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How many elementary school age children do you know that are self motivated? I've known lots of upper middle class people that sent their kids to expensive Montessori (sp?) schools, with disappointing (for them - i.e. noticeably worse than public / cheap) results.
How many elementary school age children do you know that are self motivated? I've known lots of upper middle class people that sent their kids to expensive Montessori (sp?) schools, with disappointing (for them - i.e. noticeably worse than public / cheap) results.
I think it's a great concept for preschool but once we start a structured curriculum that children wouldn't choose by themselves, it kind of falls apart. Too much of what we teach is for the purpose of being able to teach more. Kids aren't motivated to learn it because they don't yet know where it's leading.
Does ANYONE do anything without something on the line? Would you do your job for free? Would you mow your lawn if social pressure didn't dictate otherwise .
If kids got the choice, and in most good schools they DO have a lot of choice once they get to high school, they will chose classes that interest them. Next year our son is planning on taking 2 math classes, AP Calc BC and AP Stats) and CIS Physics if he can get around the PE credit he was supposed to take this year but couldn't get it worked into his schedule--which won't be an issue but I think it is funny. Our DD is taking the same Calc and Physics classes along with another science class yet to be determined. If they didn't have to take an English class this year they would not.
True. We don't. So why would we expect our kids to do something with nothing in it for them? Our current system has to grade them to get their cooperation.
I disagree on choice. What percentage of our kids would take 4 years of math, four years of English, four years of history/social science, three years of foriegn language and 3 years of science if we didn't make them? There's a reason we have a core curriculum. Becuase kids wouldn't take those classes if they had a choice.
True. We don't. So why would we expect our kids to do something with nothing in it for them? Our current system has to grade them to get their cooperation.
I disagree on choice. What percentage of our kids would take 4 years of math, four years of English, four years of history/social science, three years of foriegn language and 3 years of science if we didn't make them? There's a reason we have a core curriculum. Becuase kids wouldn't take those classes if they had a choice.
I guess I see that they have choices within those core subjects. My math kid also loves history so he would take more history courses if he could--can't fit the in, plans on getting a minor in college in history though. Around here a lot of the kids would gravitate toward the math and science classes, and do with their elective slots in high school. My kids would never take an art class if they didn't have to but I know plenty of kids that would fill up their schedule with them if they could. It's a nice balance I guess. In our district, by senior year, kids have 5 hours/day to fill with electives so they do get a lot of choices with those hours. The school also offers several one trimester courses so kids can take a variety of classes if they want. The math and science classes though, for the most part, are year long.
Does ANYONE do anything without something on the line? Would you do your job for free? Would you mow your lawn if social pressure didn't dictate otherwise .
We don't mow our lawn. We used to, but from habit rather than social pressure. A bit of learning about lawns stopped that.
When I have paying work outside my field, I work in my field as a volunteer. I would do my work for no pay, and happily, if it were not for bills.
"Something on the line" is a matter of debate. There are those who insist that altruism is just a different form of selfishness...
Personally, I think that is just a self-serving definition to make those less inclined to altruism feel better about their own habits!
True. We don't. So why would we expect our kids to do something with nothing in it for them? Our current system has to grade them to get their cooperation.
I disagree on choice. What percentage of our kids would take 4 years of math, four years of English, four years of history/social science, three years of foriegn language and 3 years of science if we didn't make them? There's a reason we have a core curriculum. Becuase kids wouldn't take those classes if they had a choice.
The fact is that kids actually do want to learn and they want to learn the *hard* stuff because they want to be grown up. Schools and grades pound that out of them in reality. When they start school, kids are eager learners. By sitting still and listening to lectures instead of having them learn actively, we drum into them that adults know how to do things and they have to wait to try until the adult tells them exactly what to do. When I taught high school math, kids came into my classroom without the ability to try and fail.
Psychological research has shown that students, and people in general, are more likely to lose interest in what they’re doing if they are promised carrots or threatened with sticks. Using grades as a threat or reward for completing or not completing schoolwork is extrinsic, or external, motivation. This type of motivation often results in a decreased focus on the learning objective.
