Montessori schools are exceptionally successful. So why aren’t there more of them?

 The otherworldly quiet. This is how you recognize a true Montessori preschool. For over a century now, it is usually the thing that strikes people first, and anybody who knows what children ages 3 to 6 are usually like can see why. In a school where the Montessori Method is faithfully applied, the decibel levels will typically be eerily, monkishly low.

The second thing that strikes a visitor is the orderliness. Children go about their tasks in quiet. They clean up after themselves. When they talk, it is politely and at a whisper—even when there is conflict, which is quickly and calmly resolved. Then there is the focus. The children apply themselves to activities with the sort of concentration most adults find hard to muster. It can be a transformative experience. It should be.

For as long as I can remember, I have been obsessed with education. I have read about it widely and deeply, thought about it, investigated it, practiced it in many settings. My research and experience have convinced me that what is improperly called the Montessori Method (more on “improperly” below) is not only superior to all alternatives but categorically so—not in the way that Mozart can be said to be superior to Salieri but in the way that vaccines can be said to be superior to homeopathy. I realize that this is a bold claim, but I hope not only to defend it but also to show why it is crucial to frame the claim in this way.

The Montessori Method is not only superior to all alternatives, but categorically so.

We all care and fret about education. We realize how important the issue is—indeed, we often gravely intone, it is perhaps the most important there is. So there is something deeply wrong about the fact that Montessori is still a niche movement in education over a century after its birth. This is a catastrophe for the obvious reasons—all the human potential wasted by subpar education when better alternatives have been available—but also because our collective blindness reveals something deeply rotten at the heart of our collective culture.

What’s more, this should be doubly shameful for us Catholics. Dr. Maria Montessori, the inventor of the Method, was a devout Catholic, but it is not just that. The Method is Catholicism as applied to education, in the way that you might say that the spirit of St. Francis is Catholicism as applied to the Beatitudes. It would have been a disaster if St. Francis had been condemned by the church as a heretic. But in a way, it would have been even worse if he said everything he did—and nobody cared. That, I want to argue, is what is going on.

The Materials and the Method

What is it about Montessori? In my experience, even most experts miss the crucial thing. Montessori schools feature mixed-age classrooms that look the same everywhere in the world because everything in the environment has been thought out for very specific reasons. Students can choose whatever activities they like from a prescribed list of options—the famous “materials” developed by Dr. Montessori—and can work on them for however long they want. Those materials enable students to learn by using their hands rather than from direct instruction, a process that education theorists describe as the “constructivist theory of education.”

People often focus on the materials because they are what is most obviously distinctive about the Method, and it is true that they are clever in countless ways. Each activity is intended to be self-correcting and hands-on. They are (very) cleverly designed so that the child will discover step by step what she is supposed to learn. Each activity is a building block to the next. So when children learn to trace shapes inside metal insets that have various geometric shapes, they unwittingly practice the fine-motor skills that will enable them to pick up writing, which they typically do much faster than the average child. Equally well-conceived are the mathematics activities, which work with concrete materials like beads and demonstrate that anyone is able to become comfortable with math.

The Method is Catholicism as applied to education, in the way that you might say that the spirit of St. Francis is Catholicism as applied to the Beatitudes.

Then there is Dr. Montessori’s theory of the child. She pointed out that all infants learn how to walk and learn a language, but because it happens to all of us, we forget how incredibly difficult it is to do. Children expend tremendous effort to do it, with amazing stubbornness, trying over and over until they get it right, eagerly, and they do so of their own accord. This natural drive to learn goes on—unless it is snuffed out. Once a child is taught that she must learn only because of the threat of punishment or, as is more popular these days, the prospect of reward and encouragement, her most powerful engine of motivation is essentially wiped out, as if a new program overwrote another in a computer.

Marie Veres, H.M., principal of the Village Montessori Center in Cleveland, 2010. (CNS photo/William Rieter) 

Once a child is ready to walk, she will expend tremendous effort to do so, but only when it is the right time in her development. So it is with other skills. Trying to teach, say, writing, on a rigid schedule will only convince a child that she is unable to do so, sapping not only that endeavor but her self-confidence and willingness to learn more generally. We can all attest from our personal experience that we easily become frustrated and despondent whenever we have to do things that are either far too easy or far too hard; but when our work is right at the edge of our comfort zone, challenging but doable, not only are we better at tasks, but we often find them positively thrilling.

This natural drive is largely hard-wired within us; and because of the freedom in a Montessori classroom, children will naturally pursue those activities that are right at that pleasurable edge of the comfort zone, where we have the most focus and energy. It is not just that they will learn, say, math much faster. The system is designed so that learning, effort and initiative are all associated with pleasure and success during the most formative years of life.

Montessori is often thought of as “progressive”—no grades, all that stuff about freedom—but other aspects of the method can seem rigid. There are rules; they are just very different from the rules in a typical classroom. The children have to clean up after themselves, whether by putting away activity tools once they are done with them, wiping up spilled juice or sweeping the classroom at the end of the day. But unlike a typical American preschool, the rules do not coerce “sharing,” since they are not an attempt to manage children according to the desires of adults. If Alice will not share with Bob, Bob will just have to learn to wait. Everybody loves the idea of children “learning through play,” and Montessori is sometimes described as encouraging this, but serious Montessorians react to such a formulation with horror.

In Montessori schools, children apply themselves with the sort of concentration most adults find hard to muster. 

The activities, it is emphasized, are work. Children have play time, of course, but classroom work is work. “Learning through play” is seen as an admission of defeat, an implicit statement that learning is intrinsically unpleasant and can only be made pleasant artificially. The Method is designed for the opposite goal, to teach that work is intrinsically rewarding; therefore it must protect children from external influences that might replace internal motivation for work. Hardcore Montessori parents will even—heresy of heresies!—refrain from praising their children for a job well done, since the idea of doing well to make Mom and Dad happy is already toxic. (So they say, “Wow! You must be so glad you drew that beautiful unicorn!” rather than “Wow! I’m so happy you drew that beautiful unicorn!”)

