What is Montessori?
In 1907 Maria Montessori, the first female physician in Italy, established an educational model based on her own scientific observations of how children learn. Her belief was that children could teach themselves and benefited from a natural learning process. The Montessori philosophy is an alternative to traditional education.
Guides (Teachers) are taught, in their Montessori training, how to respect the individuality of each child. They also are taught to celebrate individuality, details of human tendencies, the process of learning and how to create an optimum learning environment for children to learn. This consists of a prepared environment, well organized work areas, a three hour work cycle, teaching of grace and courtesy (character education), and multi aged groupings of students.
Montessori is opposed to children rote memorizing information for the right answer. The Montessori way does not require textbooks but uses very specific materials that are designed to intrigue and hold a child's attention. A teacher works individually or in small groups with students to provide them a lesson on specific materials and a child can return after the lesson to the materials when they choose.
The core subjects of Language, Math, Science and the Arts are interwoven in a multidisciplinary frame of learning. All of this exists in a very structured classroom environment. Maria Montessori believed " We should follow the child" , so the Park Road Montessori staff allows the child to take the lead in what they study, the time of day they complete their work and how a classroom should function. By allowing a child to take the lead, children learn at a young age how to make decisions and to follow through with these decisions.
President Woodrow Wilson's daughter, Thomas Edison and Helen Keller brought Maria Montessori to the United States in 1913. Albert Einstein was also a great supporter of Montessori and actually helped to bring her method to the United States in the early '50's. He said, "I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn." A true Maria Montessori thought. Come to Park Road and see the beautiful learning conditions we provide for children.
Last update: Friday, March 19, 2010 at 11:11:50 AM
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