Writers Unbound

“We cannot know the consequences of suppressing a child’s spontaneity when he is just beginning to be active. We may even suffocate life itself. That humanity which is revealed in all its intellectual splendor during the sweet and tender age of childhood should be respected with a kind of religious veneration. It is like the sun which appears at dawn or a flower just beginning to bloom. Education cannot be effective unless it helps a child to open up himself to life.” - Maria Montessori

The concept has changed a bit over the years, but the foundation is the same: the teacher should be less a teacher and more an avid, eager, interested observer and the school should be structured so as to allow maximum freedom, creativity, and self-directed learning by the children.

This doesn’t seem so revolutionary to us now, but Maria Montessori was making these kind of proposals back when corporal punishment as a regular discipline at school was not the distant past. Children were expected to sit still on their hard wooden benches or desks, listen silently, memorize, and regurgitate. Teachers had to strive for control as much as for learning, a problem we haven’t yet eradicated. Montessori’s philosophy said, Hey, quit trying to be in control and set things up so that the children can teach themselves. You’re just there to help if needed.

Montessori’s first work was her post-graduate research into the intellectual development of mentally retarded children. From her success there, she began applying her materials-centered approach to average children, initially preschool-aged. She later developed her methods for elementary-aged children. One of her last books, From Childhood to Adolescence, applied the concepts to secondary and university studies.

Let’s look at the key concepts, simplified:

1. Respect for children as intelligent, unique individuals (little adults), capable of self-direction, leadership, independence, and community interaction.
2. Learning comes through active, hands-on investigation, experience, and research via concrete learning materials and high-quality literature and reference works.
3. Passive, text or workbook-based systems are not effective.
4. A sense of community is important to learning, and is built by creating multi-age groups (usually three age levels) that remain with the same teacher for three years.
5. It is not enough to memorize and repeat. All children (not just the “gifted”) can and should be challenged, held to high standards, and allowed to learn so that they really understand.
6. Natural studies and the outdoors are an important part of education.
7. All academic subjects are related, and it is important to emphasize these connections through the curriculum.
8. Mistakes are a natural part of the learning process.
9. Teaching children to interact kindly and peacefully helps them to develop into caring and respectful adults.
10. Children learn to play/work with one activity at a time and clean it up completely before moving on to the next.

For more information about the Montessori Method, visit The Montessori Foundation, The International Montessori Index, or The American Montessori Society.

Make it a good day.

Image Credit: amrufm.