What is Montessori Method of Education
This system of education is both a philosophy of child development and a rationale for guiding such growth. It is based on two important developmental needs of children:
The need for freedom within limits
A carefully prepared environment which guarantees exposure to materials and experiences.
Through these developmental needs, the child develops intelligence as well as physical and psychological abilities. The Montessori method of education is designed to take full advantage of the children’s desire to learn and their unique ability to develop their own capabilities. Children need adults to expose them to the possibilities of their lives, but the children must determine their responses to all the possibilities.
Distinctiveness of Montessori education:
1. Children are to be respected as different individuals and not perceived like adults.
2. Children possess unusual sensitivities and intellectual abilities to absorb and learn from their environments that are unlike the adults’ in both quality and capacity.
3. The most important years of children’s growth are the first six years of life when unconscious learning is gradually brought to the conscious level.
Children have a deep love and need for purposeful works. They work, however, not for the completion of a job as adults see, but for the sake of an activity itself. It is this activity which enables them to accomplish their most important goal: the development of their individual selves - their mental, physical and psychological powers.
What Makes Montessori Education Unique?
The Whole Child Approach
The primary goal of Montessori program is to help each child reach his full potentials in all areas of life. Activities promote the development of social skills, emotional growth and physical coordination as well as cognitive preparations for future intellectual academic endeavours. The holistic curriculum, under the direction of a specifically prepared teacher, allows the child to experience the joy of learning, the time to enjoy the process and ensures the development of self esteem. It provides the experiences from which children create their knowledge.
The Prepared Environment
In order for self directed learning to take place, the whole learning environment - classroom, materials and social setting / atmosphere - must be supportive of the child. The teacher provides the necessary resources, including opportunities for children to function in a safe and positive environment. Together, the teacher and child form a relationship based on trust and respect that fosters self-confidence and a willingness to try new things.
The Montessori Materials
The founder and a great teacher of the education, Maria Montessori had observed the kinds of things children enjoyed and worked on repeatedly. This prompted her to design a number of multi-sensory, sequential and self correcting materials to facilitate learning. Today, these materials, made even more elegant and attractive while retaining the original design philosophy, are available to Montessori students.
The Teacher
Originally called a "directress", the Montessori teacher functions as a designer of the environment, resource person, role model, demonstrator, record-keeper and meticulous observer of each child's behavior and growth. The teacher who facilitates the learning must have undergone extensive training for a full Montessori credential.
Goals of a Montessori Kindergarten
The main purpose of a Montessori kindergarten is to provide a carefully planned, stimulating environment which will help the children develop an excellent foundation for creative learning to prepare them for Montessori primary schools or the conventional. The specific goals for the children who attend a Montessori kindergarten are presented below:-
1. Developing a positive attitude towards kindergarten
Most of the learning activities are individualized: i.e., each child engages in a learning task that particularly appeals to him...because he finds the activities geared to his needs and level of readiness. Consequently, he works at his own rate, repeating the tasks as often as he likes, thus experiencing a series of successful achievements. In this manner, he builds a positive attitude toward learning itself.
2. Helping each child develop self confidence
In a Montessori kindergarten, tasks are designed so that each new step is built upon what the child has already mastered, thus removing the negative experience of frequent failure. A carefully planned series of successes builds upon inner confidence in the child assuring him that he can learn by himself. These confidence building activities likewise contribute to the child's healthy emotional development.
3. Assisting each child in building the habit of concentration
Effective learning presupposes the ability to listen carefully and to attend to what is said or demonstrated. Through a series of absorbing experiences, the child forms habits of extended attention, thus increasing his abilities to concentrate.
4. Fostering an abiding curiosity
A deep, persistent and abiding curiosity is a prerequisite for creative learning. By providing the child with opportunities to discover qualities, dimensions and relationships amidst a rich variety of stimulating learning situations, curiosity is developed and an essential element in creative learning has been established.
5. Developing habits of initiative and persistence
By surrounding the child with appealing materials and learning activities geared to his inner needs, he becomes accustomed to engaging in activities on his own. Gradually, this results in a habit of initiative - an essential quality in leadership. "Ground rules" call for completing a task once begun and gradually results in a habit of persistence and perseverance for replacing materials after the task is accomplished. This "completion expectation" gradually results in a habit of persistence and perseverance.
6. Fostering inner security and sense of order in the child
Through a well ordered, enriched but simplified environment, the child's need for order and security is intensely satisfied. This is noticed in the calming effect that the environment has on him. Since every item in a Montessori classroom has a place and the ground rules call for everything in its place, the child's inner need for order is directly satisfied.
Benefits of the Montessori Method
Montessori education is to develop the whole personality of the child and the system is based on a strong belief in the spontaneous working of the human intellect. The three primary principles are observation, individual liberty and preparation of the environment. These principles and their various practical expressions with children are gradually becoming part of our educational system. Child-sized furniture and didactic materials are used. Individualized learning and readiness programs, manipulative learning, ungraded classes, combined age groups, team teaching and open classrooms are some of the prime distinctiveness of Montessori teaching.
