Montessori...So Misunderstood (Sing to the tune of the Dr. Pepper song)

"It is always very difficult for me to set forth my argument, because this argument is not a simple conception like a line, but is immense, if you will, like a desert or an ocean. So it is very difficult for me to know just what I can do in order to give you what I would, for I do not myself know the extent of this greatness. This desert or ocean is not a creation  of my mind, my soul, my knowledge, my evolution, but it is Education. Not the education that you know, but an unknown education that is new, that is efficient, that gives help and a new orientation, a new knowledge, permit me to say, a new Wisdom to the world."

Dr. Maria Montessori

I read with interest and admiration the article written by Laura Flores Shaw, that appeared in The Huffington Post this last January 27th. The title: Montessori: The Missing Voice in the Education Reform Debate, stirred me up, as I've been pondering this mystery for decades. (See link below.)

And especially over the last few years, as the fatally-flawed system of traditional education has been revealing its warts to the masses. (I know, I know - before I go any further, let me clarify that I am not blaming teachers, as so many reformers and reporters have done.) It's not fair, and that is probably part of the reason that Montessori advocates have not pushed harder in the past. Most teachers work damned hard, and are passionate about helping their students. However, that being said, it is also part of the problem. Montessori knew that children are not "empty vessels" to be filled up with facts that an adult thinks they are imparting. Actually, as I get older, I've come to believe that there is a bit of arrogance in individuals who go into teaching to teach. Those are the people that I think of as "apple-wearers," that go into teaching to "help others," and "get the summers off". I picture them in quilted vests with apples on them, soaking up the adulation of parents and community. Well, maybe not so much anymore, but still, that's my mental concept of that sort of educator. I digress. 

The article presented accurate, concise information about Montessori education, and questioned the absence of discussion of Montessori from the educational reform community. It's true, we never hear about Montessori even though education is such a hot topic these days. Ms. Shaw suggested that special interests who stand to profit from the status quo may be involved in the squelching. She's probably right that this is a component of the mystery. (A quick study of the numbers of government representatives that send their children to Montessori schools would be interesting, wouldn't it?) Another factor is that the general public knows very little about the method, or, even worse, has misconceptions about it. In fact, in my experience, people have dismissed and criticized Montessori because of faulty thinking. The first time this happened to me, a kindergarten teacher told me, "You don't want Montessori," shaking her head and raising her Maybelline brows." In a child development class I was visiting, a student said, "Montessori! Isn't that where they march the children around like little soldiers?" People seem to think Montessori education is a free-for-all, or military training, and these perceptions are based upon lack of understanding. My mentor used to say that she could have two different observers in her classroom on the same day, and one would come away saying, "It's too structured.", while the other would say, "There is not enough structure." It's because it's just so vast - it's almost too much to take in, just like Dr. Montessori said...the ocean...the desert. And I think it is entirely possible that some people will never get it. There is serious science behind this stuff. How Dr. Montessori must have felt, trying to continually educate people about her discoveries. They were big. They are big, possibly beyond the scope and imagination of many people.

For a long time in my life, I just couldn't take it when people didn't get it. I loved the method too much, and I felt a sense of personal failure when people missed the beauty of it. Something that has helped with this at our school is a simple "Observation Checklist." (Checklist example below) I find that observers are not so overwhelmed by all the activity when they have specific things to watch for from the children in the environment. This provides them with some structure upon which to build their perceptions. 

But my little checklist is beneficial after we get them in the door. We need to get more people in the door. We need to keep this conversation going, write those articles, share the research, shout if we have to - "...sound our barbaric yawps..." and challenge the powers that be to wake up and discover this "New wisdom," that is..."Education." With a capital "E."

The often misunderstood "line."

Movement and Cognition

Balance and Coordination

Music Appreciation

Fun

 

p.s. And we do march on the line. But not like soldiers. We march with the jubilance of children traveling to the beat of their own drum!

A simple checklist such as this seems to make observers more comfortable, give them a focus, and provide us with specifics to discuss at the end of their observation.

OBSERVATION CHECKLIST (Feel free to take notes!)

Points to look for when you observe

As you sit down to carefully observe in a Montessori classroom for the first time, what catches your eye? What do you notice on your second or third visit?

How is the classroom organized? What do you notice about the layout of activities, furnishings, and shelves?

Pay attention to the way the adults interact with the children. What do you notice?

Perhaps during your observation you will see the teacher correct or discipline a child.  What do you notice?

As you observe, try to look for any unwritten rules and procedures that the children are following.  What do you notice?

Focus on a particular child other than your own.  Follow her work during the course of at least a half hour.  How does she spend her time? How does she select work?

Hopefully, you will see the teachers present several different lessons during your visits to either small groups or individual children.  What do you notice about the way they teach?

