To Montessori or Not to Montessori...

My friend Ariah and I have been dialoguing about the Montessori method. His children are almost "school" age and he is trying to get a better grasp on the merits of the Montessori charter school in his neighborhood.

He really enjoyed my latest response and said I should blog it. So here it is...

Ariah: Here's my biggest question for now: Are there examples of successful montessori schools in urban neighborhoods? Everyone I talk to seems to think it's nice in theory, but wouldn't really work with urban youth. Particularly black and latino males.
Any examples in your research of a montessori school that has been successful in an urban setting for the long haul?

Joshua: In America right now, public Montessori schools pretty much only exist in urban neighborhoods. Some have been around for 15 years or more. Others are pretty new. This is mostly because urban areas are the ones with failing schools, so they are the ones that get the grant money to turn a school into a Montessori school.

A brief history lesson - Maria Montessori's path down the trail that we now know as the Montessori method started in the San Lorenzo slums in Italy. She worked with kids that society had written off as worthless, or deemed unable to learn, because of their social status. They weren't sent to school, they were just left in a courtyard while their parents went to work. (Hmmm...this sounds eerily familiar.) After several years of research, the newly founded Montessori method, saw these students out perform their upper class counterparts on the yearly exams.

Fast forward. I realize we are in a different time, different context. I also realize Montessori in America has a reputation as an elitist form of education, or an anything goes hippy free for all. These environments may not be the best for African-American or Latino boys. But Montessori is so much more than this, and I find comments like the ones people have spoken to you, while I'm sure not meant to be, extremely offensive. I may be incorrectly reading into the comments, but what I hear is... "Black kids and Mexican kids can't learn unless the environment is very rigid and very structured where all choices are made for them.

So let's debunk a few myths.
1. Montessori is loosey goosey, anything goes.
Montessori is structured. It is structured in a way that trains and enables students to make appropriate, responsible, decisions that build self confidence and intrinsic motivation. With appropriate guidance, students are empowered to make their own decisions, not just in the classroom, but with lessons that are called "practical life lessons."

2. The Montessori curriculum is pretty weak.
Actually, the intentional design of the curriculum makes it extremely rigorous. (Rigor means depth). The curriculum at American schools tends to be a mile wide and an inch deep. The Montessori curriculum moves at a pace that allows the child to potentially gain a very deep understanding of the subject matter, a much deeper understanding than their "school as factory" counterparts.

3. Montessori is only for middle and upper class white kids.
As our history lesson pointed out, the Montessori method was started with social outcasts. It's no coincidence that Montessori is making a resurgence in America with our country's social outcasts. Every child has great potential. Because the Montessori method is focused on the development of the child, it can adapt to all children from all cultures and backgrounds.

Speaking only from my own classroom and school experience, I have seen this to be very true. But of course, we each must decide for ourselves.

Fast Company

I am reading an article in the April issue of Fast Company magazine called "A is for App." The main idea is that mobile technology such as the iphone, small handheld computers, can revolutionize education and provide a possible fix to our current education problems.

The article is very interesting and gives strong evidence to support the claims. Students in Chicago schools are improving their reading and math scores. Students in Mexico are able to be exposed to learning that they never had a chance to be exposed to before. Of course their are huge question marks and potential pitfalls. The thing that stood out to me the most in this article was a common thread that ran through the whole thing.

"...it does present the tantalizing prospect of revolutionizing how children are educated by drawing on their innate hunger to seize learning with both hands and push all the right buttons."

"...we encourage teachers not to do any pretraining. Pass the devices out, turn them on, and let the kids figure them out."

"...in Baja, I watch children aged 6 to 12 pick the machine up and within a few minutes, with no direct instructions, they're working in groups of three, helping one another figure out the menus by trial and error."

"Why does education have need to be so structured? What are we afraid of?"

So, what are we afraid of? This thread of creating an environment and allowing students to engage it, mostly on their terms, is one of the core essentials in the Montessori method. Allowing students to concretely "get their hands" on their learning is the foundation of Montessori. The logic being used to support the use of these handhelds in the classroom is the same logic that started the Montessori method over 100 years ago.

"This idea imagines a new role for teachers...the main transformational change that needs to happen is for the teacher to transform from the purveyor of information to the coach."

Teachers, called directors or directresses have been doing this in Montessori classrooms around the world for a very long time.

Why do these ideas seem so new? Why don't more people know about the Montessori method and when will they?

One of the concluding points in the article may help provide an answer.

"A system built around tools that allow children to explore and figure things out for themselves would be radical for most developing-world schools, which emphasize learning by rote. In the United States, which is currently in love with the state curriculum benchmarks and standardized tests, it could be just as hard a sell."

It's time for that romance to end.

The 30 Minute Challenge

As I continue to talk to people about the Montessori Method, I come across many who are unfamiliar with it. In trying to find a solution to this, I've come up with the 30 Minute Challenge. Find a Montessori school near you. Call ahead and make an appointment. Take 30 minutes from you day and spend it observing a Montessori classroom. Make some notes, jot down some observations. Then contact me and we can talk about what you saw and get your questions answered.