Before they go to school, kids learn to do all sorts of things. Some actually learn to read before they go. Kids don't have to be gifted to want to learn. They just have to be curious about the world.
Subjects are NOT really separate. We put them in separate categories, but honestly, elementary aged kids will learn arithmetic through cooking or making models or doing science experiments. They learn reading because they want to know things and reading is the best way to find out about many subjects they can't access by themselves. They will learn a foreign language if they get to practice with others who actually speak the language.
Many kids don't need the whole core curriculum and would benefit from going to a technical school instead by the time they are in high school. Our push to get *everyone* to go to college is part of what has made high schools untenable in many cases.
1. Challenge Them
2. Build on Strengths First
3. Offer Choices
4. Provide a Secure Environment
Permit children to fail without penalty. Learning how to deal with failure is critical for developing motivation and successful learning. Students should learn that they can and must learn from their mistakes. Fear of failure sometimes causes students to deliberately sabotage their own efforts because deliberate failure is easier to accept than the failures to which they fall victim. (No control is equated with being powerless.)
5. Teach Them How to Make Their Tasks More Manageable
6. Use Rewards & Punishment with caution
7. Help Students Develop An Internal Locus Of Control
8. Avoid Power Struggles
9. Use Ambiguity Occasionally
10. Offer Open-ended Activities to Develop Creativity
11. Teach Students to Evaluate Themselves
Self-evaluation needs to address the questions: "What was done well?" & "How can it be improved?" It is far more powerful for students to recognize the answers to these questions than it is for them to be told the answers.
Student self-evaluation is often difficult for the first few attempts. Students want to achieve a high evaluation but are reluctant to "brag" about their success. It has been my experience that the majority of students lean towards being too hard on themselves, but some students can be unrealistically generous initially. The ability to realistically evaluate ones own performance improves with practice and is both empowering and highly motivating.
Like traditional education is not right for every child, Montessori may not be right for every child, but as a Montessori parent and a student training to be a Montessori teacher, I have seen first hand the fulfillment children receive from pursuing their interests and in hard work. All the subjects are integrated so a teacher can individualize education for each child. A child who loves and consistently chooses a specific math work, can still learn language (through skills like one-to-one correspondence, matching the number word to the identifiable symbol), science, social studies, etc,
A Montessori directress (teacher) is an observer, a facilitator, and an assessor. It is her job to make sure that the environment supports each child in her room at the level they need.
And for those saying children don't have intrinsic motivation, love of hard work, and the desire to learn, you should meet my 3 year old son, who comes home from school and creates his own lessons to give the family. His favorite right now is to match each bar of the bead stair (a set of 9 color-coded bead bars ranging from 1 to 9 beads) and the sandpaper numerals (wooden cards with raised numbers created from sand or other gritty material). Not only does he demonstrate and 'give' the lesson, but he brings the work to a rug and returns it to its proper place at the end of the lesson.
There are a few things to consider when researching Montessori schools, however.
1. There is no copyright on the name Montessori, so any school can 'say' they are a Montessori school.
2. AMS (American Montessori Society) is a good place to start searching and locate schools that agree to undergo accreditation.
3. Not all Montessori Teacher Education Programs are the same, so again, look to see if they are listed with the AMS.
4. There is a difference in Public and Private Montessori. Private Montessori schools have the ability to conform more with the original tenets of the pedagogy, while public schools have to incorporate all state and/or federal standards and some of the 'magic' can be lost.
And, FWIW, here in Cincinnati, our urban, public school district has over 50 schools, and of those schools, 4 are magnet Montessori elementary schools, 1 neighborhood Montessori elementary, and 2 magnet Montessori high schools (one of which was the first public secondary Montessori in the nation). I am proud to live in a district that values the idea of alternative education and gives us a choice.
