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Is Montessori “magical”?
No. The realization of each child’s potential that can be met in the carefully prepared Montessori environment is.
Maria Montessori stated many times over in various ways the world
“…speak to everyone of the child and of his secret; unveil the truth; reveal the powers of this “spiritual embryo” of the human soul; proclaim him for what he is; the father of man, the builder of humanity, the creative and transforming energy which can act on the hearts of men and can offer new elements for the
solution of social problems.” - Maria
Montessori

• Her method came from studying physicians Jean Itard and
Edouard Seguin . She developed an environment for the scientific study of children with physical and mental disabilities.
After successes in treating these children, she began to study the application of her techniques to the education of children without intellectual or developmental disabilities.
• By 1906, Montessori was well known enough that she was asked to head a day-care center in Rome's run-down San
Lorenzo district . She used the opportunity to observe the children's interactions with materials developed to appeal to the senses (sensorial materials), refining them as well as developing new materials with which the children could work.
• Her initial work focused on children of preschool age. After observing developmental changes in children just commencing elementary school, and recognizing that young children's thought or cognitive processes are inherently different from those of adults, Montessori and her son, Mario, began a new course of research to adapt her approach to elementary-school children.

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• Developmental planes – each stage needing to fulfill specific goals and objectives (4 in childhood)
• Global or “cosmic” view of humanity – emphasizing the interdependence of people and the environment
• The child is a highly respected and valued member of the world society
• Individualized – meeting the needs of each child
• Multi-age groupings – promoting peer teaching and learning
• Emphasis on group cohesion and cooperation
• Materials – scientifically based, self correcting, and sequential matched with the child
• Scientific observation in a Prepared Environment

• self-directed learning.
• teacher to be an "observer" of the child instead of a lecturer.
• "sensitive periods" of development are understood and utilized in facilitation of the child’s growth, during which a child's mind is particularly open to learning specific skills or knowledge. These skills are learned effortlessly and joyfully.
• Children are masters of their school room environment, which has been specifically prepared for them to be academic, comfortable, and to encourage independence by giving them the tools and responsibility to manage its upkeep.
• Children learn through discovery, so didactic materials with a control for error are used. Through the use of these materials, which are specific to Montessori schools (i.e., checker boards, and science experiments) children learn to correct their own mistakes instead of always relying on a teacher to give them the correct answer.
• This also happens because it is understood that the hand is
intimately connected to the developing brain in children.

• There are of course benefits academically - well documented in many studies the world over, but the most profound and long lasting benefits are in the children’s mental and spiritual health.
• The result is a deep respect for themselves, their classmates, the community within the school and outside of the school, and a profound LOVE and
RESPECT of our earth.
• Our children have an absolute knowledge that all things are connected and all things must be
respected.
• Some other side effects may include: ongoing joy of learning, self controlled will, and deep
concentration.
• Many Montessori students have discovered a
unique and individual way to contribute. This is the essence of real "Montessori" work today.

• The Montessori method discourages traditional measurements of achievement (grades, tests) under the premise that it is damaging to the inner growth of children.
• Feedback and qualitative analysis of a child's performance does exist but is usually provided in the form of a list of skills, activities and critical points, and sometimes a narrative of the child's achievements, strengths and weaknesses, with emphasis on the improvement of those weaknesses.
• A key point to understanding Montessori Education is the recognition that what is important is not so much the product, but the process by which the product is attained.

• “Tell me - I forget. Show me – I understand. Involve me – I remember.” – Chinese Proverb
• 2 or 3 materials are selected from what the children are working with.
• Period 1 consists of providing the child with the name of the material. “This is_”
• Period 2 is to help the child recognize the different objects.
“Point to _ or "Give me _” . After spending some time in the
2nd period, the child may move on to period 3.
• Period 3 involves checking to see if the child not only recognizes the name of the material, but is able to tell you what it is. "What is this?" We know the child fully understands it.
• Dr. Maria Montessori was very clear to point out that if the child does not go through the 3rd period, it is OK and the teacher must simply put the material away to try some other time. There is no undue pressure from the teacher to learn the lesson.
• Communication between teacher, child and home is invaluable.

