In a Montessori classroom, a child is free to move about and explore the environment because with activity and movement comes learning. Movement, in fact, contributes not only to the physical, but also to the intellectual potential and spiritual development of the child. The child must have freedom achieved through order and self-discipline. The child in a Montessori environment can learn, discover and be creative. He has the freedom of choice and develops his individual interest.
The child learns best in a prepared environment. It is a place where the child can do things for him or herself. The environment is created in proportion to the child and his or her needs. They decide for themselves which materials to work with. “The extern
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The child is given the opportunity to become independent and care for him or herself in a responsible way. “A teacher simply assists him at the beginning to get his bearings among so many different things and teaches him the precise use of each them, that is to say, she introduces him to the ordered and active life of the environment. But then she leaves him free in the choice and execution of his work.” (Montessori, the Discovery of the Child. 1972. P.63)
The exercises that are developed in the practical life area help the children to be independent and feel at home. There are example frame boards where the child learns to button, lace, hook, or tie things together. This encourages them to practice putting on real clothes and dressing themselves. There are also sinks where the child can wash their hands. “The surrounding objects should be proportioned to the size and strength of the child: light furniture that can carry about; low dressers and low shelves that they can easily manipulate. Light doors that they can open and shut readily. Brooms with short and smooth, light handles, clothes he can easily put and take off himself.” (Montessori, Spontaneous Activity in Education, 1969, p.75)
Finally, general overall movement ties together the physical, intellectual, and spiritual qualities of each child. It keeps the entire child or adult healthy. Both the spirit and the intellect of the child or person depend
MONTESSORI’S research shows that children learn through movement and should have environments that are specifically tailored to meet their needs. Montessori schools provide a foundation for learning that is centred on care for the environment, care for the self as individual and
Students spend most of their time working on the floor where they have their own individual carpets. They put them down to outline their personal workspace. Instead of there being various toys and games spread through out the classroom, there are specific sensory materials and manipulatives that are self correcting and purposeful to student’s learning. On the walls students’ work fill spaces throughout the classroom, similar to the walls of a Head Start classroom. Montessori classrooms are made up of mixed grades and ages, something that is not typical of traditional classrooms.
Education is very important especially in this day and age. What school one attends and how they perceive school to be is a huge factor in one’s life success. There has been research done in the past few years proving that students who receive a Montessori education will prosper academically more so than those who receive a traditional education (Ryniker and Shoho, 2001). Traditional schools typically follow teacher based philosophies and the Montessori education is student centered. On average, children enjoy student based philosophy classrooms. Therefore, they are much more in tuned to what they are learning and that benefits their educational career. Having fun while learning is the key to keeping children engaged.
An enabling environment is vital, in order to support a child’s play, learning and development. The environment is one of the key aspects when looking at ways to facilitate a child’s learning, in order for a child to reach their full potential. The child should feel comfortable, relaxed, safe and secure. This is mentioned in the EYFS under section 3 of the safeguarding and welfare requirements that, ‘children learn best when they are safe and secure’. This is important as it helps the child feel it’s a safe place to engage and explore.
In today’s society many people recognize that our current educational system is antiquated and heavily flawed. Many do not believe the education our children routinely receive adequately prepares them to be successful in their adult lives and because of this parents are very concerned. This dissatisfaction has led to the implementation of numerous alternatives to the traditional educational system to which we have become accustomed. Each of these alternatives has their own collection of philosophies and methodologies, proponents and opponents, advantages and disadvantages, but the common thread is that they each aim to provide our children with a better, more effective education suited for today’s world. Montessori education is one of these alternative learning options that been around for many years and has been steadily gaining popularity.
Maria Montessori founded an education system which is called Montessori and still bares her name, her system is based on belief in the child’s creative potential, (Douglas, n.d.). Her first Casa Dei Bambini (Children’s house), where Maria was using her approach of teaching was opened in 1907 in Rome. She was great educator who believed that children are learning through their personal experience at their right time and their own pace. (Ridgway, 2007). Children rather than learning largely from what the teachers and the textbooks say, learn from “doing”,(Douglas, n.d.). To provide for children an effective, independent learning process, and that they become a competent and confident learner, Teacher had to provide for children a healthy, clean, well-prepared and well organised environment in which children could develop. Maria Montessori came up with idea that if children have to work and play independently, they have to be comfortable and need appropriately sized tools and items that fit their small hands (Mooney, 2000). Montessori believed that children learn through sensory experiences. Teacher has a responsibility to provide wonderful sights, textures, sounds, and smells for children. Sensory
In reality, the children move about the classroom independently, choosing the order of their learning activities. There may be 15 or more activities, or ?jobs? as they are called in some Montessori classrooms, occurring at the same time with small groups or individual work, yet the classroom remains quiet, yet busy and productive, sometimes with the soft hush of classical music playing in the background. Many Montessori school classrooms place a card around the child?s neck with the day?s objectives written in the form of a checklist for the students to monitor themselves. This checklist encourages the students to take responsibility for their own learning, as well as discourages prompt-dependence, since the student need not wait for instruction. Some of the activities in a Montessori classroom include reading, pre-reading using phonics, math, discovery science and writing. Children learn skills in a way that he or she is not aware that learning is taking place. For example, a child playing in the sand box with a small rake is not aware that he or she is learning fine motor skills and how to hold and control a pencil. Another observation in a Montessori classroom is that most classrooms tend to span three grade levels. This practice allows to children to become mentors to younger students. Also, the large gap in developmental levels allows children to ?learn at their own pace? (Keller, 2001), which is another important Montessori
Within lectures, environments in general were discussed and how an environment can motivate a child to learn, “The environment must be rich in motives which lend interest to activity and invite the child to conduct his own experiences,” Montessori [1995:81] by an environment being exciting, it
The education system back in her era focused on teaching the children to memorise word to word from books and posters and Children sat in rows at desks at the classroom learning from a blackboard and slates. This method of education wasn’t stimulating and exciting for children. Nevertheless through her experience Montessori discovered children want to learn, and they will do it in their own time frame and they shouldn’t be forced.
