Montessori Method

Hello everyone!

Today, we are going to talk about a very interesting method of the pedagogue and educator María Montessori.

María Montessori defended that the game should be the principal activity of children during the first years of their life. Through games, children investigate everything related to their environment in a free and spontaneous way. The little ones are relating their knowledge and experiences with other news, creating individual learning processes, fundamental for their growth, independently of their environment.

At first, Montessori became interested in children with mental disabilities, getting these children in order to help them to learn to read and write, using experimental methods. Later, she developed her own methods that she applied to all kinds of children. She came to the conclusion that children, "build themselves".

All her theories were based on the observation of activities that children did, without the supervision of adults. Children would be the teachers of themselves and in order to learn, they need freedom and multiplicity of actions.

The role of the teacher in the philosophy of Montessori is to guide children and create a respectful and affectionate environment. The teacher should be a conscious observer, being in continuous learning and personal development.

Therefore, the idea of María Montessori is that we should transmit to children a feeling of being able to act without constantly depending on the adult. Following this idea, they would be curious, creative and they would learn to think for themselves.

Finally, we think that it is a good way to give children an opportunity to experiment, imagine and create by themselves. Thanks to that, they could feel more motivated and confident about what they do.

And you? What do you think about Montessori method?

Here you can see an image of Montessori classroom:

In the classes in which Montessori method is developed, we can find:

• Freedom is well understood. Children decide what they do and how to do it. Not everyone carries out the same activity. 

• Children are in groups of different ages  (0-3 years, 3-6 years, 6-9 years etc.). The different groups can talk or work with each other.

• The environment is adapted to children in order to be able to develop the best potential of themselves. The class is adapted to children size and the materials are specific.

• The teacher does not have an active role. He stays in the background watching without intervening.

Thank you for your attention.                                                                           

                                                            
                               
                                                                                                                      Regards, 
                                                                                                                      Strong Bloggers