The Montessori Message

The Montessori Message

Category Archives: Research

Teaching or Learning

01 Sunday Dec 2019

Posted by Lisa Lalama in 21st century learning, Learning, Montessori Education, Research

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curriculum, individualized learning, learning, student centered learning, teaching

DSC00177

Educators spend a good deal of time determining what curriculum will be used in each subject area. It has become an industry unto itself, with companies creating and updating textbooks and curricula. A curriculum serves as a means to an end, and the end is, theoretically, learning.

The more we learn about the science of learning, the more we know that learning does not happen in a straight line, nor does everyone learn in the same way or at the same pace. Following a strictly defined curriculum does not leave room for these differences in learning. If tied to a content delivery system and a specified curriculum, a school or school district can guarantee that information was taught. What they can’t guarantee is that the content was learned. Those are two completely different goals. Continue reading →

The Montessori Difference

21 Thursday Mar 2019

Posted by Lisa Lalama in Learning, learning environment, Montessori Education, Research, Teachers

≈ 3 Comments

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Maria Montessori, montessori, montessori difference, montessori teachers, teachers as guides, teachers as observers

Heather SipleRoaming Jan 23rd028

As a Montessori parent for almost 30 years and an educator practicing in the Montessori world for more than 20 years, I sometimes forget that others do not have the advantage of the Montessori perspective. I came across a blog that fully supported Montessori education, yet tried to find a way to adapt it to other school settings. While I appreciate this thinking and am thrilled with the endorsement, it’s just not that simple.

The blog endorsed student choice, supporting independence, mixed age groupings, focusing on the whole child and individualized lessons. Yes, and… While those are all essential elements of Montessori education and, we could argue, elements of the best standards of all educational models, there is so much more. Each of these elements may be visible to outsiders. What isn’t visible is the underlying structure which is the essence of Montessori education.

The Montessori philosophy and pedagogy are based on Dr. Maria Montessori’s study of children, specifically noting the planes of development: infancy/preschool, elementary, early/late adolescence and maturity/adulthood. Every decision about what materials are on the shelves, which lessons are introduced and what expectations are established is a result of a strong understanding of the students’ development at those ages. Nothing is happenstance. This was all established through Dr. Montessori’s scientific approach as she developed each material, each lesson, and the setting in which they occur. Continue reading →

Personalized Learning

29 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by Lisa Lalama in 21st century learning, Learning, Montessori Education, Research, Teachers, Wilmington Montessori School

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brain research, individualized learning, learning and the brain, personalized learning

We often hear the term “individualized learning” when referring to schools. It has been deemed to be the pinnacle of educational practice, serving students well. The assumption is that we are approaching each student as an individual and meeting his or her needs. I’ve said it myself many times. What if, instead of individualizing learning, our goal is to personalize student learning?

Attending workshops at the Learning and the Brain conference last week caused me to consider the idea of personalized learning more thoroughly. As we work in service to the children in our classrooms, we must consider their interests, abilities, passions and needs. We need to co-create their learning with them, sometimes with more teacher influence, others with more student direction and still others with a finely tuned mix of each ingredient. Personalized learning is collaborative and cooperative by its very nature. Individualized learning is meeting a child’s needs by matching them with the educational systems goals. It may be a subtle difference, but it is one that merits our attention. Continue reading →

Making Learning “Just Right”

08 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by Lisa Lalama in 21st century learning, Learning, Montessori Education, Research, Wilmington Montessori School

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brain, factory model of education, individualized learning, learning styles, school, Wilmington Montessori, Wilmington Montessori School

brain based learningSeveral years ago, two friends and I led a two-week summer camp. The theme was the brain and how it works. We focused our efforts on offering activities that would allow campers to give a thumbs up or thumbs down to a variety of experiences. The goal was for them to discover what they find easy or enjoying doing, as well what they find hard or uninteresting. We all participated in activities that were easy, just right, or difficult.

Much of school is about just that. Easy. Just right. Difficult. One person’s experience is not the same as another’s, and yet schools persist in trying to make everyone’s experience the same – a factory model applied to individuals. Factories don’t exist to fit the individual; their purpose is to create conformity and uniformity. That simply doesn’t work in schools. It isn’t an effective way to learn. I may need more time to conduct an experiment or read a book but less time solving a math problem or applying logic to a given situation. We are each individuals, and many of us didn’t learn much about our learning style until we were out of school. If we were successful in school, there could be many reasons but one reason for many is that we simply knew how to “do school.” We understood the way school worked, could manage to meet most requirements with relative ease and fit into the mold. Some of us did not have that luxury. Instead, we may have struggled with things that others found easy; we may have not understood how to meet the mark and succeed in school. But, once we found something we loved to do, we figured that out, no matter how hard it was.

