WHAT IS THE MONTESSORI METHOD
So… what is it really?
In this post I’ll be talking mainly about Montessori in the classrooms, and although they follow the same principles, they vary a bit, so if you want to read more about Montessori at home you can read my post about it HERE.
The method was developed by Dr. Maria Montessori, the first Italian female doctor in the 19th century. She was also an engineer, pedagogue, psychiatrist, feminist activist, and a long etc!
This woman was on top of everything and under the influences of the previous work of physicians Itard and Séguin, they all agreed that children from 0–6 learnt better through their senses, through hands-on activities/experiences, and we can see this clearly when babies put everything in their mouths, because they are exploring through their senses!
Maria observed that from 0–6 kids have what she called the Absorbent Mind, which is the natural inner urge that kids have to learn about the world they live in and themselves. She even divided this into the unconscious absorbent mind (0–3) where the children mainly learn through their senses without any conscious awareness or effort of what they are learning, for example learning to speak! And the conscious absorbent mind (3–6), where the learning becomes more conscious for them as they look to organise their understanding of all things learnt in the previous years. They learn with their hands and after they seek out experiences to aid in their intellectual development.
So… what Maria did was, throughout approx. 40 years of research and observations, developing an educational method where she would have in mind children sensitive periods (stages of development) to teach kids academics such as math, language, history, etc, through hands-on materials, so when touching a cube for instance, they would indirectly learn in their early years about abstract concepts like size, shape, weight, volume… the materials would be presented without any lecturing or heave explanations, just by showing them slowly how to work with each material, so they could reach good levels of concentration and inner/intrinsic motivation.
And most importantly, Maria was very interested in fighting for world peace and kids rights, so through her method she actually prioritised teaching kids life skills (personal hygiene, care of environment, grace and courtesy manners, etc) over academics, which would make them good, independent and respectful human beings, so they could change the world of the future. But as you can imagine, a lot of people thought that was a crazy idea… and now a days you see thousands of people on social media still agreeing with her ideas, because wanting world peace and educating kids properly could definitely change our world. I have hope too!
So, what Maria did was divide the classroom in 5 areas where she would have everything organised: PRACTICAL LIFE, SENSORIAL, LANGUAGE, MATHEMATICS and CULTURE.
The method has certain principles to help children develop healthy and smoothly, and these ones have to be modelled by the teachers, so kids can learn from them and there’s a coherent practise in the classroom. These are the main principles:
- Has in mind Sensitive Periods and age of development of the child. At certain stages kids have certain interests and inner needs to fulfil. As a parent is important that you have those in mind so you can provide your child with good opportunities for learning. During these stages is also easier for them to master certain skills. Apart from these periods, the famous psychologist Jean Piaget talks about Schemas, which are also interesting and important when wanting to know more about why children do the things they do.
- Adapted environment to children size (small furniture and items) so they can do things on their own without depending on the adults constantly.
- Decluttered and beautiful space. Maria thought that if the objects and the environment were made of real and beautiful materials such as wood, glass or metal, kids could start learning that if something did break, they would learn the natural consequence of cleaning up (with supervision if required) and also they could develop an appreciation for different materials/textures, which would increase their knowledge and interests.
- Nature and pets. In proper Montessori settings you will find real plants, flowers and some pets (snails, fish…) that the whole classroom actually has to take care of, learning responsibilities and developing love and respect for their living environment.
- Freedom within limits. In a Montessori classroom, because the environment is meticulously prepared in advance by the teacher (also called guide or directress), you can find open low shelves with all the materials ready for kids to use whenever they want, but there are boundaries that every kid will have to follow:
- Use a floor/table work mat when working with a material so they mark their working space and no-one can disturb their concentration.
- Wait to work with a material is someone else is using it, so they learn about turn taking and patience.
- Walk in the classroom, keep quiet voices and save running and loudness for outdoor time.
- Clean up whatever is spilled or dropped.
- Put their work away after using it.
- Concentration is key, so teachers respect the 3 hours work cycle of every child.
- Teachers are qualified Montessori guides and never help a child in a task that they can do by themselves to promote independence and boost of confidence and self-esteem.
- Hands on materials that promote all areas of development.
- Teachers takes notes and observe every child’s progress so they can guide them through their learning individually.
- Positive Discipline is applied so kids can feel safety, respect, belonging and significance, and also promoting problem solving and conflict resolution skills, the main things that a child needs to reach their full potential. Positive Discipline also has in mind emotional intelligence where teachers and kids learn to express and learn how to deal with any kind of emotions.
- No use of plastic or electric noisy toys, which can actually be counterproductive for kids learning, as they can over stimulate them or not helping them to develop great concentration or their fine motor skills.
- Learning is everywhere. Not only we find learning on the academic materials, as many adults tent to firmly believe, but in fact in areas like Practical Life, where they learn to do daily chores, is where they can develop most of their skills (social, emotional, intellectual, physical and language).
This is mainly what the method is all about, but there’s more to it! It’s a very interested approach that works for many people. I love this method because, first of all, was developed by a beautiful human being (Maria), who just wanted the best for kids and our future generations, and secondly because it promotes amazing life skills for kids that many traditional schools unfortunately, don’t have the chance to provide.
Thanks for reading folks! I hope you found this post useful or interested. I’d love to hear you opinions below :)
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