Montessori Life
Preparation for Life: How the Montessori Classroom Facilitates the Development of Executive Function Skills
As the workplace becomes increasingly competitive, the role of education will be critical to adequately prepare tomorrow's workforce for success.
Where Do I Fit In?: Cosmic Education and the Children’s House
The Children’s House is more than a fancy preschool, more than a means by which to provide an “academic edge”; it is a space where a child may enjoy the freedom to develop her potential, where a 5-year-old can contemplate the composition of her body and illustrate her cycle of life.
Current Articles
Education in the United States today, especially early education and including child care, appears to be more concerned with “preparing” children to fit into groups, to follow the teacher’s direction, to comply with commands, and to manifest physical restraint, and yet, at the same time, to get along with their cohorts at a level not often demonstrated by their teachers. Children are expected to be still and silent; to sit at tables with paper and pencils, connecting meaningless symbols; and ultimately to demonstrate their readiness for “learning” by pleasing the teacher by conforming to unclear and seemingly ever-changing standards. Montessori’s genius lies in her recognition that...
As I view the changing global landscape in which we work together to strengthen and expand Montessori education, I find it essential to frame the issues of diversity and inclusion and as a starting point agree on a working definition of diversity. I suggest we define the word in the broadest possible sense—including diversity of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, religion, age, sexual orientation, socioeconomic level, family structure, learning styles, and appearance. And in our Montessori community, in particular, diversity also should include...
This past fall, I had the opportunity to visit a Waldorf school and a Reggio Emilia school, both in New York City. There are many positive elements that Montessori schools share with these two methods of education. We all provide the safety and nurturing foundations so essential for our students to be able to take both cognitive and innovative learning risks. The greatest difference, which sets Montessori apart and makes it unique among the three methods of learning, is the...
While Montessori's writings did not specifically focus on leadership development, we believe the Montessori philosophy and curriculum enhances students’ development of these skills. Developing leaders requires an investment in human capital, or involves individual development through self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-motivation. Since these are intrapersonal skills (as opposed to interpersonal skills), leadership development may be seen as a solitary process, where an individual builds self-knowledge and develops the behaviors related to trustworthiness. The Montessori Method builds intrapersonal skills, promoting self-awareness through work and concentration....
Happy Anniversary!
Congratulations to the following AMS member schools on achieving significant anniversary milestones. We wish them continued success....
We would like to add two more suggestions for grace and courtesy at annual conferences. First, time is one of the few non-renewable resources that we have. Our presenters spend countless hours working toward high-quality presentations, worthy of the attendees’ time. Many attendees realize this and are on time, in their chairs, and ready to learn. Too often, a presenter feels obligated to wait because the room isn’t full, because some attendees choose to be late. We disagree with this. We all try to teach our (your) students to honor each other. Delaying the beginning of a workshop because some are late honors their tardiness while dishonoring those who made the effort to be on time. Additionally, those who are late are...
Connections Between Montessori & Vygotsky
Montessori’s writings suggest that, even though she outlived Lev Vygotsky, she was not aware of his work, probably because as a Soviet his work was unknown in the West until after Montessori’s death. However, Vygotsky’s writings indicate that he was aware of Dr. Montessori’s work with young children....
As the workplace becomes increasingly competitive, the role of education will be critical to adequately prepare tomorrow's workforce for success. Educational philosophy in elementary and secondary schools has often centered on creating a “product,” full of content knowledge and basic skills. However, the development of executive functioning skills utilized to reach academic achievement is equally important—skills such as prioritizing, planning, self-checking, and setting short-term and long-term goals. We believe the Montessori model of education encourages the development of executive function skills. Even though executive function research did not exist at the time of her writing, Maria Montessori referenced...
The Children’s House is more than a fancy preschool, more than a means by which to provide an “academic edge”; it is a space where a child may enjoy the freedom to develop her potential, where a 5-year-old can contemplate the composition of her body and illustrate her cycle of life. It is designed in a way that is fundamental to Dr. Montessori’s philosophy on educating for the human potential, allowing the child not only to experience their world, but to participate in it in both...