Many schools, like Wilmington Montessori, are trying to do things differently. We are looking for that “just right” level of instruction for every student, not just a select few. We strive to be responsive to the needs of the children in their classrooms today – not those who were there last week, last year or 10 years ago. This is a tall order but it is one that is necessary. We know much more about learning and how brains work today than we did a century or even a decade ago. We have the ability to design instruction with the student in mind. We know that we are preparing students to enter a workforce that is quite different from that their parents or grandparents entered. It is a new world, a world that is moving at a faster rate of change than ever before. We need to be responsive and adapt student experiences, ready to make it “just right” for the children who will be doing all they can to be contributing members of their world as they continue to learn and grow.

Changes

11 Thursday Oct 2018

Posted by Lisa Lalama in 21st century learning, Research

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change, education, hamilton, innovation, NFL, research, schools, theater

I love the game of football. I’m also a huge theater buff. What do these things have in common? Throughout my lifetime, and I’m sure before, both this sport and art form have changed. They have changed in their presentation to the public. The rules of the game and the rules of theater have shifted. Theater and football today are clearly different than they were 30 years ago. Suffering penalties under the new roughing the passer rules in the NFL or attending a performance of “Hamilton” highlight some of these differences. Things change.

The same is true in schools. The best schools today are not exactly like the schools of our childhood. The educational practices, curricula and even the buildings do not look like they did 20, 30 or 40 years ago. They have been adapted and changed to reflect what we now know through research, science and practice. We now know much more about how learning occurs. There are fMRIs and studies in neuroscience that allow us to actually see how the brain responds to varying stimuli and ultimately how different areas of the brain “light up” during certain tasks. There are years of data that guide educators as they make instructional decisions for students. To put it simply, we know more now than we knew then, whenever “then” was – 30 years ago or last year.

Learning brings the evolution of thought and change. What educators embraced even 10 years ago in teaching may now be dormant as other practices have taken their place. The best thing that can happen in education is to make thoughtful shifts in practice that make learning more accessible for all learners. Everything we do must be with the students, how to best serve them each and every day, in mind.

Mythbuster: Theories of Learning Styles

12 Thursday Apr 2018

Posted by Lisa Lalama in Learning, Research

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auditory learner, kinesthetic learner, learning modalities, learning styles, learning theories, mythbuster, visual learner

learning modalities (1)Are you an auditory, visual or kinesthetic learner? Do you prefer to listen, see or move to gain the most from a learning experience? Most of us will say we think we know how we learn best. However, in the past few years research has debunked the idea of preferential learning styles.

Research has shown that we actually learn and retain information equally well through any of these paths. Evidence suggests that we may prefer one type of learning over another but that, in practice, that preference doesn’t improve our performance. Once study strategies are taught, we have the ability to do as well through any of the modes of learning. Reading this information made me question my own preference for visual learning. I prefer to see and take notes to learn rather than to attend a lecture where listening is the main pathway to attain information. Maybe I placed too much emphasis on my note taking as a kinesthetic way to learn? Or perhaps I overrated my need to see the information that is being discussed along with hearing it?

We don’t learn in isolation, nor do we retain isolated facts for any length of time. Taking notes in a lecture may help you focus. Moving might support attention and interest for some people. Now that research has proven we can learn in various ways, does that mean that we don’t have a preference? Probably not. But it does mean that we don’t need to rely solely on that preference. We can learn in new ways and need to open our minds to the possibilities.

How well do you know yourself?

11 Thursday Jan 2018

Posted by Lisa Lalama in Learning, Montessori Education, Research, Wilmington Montessori School

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daniel pink, know yourself, montessori, Montessori education, self-awareness, when

Knowing YourselfOne of my favorite thinkers, Daniel Pink, has just released a new book: When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing. I began reading it yesterday and am completely hooked. According to my Kindle, I am about 20 percent into the book and have already learned so much. Things that I have spent decades “figuring out” about myself are presented with scientific evidence supporting my deeply held assumptions. For example, I am an early bird. I have most of my energy in the morning. I always have. If I have jobs to do, morning is the most productive time to accomplish my goals. However, I think more freely and creatively later in the day, as my energy wanes. I’m typical in these ways. I accomplish more before noon than I can hope to achieve after 7 p.m.; my best ideas come to me as I am feeling less energetic.

