Want to know abt Montessori Education v/s normal schooling....?

Question

...............any experienced parents over here to answer? or anybody......

want to put my son this academic year

Answer 1

I'm 36 now and was a Montessori student for four years in elementary school ... and I was a substitute teacher in a Montessori classroom last year. So, my thoughts are mostly from experience - and a tiny bit from 'historical learning' memory. I will try to keep my answer/comments on the SHORT side, so please forgive if I leave out something you later find more beneficial. :)

Maria Montessori was a very progressive thinker who wanted children to learn based on the idea they naturally wanted to do so. Curiosity and so on. So, the role of a teacher is mostly as a facilitator, setting up opportunities and providing a support structure for learning. That is a fairly unusual but highly respected theory of teaching/learning, by the way (you may also want to look up Carl Rogers for info). :)

That said, in the classroom (I speak not from an early elementary or pre-school experience but as a student in classes from grades 3-6), a teacher determines where a student is performing academically and works to provide the student individual opportunities for growth. This often includes individual 'learning contracts,' encouraging a child to initiate some goals and agree to a plan of action for learning and keeping to certain goals. The beauty of it is ... as sophisticated as that sounds ... it's a perfectly gentle and encouraging process, whether a child is 'slow' or or 'fast.' There are usually stll reading groups, math groups, etc - but a child is not in competition with another child vying to answer questions from the board. There's typically more opportunities for freedom in the classroom - more activity times when students get to move around and work fairly independently. Generally, there are lots of opportunities for children to complete work and have 'choices' of additional learning games, too, so one becomes motivated to be 'efficient' and 'on task.' There are usually tremendous emphases on goal setting... It's soooo rewarding.

The only downside I can really recall: it is so positive in not encouraging competition that entering a world of competitions can be a bit daunting. I want the 'idealistic' personal best, the intrinsic motivation and private priorities; my more competitive peers are sometimes less sensitive out of the gate about being judged competitively (you'd be surprised how many things are not focused on personal best).

It's a wonderful program, and I'm very thankful because I had a magnificent teacher in it. MOST children thrive in it.

Best wishes!