What do you notice about the educational materials on the shelves and how the children work with them?

Focus on various materials.  What skills does each one isolate?

Try to catch children learning from one another.

What interactions do you notice between older children and younger children?

Is it apparent to you that some children have reached a level of self-direction and regulation, while others are still working to attain these traits?

MONTESSORI: THE MISSING VOICE IN THE EDUCATION REFORM DEBATE 

by Laura Flores Shaw

Have You Ever Heard of Montessori?

How does it happen that a comprehensive, insightful, scientific method of educating each human being to his or her potential, gets brushed under the rug for half a century? I mention this because sometimes when I am presenting Montessori to parents, students and others, someone inevitably asks a question like, "If Montessori is so great, why isn't it everywhere?" My answer is usually short, and includes information like, "Actually Montessori is everywhere, but is usually limited to the private sector - although public schools are experimenting with charters, and some cities, like Milwaukee, WI  have chosen Montessori education for their public school model." (As I said, that's the short and sweet answer. The authentic answer is more complex, and more down and dirty.) Then I usually give the questioner a few numbers and some statistics about the people who have attended Montessori schools, and the people who choose Montessori schools for their children. I might say something like, "...Today there are over 17,000 Montessori schools worldwide including thousands of preschools in the USA and hundreds of Montessori schools in the U.S. at the K-8 level" (Petter-Lipstein, 2011, p.488). People who want and can afford a state-of-the-art education for their children often choose Montessori. I also mention Montessori success stories like Jeff Bezos and the Google Boys, because, I have learned that the current generation relates well to that type of information. That's my spiel... I don't go into the details of Dr. Maria Montessori's vast contributions to human society over a lifetime spent excelling, achieving, advocating, struggling, and succeeding in transforming - actually inventing - a scientific approach toward the education of young children. I don't elaborate with details of her trials to obtain her education during a time where women faced overt discrimination, and discuss her fear of the cadaver lab that she had to use a night, as she was not allowed to share the space with men during daytime.  I don't bore them with a list of her achievements: Physician, pediatrician, anthropologist, scientist, visionary, suffragette and  crusader for women's rights, and children's rights, and the rights of the poor. I don't mention that during its heyday, Montessori education was endorsed by "...Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and Woodrow Wilson, who helped to start Montessori schools in the United States" (Sanantonio, 2011, p.4)  I don't tell them that she had enjoyed fame and honor for her achievements, that she was invited and welcomed, and had lectured and taught her method around the globe, only to see her vision of education appear to be dashed, toward the end of her life. In 1952, the year Dr. Montessori died, (and the year I was born,) Montessori schools, that had held such hope, were in serious decline in the United States.

Help me to do it by myself.

Peer teaching, cooperation in a non-competitive atmosphere

Nurturing and care of our environment: People, animals, plants, materials and the Earth

"Not in the service of any political or social creed should the teacher work,

 but in the service of the complete human being, 

able to exercise in freedom a self-disciplined will and judgement,

 unperverted by prejudice and undistorted by fear." 

Dr. Maria Montessori

Thank goodness her followers held on. The roots flourished, Montessori schools kept Dr. Montessori's philosophies and principles intact, and now we are seeing a resurgence of interest in this model that meets or exceeds standards that traditional educators have been grappling with since the inception of factory education. We were careful to steer away from criticizing public schools for decades. Instead we persisted in establishing Children's Houses, where children blossomed according to their natural inner drives to learn, to practice and repeat, and to master. We were quietly effective. Things have shifted, and the traditional system of education is said to be "broken." I do not believe that it is "broken," but that it was never an appropriate method to truly lead human beings to think critically. We have the optimum method right under our noses. As Petter-Lipstein stated, "Superwoman was already here. And she gave us a superb educational model to end "The Race to Nowhere'..."(p.488). Let's clean house, shake out some rugs, give our children and our schools some fresh air. Montessorians: It's time to make some noise.

"Teacher...You Look So..."