Not sure why the mainstream schools don't teach Montessori. Montessori would require a restructuring of the schools though. I suspect this is the main obstacle to having many Montessori Public schools. How many parents would be upset when their kids were not coming home with grades?
Principles include:
1. Multiage grouping
2. Very little lecturing
3. All subjects are interwoven. You don't teach subjects separately.
4. No grades. No rewards or punishments are used.
5. Character education is integrated into the school.
6. No required group work.
7. Setting up the environment is important, not guiding children's choices.
This is why I'm so skeptical of education. There's no real reason why montessori isn't taught or explored.
Notice that this list is the exact - OPPOSITE - of what they are "teaching" in regular schools.
Principles in regular schools,
1. Age grouping. So kids can be controlled. Can't think outside of a group.
2. Lots of lecture. Stifles individuality, free thinking, questioning.
3. Subjects are taught seperately.
Ever notice that complex problems in the world are a combination of factors. Sometimes a very complicated combination. I.e. wall street and the housing bubble (and economy). History, politics, psychology, human behavior, finance, etc. Lots of things to know to be able to understand it.
The middle east. A mix of history, psychology, religion, customs, etc. Israel/palestine.
But the elite don't want that. They don't want you to be able to look behind a 30 second soundbite and start figuring out the truth. Thus, this "seperation" of subjects. They don't want kids with a command of all subjects and being able to integrate them.
4. Grades. Reward and punishment. Back to the prussian education model. And pavlov. And control.
5. No time for character or individuality in school.
6. Group work (subtle social engineering - it's good to be in groups, diversity is good, etc).
7. No time for an environment. A lot of schools look like prisons.
I consider myself very lucky to have been able to go to a public Montessori school. I definitely wish there were more of them, and would LOVE to have my son be able to attend one. I've been discussing this with my friends lately (as many of us are in our 30s with kids and are starting to look at our school options), and universally those of us with Montessori backgrounds all would like to have our own children go the same route. I'm sure it's not right for every child (or just as likely, every parent!), but it worked well for me and for my fellow classmates. I think it definitely helps to instill a sense of independence and an internal drive and sense of curiosity that seems to be lacking in many "traditional" classrooms.
For what it's worth, I transitioned just fine from a Montessori environment with no grades, little lecturing, etc. etc. into the IB diploma track at my local public high school and did just fine. In fact, I think the Montessori background helped tremendously. I didn't go into high school (and then college, and then the working world) thinking "what do I have to do to get a good grade?", an attitude that, to me, seems besides the point. When grades are seen as the incentive, the only reason to work hard, then it seems the system has failed.
There's certainly demand out there for public Montessori schools, but they require special training for the teachers, and they are unlikely to be the default local school option because the basic philosophy of Montessori goes against the belief systems of so many modern American parents. If you believe that kids are inherently lazy or unmotivated, the idea of learning without a carrot and stick system seems unfathomable.
When we moved to a new town, my daughter was 3 years old an I was looking for a mothers morning out program so I could work a few times a week in our small business. All those programs had waiting lists, so I looked at a small, well-regarded Montessori school. We had an interview after the program had let out and there were these wooden toys and manipulatives all around the room on shelves. My daughter headed straight for one of these and the "headmistress" scolded her right away about it not being the proper time to touch the toys. I could not see leaving my sweet little girl with this cold woman for hours on end. There could have been so many other first impressions, but the one she gave me was "cold" "rigid" "not creative". Compare that to the day care I looked into (and I really dislike day care) where the "teacher" welcomed my daughter effusively, was all warm and fuzzy, she said "hi" to her well before giving me the time of day, and that's where my daughter ended up two mornings a week....
After all I had read about Montessori I had a really hard time even believing our experience had happened the way it did....
Montessori schools can vary tremendously. For what it's worth, though, I would not (and did not) choose Montessori for my preschool-age son; I do find it too rigid for the preschool years. I preferred a more traditional play-based preschool approach. I personally had great experiences with my Montessori elementary school, though, although of course the quality and teachers are going to vary by individual school.
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