• Montessori is only for Well Behaved Children - well trained and reflective teachers creating an environment that will attract and
engage the children, so that by degrees, they become calmer and
more in control of their bodies and their actions.
• Montessori is Too Structured -the environment is, rather than from the teacher. The shelves are set out in areas, with activities set out on the shelf in a particular way, usually from left to right, from easier to presented with a lesson. Structure also comes in the control of error
in the material. The control of error allows the child to learn from interacting with the material, without an adult having to point out to them they have made a mistake. Children with time and space are often able to work it out for themselves. Structure comes in the careful and methodical observations the teachers make of the children, so they know exactly where a child is, what they need and when to show them something new. It also comes in the careful
training the teacher undergoes to be able to prepare exactly the right environment for a child at his or her developmental stage.
• What happens when all of this structure is put together is an environment where it is possible to give children the freedom to
interact in it as they wish – and usually they wish to interact in a
positive manner, engaging and exploring with the Montessori materials, excited to share their discoveries with their friends and teachers.

The checker board is a Montessori primary (6-12) math material used to do long multiplication of numbers into the 100’s of millions. The material is part of a progression of math materials that enables the student to experience the process of multiplication using coloured beads and a painted board.
The Montessori student does not learn about multiplication as an abstraction; but knows why you ‘add the zero’, why you ‘carry the 10’ and what the multiplier, multiplicand and partial product actually are. The material appeals to primary-aged children who are fascinated by large numbers and is seen in both 6-9 and
9-12 classes.

• Grammar, story-writing and reports are focused on during the elementary years. Grammar is taught with very hands-on materials. In a 6-9 classroom, the child learns about :
• Noun - large black triangle. A triangle is used because it represents a very sturdy object and something that is concrete.
• Article - small, light blue triangle.
• Adjective - medium size, dark blue triangle. The triangles are used with articles and adjectives because they are part of the noun family.
• Verb - Red Circle. The red circle is used because it represents action.
• Conjunction - pink line. A pink line is used here to represent a ribbon that ties the ideas together.
• Preposition - green bridge. A green bridge is used because a preposition connects two nouns together and bridges their relationship.
• Adverb - smaller orange circle. Since the adverb is related to the verb, it also uses a circle.
• Interjection - a golden object that looks like an exclamation point or key hole.
• In the 9-12 classroom, a focus is also placed on learning gerunds,
abstract nouns, and other more advanced grammar concepts. The materials are similar to the parts of speech symbols used in 6-9, but there are additions to them.

 The short list includes: Alice Waters, Friedrich Hundertwasser,
Julia Child, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Helen Keller, Alexander
Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Mahatma Gandhi,
Sigmund Freud, Buckminster Fuller, Leo Tolstoy, Bertrand
Russell, Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson, John Holt, Ann Frank, the
Dalai Lama, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Prince William and
Prince Harry of the English royal family, Cher Bono, Yul
Brynner, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Larry Page and Sergey Brin founders of Google, Jeff Bezos - founder of Amazon.com,
Sean ‘P.Diddy’ Combs – singer, T. Berry Brazelton - pediatrician and author, Elizabeth Berridge – actress, Kami
Cotler – actress, Melissa and Sarah Gilbert – actors, David
Blaine - magician, Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Nobel Prize winner for Literature, Katherine Graham - ex-owner of the
Washington Post, and finally Yo Yo Ma to mention a few.
• 'I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better...that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquillity will return once more. In the meantime, I must hold on to my ideals. Perhaps the day will come
when I'll be able to realise them!'' – Anne Frank (Montessori student),
July 15, 1944, age 15

