Recently I became aware of some negative feedback about the Montessori method. Somebody said, “I would never send my kids to a Montessori school; they are given too much freedom and that would completely spoil them.”
I was surprised at this comment and looked into this more. Turns out there was more uneducated or misinformed feedback similar to this conversation I had overheard, including perceptions that Montessori children just played all day, that the teacher often sat and watched the class without teaching, and that children didn’t always do the core subjects every day.
Well, I can imagine that it would look odd to an outside perspective. And these days there are many schools that claim to be ‘Montessori’ without any trained teachers in the method, so of course I can see how they might take liberties in this area. But I’ve learned a lot moving from a state school to a highly-functioning Montessori school, and can see how they are so successful in what they do.
A cornerstone of the Montessori method is to give freedom to the child, but what some cannot see or understand is that it comes with responsibility. In order to ‘teach’ independence, we must give the children the freedom to make conscious, responsible choices. This is not a blanket system we lay over the whole class – each individual student needs their own balance of these two elements.
Basically, a trained Montessori teacher will see what limits each child needs to strengthen their independence. Part of this involves the teacher doing classroom observations, hence why a teacher might be seen just watching their class run, making some notes to inform their practice. Then when it comes to conferencing one-on-one with each student, the teacher takes an approach to setting these limits that gives the child ownership of their own learning journey.
Help them to think for themselves first.
When observing these conferences, I noticed the teachers asked questions more than making statements to allow children time to find the answers for themselves. It was amazing, listening to the child and patiently waiting for them to find the answer gave them the opportunity to stop and think aloud about why they were making certain choices that were pushing the boundaries of the classroom expectations. The children were developing self-regulation and taking ownership of their actions and learning.
Listen to the children. It sounds simple, right? But I challenge you as a teacher not to be too quick to give a child the approval, the answer or advice to their problem. A small place to start is the next time a student eagerly shows you some work they have produced; instead of saying “good job”, try “Is this your work? How do you feel about it?” Then pause for a bit longer than you usually would before speaking again. You may be surprised by what they say next!
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