Over twenty years ago, I fulfilled a dream by embarking on a personally and professionally transformative journey over the course of an intensive year gaining my Montessori 3-6 credential. The American Montessori Society training center I attended is known for its academic rigor, its focus on Montessori philosophy, and for the support provided to new…
My first year in a Montessori environment was as an assistant to a seasoned, and I believe, enlightened 3-6 Montessori guide and mentor. I say “enlightened”, because Sue embodied that “lovingkindness” that Dr. Montessori promoted in her writings and is attained through inner spiritual transformation. Sue’s every interaction with the children was imbued with this…
I’ll never forget the wonder I experienced during my 3-6 training when learning about Montessori education as a means of creating world peace. The idea that our youngest children have the potential to transform humanity when we nurture their spirit and expose them to tools for gaining inner peace and the guidance to resolve conflicts…
Rewards can shape behavior by providing incentives for performing certain behaviors. Use of extrinsic rewards, such as money, gold stars, or candy, can have unintended consequences. These include reducing performance by singularly focusing effort on the reward, or making behavior dependent on receiving a reward rather than increasing or enhancing understanding. Rewards are Either…
So much of what we do as Montessori educators is proscribed from the annals of Dr. Montessori and passed down generationally through our training to become certified guides. This entire blog series seeks to uncover why what we do works and how we might enhance our practices to improve student learning outcomes. This week’s focus…
Imaginative Play is at Work in Montessori Environments Most people would agree that children naturally love to pretend play and use their imagination to create alternate worlds. Most people would agree that this imaginative play is a natural part of human development. What most people don’t agree upon though, is whether pretend play should…
Hands On Learning is a Hallmark of Montessori Methodology The focus on specific hands on elements in learning environments scaffolds the learning to be acquired. Hands on materials allow for lessons to build upon one another and extend a student’s abilities in a stepped fashion that proceeds from concrete to abstract. Through her observations…
Twenty-seven years ago, I stepped into a Montessori classroom for the very first time. The five year old boy that I was a nanny for forgot to collect the novel he was writing at school, so I parked my car and followed him inside to collect it from the 1970’s home converted into a school.…