As if to make well-to-do private school tuition payers run screaming from the room, and teachers’ union reps clutch their pearls, Dr. Montessori wrote that the bigger the class size the better, since it meant more opportunities for students to figure things out on their own. She also wrote that uneducated people made better teachers than the educated ones, since they were less likely to try to deviate from the Method; and that the worst teachers of all were those with education degrees and previous teaching experience in the traditional system. The Method is sometimes criticized as too inflexible, and it can inspire comparisons to Steve Jobs, with his imperious obsession with aesthetics, minute detail and controlled environments. Most of a Montessori teacher’s job is presenting activities to children, and this is choreographed down to practically every word and every gesture.

Dr. Montessori wrote that the bigger the class size the better, since it meant more opportunities for students to figure things out on their own.

If every activity in the Method must be presented in exactly that way, if every material must have exactly those dimensions, be exactly that shade of that color, it is because Dr. Montessori proved through countless experiments, over decades, on children from every background and on every continent, that those specific attributes produced the same results.

The idea that less-educated teachers are better because they take less initiative shocks us because we instinctively feel that teaching is, or ought to be, a creative activity in which teachers must deploy their spontaneity and innovative skills. But think about what that means. If you hear that a medical researcher working on an intractable disease has unleashed his creativity and thought outside the box, you will applaud. If you hear that your airplane’s safety officer has decided to throw the rulebook out the window and express her inner creativity, you will demand to get off the flight. Human civilization advances not when a genius produces new knowledge but when novel insight gets translated into processes that enable non-geniuses to disseminate the product of that knowledge throughout society. It is not glamorous, but it is what actually changes the world. We know we have made progress not when a genius is able to do something new but when non-geniuses are able to repeat it.

Not the Montessori Method; the Scientific Method

Maybe the above intrigues, pleases, shocks the reader. Maybe all at the same time. Maybe we are willing to be sold on the idea that the Method is interesting and has valuable things to bring to the table. But that is not the claim I make. My claim is that Montessori is vastly and unquestionably superior to the alternatives. According to a plethora of studies, including randomized controlled trials, which have the highest evidentiary power in social science, Montessori children do better at reading and math but also outperform other children on a whole host of other indicators, including social skills, self-regulation, creativity and their sense of “justice and fairness.” The effect is more pronounced with minority and lower-income children. As far as I know, no method has been shown in a study to outright erase the income achievement gap—except Montessori. And the latest developments in neuroscience are just now catching up to Dr. Montessori’s theory of the child developed a century ago and confirming it.

Montessori children do better at reading and math but also outperform other children on a whole host of other indicators.

Studies are not perfect. We all know that. Science evolves and one paradigm replaces another.

But I have not yet gotten to the core of my argument.

People typically introduce the Method by talking about the materials or about the philosophy behind it. Sometimes they talk about the life of Dr. Maria Montessori. And it is easy to see why, because it is such an inspiring story. She was the first woman doctor in Italy; she was a polymath who studied everything from mathematics to anthropology to philosophy at advanced levels; she designed her first materials for mentally disabled children, a starting point whose symbolism a Christian can only see as providential. But in a sense, this approach is misleading. You cannot hope to understand the philosophy of, say, Descartes without understanding at least a bit of his biography, but you do not need to know anything at all about Isaac Newton’s life to test the validity of his theories. The most important thing about Maria Montessori is that she never used the term “Montessori Method.” She always referred to her “method” as “scientific education” or “scientific pedagogy.”

Maria Montessori (photo: AP)

Why is this important? Every pedagogical method, whether “alternative” or “mainstream,” “progressive” or “traditional,” starts with an abstract theory (sometimes only implicit) of what a child is, how her mind works, how she learns. And it is starting from that theory that it deduces a practical method. Dr. Montessori, who was a scientist by training and never claimed to be anything more, worked the other way around. She started tinkering with materials, first in a hospital setting with patients and then in her first school, whose original iteration had a rigid class schedule and almost none of the distinctive attributes of today’s Montessori schools, like child-size furniture and free access to activities. Those aspects were introduced over time and tested, and they worked.

The same was true with the activities. From her findings, Dr. Montessori developed theories, of course, but then put the implications from her theories to practical tests. That is, in a word, the scientific method. The Montessori Method is the only pedagogical method that was completely developed and refined through the scientific method. And here lies the qualitative difference.

The Montessori Method is the only pedagogical method that was completely developed through the scientific method. 

The sum total of what humans could learn about pedagogy did not end when Maria Montessori died. But unfortunately, her spirit of rigorous experiment was for the most part not carried on. To take just one example, in my experience most Montessori advocates are opposed to children using digital devices. But given the real Maria Montessori’s enthusiasm for, well, almost anything, there can be no doubt that had she been alive for the computer revolution, she would have started experimenting with electronic devices and with software, probably ending up with something for which we have no equivalent today.

The Opportunity Catholicism Missed

Maria Montessori was a deeply devout Catholic and a daily communicant. She believed her method was firmly grounded in the Gospel even as it was based on science, since indeed the two could never contradict each other, as St. Thomas Aquinas taught. She fostered the development of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, a religious instruction program using her methods, which has also shown amazing results in bringing children to know and love the Lord.

And the Method is indeed grounded in the Gospel. All of Montessori education is geared toward promoting “positive freedom” or the idea that “freedom” does not mean the power to do whatever you want to do but rather freedom from the negative tendencies that would lead you to the wrong choices, giving you the ability to do what you have been called to do. A Montessori classroom is the living embodiment of the Catholic truism that true freedom can be exercised only in an ordered framework. Dr. Montessori saw her goals as moral education, scientific education and artistic education—or education for the good, the true and the beautiful. The Method is incarnate; it reaches the soul through the body. And, of course, with those beautiful objects and precise rituals, it is liturgical.

All of Montessori education is geared toward promoting “positive freedom.”

So, as we must ask of the world, we must ask of the church: Why did we ignore Maria Montessori? Why isn’t Montessori education as associated with Catholicism in the public mind as the rosary and fish on Fridays?

Imagine for a second if the church had adopted Montessori education as its blueprint early in the 20th century. Imagine first the countless lives that would have been transformed, the people who would never have reached their full potential in a traditional school. Then imagine the greater robustness of the church. (How many have left the church because of angry teachers or utterly boring catechism lessons?)

