What More Could You Want for Your Child?

Lynn A. Weddle wrote this in 2003:

For me, the three most important benefits of continuing Montessori education through eighth grade is that our children develop respect, self-confidence and a desire to learn.  

One of the many advantages of a Montessori education, is the sense of respect our children develop and continue to demonstrate to each other.

• Montessori educated children learn compassion and empathy early on by nurturing others and being nurtured because of the mixed age groupings of each classroom.  This is not to say they never have disagreements—they do—but Montessori students learn to constructively work things out and move on--a great life-time skill.  This becomes particularly important in the latter elementary and middle school years.  Given the small classroom sizes, Montessori students cannot just “drop out” and become anonymous when conflict arises.  These students learn to work together and respect each other’s differences—another great life-time skill.

 Montessori educated children also develop a terrific sense of self-confidence. 

• In Brickton’s toddler classroom, my young daughter was encouraged to put on her own clothes and shoes (even if they ended up on the “wrong” feet!) and she felt such a tremendous sense of accomplishment.  At age 2 ½, we were no longer permitted to dress her!  Cleaning up their lunch tables, helping to shovel snow or plant flowers and even now, for my daughter, being encouraged to make her own lunch (at age 7) creates a strong “I can do it” attitude.  I have seen the effects of this not only in my child, but in the middle school students when they are taking breakfast orders and serving during Planet Coffeewood* mornings.  They conduct themselves with such poise and confidence that we “patrons” cannot help but be very impressed and encouraged for our own future middle school students!

 The continued desire to learn is truly a wonderful “legacy” that Montessori educated children benefit from.

• Because the classroom environment is self-directed and the Montessori works are self-correcting, children are not passively learning or being required to sit still at a desk and all receive the same information at the same time.  In a Montessori classroom, it’s hands on—a sense of discovery and mastery on their own—with individual direction or guidance from the Directress.  They’re taught to problem solve by understanding the big picture first, then the parts.   A directress explained it to me this way:  “Imagine getting hundreds of puzzle pieces and you have no idea what the picture is that you’re trying to form…with Montessori, children are presented with the picture first so that they clearly understand what they’re doing with the bits and pieces.  In this way, these kids don’t easily get bored---they’re actually excited about going to school!

 Respect, self-confidence and a life-long desire to learn…what more could you want for your child?

* Planet Coffeewood - a student-run business

Lynn's daughter, Lily, graduated from Brickton Montessori School in 2011.

Peace on Earth

On behalf of the community at Brickton Montessori School, I offer you PEACE.

Grandparents and Special Friends

Today is Grandparents & Special Friends Day at Brickton.  It is a day of smiles, treats, acceptance and time. 

This is a wonderful short animation about human connections; another reminder to ponder your navel!

Let’s Rethink School Altogether | EDUCATING FOR LIFE

A recent article in Slate, “Why Preschools Shouldn’t Be Like School, has been making the internet rounds lately.  Developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik writes about two recent studies from MIT and UC Berkeley, both of which explore the effects of direct instruction on preschool age children.

The basic gist of the studies is that when children are directly shown how to manipulate a toy to make it do interesting things, versus being given the freedom to explore independently, they spend less time with the toy and are less likely to make their own discoveries. Gopnik writes:

As so often happens in science, two studies from different labs, using different techniques, have simultaneously produced strikingly similar results. They provide scientific support for the intuitions many teachers have had all along: Direct instruction really can limit young children’s learning. Teaching is a very effective way to get children to learn something specific—this tube squeaks, say, or a squish then a press then a pull causes the music to play. But it also makes children less likely to discover unexpected information and to draw unexpected conclusions.

Why might children behave this way? Adults often assume that most learning is the result of teaching and that exploratory, spontaneous learning is unusual. But actually, spontaneous learning is more fundamental. It’s this kind of learning, in fact, that allows kids to learn from teachers in the first place.

I don’t think Gopnik or her colleagues are suggesting that preschool can’t be a valuable learning environment.  But this article demonstrates that the typical view of school is still all about direct instruction.  This is the framework that researchers are still using: preschools should be less like “school”.

Well, I’ll argue that all schools should be less like school, if “school” means listening to what teachers say for eight hours a day.  I never cease to find it fascinating (and frustrating at the same time) that Dr. Montessori’s  observations about the developmental needs and tendencies of young children still remain relatively unknown in the world of education and psychology and are being “rediscovered” over 100 years later.

I don’t want to dismiss the value of good teachers (they get enough of that from everyone else these days).  But I do want to encourage researchers and education policy makers to re-imagine the role of the teacher.  The sooner we move away from this antiquated notion of the teacher as the source of knowledge and the student as the vessel, the better.  In certain situations, it is appropriate for a teacher to give more direct instruction…but in most cases, students learn more efficiently, and more joyfully, when teachers are facilitators rather than directors.

On a side note, I’ve read two of Gopnik’s books (The Scientist in the Crib: What Early Learning Tells Us About the Mind,  and The Philosophical Baby: What Children’s Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love and the Meaning of Life, and both are fantastic.)

• Share this:
• Facebook

Eco World Content From Across The Internet.

Featured on EcoPressed On Nuclear Power: Regulating Our Reaction

via educatingforlife.wordpress.com

More research that supports Montessori education!

What does Maria Montessori, Sir Ken Robinson and some Brickton Montessori School educators have in common?

They may have some differing opinions about young children and imagination.  Now that could be an interesting conversation!
While Maria Montessori will not be in attendance, thousands of Montessori educators will be on hand as Sir Ken delivers the closing  keynote  at the American Montessori Society's 2011 Annual Conference, March 24-27, in Chicago.