In Florida, charter schools are public schools that are free of tuition. Local educators, parents and community leaders with certain specific goals in mind created TVM. Charter schools are responsible for reporting to the district with regards to student achievement and fiscal stability. Otherwise, charter schools are given the freedom to hire their own staff, provided they meet state credential and security requirements, develop and implement unique curriculums and programs, spend funding according to the needs and goals of the stake holders and other abilities not readily available at traditional district schools due to bureaucracies. As a charter school and with regular monitoring by the district and state, TVM is able to secure funding to offer an alternative environment and alternative methods of teaching and training opportunities that vary, greatly from that of our neighboring schools with the ultimate goal of improving student achievement.
Charter schools are run by directors and/or principals in the day-to-day management of the school. However, a board made up of parents and community members ensure the school is fiscally stable and able to meet all financial responsibilities as well as supporting the principal in completing the daily tasks required to run the school. As a result, TVM’s Board of Directors is responsible for raising funds to cover the additional costs required to fund a charter program like those of securing and maintaining appropriate facilities. TVM Board of Directors engages in regular, scheduled events that raise funds to support this cause. They also review policies and procedures to ensure that the short and long term goals along with the mission statement are being met.
Unlike traditional schools, charter schools who do not meet the requirements for student achievement and fiscal stability set by the state and district guidelines are subject to closure. Contrary to traditional schools that are given long term strategies and plans to recover with time. As a result, TVM is held highly accountable for how well they educate children in a safe and responsible environment each and every year, because if they do not perform to set standards the school risks closure.
Montessori
Maria Montessori was born in 1870 into an upper class Italian family, a descendant of scholars and soldiers. She was a driven women who surpassed great odds to become one of the first women doctors in Italy, a feat not easily achieved today, but almost impossible in that day and age when the only available acceptable profession for women was teaching. These accomplishments in medicine and additional interests in anthropology, philosophy, psychiatry and experimental psychology laid the foundation for a rich background for her eventual life work in the education of children.
How it all Began
“I was searching for the reasons which could keep back the healthy and happy children of the ordinary schools on so low a plane that they could be equaled in tests of intelligence by the children with severe mental and physical disabilities.”
This thought consumed her. In 1906 and despite worldviews that poor children were incapable of learning, she was given an opportunity to establish the first classroom for a group of 60 children, age 3 to 6, in a slum tenement in San Lorenzo, Rome, Italy. This group of children demonstrated “spontaneous discipline”, “explosions of spontaneous writing and reading” and “free social life” which astounded the populations around the world. In fact, the transformation was so great that there were many who were ready to believe that because she was a medical doctor, the real “miracle” must have been drugs!
Well after 100 years since the establishment of this classroom, the Montessori method and philosophy of teaching is still being utilized around the world with exceptional results in student achievement.
What is the Montessori method?
The Montessori Method revolutionized education. This method advocated that children be allowed the freedom to explore and develop their own creative potential through a wealth of self-teaching educational materials. Dr. Montessori developed much of the educational equipment found today in the Montessori classroom nearly 100 years ago. This equipment includes hands-on math materials, phonetic reading systems, science materials in the areas of botany, zoology, history and geography, as well as additional areas including practical life and sensorial, which illustrate the many necessary life skills required for independent daily living. The child’s avid interest in the real world is nurtured by these materials illustrating principles required by the state, as well as those that are of additional natural interests - all areas are explored with concrete objects, tactile experiments, projects, research and field trips. The students readily take up this reality based purposeful creative work designed to develop mental and manual dexterity and to prepare students with the tools for a lifetime of learning.
TVM is a charter Montessori program. Learning is based on the Montessori method, which integrates individualized academic programs for each student to emphasize self-discovery and student responsibility while also integrating Florida’s Sunshine State curriculum. Here, students learn the required standards by doing with the goal of fostering an enjoyment for learning while developing self-discipline, concentration, and self-motivation. The focus of the school’s method is to utilize a hands-on approach to learning using these specially designed Montessori materials along with a rich and varied curriculum, exposure to classical literature, varied cultural subjects, added emphasis on scientific and mathematic aptitudes, all with the express overall goal of developing a love of learning.