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Catholics keep wondering what they have to give the modern world that it does not already have. Imagine what it would have meant for the church’s witness if, by the 1950s, it was a commonly known fact that Catholics were those strange people who, for example, did not hit their children at school (and everyone could see that it was because they simply did not need to).

Why didn’t we do it? We did not think we could make a difference.

By the end of the 19th century, the church had been the biggest educational institution in the world by far, continuously for centuries. Indeed, it had literally invented the school, as well as the university. But by that time, modern nation-states had taken over mass public education. The church could not compete. Modern states had infinitely more money and resources, and they could make school free for everyone and compel attendance, which certainly helped turnout. They were just more “modern.”

What we think of as the “default” sort of school is the product of a very specific historical time frame.

And suddenly countries were faced with the question of pedagogy for the first time. Most of them ended up copying the Prussian model. The vast majority of schools, public and private, across the West, despite some variations due to history and geography, still follow the same basic model invented by a militaristic dictatorship in the 19th century. As Prof. Angeline Lillard recounts, what we think of as the “default” sort of school (tables, students of the same age, whiteboard) is the product of a very specific historical time frame and of very specific philosophical assumptions that are either questionable or, from a Catholic perspective, downright heretical.

This comes from the era of the Industrial Revolution, when schools were explicitly modeled on factories, with children as inputs. Bells were introduced to mimic the bells on the factory floor that signify breaks. Learning was induced through a reward and punishment system. (Germany and other European nations were also anticipating mass warfare, and schools needed to produce disciplined future soldiers.)

The approach made practical application of philosophical assumptions. This form of schooling is based on the Lockean tabula rasa view that we come into this world as blank slates, as simple receptacles for information, and on the Cartesian dualism between mind and body. Accordingly, the best way to learn something is to receive it in a disincarnate way. Those are assumptions contrary to the wisdom of the Catholic tradition.

Against the Lockean view, Montessori supports the authentic Christian view that every child has a unique, God-given identity and gifts and must, by grace, develop them. As opposed to the Cartesian view, this approach rejects mind-body dualism. So why didn’t the church embrace it when it came along?

Because we did not—we could not—believe we could do better. In the late 19th and early 20th century, the pace of technological change was much faster than it is today, and the overall sense of the unstoppable nature of technological and organizational progress was pervasive. There was no sense born of world wars and environmental catastrophes that technology could also bring forth tragedy. In philosophy and theology, perhaps, the church was standing athwart history yelling “Stop!” But it was still impressed by all those engineers and industrialists and organizational experts who, collectively, embarked on the most ambitious school-building program in all of human history. They were the scientists. We were amateurs next to them. Of course the best we could do was copy.

And so here we are.

¿Cómo aplicar el método Montessori en casa?

 

Se trata de una propuesta pedagógica cada vez más integrada en aulas de todo el mundo. Los profesionales de la enseñanza valoran muy positivamente las ventajas que este sistema aporta a la formación del niño

Cada vez son más los padres que se interesan por integrar, también en el hogar, esta fórmula para estimular la educación de sus hijos. Para ello, resulta imprescindible llegar a comprender cuáles son los principios en los que se basa el método Montessori, tal como publica Universia.

Aprendizaje individualizado

La enseñanza debe adaptarse a las necesidades e intereses individuales de cada niño. Los padres deben observar a sus hijos y reconocer cuáles son esos intereses y necesidades que mueven a cada uno de ellos en particular.

La mente absorbente

Montessori concluyó que, lejos de ser el periodo universitario, el momento más importante para el desarrollo del niño coincide con la etapa que va desde su nacimiento hasta los 6 años. Durante esta fase, el cerebro del niño lo absorbe todo, como una esponja. Los padres deben aprovechar estos años en que el aprendizaje se realiza de forma natural.

Los períodos sensibles

Existen etapas en las que los pequeños se muestran más inclinados a aprender determinadas tareas. En esas fases de intensa sensibilidad, la asimilación se produce de una manera muy ágil, divertida y perdurable. Tras ese periodo sensible, el interés del niño decae.

Sin embargo, durante los periodos sensibles, los progenitores observarán que su hijo repite, casi obsesivamente, una misma actividad. Hay que aprovecharlo, es el momento en que su cerebro está dinamizando el aprendizaje de algo para lo que está genéticamente predispuesto.

Libertad de aprendizaje

Hay que procurar que el niño se desenvuelva en un ambiente seguro. De este modo, se le podrá permitir explorar con plena libertad. El aprendizaje del niño debe estimularse con la independencia. El propio pequeño debe autodirigir su ejercitamiento. El adulto solo supervisa.

La vida práctica

La enseñanza no debe estar focalizada únicamente en conceptos académicos. El niño debe adquirir habilidades que le ayuden a desenvolverse en su vida cotidiana. Los preescolares tienen que practicar para poder vestirse, asearse, poner la mesa, limpiar el entorno, mantener el orden… y los preadolescentes, por ejemplo, pueden ensayar cuestiones económicas, cómo iniciar un negocio, etc. Estas prácticas les servirán para, posteriormente, asimilar con mayor facilidad conceptos abstractos.

El aprendizaje sensorial

El método Montessori da mucha importancia al estímulo sensorial. Los alumnos también pueden aprender a través de los sentidos. La experiencia a través del gusto, el tacto, el olfato, la vista y/o el oído aumenta sus posibilidades de ser aprehendidas. Los padres pueden obtener más información tomando contacto con el International Montessori Institute.

El entorno

El hogar debe ser acondicionado adecuadamente. La casa conformará un ambiente apropiado para el niño. Espacios amplios, minimalistas, que no induzcan a la distracción y el desorden. El mobiliario accesible, con estantes a su altura, para que pueda alcanzar objetos, juguetes y libros. Estos deben ser pocos, que se puedan ir sustituyendo a medida que el niño pierda interés por alguno, y ordenados. Los utensilios de aseo y cocina serán reales y acordes a su tamaño. La finalidad es que el hijo se sienta completamente integrado en el hogar.

El ciclo de trabajo

El niño debe trabajar a su ritmo. Los padres no deben interrumpir su ciclo de trabajo. Si el hijo se ha visto atraído por una actividad y está enfrascado en ella, el progenitor no ha de inmiscuirse en la tarea. La función paternal se limita a servir de guía. Es el niño quien marca los tiempos. De esta manera se fortalece su capacidad de concentración.

