The Maria Montessori method

[Trolldor]

There's no 'Today you must do this',

Directive learning. Actually, this works very well. The teacher simply has to avoid the 'iron mistress' approach. "Alright, today we're going to be looking at..." works much better than "Today you will be doing..."

[Beatsong]

While I don't share the Mad Hatter's wholesale condemnation of all things Montessori, he does raise an important point.

You can't generalise about "traditional schools" because there are so many of them and they vary so dramatically in style and quality. Some have adopted some of the better aspects of alternative systems such as Steiner and Montessori, some haven't. Schools serve widely differing demographics, and what is right for one will not necessarily be right for others. You need to consider your own child and how they personally respond to things.

Rather than viewing this as a choice between Montessori and so called "traditional schooling", you might be better off thinking openly about how you want your child to grow up and learn, and how best to arrange your life to that end. Which would probably include factors such as his lifestyle outside of school; how far he has to travel to get to school; how he socialises and who with; as well as the various differences between any one traditional school and another.

[eXcommunicate]

I have a question. Why this pervasive idea that a child has to be at the same level of his "peers"? Perhaps it's just something I'm not *getting* about this. What does it matter if a child starts kindergarten a year later than the same kids his age? What does it matter if a "3rd grader" is reading at an arbitrary "2nd grade" level? Why can't students learn at their own pace? Why this relentless competitive streak in parents? What does it matter if the child graduates high school at 17 instead of 18?

I'm a parent and I value education. But I'm not going to drill it into my son's head that he needs to destroy his peers in standardized tests. I'm little by little gifting him a love of learning for its own sake. This I think will serve him better in the long run. And by serve him better, I mean help make him a happy person instead of one continually looking to backstab his co-workers for the next promotion.

[Trolldor]

The point of reading grades in a standard school system is hardly arbitrary, maybe you ought to take an education course.

[eXcommunicate]

The point of reading grades in a standard school system is hardly arbitrary, maybe you ought to take an education course.

I asked a fucking question. Thanks for the answer. If you have some expertise in the field, perhaps you'd like to share some of your knowledge. Seems like with all your education you fail at communicating.

[Millefleur]

My 5 yr old (in Montessori) is slightly behind my neighbours 5 yr old (at a Ofsted rated 'excellent' state school) in terms of reading, difference is that my 5 yr old loves to read and will pick up a book of her own accord while the neighbours daughter screams her way through her nightly reading homework. I don't care about her being 'behind' if it means she has a love of reading, I'd rather she pick up a book and say 'what is this word?' because she wants to know, not stressing over learning it then panicking about forgetting it and losing marks. This method of learning doesn't suit everyone but it suits my child.

[Loki]

Loki jn. (6) also attends a Montessori school, has done since he was 2 and is doing ok as far as we can tell. He's not as skilled at reading as some of his peers but does fine at other areas (I think he's worried we'll stop reading to him if he shows he can do it himself).

The focus is on joy of learning and respect for yourself and others. They don't promote any value-system, critical and ethical thinking is very high on their list.

Montessori kids are not (despite popular opinion above) left to "discover" things for themselves. Before they start anything new they have a one-on-one lesson with a teacher. Afterwards they keep doing it till they get it right in their heads, then they are introduced to something new.

Standards seem reasonably high, for example in the later primary years if a child does not know a word, they are required to look it up in a standard dictionary as well as an etymological dictionary and write down the derivation as reinforcement.

Because the teachers aren't at the front of the room doing classes but moving around the class they are able to give kids more individual attention and to do continuous assessment of work. There is no teaching to the test (at least not in this school), and work covered is to the requirements of the state (soon to be federal) curriculum.

Yes there is a lot of equipment, and the same equipment is used over and over again throughout the program for increasingly detailed concepts, they get to learn with their hands as well as their eyes. Loki jn. is quite proud of being able to assemble a trinomial cube blindfolded, and in due course will use this hands-on knowledge to understand the mathematics behind it. Same with the Roman Arch and a heap of other stuff.

They are also taught basic evolutionary concepts from a young age, which doesn't happen in all "traditional" schools around here.

They also have a counsellor who is a qualified psychologist, not an apologist. Other Australians will appreciate this point.

Would a traditional school be any better or worse? I don't know, but he's happy and keen and appears to be learning, although how he made the ridiculous decision to be an entomologist when he grows up is beyond me.

I also can't see how a short course would be of much lasting benefit, the method is somewhat different to what a kid from a traditional school would be used to.

[Trolldor]

The point of reading grades in a standard school system is hardly arbitrary, maybe you ought to take an education course.

I asked a fucking question. Thanks for the answer. If you have some expertise in the field, perhaps you'd like to share some of your knowledge. Seems like with all your education you fail at communicating.

You asked 'what was the point with an arbitrar'

If you presume it to be arbitrary then you evidentially don't know what you're talking about. Spend some time doing your own fucking work instead of dismissing something you don't know anything about.

[eXcommunicate]

If you presume it to be arbitrary then you evidentially don't know what you're talking about. Spend some time doing your own fucking work instead of dismissing something you don't know anything about.

Since we are here discussing this on a discussion forum it would be nice to, y'know, discuss these things instead of screaming, "Go take a course in X!" Is this how you talk to people in person? Do you enjoy browbeating people on Internet discussion forums? Why are you even here? I came here to learn, that's why I framed my original post in the form of questions. I even used language that indicated I was open to being wrong.

Because the teachers aren't at the front of the room doing classes but moving around the class they are able to give kids more individual attention and to do continuous assessment of work. There is no teaching to the test (at least not in this school), and work covered is to the requirements of the state (soon to be federal) curriculum.

They still have to take the state standardized tests still, right? If so, then there should be an objective measurement of standards, compared to more traditional schools nearby. (granted, these standards are to what the state and now the Feds believe are important to learn).

[Bella Fortuna]

They are not obliged to take federal standardised tests (at least in California - not sure if that's differentiated state-by-state), from what I understand. My Montessori just started doing so a couple of years ago because it seemed sensible as eventually all the children will transition elsewhere, so that parents would know where they stand and teachers could target instruction in prepping the kids for what they'd be expected to know once they've moved to another school.