What do you know about yourself? Do you have evidence to support your beliefs? Montessori education supports students as they learn about themselves. What are the best times to accomplish work? How do they learn best? What do they need to be successful? Who can they go to for help? How should they prioritize their tasks based on individual needs and energy peaks and valleys? Learning about themselves serves them during their time in a Montessori environment and beyond. It gives them the opportunity to try things out, build on their successes and learn from their mistakes. We may assume that analytical subjects such as math need to be taught in the morning, when most of us are fresher and have more energy. According to When, there is a subset of people who actually peak after noon and would benefit from having math in the afternoon.

One of the things I have come to appreciate about Montessori education is the focus on children’s individual differences – not only academically, but socially and emotionally as well. As adults, we may know these things about ourselves, but it probably has taken the better part of our lives to figure them out. Montessori children have the opportunity to experience and reflect on their work, their friendships and their approach to problem solving. They have the chance to get to know themselves in a safe nurturing environment. As they move beyond their Montessori years, they take this self-awareness with them to the next school, their work and social lives. They have a leg up on the rest of us as they explore “when” might be the best time for them as they make decisions in their lives.

Success in School… and Life

08 Friday Dec 2017

Posted by Lisa Lalama in Learning, Montessori Education, Research, Teachers

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education, lifelong learning, school, success

Photo - Primary A Words

At many junctures in a child’s life, teachers ask parents what their goals are for their child. The purpose of the question is to understand what parents expect – what their hopes and dreams are for their child. Invariably, parents will say that they want their child to do her best and to be happy. We all want to raise human beings who are happy and well-adjusted.

Recently, many in the field of education have began to question the true purpose of school. Do we send children to school to learn facts, to be the “best” students or to question ideas that have withstood the test of time? Should an established curriculum be the focus, or is it important to learn to think and discover facts beyond what is taught in the set curriculum? What approach will best set children up for success in their future lives as adults in a rapidly changing world? Continue reading →

Student Engagement

16 Thursday Nov 2017

Posted by Lisa Lalama in Learning, Montessori Education, Research, Teachers, Wilmington Montessori School

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elementary, engaged learners, engagement, following the child, gallup poll, high school, learning, middle school, preschool

Photo - 9-12 Bridge.jpg

Recently, I came across a Gallup poll, polling students in grades 5 through 12 about their level of engagement in school. The poll measured hope, engagement and well-being of nearly 500,000 students from more than 1,700 public schools in 37 states. The poll found that nearly 8 out of 10 elementary students who participated in the poll are engaged in school. That number dramatically decreases the longer students are in school, with only 4 out of 10 high-school students stating they are engaged in school. The data suggests that the longer students stay in school, the less engaged they become.

Educators, both in and out of the classroom, are constantly striving to learn how to best serve the students they encounter each day. The best teachers and schools are continually wondering what they can do better, even when things are going well. They are lifelong learners as individuals and as institutions. School is never finished.

Interestingly, the high-school students who said they were engaged in their learning report that high school feels much like their elementary school. As a Montessori school, one of the things we pride ourselves in is student engagement. Students want to come to school. They can’t wait to see what the day holds for them. They engage not only with the teachers and students, they engage with the classroom materials, the environment, the ideas, lessons and the broader community. They yearn for more. And if a student doesn’t have this eagerness for learning, solutions are sought. What is the child excited about? What do they spend their time doing outside of school? How can we serve that student in ways that may be unique for him? What can we do to help them more and what can we do better?

Students come to us from a variety of situations. Schools are set up to help students gain knowledge, understanding and skills that will serve them throughout their lives. To think that simply imparting content will engage and interest them is a mistake. Students are just like adults in that they have interests, curiosities and are continually trying to make sense of their world. They enter school at a young age with hope and fascination as doors are unlocked for them. Our job – no matter the educational setting from preschool through college – is to help them find the keys.

Montessori Education: An Example of What’s Possible

29 Thursday Jun 2017

Posted by Lisa Lalama in Montessori Education, Research

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austin matte, Maria Montessori, montessori, Montessori education, montessori method, montessori philosophy, research, schools, sir ken robinson

Sir Ken Robinson jokes that when he goes to a dinner party and says he works in education, the conversation stops.

“Of course,” he says, “if you’re in education, you aren’t invited to dinner parties.”

When you say that you work in Montessori education, polite looks of curiosity often follow; not many people know about Maria Montessori and her educational methodology, which was developed more than a century ago. Although there are literally hundreds of Montessori schools throughout the world – and many of those are in your town – people remain puzzled by them. They may not look like the schools of their youth. Continue reading →

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