La satisfacción

Aplicar el método Montessori en casa implica que los padres comprendan que las tareas realizadas no van seguidas de un premio o un castigo. Tampoco se debe fomentar la competencia o instaurar pruebas. Así, el niño se ve estimulado a lograr sus objetivos por el sentimiento de satisfacción que le produce.

El respeto

Los padres deben infundir el sentido del respeto y de la amabilidad en los niños, hacia ellos mismos y hacia los demás. No se debe olvidar que este sistema educativo aboga por una sociedad inclusiva, tolerante y respetuosa con la diversidad.

El método Montessori puede ser aplicable en casa. La familia y el hogar conforman un entorno que, acondicionado adecuadamente, impulsan el aprendizaje de los hijos. El International Montessori Institute ofrece formación y cursos online que capacitan a los padres para aplicar en casa este sistema educativo.

LET THE CHILD BE THE GUIDE

 As a young father, watching his daughter go through her life experiences, film director Alexandre Mourot discovered the Montessori approach and decided to set his camera up in a children’s house (3 to 6 years of age) in the oldest Montessori school in France.
Alexandre was warmly welcomed in a surprisingly calm and peaceful environment, filled with flowers, fruits and Montessori materials. He met happy children, who were free to move about, working alone or in small groups. The teacher remained very discreet. Some children were reading, others were making bread, doing division, laughing or sleeping.

The children guided the film director throughout the whole school year, helping him to understand the magic of their autonomy and self-esteem – the seeds of a new society of peace and freedom, which Maria Montessori dedicated her life work to.

The film was released in French theatres in Automne 2017. Now, we are trying to find a distributor for english countries.

THE PROJECT

“Education should not limit itself to seeking new methods for a mostly arid transmission of knowledge: its aim must be to give the necessary aid to human development.”
Maria Montessori

We all dream of a bright future for our children: a fertile personal life and a harmonious social life. School partly nurtures these aspects. So, which pedagogy should we choose? I here invite you to discover Maria Montessori’s method of education.

Based on her scientific observations, Maria Montessori discovered that by respecting a child’s personality and by offering him an environment that meets his developmental needs, they could thrive and build a solid foundation for living the human adventure with joy. In 1907, she opened a nursery school in Rome where she developed a new method of education. Her pedagogy rapidly become well known and is still growing in the world today.

This documentary invites you to discover the main concepts of this pedagogy, in particular how they are implemented in the reality of the daily routine of a nursery class where the filming took place throughout the year 2015.

The programme includes: meeting the children, observing their free actions and discover how, over time, thanks to the trust given to them and to the attention given to their needs, they gain in independence, concentration, self-confidence, self-discipline, social openness… and how their enthusiasm to learn is stimulated.

Another concern of the film is to bring to light all the challenges that Christian Maréchal needs to overcome, how best to fulfill his role as an educator of 28 children from 3 to 6 years old. How does he go about creating and maintaining a peaceful environment which will enable each child to be happy, build his self-esteem and nourish his potential…?

Voice-off: thanks to unpublished archives found while working on this film, keys will be given to understand the Montessori values, how the pedagogy works and Maria Montessori herself. Recent scientific researches in neuroscience and psychology will be brought up to confirm the pedagogue’s intuition.

If, like Maria Montessori, we think that “the child is the father of man”, then allowing ourselves to be guided by the teacher full of love, enthusiasm, intelligence, is opening a path towards peace and the elevation of humanity.

HOW IT ALL STARTED

“I came across Montessori teaching a few years ago, during the time of my first daughter’s birth, without really knowing what it was about. May 2014, I decided to buy a first book of Maria Montessori after reading an article about it. Captivated, I started to devour books… then to consider making a documentary film to explain this teaching. As a result, I carried out a few interviews with different people involved in the Montessori world in France. Their strong interest for this method of teaching and their love for children have encouraged me to make a film…

Beginning of the autumn term 2014, I then began an in-depth study, looked into archives, met numerous people and of course spent days of observation in classes all over France (22 in all). My passion for the subject did not stop to grow and I actively looked for a setting to produce my project. I eventually started my documentary in Christian Maréchal’s class at Jeanne d’Arc school in Roubaix (France) February 2015. During summer 2015 I started the International Montessori teacher program at early childhood level (ages 3-6) in order to refine my knowledge.

My aims for this documentary are high : the best possible quality for the viewers to experience the class and meet the children in the best possible way and a large scale circulation, as well as on a global scale. Indeed, the scientific teaching of Maria Montessori is for me a great proposal for the future of our children. I am convinced that if we try to understand it, it will widen our perception of our children and thus allows us to be more accurate in our relationships with them.”

Alexandre Mourot, director

FILM CREW

Alexandre Mourot – Film director

After finishing his engineering studies, Alexandre produced CD-Roms for famous French editors (GALLIMARD, FLAMMARION, LAROUSSE, ARTE Editions…) then launched some internet technology activities. This did not satisfy his need to create.
He decided to follow a history of art course at La Sorbonne University, be trained in photography and eventually in documentary filmmaking at the Ateliers Varan. In 2009 his first documentary called “Poubelles et Sentiments” (“garbage and feelings”) was released, dealing with the attachment we have with material things. The film was selected for screening by several festivals.
Since 2014, he has dedicated himself fully to documentary making, with a passion for education. In the summer 2015, he started an international Montessori training for 3 to 6 year old children (with the AMI) to improve his knowledge of the Montessori educational methods, which was the subject of his second movie.

Catherine Mamecier – Chief editor

In 1990 Catherine started working for various Parisian productions, producing numerous magazine editings such as L’Oeil du Cyclone aired on Canal + channel and over 60 clips for artists such as Jean-Louis Aubert, Pascal Obispo, Assassin, Zazie, Jean-Jaques Goldmann, Jaques Dutronc, amongst others.

Working for Parisian productions was Catherine’s first job in 1990, for which she produced numerous magazine editings (such as L’Oeil du Cyclone on Canal + channelShe naturally looked towards a line of documentary editing work and has been working since 1997 for a regional TV channel (France 3 Loraine).
To establish her knowledge, she went into a professional Master on production and documentary editing.

