Because so many Americans are educated in traditional public and private school systems, there are many misconceptions about how Montessori classrooms operate. This is rooted in simply not understanding and lack of exposure to what the Montessori Method is and how it is used to educate children.
Our blog posts this past semester have focused on educating our readers about the history of the Montessori Method and how it lives in schools today. From these posts, you may have gleaned how a Montessori classroom would differ from a traditional classroom. But today, we’d like to take a deeper dive into these differences to help combat common misconceptions about Montessori environments.
It’s important to note that many of the examples given below reference early childhood environments. While the materials may change in older environments, the principles behind the differences still apply.
Montessori classrooms intentionally group students in a three-year age span.
In traditional classrooms, students are grouped by grade, which is determined by a child’s age. While some traditional classrooms may have a student or two who is older or younger, the majority of children are born within one year of each other. In a Montessori classroom, children are grouped in environments with a three-year span in ages.
This purposeful classroom curation creates role models for younger students and opportunities for mentorship for older students. As students flow from activity to activity, they are constantly interacting with other students, many of whom are setting the standard for maturity and classroom behavior. This creates an environment where students learn to be respectful of others and materials without rigid reward and punishment structures.
Montessori classrooms are student-centered.
One of the major difference between Montessori and traditional classrooms is the role of the teacher. In a traditional classroom, it is expected to see student desks arranged in a manner that is conducive to watching a teacher lecture from a board at the front of the classroom. The structure of a traditional classroom calls for this arrangement, as students learn in a timed, lecture setting.
Montessori classrooms are fundamentally different in this way. The role of the teacher is to direct, guiding students through self-discovery and spurring thoughtful interaction with the learning materials. Instead of convening the students for structured lessons, the instructor floats through the classroom, observing and supporting students in his or her educational journey as needed. Because the teacher is more of an observer, students tend to lean upon each other and the environment to learn lessons. Students do not rely on the correction or support of the teacher to complete tasks, but rather work through problems on their own, at their own pace.
Montessori classrooms emphasize the use of tactical materials through self-exploration.
Assigned desks, computer stations and rotational calendars are typical equipment found in traditional classroom settings. Teachers define times when items are to be used by certain students, and students follow the teacher’s instruction and schedule. Montessori students don’t operate in this structure. In fact, students in Montessori classrooms interact with their classroom with very little interruption from instructors.
Maria Montessori noted how children naturally learned by using tactical objects, so she incorporated many of these elements into her Montessori Method. To this day, students still use tactical objects to understand education objectives in all subject areas, including math, geography and general life skills. All materials in Montessori classrooms have a place, and this order is crucial to the layout of the classroom.
If you’d like to experience what a typical day in a Montessori classroom looks like, we’d love to invite you to tour our campus. Please contact our office at 901-527-3444 to schedule a tour.