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Preschool Prep Series: The Montessori Method
The Montessori Method
Part One
By Tara Swords
"And then we saw them 'absorb' far more than reading and writing: botany, zoology, mathematics, geography and all with the same ease, spontaneously and without getting tired. And so we discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being. It is not acquired by listening to words, but in virtue of experiences in which the child acts on his environment. The teacher's task is not to talk, but to prepare and arrange a series of motives for cultural activity in a special environment made for the child." – Dr. Maria Montessori
More than 90 years after she began, Montessori's ideas about self-directed learning have inspired more than 5,000 schools in the United States and Canada.
"They're very intrigued by what they see the older kids doing," says Ron Goldstein, administrator of the Rogers Park Montessori School in Chicago, Ill. "A 3-year-old can look at a 4-year-old and think they're super and say, 'Wow, I want to do this, too.'"
The major difference between the Montessori method and a traditional preschool is structure. The main focus of a traditional preschool is socialization, where teachers provide children with ample opportunities to play and learn the valuable peer interaction skills they'll need as adults.
