The Teachings of Montessori

This week as we were asked to pick one theorist to research and write about their theory of education, I chose to research and write about Doctor Maria Montessori and her theory of education. I chose Dr. Montessori to research first because it is a method of teaching that I had heard of but never truly understood what it was or how it was taught. I also chose to research Montessori because it was the name that stood out to me and one I have heard many times before. So with that in mind, I set out to learn more about the Montessori method of teaching and what it entails.

Maria Montessori was an Italian born educator who sought to develop a method of teaching that was more suited towards modern America. This method of education focuses on independence, giving the children freedom within limits, the technological advances in society, and the psychological developments of the children at this age. This method of teaching is based around human development and an educational approach that is centered around that model. Montessori believed that children placed into what she thought was the ideal environment for their learning, would act spontaneously for optimal development.

The Montessori model of learning varies now but they focus mainly on these four points:

·      Mixed age classrooms with children aged 3-9

·      Student choice of activity from a range of options prepared according to the method.

·      Uninterrupted blocks of work time

·      Time for discovery where the children work with materials rather than with direct instruction.

Montessori believed that with this method, the children would be best developed and that they would also develop the independence necessary to make them functioning humans in society. It is in my opinion that this method of teaching might only benefit children that learn best by seeing the material before them. I do not believe that this method of instruction is the most beneficial to students because not everyone is able to learn without direct instruction and the aid of a teacher.

Resources:

The Montessori Foundation

Are we teaching children properly about the holidays?

When I was in elementary school I can remember learning about both Columbus Day and Thanksgiving through mostly songs and books read to us by the teachers. I think that most teachers skipped over the more historical facts about both of these holidays and instead stuck to what they knew would interest their students. For that reason, truthfully I don’t know all that much about either holiday other than knowing the dates that Columbus landed and the names of the ships he sailed upon. In school both of these holidays seemed more like excuses for the teachers to throw parties, rather than as a proper lesson that we as kids learned and committed to memory. Personally I believe that these holidays are important because we as a country celebrate them. If we are going to celebrate them and give the students time off from school, they should know the reasons why so that they respect those days.

Truthfully for teachers, it shouldn’t be all that difficult to know what to do in regards to teaching their students about Thanksgiving. A simple Google search on that matter brought me to Scholastic.com, which provided both articles about the holiday as well as activities for the children to do. If I were teaching the students about this holiday in particular I would design a lesson plan around some of the activities listed there so that I knew the students were learning something rather than just enjoying the fact that the holiday gets them out of school. One activity that I found particularly interesting was something called a “Virtual Trip to Plymouth Plantation”. Now given, we live close enough that maybe for a field trip this would be suitable but if we wanted to give children across the country the opportunity to take a tour of this plantation where some of the first settlers to this country lived. Most classrooms these days have Smartboards or projectors, so I think this would be a fantastic resource to use.

In any case I found there to be a wide variety of resources out there for teachers to use for helping their students to learn about Thanksgiving in particular. It is my belief that children should walk away from elementary school knowing all that there is on the holidays that our country celebrates, and teaching them while they are this young is a surefire way to make sure it sticks with them.

Resources:

Scholastic

Virtual Tour of Plymouth Plantation