Below are some characteristics and benefits of the Montessori method:
Three year age span of children within the classroom - Older children teaching younger children, sense of community and builds self esteem.
Self correcting materials within the environment - Children learn through their own errors to make the correct decision versus having the teacher point it out to them.
Individual learning takes place within the environment - Montessori recognizes that each child learns at a different pace and allows that growth to take place.
Children are quiet by choice and out of respect for others within the environment - The Montessori classroom allows children to return to the "inner peace" that is a natural part of their personalities.
There is an emphasis on concrete learning rather than on abstract learning - Children need to experience concepts in concrete "hands-on" ways
It is a child-centered environment - All the materials are easily within the child's reach and placed on shelves at their levels. The tables and chairs are small enough for the children to sit comfortably while the pictures and decorations are placed at the children's eye level.
The children work for the joy of working and the sense of discovery - Children are natural leaders or "sponges" and delight in learning new tasks. Their interests lie in the work itself rather than in the end product.
The environment provides a natural sense of discipline - The "ground rules" or expectations of the child are clearly stated and are enforced by the children and the teachers.
The environment is "prepared" for the children - Everything in the room has a specific place on the shelf. Children are orderly by nature and having the room set this way allows them to grow in a very positive way.
The teacher plays a very unobtrusive role in the classroom - The children are not motivated by the teacher, but by the need for self development.
The Montessori Kindergarten Classroom
Children have a natural tendency to learning. Stages of learning exist, but must be complemented with corresponding educational environments and appropriately trained teachers. They learn independently using the components of the environment. The teacher guides and observes them who choose their activities. The teacher is the link between the children and the environments. The learning environment cultivates individualization, freedom of choice, concentration, independence, problem solving abilities, social interaction, interdisciplinary breadth and competency in basic skills.
The classroom offers very young children a unique year of self development in a tender atmosphere of special understanding, respect and support. They are unique in that they provide a very specific structure which fulfills the social, physical, emotional and psychological needs of each child.
In these environments, there is space for movement, space for individual work and space for group activities. Everything in the environment is proportionate to the child's size and is designed to be safe and aesthetically pleasing for children. They are given opportunities to work in the development of language skill, art, music sensorial and practical life. The practical life area is particularly emphasized as the activities in this area give children the chance to develop skills to care for themselves and their environment in the following areas: control of movement, grace and courtesy. Practical life activities are simple and can be accomplished by each child. They offer repetitive cycle, which helps the child establish patterns of order and sequencing. Due to the fact that these are very real activities, each child becomes grounded in reality, building the child's self esteem is the ultimate goal and this is accomplished through repeated successes with these activities.
Through songs and dance s and freedom of choice, the students have access to a variety of large muscle activities that offer them opportunities to jump, climb, balance, crawl or skip. These exercises, as well as creative art activities, are offered for each child to choose. This freedom in a safe space is crucial to the Montessori program. However, it is always tempered by two important limits that will be beneficial for a lifetime, respect for others and respect for the environment.
The classroom is also a "living room" for children. Children choose their activities from open shelves with self-correcting materials and work in distinct work areas - on tables or on mats on the floor. Over a period of time, the children develop into a "normalized community" working with high concentration and few interruptions. The classroom includes the following components:
1. The practical life exercises enhance the development of task organization and cognitive order through care of self, care of the environment, exercises of grace and courtesy, and refinement of physical movement and coordination.
2. The sensorial materials enable the child to order, classify, seriate and describe sensory impressions in relation, length, width, temperature, mass, color, etc.
3. The mathematics materials, through concrete manipulative materials, allow the children to internalize the concepts of numbers, symbols, sequences, operations (i.e. addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) and memorization of basic facts.
4. The language work includes oral language development, written expression, reading, grammar, creative dramatics and children's literature. Basic skills in writing and reading are developed through the use of sandpaper letters and various presentations allowing children to effortlessly link sounds and symbols and to express their thoughts in writing.
5. In the culture study, the child is presented with geography, history, life sciences, music, arts and movement education.
Post Montessori Education
Montessori children are unusually adaptable. They have learned to work independently and in groups. Since they've been encouraged to make decisions at an early age, these children are problem solvers who can make choices and manage their time well. They have also been encouraged to exchange ideas and to discuss their work freely with others and good communication skills ease the way in new settings.
The habits and skills which a child develops in a Montessori classroom are good for a lifetime. They will help him to work more efficiently, to observe more carefully and to concentrate more effectively, no matter where he goes. If he is in a stimulating environment, whether at home or at school, his self-education - which is the only real education - will continue.
The best predictor of future success is a sense of self-esteem. Montessori programs, based on self-directed, non-competitive activities, help children develop good self images and the confidences to face challenges and change with optimism.