“What attracted me first to Alexandre’s project was its militant side, the will to promote Maria Montessori’s project about children’s education to build different future, and secondly the filming quality: the images are really beautiful and put the child right in the center of our reflection. With such materials, the story is full of promises from a technical point of view (80 hours of rushes) as well as from a narrative perspective.”

The children

“Directing our action toward mankind means, first and foremost, doing so with regard to the child. The child, that ‘forgotten citizen’, must be appreciated in accordance with his true value. His rights as a human being who shapes all of mankind must become sacred, and the secret laws of his normal psychic development must light the way for civilisation.”

Maria Montessori

2014-2015: born in 2011: Marine, Victorien, Géraud, Félix, Noélie, Louis, Séraphine, Camille, Charlie ; born in 2010: Achille, Étienne, Gabriel, Léa, Nour, Gabin, Roxane, Valentine, Mathieu, Auguste ; born in 2009: Joseph, Garance, Bartimée, Juliette, Titouan, Jeanne, Olivier, Yanis, Sixtine.

2015-2016: born in 2012: Alphonse, Marin, Pierre, Alix, Adèle, Agathe, Antoine, Pierre, Charlotte, Robin ; born in 2011: Marine, Victorien, Géraud, Félix, Louis, Séraphine, Camille, Charlie ; born in 2010: Achille, Étienne, Gabriel, Léa, Nour, Gabin, Roxane, Valentine, Mathieu, Auguste.

Christian Maréchal – Montessori teacher

After studying robotics, Christian decided to change fields to his first aspirations: education. He agreed to replace a supply teacher in a primary school. Christian reflected on the pace of each child, especially when he discovers that some good pupils do not like going to school. He went back to studying to become a primary teacher and discovered Maria Montessori’s pedagogy. For two years, he took a first training course for Montessori 3-6 year-olds, then Montessori 6-12 year-olds at the Montessori school of Roubaix (France) with the Dominican nuns. Some nuns had taken their training with Maria Montessori.

From 1992 to 1995, Christian worked in a Montessori school in a disadvantaged area in North of France.

In 1995 he entered the Montessori school of Roubaix and led the Montessori environment for the 6-9 years old.

In 2000 Christian took a training course for the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) 3-6 Diploma at the Maria Montessori Institute in Paris.

Since 2001, he has been leading a Montessori environment for the 3-6 years-old in the Montessori school of Roubaix.

Since 2002, he has worked with the Maria Montessori Institute of Paris and Geneva for the AMI training and becomes in 2005 became a member of the jury for the completion of the AMI 3-6 Diploma.

In 2012 Christian enrolled in the AMI Training of Trainers Programme.

In 2015, he completed his Montessori diploma in London for the “catechesis of the Good Shepherd”. The same year, he worked with Alexandre Mourot to shoot a documentary on the Montessori pedagogy.

Positive Discipline

 

When we hear the term Positive Discipline, it may sound almost contrary to the Montessori approach. Afterall, discipline normally conjures up ideas of strict parenting, perhaps punishment. However, if we consider a different meaning of the word discipline, as suggested by Cambridge Dictionary; “the ability to control yourself or other people, even in difficult situations”, we begin to get closer to the reason why we feel that Positive Discipline is the ideal toolkit for a any parent, but particularly a Montessori Parent.

Positive Discipline was developed by Jane Nelson as a way to help children and teenagers develop into responsible and respectful adults. In actual

fact, many parents who complete a Positive Discipline course, quickly realise that the person who is actually changing during the course is the parent, and through them, the child.

Positive Discipline encourages parents to reassess their own thoughts and behaviours. Often we find ourselves acting on autopilot, sometimes we might hear our own parents words coming out of our mouths! This is normal but it can be counterproductive, especially when we are trying to foster respect and thoughtfulness in our child.

Positive Discipline gives parents a toolkit of strategies which they can try in different situations in order to respond differently to everyday struggles with young children. These strategies encourage parents and children to become joint problem solvers and independent thinkers, who work together to create a more harmonious living environment. We want to raise our children for the world of tomorrow, therefore we need a new approach, one of patience, thoughtfulness and respect.

For parents of non-Montessori children, Positive Discipline can be a great toolkit to allow you to help develop some of the aforementioned qualities in your family.

An Uninterrupted Work-Cycle

 Children need time and space in order to develop the necessary executive functions to be able to concentrate. This happens very early in life. The use of modern technology means that we often do not have to concentrate for very long in order to be able to get information about a topic, videos can help us quickly understand a difficult topic, a Whatsapp message tells us how our family is doing and even our fridge or washing machine lets us know when they need our attention!

This can make it difficult to develop the patience and concentration span necessary in order to persevere at something challenging. Dr. Montessori believed that we need to protect a child’s work environment so that they can learn to work in peace and concentrate and explore the materials fully. For this reason we prioritise uninterrupted work cycles in both Infant Community and Children’s House. Punctuality is very important for us and we ask all families to arrive by 9:00 in order to allow children to begin this uninterrupted period of work.

During this time, children may receive a presentation from a Guide or work on an activity they have previously received a presentation about. These include activities related to practical life, literacy, mathematics, geography, science, arts and craft and music. The individual attention that the children receive from the Guide in the form of a presentation is very valuable. First, it ensures that the child understands how to use the material, then it helps form a close bond between the Guide and the child. Finally, it helps modelling concentration. Children know that they cannot interrupt a Guide while they are giving a presentation as this is a protected and important time.

In Infant Community, children gradually develop the ability to work for longer periods of time and the work cycle lasts 1h 30m. In Children’s House, the cycle lasts up to 3 hours in the morning and, depending on the age of the child, this is repeated again in the afternoon.

Nido is changing

 

We are very excited to announce that Nido Montessori Barcelona has grown a lot since opening its doors in December 2015. The center, which originally catered for children between the ages of 15 months and 6 years old will now be changing in order to improve the program which we can offer children.

