The Montessori Message

The Montessori Message

Tag Archives: teachers as guides

Who are the teachers?

20 Thursday Jun 2019

Posted by Lisa Lalama in Learning, learning environment, Montessori Education, Wilmington Montessori School

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learners, learning environment, lifelong learning, montessori teachers, multi-age classrooms, students as teachers, teachers, teachers as guides

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In education today, there is a common understanding that the best environments promote learning among everyone in the school. We are all learners and we all benefit from being with each other. Wisdom comes in all shapes, sizes and ages. In a Montessori classroom, you can be sure that is true.

Montessori classrooms typically have a lead teacher or guide and an assistant teacher. Both are responsible for keeping things humming along. They differ in their responsibilities, but each has the training and knowledge to help the children learn. Montessori classrooms have other teachers as well – the students. In Montessori multi-age classrooms, children learn from other students. The student helping another is learning to do more than help; he or she is learning more deeply. Teaching strengthens knowledge of the teacher, whether the teacher is a child or adult. Asking students to help others who are younger or less experienced is a surefire way to benefit both students.

We often hear that schools are filled with learners, and lifelong learning is certainly recognized as a core value in many schools. Empowering students to share their knowledge and allowing them to lead the way is the best way to promote a dynamic learning environment.

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 →

“Every student can learn, just not on the same day or in the same way.”

14 Thursday Jun 2018

Posted by Lisa Lalama in Learning

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George Evans, individualized learning, learning styles, teachers as guides

Every Student Can Learn.pngComing across this quote the other day reminded me of so many times in life when learning just happened and just as many others when it kept slipping through my fingers. There are countless times that I have tried to do something and kept making mistakes or missing the mark, only to return to the task the next day or week and accomplish the goal in record time. Learning isn’t neat and tidy; in fact, it can be rather messy.

Years in school – as a student, teacher and administrator – have taught me that everyone can learn… on his/her time frame. This runs up against the need for schools to teach certain concepts at specified times of the year as mandated by the chosen curriculum. I ask, once again, are we teaching curriculum or children? Every teacher I know would opt for the second choice; we are teaching children. If that is the goal, how do we make sure that we are addressing the needs of those children? How do we meet them where they are each day when they may be in very different places? How do we measure their progress and set the next goals? This is the very difficult work of schools.

Teaching and learning are often not aligned. Children may be ready to learn in ways or on days that we are not ready to teach them. However, if learning is the priority and children are at the center of all we do, isn’t it time that we slow down, stop and look at the individuals who make up our classrooms? Isn’t it time to guide them in their learning no matter the day or the way?

A Teacher’s Influence

01 Thursday Dec 2016

Posted by Lisa Lalama in Learning, Montessori Education, Teachers

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classroom, montess, montessori materials, montessori teachers, multi-age classrooms, prepared environment, teachers, teachers as guides

teacheraffects

Teachers are an essential part of schools. Although current educational thought focuses on the learning, rather than the curriculum, it is the teacher who sets the tone, models the behavior she wants students to exemplify and works to establish the relationships that allow learning to flourish. We can each remember a teacher we loved and perhaps one who was best forgotten. Teachers have a huge influence and impact on the students they see each day.

In Montessori classrooms, the role of the teacher is carefully defined. The teacher prepares the environment for learning to occur. She makes certain that children are able to act independently within the classroom and that they know where materials are kept, how to remove them and the procedures for returning each item to its proper place. The Montessori teacher carefully and thoughtfully observes the children in her care, noting how they move throughout the space and which materials they are drawn to, which they may avoid and how they use them. She knows which lessons will ignite the curiosity and wonder within each child, giving the lessons when the child is ready… not when the curriculum demands.

Perhaps best of all, the Montessori teacher has three years to spend with the children in the classroom. Multi-age classrooms allow the children and the teacher to know and understand one another more fully than can occur in a single-age classroom. Relationships are formed. Though the teacher plays a huge role, influencing children today and well into the future, the wonder of a Montessori classroom is multi-faceted.

The Value of Reflection

11 Friday Dec 2015

Posted by Lisa Lalama in Learning, Montessori Education, Teachers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

education, education reform, montessori, Montessori education, Montessori training, preparation for life, reflection, self-reflection, teachers, teachers as guides

Room 19 - Woods 1A distinct aspect of Montessori training is reflection. Thinking about the children in the classroom, their lessons and what comes next are things that may happen in other teacher training courses. What is generally left unsaid, except in Montessori training, is the self-reflection of the teacher and what that teacher brings to the educational experience of the children in his or her presence. The preparation of the teacher is an essential component of Montessori teacher training programs. Continue reading →

“Making”

22 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by Lisa Lalama in Wilmington Montessori School

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arts, code, engineering, hands-on learning, kindergarten, maker movement, maker space, maker studio, makerspace, mathematics, montessori, Montessori education, preschool, primary, science, STEAM, STEAM studio, stem, teachers as guides, technology, toddler, Wilmington Montessori, Wilmington Montessori School

3-6 Maker Faires17What does it mean to “make” something? The maker movement encourages us to invent, design and tinker with things. At Wilmington Montessori School, our Maker (STEAM) Studios are hubs of activity. Children are learning about their brains and how they work. Toddlers are working with new tools, learning to operate locks and lights, and creating ramps and tunnels for balls to move through. Primary students are creating music using a banana and electrodes. Others are writing code and giving directions to a robot, watching it move haltingly across the floor. They are hubs of activity. Ideas are being explored, mistakes are made, experiments occur (intentionally and not), and learning is happening.

As children participate in their learning, there must be time to think and follow their own ideas. They are encouraged to try new things or do familiar things in different ways. They are privy to others’ ideas, asking questions to build on their own. Our Maker Studios are extensions of our classrooms. The same Montessori principles that apply to the classroom apply here. Children are given the opportunity to design and create their own learning, guided by an adult who observes and offers just what is needed at the right time.  

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