Benefits & key points of the Montessori Method
- multi-age classrooms: Classrooms are divided into three year grouping to provide for peer teaching, role modeling and leadership experiences. They also enhance the sense of community within the classroom environment.
- The Schedule: Under the age of six, there are one or two three-hour, uninterrupted, work periods each day. These work periods are not broken up by required group lessons. Older children schedule meetings or study groups with each other or the teacher when necessary and other groups spontaneously form or are arranged ahead. Adults and children respect concentration and do not interrupt someone who is busy at a task.
- Auto-Education: There are many self-correcting materials throughout the classroom. Children learn through their own errors to make the correct decision versus having the teacher point it out to them.
- Individualized Approach: Individualized learning takes place within the classroom as Montessori education recognizes that each child learns at a different pace and style. All kinds of intelligences are nurtured: musically, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal, intuitive, and the traditional linguistic and logical-mathematical.
- Concrete Concepts: There is a large emphasis on concrete learning and tangible objects, promoting memory skills and a deeper understanding. Young children need to touch, explorer and experience concepts in concrete hands-on ways in order to move from concrete to abstract thinking.
- Child Centered: The classroom environment is specifically designed for the child and his/her needs. All of the material are easily within the child's reach and placed neatly on the shelves at their level. The furniture is child-sized, sturdy and comfortable and room décor is at child's eye level.
- Joy of Work: Children work on activities for the joy of working, the sense of discovery and inner satisfaction. Children are discoverers and delight in learning new tasks. Their interests lie in the work itself rather than the finished product.
- Inner Discipline: The environment provides the child with a natural sense of discipline as the classroom expectations are simple, few, clearly stated and enforced by the children and teachers alike.
- The Prepared Adult: The Montessori teacher or directress plays an unobtrusive but impressive role in the classroom. She conducts lessons, observes, plans and guides the children. Montessori teachers are keen observers and are always alert to subtle changes in the child's progress, interests or mood. The teacher's role is not to criticize or interfere with the child's work, but to properly guide him/her to the skills that will help him/her to develop.
- Intrinsic Motivation: In Montessori programs children learn simply because they are truly interested in things around them. They have an innate desire to become competent and independent human beings. Children in our classrooms do not work for grades, external rewards, subtle or overt.
- Freedom Within Limits: Montessori children enjoy freedom of movement and choice throughout their day, however the freedom always exists within carefully designed limits and basic ground rules regarding behavior and tidiness.
- The Prepared Environment: During the first six years of life, children possess the unique ability to absorb information from the environment and culture around them. The Montessori environment is carefully and purposefully prepared to maximize learning opportunities and appeal greatly to the child. Each material is specifically chosen and will serve a specific purpose in the classroom.
- Individual Lessons: Montessori prescribed a three-period lesson for learning new materials. The adults pose no limits of time, the effort, and therefore the depth of which a child explores a concept.
- Discovery of Sensitive Periods: Montessori recognized that children go through stages of intellectual interest and curiosity - which she called "sensitive periods" - in which they become intrigued and absorbed by particular aspects of their environment. It is important to understand this process because each stage represents an opportunity to profoundly influence a child's development.
" I never teach my pupils;
I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they learn."
-Albert Einstein