Barcelona Montessori School, in Bonanova is a new project from the founder of Nido Montessori Center. The new school will provide a British Montessori education for children aged between 15 months and 12 years old. As a result of this, our current center in the neighbourhood of Gracia will also be changing. The Children’s House classroom which is currently located in Nido Montessori will move to become part of Barcelona Montessori School, and as a result the capacity for 0 – 3 year olds in the current center will more than double.

Why are you moving Children’s House?

We have done this because we feel that the new school is able to offer a far more exciting educational opportunity for children aged 3 and above than we are currently able to offer at Nido. One of the main differences that parents will notice is that of the installations available at Barcelona Montessori School. Given the bigger space, children will be able to participate in Forest Schooling programme and Montessori Sports, two activities that we don’t have space for in the current setting. The outdoor area is significantly bigger and therefore offers much greater play opportunities as children grow. Nido is a lovely space, but a common comment we have received over the years is that it starts to be too small for children at the upper end of Children’s House. The school will also boast it’s own kitchen and chef, meaning that children can gain practical experience in the school kitchen, as well as enjoying freshly prepared food. It also has dedicated spaces for music and arts, as well as having a robotics and computing programme integrated into the day. 

How will Nido Montessori Center work?

Nido Montessori will be divided into two classrooms. Both will cater for Infant Community, but one will be slightly adapted to younger children and one slightly adapted to older children. This is primarily because we will accept children in Nido until the time at which they start school, which for some children will be age 3 1/2, or more. Children who are at Nido Montessori Center will then be able to join a local school when they enter “P3”, alternatively, if there is space available they can join Barcelona Montessori School.

Can my child still join Nido?

If your child was born in 2018 or after then yes, they can still join us. Nido Montessori will be divided into two classrooms. Both will cater for Infant Community, but one will be slightly adapted to younger children and one slightly adapted to older children. This is primarily because we will accept children in Nido until the time at which they start school, which for some children will be age 3 1/2, or more. Children who are at Nido Montessori Center will then be able to join a local school when they enter “P3”, alternatively, if there is space available they can join Barcelona Montessori School. If your child will be aged 3 or over at the time of joining, then we recommend that you apply to Barcelona Montessori School or make alternative arrangements. Whilst we can accept older children into Nido, parents should be aware that this may not be in their best interests.

If you want your child to join Nido in or after September 2020 you do not need to do anything, we will contact you when we have an available space.

I want to know more about Barcelona Montessori School.

We would like to invite all families to attend an open day at Barcelona Montessori School on Saturday, 7th March. Registration is not required but you should be aware that there are two guided tours, one in Spanish and one in English, please see the website for more details. You can find out more details from our website. After this, if you would like us to transfer your child’s application form from Nido Montessori Barcelona to Barcelona Montessori School, please send us an email stating this, don’t forget to include your child’s name.

I want my child to join Barcelona Montessori School. Do I have to complete a new application form?

If we already have your child’s application form you can simply email us and ask us to transfer the application form. We will add your child to the waiting list for the new school. Inscriptions open officially on Monday, 9th March, and places will be allocated according to the date of application. Please be aware that for some classes demand is already high and we apologise for any delay in getting back to you.

The science behind Montessori

 

Scientific studies into the long-term impact of a Montessori education are very promising. Aside from anecdotal evidence from Sergey Brin and Larry Page, founders of Google who credited their successful collaboration to their similar experiences and educational development at Montessori preschools¹, scientific research also supports the long-term benefits of a Montessori education.

A study based in Milwaukee, USA, found that children who completed their education in a Montessori school between the ages of 3 – 11, scored significantly higher on standardised tests in maths and science compared to children who received a standard education².

In fact, studies suggest that even a short spell in a Montessori environment at age four can have long-lasting benefits, particularly for boys³.

Montessori and Neuroscience

Our understanding of the brain has come a long way in the last 100 years, since Maria Montessori developed her educational method. Can this knowledge help us to understand why the Montessori method helps children learn?

Perceived Control and Learning

Montessori education is often confused with other types of alternative centres and preschools, many of which do not follow set curricula or require students to complete classwork. Therefore, it is important to be clear that students following the Montessori curriculum do not spend their days playing and doing whatever they like. The Montessori curriculum provides clear activities that cover the same subject areas as traditional curricula. Students must complete these activities, and the classroom teacher or “guide” carefully monitors their progress. However, they are more free than students in traditional schools to choose when to do this. They can decide that Friday afternoon is not the time when they want to do Maths, or that they would like to have a break to talk quietly with a friend. The teacher carefully monitors this and students are encouraged and helped to complete activities if they are struggling to work.

This is designed to give students a feeling of control over their learning. Students are not free to do what they want but they can decide between various options. This decision is extremely important for giving students the feeling of control, something that has been repeatedly shown to be pivotal in the learning process⁴.

Movement and Learning

Like Jean Piaget, a very influential and important child psychologist, Maria Montessori believed that during infancy children’s mental development is reliant on movement or action. She believed that encouraging infants to move and interact with the world around them would improve their mental development. More traditional educational models do not allow for a great deal of movement, as much of the educating is done by a teacher in front of a large group of students who need to concentrate on the teacher and normally this requires them to be still. Studies of movement during the school day show that children in Montessori preschools spend more time moving around that those in traditional preschools⁵.

Studies suggest that encouraging movement from a very young age can be beneficial. Babies who are able to interact with objects from an early age and are encouraged to grasp or use tools, such as Velcro mittens to bring objects closer to them, are capable of attending to objects in a wider space around them, compared to infants who are not given this opportunity. Even very young (3 month old) infants who were encouraged to interact with their environment were more likely to recognise other people’s actions as having a purpose⁶. This finding is supported by studies of the brain that have found the existence of mirror neurons in the premotor cortex. These neurons activate when a subject completes a particular action and when the subject watches the same action being completed⁷. The aforementioned study using Velcro mittens suggests that babies tend to develop the ability to complete a goal directed action (such as reaching and grasping an object) at about the same time that they are able to see this action as being goal directed when watching another person. Therefore, it seems logical to assume that encouraging babies and children to interact with their environment will help them to learn at a faster rate than if they were just observing.

Executive Functions and Montessori

Executive Functions enable us to mentally play with ideas. They allow us to take time to think before acting when we encounter new and unexpected challenges. They help us to resist temptations around us and remain focused on our goal. Executive functions are related to a family of cerebrospinal mental processes, the flow of which are needed for concentration and attention in situations where the use of our “autopilot”, instincts or intuition would be insufficient or impossible.