"Teeee-churrr." A round-faced boy with gleaming eyes is gradually, but steadily moving into my personal space. I am sitting cross-legged on the story rug getting ready to lead a circle time. Although I have repeated this process, by my estimation, about 8,000 times in the last 31 years, each day with children is different and remarkable to me in some way. This is just one of the pleasures of being in a Montessori classroom. One cannot predict what is going to happen each day, but one can be certain that the children are going to make their own discoveries again and again, and that the thrill associated with their sense of wonder is utterly infectious.  I am privileged to have been an observer of this phenomenon, and to soak up some of this pure joy from the  exuberance of the young child who is experiencing the "prepared environment" of the Montessori classroom. Now we have talked about and demonstrated personal space many times during our grace and courtesy lessons, or when assisting with a conflict between children. But this boy is not thinking about this social courtesy. His eyes are wide as he zooms in closer, and closer, obviously examining my face with that x-ray vision that only the young possess. Then he is just about two inches from my face, and I can smell his little graham cracker breath. I hold my own breath out of habit, as I am aware that a child's olfactory sense is so acute.  I remember being offended as a child when my teachers had that sour breath or coffee breath. He breaks the silence and says it again, quite slowly. "Teeee-churrr. Your eyes. They have CRACKS!" This made me laugh - hard. And I knew that he wanted to know why I had crow's feet, and I needed a short answer so that the children who were coming to circle didn't split apart like little neutrons blasting about in a million directions. So I gave him the boring answer, "Yes, I do have cracks, you are right. People get lines in their skin as they get older." I knew very well that this explanation did not satisfy him one bit, but I went on to lead the children in song. "This is a song called "The Snowman. The composer is still living and his name is Mr. Sanford Jones." I asked a child to put the photo of Mr. Jones upon our composer frame. "He lives in North America, in the United States of America, in the state of Georgia, in the city of Savannah." (As I say these words, children are chosen to bring the map pieces of the continent, the country, etc.) My inquisitive boy is still sitting in front of me, and I can tell he has zero interest in Mr. Jones or the song. He is pondering my weathered and rapidly decaying body. He starts to talk, and I hold up one finger. He knows this means, "Wait," and he contains himself while we sing. Soon it is time to go outside and children are called to dress for the playground. But my boy is glued to the rug right in front of me. And then as if we were still in mid-conversation, he said, "But teacher, (He often forgets my name,) my mommy does not have any cracks and I do not have any cracks." "Well," I said, "Your mommy is quite young and has beautiful smooth skin, and you have only been in the world for four years, so your face has no wrinkles. But guess what?" "What?," he said, trouble clouding his face. "You have some lines already." He looked surprised but doubtful. "Turn your hands over dear and I will show you." He turned his hands over and examined his palms, his face erupted into a beautiful smile, and then he jumped up and ran for his coat, hollering, "I have CRACKS, I have CRACKS!" I have noticed over the last few weeks, my friend makes his way to the low children's mirror in the classroom and scrutinizes his own face very carefully. And last word about this bright, inquisitive boy...One morning I came into school wearing my long hair down. (I usually wear an up-do.) He hurried over and blurted, "Ohhhhh teacher - you, you look...so very...O L D!" I do think he meant to compliment me, and that in his excitement, he could not retrieve the word "young." Let's just think that...

MY YOUNG FRIEND WHO WORRIES ABOUT MY AGE

This interaction took place at the beginning of this year's term, and it's not the first time I've been shown that the children think I am ancient. A real wake up call was the time I was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and felt someone feeling my elbow skin. I looked down to see a young boy "twiddling" the loose skin of my elbow. He had a far-away look in his eyes, and I'll never be sure if he was just self-soothing or if he was thinking, "Gosh, this old woman has one foot in the grave." Knowing this particular boy very well, I think I'm correct in thinking the latter. I AM older now, and do not know how much longer I will physically be able to work with young children. And the sad part is, I am WISER and better in the classroom than I was at age thirty. Isn't that the way it goes?

METAMORPHOSIS MONTESSORI SCHOOL...A little red schoolhouse

We garden year round at our school. 

"The land is where our roots are. The children must be taught to feel and live in harmony with the Earth." - Dr. Maria Montessori

The Montessori method of education is scientific and complex. It is also exquisitely beautiful and simple in a number of ways as well, once you understand it. Learning the intricacies of this visionary woman's miraculous technique is not easy. When I took my exams for certification, there were women with law degrees and other impressive credentials with their heads on the table. They were weeping. They did not think they could pass the examinations. And I was right there with them, in fact, I called my mentor, and she had to talk me down because I was going to bail. She gave me an extremely stern pep talk and told me to march my fanny in there and "knock 'em dead."  And I did it. Later she shared that her mentor had given her the exact pep talk when she was too frightened to take her exams. I once heard an instructor, Jeff Kaiser, share this anecdote at a workshop. He said that a friend of his said to him, "What's the big deal? It's just preschool. It's not rocket science." Jeff responded, "No it's not rocket science. It's a lot more complicated than that." Indeed it is. Dr. Montessori did not just discover, through her emperical observations and experiments, a comprehensive method of education. She discovered the child.


Now I can hardly believe that I have been learning, practicing, and marveling at this educational system for three decades. For the last few years, I have felt compelled to write about my Montessori life, what I have learned about the woman, the method, and the child. At the same time, I was reticent, perhaps afraid to begin. It means so much to me - almost too much. Am I capable and competent enough to do justice to the woman who made it possible for me to have such a special life? A Montessori Life? I think I'm old enough! I'm marching in.