In a country where the majority of its students attend single-age classrooms, the method of Montessori tends to be the path untraveled for student learning. A multi-age learning experience that places a strong emphasis on the environment and the student. Maria Montessori believes that a student should learn in “An environment designed to meet the child’s need for self-construction and to reveal his personality and growth to us so that we may assist him in the most appropriate manner to accomplish his work.” In some ways, students in a traditional classroom meet this address, but not fully. So how is Montessori classroom different from the differentiation that we as traditionally trained teachers have come to understand. Are there any similarities?
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Where a Montessori teacher is guiding what the student wants to learn, a traditional teacher has a schedule (math at such a time, reading at…) that the students are lead through the curriculum. In a traditional classroom, students must do those content areas together with their peers during those times. In turn, traditional classroom teachers are developing lessons for the whole group that are often double the amount of time a Montessori lesson. Because the traditional classroom teacher has to work differentiation into those full groups lessons to support all the types of learners in their classroom. Montessori teachers often only give lessons to individual or groups of two or three students. In addition, Montessori students differ from their traditional classroom peers because they are choosing what topic they want to work on throughout the day. Giving these students more independence and ownership in the learning taking place. The students go about working in groups or on their own in the Montessori with materials that are suitable for their level of learning. As students show understanding more challenging aspects are shown to the student to further develop their knowledge of the content. This part is very similar to the differentiation we use in a traditional classroom. Both types of teachers have to …show more content…
Maria Montessori, the founder of the Montessori methodology believed that “The teaching role is ambivalent-while helping children to develop it can also entail limiting their development, by restricting the liberty of exploration” (Montessori, 1964). Developing lessons that are both motivating for deeper learning but challenging for a span of learners are both things that Montessori and traditional classroom teachers face. How a student develops the learning taking place is determined how much they will translate the curriculum into real world applications. In the Montessori classroom, the teacher makes daily observations to document the learning taking place for each student. Then guides the students to make chooses that will encourage the development of all branches of learning expected of the student. The teacher in a traditional classroom often follows a handful of students’ progress each day and then compares whole class interactions with the content to develop further lessons from the student’s demonstrations of their understanding of the
Where a Montessori teacher is guiding what the student wants to learn, a traditional teacher has a schedule (math at such a time, reading at…) that the students are lead through the curriculum. In a traditional classroom, students must do those content areas together with their peers during those times. In turn, traditional classroom teachers are developing lessons for the whole group that are often double the amount of time a Montessori lesson. Because the traditional classroom teacher has to work differentiation into those full groups lessons to support all the types of learners in their classroom. Montessori teachers often only give lessons to individual or groups of two or three students. In addition, Montessori students differ from their traditional classroom peers because they are choosing what topic they want to work on throughout the day. Giving these students more independence and ownership in the learning taking place. The students go about working in groups or on their own in the Montessori with materials that are suitable for their level of learning. As students show understanding more challenging aspects are shown to the student to further develop their knowledge of the content. This part is very similar to the differentiation we use in a traditional classroom. Both types of teachers have to …show more content…
Maria Montessori, the founder of the Montessori methodology believed that “The teaching role is ambivalent-while helping children to develop it can also entail limiting their development, by restricting the liberty of exploration” (Montessori, 1964). Developing lessons that are both motivating for deeper learning but challenging for a span of learners are both things that Montessori and traditional classroom teachers face. How a student develops the learning taking place is determined how much they will translate the curriculum into real world applications. In the Montessori classroom, the teacher makes daily observations to document the learning taking place for each student. Then guides the students to make chooses that will encourage the development of all branches of learning expected of the student. The teacher in a traditional classroom often follows a handful of students’ progress each day and then compares whole class interactions with the content to develop further lessons from the student’s demonstrations of their understanding of the