Montessori: Traditional
1. Emphasis on rote knowledge and social development
1. Emphasis on cognitive structures & social development
2. Teacher's role is dominant and student is a passive participant 2. While the teacher guides the learning process, the student is an active and primary participant
3. Environment and method encourage internal self-discipline
4. Individual and group instruction adapts to each student's learning style
5. Mixed age grouping
6. Children encouraged to teach, collaborate, and help one another
7. Child formulates concepts from self-teaching materials
8. Concentrated work time on a single subject
9.
C hild sets own learning pace to internalize information
10. Child spots own errors through self-correcting materials
3. Teacher is primary enforcer of external discipline
4. Group instruction that conforms to adult's teaching style
5. Same age grouping
6. Most teaching done by teacher and collaboration is discouraged
7. Child is given concepts by teacher rather than by self-discovery
8. Child sits in assigned seat, not allowed to move about classroom
9. Instruction pace set by group norm or teacher
10. Errors corrected by teacher
11. Learning is reinforced through child's own repetition of activity, internal feelings of successful repetition
12. Multi-sensory materials
11. Learning reinforced externally by rewards, punishments
13. Child can work where he or she is comfortable, is allowed to move around classroom as long as he or she is not disruptive to others
12. Few materials for sensory, concrete manipulation
13. Child is given specific time for work in one subject and then moved on to another subject perhaps before subject has been adequately covered

• Montessori Education Provides Better Outcomes than Traditional Methods, Study Indicates
• A study comparing outcomes of children at a public inner-city Montessori school with children who attended traditional schools indicates that Montessori education leads to children with better social and academic skills.The study appears in the Sept. 29, 2006 issue of the journal Science.
Montessori
Provides Better Outcomes'Science' Article on Montessori Research'Science' Article Supporting
Documents
Outcomes for Students in a Montessori Program
A Longitudinal Study of the Experience in the Milwaukee Public Schools
• "This study supports the hypothesis that Montessori education has a positive long-term impact.
Additionally, it provides an affirmative answer to questions about whether Montessori students will be successful in traditional schools.""A significant finding in this study is the association between a
Montessori education and superior performance on the Math and Science scales of the ACT and
WKCE. In essence, attending a Montessori program from the approximate ages of three to eleven predicts significantly higher mathematics and science standardized test scores in high school." Download research report (PDF 127 KB) A Comparison of Montessori and Traditional Middle
Schools: Motivation, Quality of Experience, and Social Context by Kevin Rathunde
• With the help of co-investigator Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Dr. Rathunde compared the experiences and perceptions of middle school students in Montessori and traditional schools using the Experience
Sampling Method (ESM). Montessori students reported a significantly better quality of experience in their academic work than did traditional students. In addition, Montessori students perceived their schools as a more positive community for learning, with more opportunities for active, rather than passive, learning.
• This study was sponsored by the North American Montessori Teachers’ Association (NAMTA, an affiliate organization of AMI) and published in The NAMTA Journal 28:3 (Summer, 2003), pages 12-52.
• Download research report (PDF 152 KB)
• Optimal Developmental Outcomes: The Social, Moral, Cognitive, and Emotional Dimensions of a
Montessori Education by Annette M. Haines, Kay Baker, and David Kahn
• This series of articles (including a new introduction by Annette Haines, NAMTA's Director of Research) spells out optimal outcomes of Montessori education for the early childhood, elementary, and adolescent years. Haines states, "we find the possibility of an educational continuum that extends naturally along a developmental path from birth to adulthood. It is hoped that the delineation of this path within the three distinct developmental stages will enable educators to look at students and schools from a new perspective."
• Sources: The NAMTA Journal 25:2, Spring, 2000; The NAMTA Journal 26:1, Winter, 2001; The NAMTA
Journal 28:1, Winter 2003.
• Download research report (PDF 200 KB)
• Visit NAMTA's website for additional research studies and resources.

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