Essential Components of Montessori Education
Wake Forest Montessori School.
1.“ Follow the Child”
One of the most beautiful components of Dr. Maria Montessori’s philosophy is that teachers “follow the child” to her own potential. This means that teachers present individual lessons to children based on her own intellectual capabilities. Respect is given to the child to work at her own pace. Subsequently, children may excel beyond grade level and surpass state standards.
2.Freedom of Choice in Work
Because the children may choose their own work based on the lessons that they have been presented, the children are engaged, enthused, and purposeful in their work. The children develop a sense of ownership in their work, their lessons, and become active participants in their education.
3. Freedom of Movement
In the Montessori classroom, the child is free to move with purpose to acquire materials needed to perform a lesson or activity. Movement in the classroom requires that the child develop self-discipline and self-control. The child becomes independent and confident in the environment. Because the child is allowed to take care of himself or herself, the child feels respected and safe in the classroom.
4. Educational Manipulative Materials
Montessori created beautifully inviting materials as an integral part of her lessons. The materials are not only aesthetically sensorially pleasing, but serve as important concrete models of concepts presented in the lessons. Montessori also believed in isolating the difficulty for the child, therefore, a multitude of materials may be used in sequence to facilitate the child’s progression from the concrete to abstract thinking.
5. Multi-Age Classrooms
Observing that children learn best in environments likened to family and home, Montessori designed her classrooms to include children of three sequential ages. Her extensive studies of children and how they learn led her to divide children into four planes of development and sensitive periods of learning. The children are grouped together in multi-age classrooms to meet the needs of the child. In the Montessori classroom, the younger children feel encouraged and capable of achieving mastery of work when they see older students completing the lesson. These groupings benefit older students as well because older children will feel capable, confident, and competent serving as mentors and role models to the younger children. Ideally, the children spend three years in the same Montessori classroom with the same teacher who nurtures and educates the child with a continuum of development.
6. Cosmic Curriculum
Maria Montessori developed the cosmic curriculum to excite and enthuse the child to his or her inner most core. The child is presented lessons on subjects from the entirety of the universe to discover how wonderful and wonder-filled the universe actually is.
7. Practical Life
Montessori believed that children should be empowered to become independent, stating, “The essence of independence is learning to take of oneself.” Practical life activities, such as scooping, pouring, sweeping, sewing, gardening, and conflict resolution, encourage independence, responsibility, confidence, and competence. The children feel valuable, capable, and empowered.
8. Earth Conscious Curriculum
Believing in the importance of honoring, respecting, and understanding the inter-connectedness of all living things, Montessori developed her botany and zoology curriculum to inspire children to care for the Earth and all of her living creatures. Lessons also include introducing and practicing the concept of “reduce, reuse, and recycle,” in turn, reducing our carbon footprint.
9. A Global Village
With multi-cultural curriculum and classrooms, children learn to be respectful of all human beings from all corners of our Earth. Students learn the names of each continent’s countries, capitals, flags, and landforms, as well as examining customs and cultures of people throughout our globe. Montessori believed that children who know about the Earth and its inhabitants would be the peacekeepers of our world. The Montessori method is perhaps even more relevant is today’s global village.
10. Peace Curriculum
Maria Montessori was committed to creating peace in our world through the education of our children, stating “Creating peace is the work of education. All politics can do is keep us out of war.” She believed that children were “both the hope and promise for the future of mankind” and developed lessons for children to learn how to solve their own problems peacefully. Maria Montessori was nominated for the Nobel Peace Price in 1951 and 1952.
By Rachel Wallace Reid, Certified Montessori Teacher and Parent Educator
Read More »North Carolina Montessori Teacher Certification
Montessori Teacher Certification
The Montessori mode of instruction was first pioneered by Dr. Maria Montessori, who was an Italian instructor deeply interested in the activities of children. Teaching in a Montessori school is a great deal of responsibility and as a result of that it is important for the Montessori schools as well as their teachers to have a proper type of certification so that they are well qualified to meet the everyday challenges of teaching children in their nascent stages. Montessori schools are the stepping stones towards a whole journey of education. Thus it is very crucial that the Montessori school teachers have the proper kind of license and certification to carry on with their work.
