, 2, and 3 a read.
This should be a pretty short and easy post to write, because ultimately, as long as the children and the environment are safe, there is not really a wrong place or time to observe. This is the beauty of normalizing observation–for the children and the adult. When observation becomes part of the routine, a known quantity, it stops feeling like an inconvenience—so the possibilities for where and when to observe seem to crop up everywhere. I hope that maybe this post will inspire you to look for the little spaces you want (or need!) to do observation in your life.
Where should I observe?
EVERYWHERE! Seriously. As mentioned above, as long as everyone is safe, it is a fine place to step back from the situation and observe.
Observe in every space your child spends time in at home. Bathroom, dining room, kitchen, bedroom, living room. Observe the spaces they spend the most time in. Observe the ones they spend the least time in. Look at those observations next to one another. Does it help you understand what one space might offer that another lacks?
Observe your child at the playground and extracurricular activities. Think about what you can find out about your child by watching them in an environment that might be outside of their normal comfort zone. Do they participate in classes? How do they interact? Do they prefer one playground to another? Does watching carefully tell you more fully why they have this preference?
Observe your child while visiting family and friends. Probably these spaces aren’t perfectly prepared. How does your child adapt? Perhaps their spaces are prepared but in a different way. What does your child seem to like about it? Dislike about it? How does this change their engagement with their environment and the people in it?
If you are a parent who has a child that attends a Montessori school, ask about observation opportunities! Think of the parents who never have the opportunity to watch their child in action or to see what their next classroom experience will be like. Start in your child’s classroom. Make time to observe classrooms at the next level before your child’s transition — or just when you are trying to decide what is the best next step for your family. Or when you feel uncertain about the trajectory of the work your child is doing in primary. Or when you want to know: what does Montessori look like when a child is 6? 9? 12? 15? 18?
So we know that we can observe everywhere. But when?
Start literally whenever you have time at home. Steal 5 minutes to sip your coffee and jot down notes. A good time to start is when the child is independently engaged in work. Sometimes the best way to keep the child engaged is to make yourself unavailable, so look busy about your observation work and watch. This isn’t the only valuable time to observe, though. Take time to observe when your child is fatigued, wandering, or dysregulated. Obviously the safety rules apply here, but watching at tough times like these–which frequently occur during transitions, can give you keen insight on how to help ease the transitions and make them smoother.
We struggled with bedtime for a long time in our house. Observing my child in this transition let me know that they needed a looooong, slooooow transition, that started immediately after an early dinner. I had been trying to shorten the routine because it always seemed like they were dragging their feet, but observation told me that what looked like them not wanting to go into the transition was actually them trying to lengthen the time we spent quietly connecting with each other in the evenings. Now that we’ve changed our bedtime routine, the evening isn’t always perfect, but this simple observation, which in retrospect seems SO obvious, was a game changer for us.
The truth is, you often need to observe MOST when it feels like it is the hardest to observe. So try to step back in those moments and gather information about why they feel so challenging. Sit on your hands. Bite your lip. Let the mess happen. Gather information, insight, and clarity. Allow room for innovation and problem solving. Trust your child.
If your child attends a Montessori school, or simply if you are interested in knowing more about one, call the front office or ask about the best way to schedule an observation.
Typically schools allow some time for the children to settle into their routine at the beginning of the school year before they begin observations. I always found October to be a great time to observe! An observation is a more in-depth experience than a tour, and it should be okay to ask to observe as a part of the application process. The many schools I have observed at and worked in often offered morning observation slots, especially for Primary or Toddler, but if you have an older child or are observing at the elementary or adolescent levels, afternoon observations may be available, too.
These practical points wrap up our primer! I will finish our series on observation next week with some observation challenges–and I’ll share the results from my own observations, too. Until then: talk a little bit less, breathe a little bit more, and be watchful. –K
Interested in reading more about Montessori and observation? Here are a few of my favorite articles, blogs, and videos on the topic:
The Kavanaugh Report: Observation and the Prepared Adult
Montessori Northwest: “Suggestions and Remarks Upon Observing Children” by Dr. Maria Montessori
Montessori Miscellany 
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