How is Montessori different from traditional education models ?
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A Montessori education is based on well-researched principles of child development and utilizes a curriculum centered around hands-on materials and activities that help a child develop a strong self-image, high academic achievement, social and emotional maturity, and the ability to be independent problem solvers.
Most traditional education styles are deeply ingrained in a mass-production notion of uniform learning. This traditional belief dictates that everyone should learn the same things at the same time. In contrast, one of the great advantages of Montessori education is differentiation and customizing the curriculum based on a child’s individual strengths and challenges. Even as pre-schoolers, Montessori-educated children learn to be self-motivated, manage their time well, and collaborate with peers of differing ages, much like adults are expected to do in the workplace.
Children in a traditional daycare, preschool, or kindergarten setting are generally expected to progress through a group-paced curriculum in a teacher-centered environment with little or no opportunity to guide their own learning according to their strengths, interests, or abilities. Guided by highly trained and specialized teachers, students in Montessori classrooms have opportunities to delve deeply into subjects and topics of particular interest while continuing to meet the high academic standards of a Montessori curriculum.
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Montessori classrooms are filled with specially designed learning materials that have been tested and used successfully for nearly a century. These are not toys, but materials designed to teach children valuable lessons and allow them to discover new things about the world. Montessori programs are guided by the belief that “play is the work of the child”, but a Montessori preschool is NOT just another kind of daycare. Montessori schools follow an established curriculum. They prioritize an uninterrupted work cycle in which students are allowed to focus without distractions. Within these extended periods, students learn to respect the work of other children and are free to work on an activity to its completion.
Key Elements of the Montessori Philosophy of Education
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Freedom Within Limits
Young children are eager explorers, yet need an orderly, predictable environment in order to feel safe. Freedom within limits is an empowering concept. It embraces the notion of the child as an explorer who is capable of learning and doing for themselves. Montessori encourages freedom within limits through the design of the prepared environment. Montessori classrooms feature low open shelves, logically ordered activities, and child-friendly work spaces. This encourages the child to move freely around the classroom, and choose their own work within the limits of appropriate behaviour. These limits are the ground rules of the Montessori classroom.
Mixed Age Classrooms:
A unique aspect of Montessori classrooms is that children of multiple ages are learning together in one room. Preschool/Kindergarten, or Children’s House, classrooms have children ranging from 2.9-6 years old. The younger students emulate the older students, and the older ones help teach the younger ones, all while developing deep relational bonds as they spend multiple years together in the same learning environment.
Sensitive Periods:
Children can learn at intense rates during sensitive periods, making progress, or developmental leaps, that are clearly visible. Montessori teachers are taught to watch for these sensitive periods and provide lessons and activities to support the child’s learning during that time. Sensitive periods during the preschool years include:
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Order: This sensitive period is characterized by a desire for consistency and repetition. A passionate love for established routines, children can be deeply disturbed by disorder. The environment must be carefully organized with a place for everything and with carefully established ground-rules. (ages 2-4).
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Small Objects: Children experience a fixation on small objects and tiny details. (1-4)
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Refinement of the Senses: A fascination with sensorial experiences (taste, sound, touch, weight, smell) results in children learning to observe and make increasingly refined sensorial discriminations. (2-6)
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Writing: Children become fascinated with letters and numerals. They attempt to reproduce these with pencil or pen and paper. Montessori discovered that writing precedes reading. (3-4)
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Reading: Spontaneous interest in the symbolic representations of the sounds of each letter and in the formation of words. (3-5)
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Expressive Language: Use of words to communicate: a progression from babbling to words to phrases to sentences, with a continuously expanding vocabulary and comprehension. (birth to 6)
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Spatial Relationships: Forming impressions about relationships in space: the design of familiar places, able to find the way around the neighborhood, and increasingly able to work complex puzzles. (4-6)
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Music: Spontaneous interest in, and the development of, pitch, rhythm, and melody. (2-6)
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Mathematics: Formation of the concepts of quantity and operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) from the uses of concrete learning materials. (birth to 6)
Learning Through the Senses:
Almost all the materials are designed to engage multiple senses at one time, which enhances learning and reinforces academic concepts for all types of learners.
Teachers are Directors:
Motessori teachers guide, rather than control, children’s activities. They direct the natural energy and interest that they see emerging in each child. They make observational notes and plan lessons and activities based on a child’s interests, strengths, sensitive period, and areas of academic challenge.