There is general agreement that the main executive functions can be classified into three categories: inhibition, working memory and cognitive flexibility. It is increasingly believed that these functions are vital for success in school and life to such an extent that those with poorly developed executive function may be misdiagnosed as having ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) or other learning difficulties.

The term Executive Functions was not around when Dr. Montessori completed her studies into how children learn. However, a Montessori education helps to develop executive functions in many ways. Montessori centers only have one example of any particular activity; meaning children must learn to wait. The activities are conducted on low desks or mats on the floor, so that children must walk from the shelving unit to the desk or the mat, through a maze of other children’s work in order to collect a new piece. In doing so, the pupils develop their working memory and have to avoid becoming distracted by what others are doing. Added to which, most of the activities are used frequently over time with new tasks being introduced or combined with other activities. Children also work together or teach each other, all of which aid their cognitive flexibility. In fact, studies suggest that 5 year olds who had attended a Montessori preschool showed greater cognitive flexibility than those who had attended standard preschools⁸

Time Management and Satisfaction

School days can feel long, particularly when evenings are filled with homework activities or studying for tests and exams. In Montessori schools, homework is typically limited. Dr. Montessori believed that it would not make sense to dictate what a child must do at home if it is not dictated in school. As we have seen so far Montessori students typically meet, if not excel at, the achievements of their peers and this in spite of a no homework policy. Interestingly, studies have found that students in Montessori schools spend more of their time on school related activities than students in traditional schools, who tend to spend more school time on leisure activities and socialising. Perhaps even more surprising is the finding that students in Montessori schools are more likely to see their classmates as friends than students in traditional schools. Montessori students also report feeling more energetic and interested in school than do students at traditional schools⁹.

Dr. Montessori created a child centred curriculum based on scientific observation. She moved the emphasis away from the teacher teaching and instead focused on developing an environment that helps the child to learn through a process of discovery and self-correction. Current scientific studies support the original work of Dr. Montessori and give us a better understanding as to why her curriculum can be so beneficial in enabling students to master skills and above all, develop a life-long passion for learning and innovation.

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“Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to words but by experiences in the environment.” – Maria Montessori.

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1.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C_DQxpX-Kw ↩
2. Dohrmann, K. R. (2007). Outcomes for students in a Montessori program. Rochester, NY: Association Montessori International/USA: Retrieved July, 8, 2007 ↩
3.  Lillard, A. S. (2005). Montessori: The science behind the genius. Oxford University Press. Page 35. ↩
4.  Allen, R. & Waldman, C. (2010). High-Five Teaching, K-5: Using Green Light Strategies to Create Dynamic, Student-Focused Classrooms. Corwin ↩
5. Pate, R. R., O’Neill, J. R., Byun, W., McIver, K. L., Dowda, M., & Brown, W. H. (2014). Physical Activity in Preschool Children: Comparison Between Montessori and Traditional Preschools. Journal of School Health, 84(11), 716-721. ↩
6. http://web.mit.edu/course/other/i2course/www/devel/wco.pdf ↩
7. Kandel, E. R. (2013). Principles of neural science. New York: McGraw-Hill. ↩
8. Lillard, N. Else-Quest,Science 313, 1893 (2006). ↩
9. “Overview of Research on Montessori Education: An Evidence-Based Curriculum“, taken from https://amshq.org/Publications-and-Research/Research-Library/Position-and-White-Papers. Accessed on Friday 12 June 15 ↩

Crianza en positivo: conocé la pedagogía Montessori

 

ContentLAB LA NACION, junto con Nutrilon4, presenta su primer podcast dedicado a la crianza en positivo. Durante 10 episodios, Leila Sobol, periodista de LA NACION, charla con Astrid Steverlynck de Fundación Maria Montessori, sobre las diferentes herramientas que la pedagogía Montessori brinda a los padres para preparar a sus hijos para el futuro. Desde el valor de los límites hasta el apego seguro.

Criar en casa con Montessori

La hazaña de educar es una aventura que depara de todo. A veces nos atacan las dudas constantes sobre si lo estamos haciendo bien, a veces nos sentimos un poco solos como padres, otras terminamos comparando a nuestros chicos con los hijos de nuestros amigos. Pero también están esas ocasiones, con suerte la mayoría, en las que la crianza es una experiencia de suma alegría: la alegría de verlos crecer. Todo eso engloba la crianza y para hablar del tema en toda su amplitud y profundidad estamos hoy con Astrid Steverlynck, parte de la Fundación Argentina María Montessori:

¿Qué es la crianza "natural"?

"Una esponja", así es como la sabiduría popular bautiza a los chicos por esa capacidad increíble que tienen de absorber conocimiento a partir del mundo que los rodea. La pregunta del millón puede ser ¿Cómo hacemos como padres para aprovechar esa facultad de una manera positiva y con respeto? De esto charlamos con Astrid Steverlynck, bienvenida, Astrid es miembro de la Fundación Argentina María Montessori, parte de la Fundación Argentina María Montessori.

¿Por qué importa tanto "el ambiente"?

Si hay un tema sobre el que podemos encontrar pilas de información -aunque muchas veces confusa- ese es el de la crianza. Cada experto trae su librito y realmente son muchas las veces que como padres no sabemos qué hacer. Charlamos con Astrid Steverlynck, miembro de la Fundación Argentina María Montessori, sobre un tema que en la pedagogía Montessori es central: el ambiente.

Todo sobre el apego

Si hablamos de "apego" una de las primeras imágenes que vienen a la mente es la de los mamíferos junto a sus crías: la forma en la que las tienen muy cerca, les dan calor, las amamantan. ¿Qué nos pasa a los seres humanos con esa cercanía tan vital? Un tema hermoso y de muchísima profundidad que vamos a charlar con Astrid Steverlynck, miembro de la Fundación Argentina María Montessori y nuestra guía en temas de crianza.