It is my belief that if more people knew about the Montessori Method they would demand their local schools follow it.

Have more questions? Click here.

A Peek Inside: Choice Part 2

So why does choice make all the difference in a Montessori classroom?

One of the overall purposes of the Montessori method is to guide students to become confident and self motivated, giving them a chance to take ownership of their learning process.

That sounds really nice, but what the heck does it really mean.

Learning is one of the most amazing things we as humans get to do. Generally, we get more excited about things we want to learn, things we choose to learn, compared to something that someone is trying to force us to learn. As a matter of fact, I would argue, based on my experiences in my own life as a learner, and a teacher, when the subject matter is forced onto a student, the material usually doesn't get learned at all.

In the Montessori classroom, there are several layers of choice and it shows up in all kinds of ways. I've been thinking about choice lately and contemplating it's importance. The students helped me along today.

Another peek inside RM 146, shall we?

Several events in our school today led to students trickling back into the classroom after lunch at various times. We were all going to do a science lab together, but I wanted to wait until everyone was back in the classroom. The students who were already in the classroom continued working on things they had started before lunch and were really focused. It soon became apparent that it was going to take awhile before everyone returned. I was faced with a dilemma. If we didn't start the lab soon, we wouldn't get it finished before the end of the day. But there was such a great focus going on that I didn't want to interrupt. (That focus comes from students choosing work that they want to do, instead of me telling them what to do.)

I decided not to interrupt. All of the lab equipment was out on the science shelf. As students continued to return to the room, I told them they could keep working on something they started before lunch, or begin their science lab. They all made their choices and began working. Those who were already in the classroom figured out what was going on and as they finished what they were doing, they started their science labs too.

It was one of the best afternoons we have had in a long time. The noise of uninterested students was replaced by the buzz of focused learning. The students were more engaged in the science lab than they had been all year. They got to it on their terms, not mine. Some students never made it to the science lab because they were so focused on their other work. They are still responsible for completing the lab this week. But they didn't seem to mind because they were able to choose to finish an assignment they had already started.

Giving students the opportunity to choose is a very scary thing to do as a teacher. It requires you to relinquish some control and trust that they will take responsibility. Of course it never works flawlessly, but the beauty of the depth of learning that often happens is definitely worth the few times it doesn't quite work.

The Heckman Equation

Check out this link to an economist named James Heckman. He looks to early childhood education as a huge fixer of American problems, and has done a great deal of research to back it up. The Economics of Human Potential...

It is quite interesting and continues to pave the way for Montessori to play a larger role in the educational scene.

A Peek Inside...

Recently, a friend challenged me to use this blog as an opportunity to give those outside of the Montessori community, a peek inside a Montessori classroom. I've been mulling this challenge over for a bit and I think I'm ready to take it on. I like that it forces me to look with fresh eyes upon the Montessori classroom I get to spend my days in. I also find myself a little nervous at the opportunity to potentially glorify the truth in an attempt to stroke my ego. My goal is to present the Montessori Method through my experiences, not promote me through this blog. We'll see how it goes. So I present to you, installment one of a Peek Inside courtesy of RM 146.

I'd like to start with the idea of choice. One of the great misunderstandings of the Montessori Method, is the notion that students generally do whatever they want, whenever they want. Are you kidding me? Do you know what a classroom of 23 9-12 year olds given the freedom to do whatever they want would actually be like? I have an idea. Click here.

The classroom environment is prepared in a way that gives students boundaries and opportunities to make choices within those boundaries. Here's example from RM146 today:

After lunch we had a science workshop. Our theme in science this year is Biology. Currently we are focusing on the different Kingdoms of Life and the classification of living things. We have a shelf with various activities for the students to choose from that cover this topic. Here's what you would have seen today:

-Five students painting their homemade play-do model of a plant cell.
-One student using a microscope to observe and document a fungus she found in her back yard.
-Two students laying out a poster with pictures and descriptions of different fungi and plant life and matching it up with actual specimens in jars.
-Eight students reading short Biology articles and answering questions about the article.
-One student reading from a college level Biology text.
-One student figuring out how to use a compass for the first time.
-One student watching the other student figure out how to use a compass for the first time.
-One student floating from person to person, kind of checking in on what others were doing.

As you can see, not everyone is committed to Biology, and none of it looks quite as pretty as it sounds. But they have chosen to do these activities and that makes all the difference.

Why?

More on that next time.

Montessori and The Onion

Recently, there have been several articles in the Onion focusing on the Montessori Method. While The Onion is a satirical rag, I consider it an honor for the Montessori Method to recieve the attention.

Here are the links to the articles. Enjoy!

"Something Weird Going On In That Montessori School, Neighbor Reports"


"Montessori School Of Dentistry Lets Students Discover Their Own Root Canal Procedures"