A DAY WITH MONTESSORI!

Montessori Education

Marie Montessori was an inspiration to the life of education and provided children with a different attitude to learning. Montessori education is a 100-year-old approach that was paramount to nursery children in Rome (Lillard and Else-Quest 2006). I believe the history behind this context of learning to be motivational, stimulating and an imperative aspect of how Montessori education developed.

 

Marie Montessori was born in Italy in 1870 and became a recipient of the new radical and communal tendencies in Italians society for almost three decades. At the age of 14, she devoted her time and determination into education and succeeded her goal by becoming the first female doctor in Italy (Issacs 2012).

After 10 years in medicine, her interests changed resulting in more attention to children who at the time were diagnosed as retarded and disturbed. She had a strong belief that the solutions to the needs of these children were through education interventions (Feez 2010). During 1907, Montessori opened a school for slum children in Italy; the school was named The Case dei Bambini also known as the Children’s House. This was the beginning of her success of pedagogy and Montessori nurseries/schools (Issacs 2012).

The Montessori approach is recognised for the influence it creates to our understanding of learning through the senses and development of educational toys (Issacs 2010). The activities utilised in early years incorporates children’s hands to interact with the true environment (Feez 2010). Montessori argued that the environment is key to the success of child development and gives the child the respect of his/her individuality (Issacs 2010).

Issacs (2010) suggests that Montessori describes children’s development in stages; each element should be maintained by the environment that supports the rare qualities of each child. The three key elements behind the Montessori approach are: the child, the favourable environment and the teacher. The association between each of these elements continues to progress as it is based on the observation of children.

One major criticism of the Montessori approach is aimed towards the lack of creativity, imaginative play and toys that children engage with, however this is a misapprehension as Montessori highlighted that children have the freedom to choose their own activities (Feez 2010). Montessori’s reflections of children led her to understand that children absorb the work of real objects rather than toys when left on their own (Issacs 2010) therefore toys were unnecessary in Montessori early years schools (Feez 2010).

A typical Montessori Classroom

Montessori classrooms provide an organised environment where children are able to respond to their natural propensity to work. The layout of the classroom is vital to inspire exploration and communication (Montessori, no date). The classrooms consist of mixed age groups, child-sized furniture, areas for children to work in small groups or on their own, a vast amount of open floor space, low shelves with selected learning material and carefully selected toys such as plain building blocks (Lillard and Else-Quest 2006; Feez, 2010). Montessori teachers are generally known as directresses or observers as they direct the child towards the appropriate learning activity. All staff at a Montessori school should be calm and discreet when observing the children (Montessori, no date).

http://www.montessori.org.uk/what_is_montessori/the_environment - I have included this link to the main Montessori website which provides further information and reading