Various Kinds of Certification Available:
There are a number of certifications available for the Montessori teachers training. You will need to browse through websites to know about these certifications if you are interested in pursuing Montessori teaching as a vocation. The Montessori teacher’s certification mainly depends on the different US states and their policies. International Montessori Council and the Montessori Foundation are responsible for granting these certifications done through a number of centers and colleges. In order to practice in a particular state, you will need to be certified as per the requirements of that state. The following is a list of the most common two levels of certifications:
- The first level consists of the Associate Certificate, which is usually completed online. This training is conducted over a period of 18 months over which the students are taught as a group and are given course materials to study on their own. But maybe once a month they will need to log in at the same time or come for contact classes. After completion it is important to do an internship at any of the schools named by the course, which will be supervised by experienced teachers at the center. Completion of this whole period will make the students qualified for an IMC Associate Montessori Early Childhood diploma.
- The next and the highly developed stage of Montessori training is completing full certificate. After the 18 month online course the students will be required to have three months of comprehensive contact classes. During this time the teachers are trained to deal with the psychological aspect of dealing with children and the nuances of communication are to be kept in mind. These students have to conduct proxy classes and deal with children through interactive ways. After completion of internship and the course the students will be qualified for full Montessori diploma.
Montessori schools or pre schools play a huge role in shaping the life of your children and hence their teachers must have the right kind of certification to be able to perform those duties carefully. With a little thought and care you will certainly be able to find a well certified and able Montessori school with well qualified teachers for your child. As a vocation, teaching in a Montessori school will certainly require you to love children and be actively involved in their developmental activities.
Read More »Difference Between Child Care and Preschool in North Carolina
Difference between Child Care and Preschool
The difference between child care centers and preschools are many and varied. As a general rule, it is always better to check the benefits offered at the child care center or preschool before putting your child there. Both kinds of centers are aimed at relieving the task of the parents in child rearing. Since it is common for both the parents to be working taking care of the child becomes a prime responsibility that must be taken care of. You must choose the one that suits your criteria most keeping in mind the purpose for which you want one considering the age of your child.
Whether it is a child care center or preschool there are some certifications that they must have. The following discussion will give you a fair idea about the main differences between the child care centers and the preschool centers:
- The first difference in both the types of child care is that of the minimum age of entry. The child care centers usually take care of children who are less than three years of age and are not capable of taking care of themselves; while preschools do not give admission to children below three years of age and focus on learning.
- Secondly, preschools have a specific syllabus and course curriculum that they follow on a weekly, monthly and annual basis while child care centers do not function on any such syllabus. They usually organize activities to engage the children throughout the day.
- Then there is a difference in the way the child care centers and the preschools operate. The main difference is in timing. The child care centers are open during the normal office hours and aim at taking care of the children while parents are at work. The preschools on the other hand stay open for three to five hours in the day.
- Child care centers do not improve the learning capabilities of your children by giving them educative instructions. The utmost that they do is to help your children hone their creative faculties by making them do creative things to spend time. They are not obligated to teach. Preschools prepare your children for the great battle ahead by giving them the required educational instructions and training.
- Some child care centers indulge in story telling sessions to the children and they also let them sleep during some time in the day. Preschools are miniature versions of schools where the main focus is studies along with helping children to eat and do other things independently.
- Preschools either take the approach of Montessori, wherein they use animal figures to connect the children to letters and alphabets or the Waldorf approach wherein the instruction mainly hover around the unification of the three elements of the mind, body and spirit. Child care centers are custodian in nature with their primary function of looking after the children and not giving them any instructions on developing their mental faculties.
Armed with these distinctions you will be able to choose the right child care center or preschools for your child. Various Wake Forest Preschools and Child Care Centers exists, if you want information about our preschool program, please call 919.827.1148
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