When I tell friends and acquaintances about my son’s fantastic school, I discover that Montessori is not well understood. My audience stiffens, and I hear them insist that Montessori is stressful, strict, and/or unstructured. There appear to be two threads of thinking about the Montessori philosophy. One view is that the Montessori environment is chaotic: “It’s too much to expect children to choose their own work for hours at a time. They would get overwhelmed and lost,” and “Montessori teachers don’t even sit down or have a lesson plan for the class. The kids don’t have any format to follow and won’t know what to learn.” The other view is that Montessori is too rigid: “Making simple things like taking off your coat or eating your lunch into a job to learn is too much for a child. Children need unstructured time to relax. Don’t you think it’s too much pressure?”
Since Dr. Maria Montessori’s discovery of the true nature of childhood over a century ago, children around the globe have benefited from Montessori education. However, even parents who have children enrolled in Montessori schools could derive further benefits through the implementation of Montessori principles and practices in the home. Children reap the rewards when, at home, both parents are consistent in their expectations and styles of parenting. Similarly, children thrive when there is consistency between the home and the school. Helping parents create a child-friendly environment in the home is...
IBHA, the International Big History Association, was organized in 2010 and “promotes the unified, interdisciplinary study and teaching of history of the Cosmos, Earth, Life, and Humanity” (IBHAnet.org). This is the vision that Montessori embraced long before the discoveries of modern science fleshed out the story of the evolving universe. Although Big History aims to reach a different audience than Cosmic Education, it offers the same universal context for understanding all reality, bringing to mind Montessori’s words in To Educate the Human Potential: “No matter what we touch, an atom, or a cell, we cannot explain it without knowledge of the wide universe”....
Though several months have passed since the Newtown, Connecticut, school shootings on December 14, 2012, this tragedy and others like it must continue to resonate with all who are dedicated to creating a peaceful world and all who have committed their professional lives to the welfare of children and their families. National and local news focus on the horrific details of such events, while raising questions about the mental stability of those committing murder and mayhem. This type of coverage sells newspapers, attracts viewers, and raises ratings but does nothing to raise the level of serious consideration: In an affluent country that projects itself as the guardian of peace around the world, how is it that such crimes continue to happen here?
I have been thinking a lot about happiness lately. This started in earnest when I watched researcher Shawn Achor’s 7-minute TEDX talk, entitled “The Happy Secret to Better Work,” with parents and staff. Afterward, I was compelled to buy his book to learn more. The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work, based on Achor’s work at Harvard and companies worldwide, goes into detail about how we can all be happier and more fulfilled. Reading it, I was struck by how Achor’s principles are embedded in Montessori philosophy and curriculum. Once again, Montessori proves to be cutting edge, even 100 years later! Here are some thoughts on a few of Achor’s principles on happiness and how they relate to Montessori....
The Blount Guide to Reading, Spelling, and Pronouncing English
By Beverley Blount
Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2012
Hardcover, 358 pages, $31.99
Paperback, 358 pages, $23.95
E-Book, $3.99
I first encountered Beverley Blount through her informative and perceptive article, “Why Montessori Works” (Montessori Life, 2007, 19:1:84–91). Blount believes that all children can learn to read; the key is employing “Montessori techniques and hands-on progressive reading materials...
I work in the Infant classroom. One day, as I was entering the building, an older child introduced me to her father. She said, “Miss Patti is the Baby Mama.”
Patti Hearn
Maple Tree Academy
Woodridge, IL
Many, many years ago, my school held a fire drill. It fell on Rosh Hashanah. Snack that day was apples with a honey dip to symbolize a sweet New Year.
After the fire drill, one little girl came up to me with tears on her cheeks. “Miss McCrae, you told us when there was a fire drill, we had to drop everything and go to the exit, and now my apple’s drowned!”
One drops everything and does not take time for a coat (or for rescuing an apple).
E. McCrae Harrison
Montessori Academy at Christina
Wilmington, DE