There is no set level that all children must follow; they learn when they explore by themselves. This method leaves children with freedom where they can learn self-discipline in a place designed specifically for their developmental needs. Teachers would have a part in the education of children though even though 80% of it was up to the children. Teachers are to make sure that children are presented with the right extent of material at the right time. In other words, if a child is too advanced for one activity, a teacher would present a new one to fit them, and vice versa. Maria believed if her methods were applied to public schools the results would be even better than the traditional method results. Since the government didn't let her, she started to work with poor daycare children. She doubted that her methods would work under these conditions but she had shocking results. She discovered if the children were in an orderly place to work, they will respect that and care for it. They are able to learn longer and better than in an everyday setting. In Montessori preschool, five areas make up the prepared learning environment. These areas include practical life, the sensorial area, mathematics, and cultural activities. In the elementary program, areas include integration, presentation of knowledge, presentation of the formal scientific languages, the use of visual aids, mathematic curriculum, Montessori trained teachers, emphasis on open-ended research and
How is the child’s exploration and orientation in his physical environment complimented by the Montessori materials and presentation?
One of the key founding principles of Montessori education is that children thrive and excel in an environment that is ordered and structured. One of the most obvious ways that a Montessori classroom is structured is in space: every thing has its proper place in the shelves - set up so the child can get things for him or herself - and when a set of learning materials is finished with for the day or for the moment, the bits and pieces need to be put away so that spatial order is maintained. Learning to do so is part of the self-care that is also stressed as part of Montessori learning. Many parents often try to imitate these principles at home, making sure that materials and other things that their child can use are in a place that the child can access easily. And wise parents also make sure that the rule about putting it away properly in the right place when you've finished applies at home as well as at the Montessori early learning centre.
Dr Montessori emphasizes the importance of the development of imagination. How do cultural activities in a Montessori prepared environment aid in the development….
Cultural competence methods involved materials related to the arts, science, and social science. Montessori cultural activities have an important language component. Teaching different cultures to children are important. It helps them to have an appreciation for other nationalities, cultural backgrounds, spiritual beliefs, languages, and act. Dr. Maria Montessori would create classrooms that were filled with many different objects that are associated with other parts of the country. Each student will take part of the activity that involves the paths of culture. As children learn different aspects of culture this allows the children to understand how each culture differs and hopefully become a participating and contributing member of society. Montessori education for young children helps to increase their independency to adult hood. Children are allowed to learn at their own pace, rather than learn at another child pace. This learning concept helps to develop long term experiences that the child will carry on into adulthood. It focusses on less dependency on a teacher for guidance. It allows a child to make decisions based on their way of learning. The teachers are present during the learning phases. However, the child is responsible to think strategic and come to realistic conclusions. In return, the child will succeed because the child is learning at his/her own pace.
Montessori’s teaching approach aims to develop all aspects of the child mentally and socially (Pound, 2012). Montessori cautioned teachers to remember that children need to be allowed to do basic tasks to learn for themselves (Mooney, 2000, p.28). The role of the teacher in a Montessori setting is mainly observation of the child, encouragement, preparation of the environment, leadership, fostering the child’s independence (Mooney, 2000, p.29), and keeping a complex and delicate balance between each role. (Miller, 2010, p.79). Both theorists acknowledged that children learn best by doing and through repetition of tasks (Mooney, 2000, p.29). Large blocks of time for free work and play, should be scheduled as this was part of the Montessori legacy, this can also be seen in Steiner settings. (Pound, 2012). The teacher should also give children responsibility for keeping the setting space clean and tidy and allow the children to structure their own play. (Mooney, 2000, p.29). Steiner’s role of the teacher is comparable. Steiner wanted to create an education which gave children ‘clarity of thought, sensitivity of feeling and strength of will’ (Pound 2012, p28). Like Montessori the role of the teacher is all about observation, the teacher needs to be both interested and observational of the child’s basic needs to fully develop the child both