About Montessori Education
What is Montessori?
I fist came across the term Montessori When I was in college. It was one of several educational methods mentioned in my history of education class. But it wasn't until 12 years later that I was looking for a preschool for my oldest daughter (and came across the term again) that I decided to investigate more about it. As a bilingual parent, one of the main things I was looking for in a preschool was a place where they could respect and embrace my daughter as a bilingual child. Unfortunately, I had not seen this in many schools as bilingual children are often encouraged to leave their minority language and focus only on English, not to mention they are subjected to much more testing than their monolingual peers. During this time of choosing what our next move was going to be, a little Montessori school had opened up not too far from where we lived. I took a tour, met the teachers and started to learn more about this amazing method.
First, a little bit of history behind the method. Dr. Maria Montessori was born on August 31st, 1870 in Chiaravalle, Italy. She was one of the fist women to become a physician in her the country. While working at a psychiatric institution, she encountered the sad conditions in which children who had been admitted to the facility with some form of what they called "retardation" had to live in. She stared to observe them and found small signs that these children were actually very intelligent but without the proper environment they could not progress or in essence get better. She wondered how best to help them. She studied many of the past thinkers and researchers who had studied child/human behavior to see if she could find any answers. And she did. Thus she began her life long work with children. Through her observations she developed material that helped these children develop their senses and they began to do things no one thought they could do like communicate, read and write, math and even science. In time, she had the opportunity to open up a school for 'normal' children in the poorest parts of a city called San Lorenzo. She called it Casa di Bambini "Children's house." You can find more details about her discoveries and how she continued to develop the method we now call Montessori in her books "The Absorbent Mind" and "The Secret of Childhood."
The most basic foundation of the Montessori philosophy is respect for the child. Respect for her or him as a human being trying hard to reach their independence. This is at the very core of this method. As you can imagine, this is what first caught my attention. I loved being able to be at a place where my child would be respected and celebrated for who she was as a whole, not just because of how fast she could memorize numbers and letters or how proficient she was in English.
Dr. Montessori said that education should be a "help to life." Meaning it should look at all parts of who an individual is, not just academics but emotional and social education as well. In a Montessori classroom children learn how to deal difficult tasks and are encouraged to do things by themselves. The environment is not only set up so that children can be as independent as possible but also as successful as possible on their own. Furniture and shelves are at their level and easy to reach. We help children with vocabulary when they don't know how to express themselves and always acknowledge their feelings. For example, if a child comes saying somebody took their shovel in the sand box, we talk to both children in a calm way explaining how the other one may feel and what other ways we could handle the situation. This does not mean that after such a conversation children will always respond this way, but as we consistently teach them and model for them they will eventually start to choose this behavior on their own. There is so much more about Dr. Montessori's method I can say than in just a few paragraphs, but I think it's enough for me to say that I will be forever grateful for that little Montessori school that opened up 7 years ago right when we needed it. Both my children have thrived in this environment and I have been blessed to now be part of a Montessori classroom as a guide, helping children and learning from them every day.
If you would like to learn more about this beautiful method, there are many websites around the internet you can look up. However, my favorite resource is from Jesse McCarthy. On his website Montessori Education you can find great articles and videos for both teachers and parents.
Thank you for reading!
"Children are human beings to whom respect is due, superior to us by reason of their innocence and of the greater possibilities of their future."
Dr. Maria Montessori
Other Resources
Thinking of getting your Montessori Certification?
Here's a link to the program I went through. I highly recommend it!
Center for Guided Montessori Studies