El tesoro del lenguaje

Leyendo sobre pedagogía Montessori descubrí un dato que tal vez pueda parecer obvio, pero me parece que no siempre lo tenemos en cuenta en toda su dimensión: que el proceso de adquirir las palabras arranca en realidad mucho antes de que un chico empiece a hablar. Dicho de otra forma: un bebé, incluso cuando es muy chiquitito, tiene ya la capacidad natural para incorporar la estructura del lenguaje, cosas como el orden de las palabras en una oración y hasta las categorías de palabras que usamos, como artículos, sustantivos o verbos. ¿Qué implicancias tiene todo esto?

¿Por qué importa el orden?

En el terreno de la educación de los chicos tendemos a asociar el "orden" con control ¿no? Bueno, vamos ver si podemos desandar un poco esa idea y tratar de entender qué significa el orden y por qué puede resultar un "aliado impensado" en la crianza. Astrid Steverlynck, miembro de la Fundación Argentina María Montessori, está hoy con nosotros para ayudarnos a reflexionar sobre este concepto.

¿Qué hay de los famosos "límites"?

El de los límites es un tema que atraviesa profundamente los debates en educación, pero también las discusiones hacia el interior de las familias. ¿Cómo se ponen límites, de qué límites hablamos, hasta dónde sirven? ¿Hay que poner muchos o pocos? ¿Y qué pasa cuando los chicos no nos hacen caso? Astrid Steverlynck es parte de la Fundación Argentina María Montessori y está hoy con nosotros para hablar de este tema tan medular en la crianza.

¿Cómo educar chicos independientes?

Hay una frase de la pedagogía Montessori que resulta muy conocida: "Ayudame a ayudarme a mí mismo". Es clara, es gráfica, es potente, pero ¿qué quiere decir en el fondo? ¿Cuál es su significado profundo? ¿Y que tiene que ver con la necesidad de los chicos de independencia, esa alegría apabullante que nos transmiten cada vez que son capaces de hacer las cosas por sí solos? Para charlar de todo esto estamos una vez más junto a Astrid Steverlynck, nuestra guía en temas de crianza y miembro de la Fundación Argentina María Montessori.

Pantallas, ¿sí o no?

Nos guste o no, las pantallas forman parte de nuestra vida cotidiana como nunca antes en la historia. Y respecto específicamente de la educación eso nos dispara mil preguntas, ¿cuánto tiempo es recomendable que los chicos estén frente a la tele, o la computadora o el celular o la tablet? ¿Qué contenidos se recomienda ofrecerles? La pedagogía Montessori tiene muchísimo para decir al respecto y también unas ideas bien interesantes que nos va a estar contando Astrid Steverlynck, parte de la Fundación Argentina María Montessori.

¿Cómo hacer para alimentarlos mejor?

Venimos hablando de crianza y también de ambiente, de independencia, de apego, de juego y no podemos dejar de lado una cuestión que nos atraviesa desde que nos levantamos hasta que nos vamos a dormir, varias veces por día. A veces fluye sin problemas y otras es un drama y si a vos te pasa seguro que sabés que estoy hablando de la alimentación, de cómo nos nutrimos, de todo aquello que comemos y no comemos. Cómo hacer para que los chicos coman mejor es una de las preguntas que más surgen hoy entre los padres, pero no vamos a hablar hoy de esta cuestión desde un punto de vista estrictamente nutricional sino más conceptual, o filosófico, y para charlamos con Astrid Steverlynck, parte de la Fundación Argentina María Montessori.

Maria Montessori: la pedagoga que revolucionó el mundo

 

Abrió la puerta y sintió un vértigo en el centro del pecho. Un gran vacío que tiraba de ella la aspiraba hasta llevarla a un punto de desolación.

–Hola –, dijo, pero ninguna de las veinte cabecitas que flotaban entre aquellas paredes desnudas y frías le respondió. Algunos dormitaban en un rincón; otros, sobre la superficie de sus pupitres vacíos. Por la ventana que daba al patio apenas entraba un rayo de luz.

Maria se dirigió a la cuidadora, una mujer mayor, vestida de negro, que hacía media sentada junto a la puerta.
–¿Siempre están así? – le preguntó.
–Oh, sí. Solo se espabilan cuando llega la hora de comer. ¡Son unos glotones! Cuando terminan se lanzan a coger con los dedos las migas de pan que han quedado por el suelo… – contestó la mujer.

Maria se dio la vuelta para fijarse otra vez en aquellas criaturas. “Retardados”, les llamaban. Muchos sencillamente habían sido abandonados allí, depositados en una habitación vacía, con la única compañía de la guardiana que hacía media. Niños de mirada vacía. Niños de corazón deshinchado, sin vida, sin amor. Niños cuyo cerebro prefería dormir.

Se dio cuenta de algo importante: el amor era necesario para despertar la inteligencia.

Se acercó a la ventana y abrió de par en par los pesados postigos. Un rayo de sol entró en la habitación. Maria dio unas palmadas en el aire y una cabecita se levantó. Después otra. Y otra más.
–¡Muy bien! Niños, aquí, venid.
Un niño rubio, con la cabeza pelada, se le acercó.
–Me llamo Maria, Maria Montessori. ¿Y tú? –le preguntó.
–Luigi –contestó tímidamente.

Le pasó la mano por la cabeza y el niño cerró los ojos para sentirla mejor. Cuando quiso apartarla, el pequeño la retuvo para que siguiera acariciándolo. Cuánto afecto iban a necesitar aquellos niños, se dijo Maria.

La escuela es la casa de los niños

Con la luz del sol, en el aula entró la vida. Es decir, el estímulo básico para el desarrollo de la inteligencia: la curiosidad y, más allá aún, un porqué que permita que la curiosidad se despliegue. Un sentido. Y el sentido, para aquellos niños, fue Maria.

Con ella pudieron salir a jugar al exterior, en contacto con las plantas, con el aire, con la lluvia, permitir que sus sentidos despertaran. También despertó en ellos una conciencia de sí, empezando por el nombre propio y siguiendo por identificar los gustos y la personalidad de cada uno, en vez de sentirse un cuerpo anónimo dentro de la masa de los “retrasados”.

Cuando ya eran capaces de valorar lo que eran, les enseñó a valorar y cuidar el espacio que habitaban: el aula. A los niños había que darles cosas bellas.

Maria hizo fabricar para ellos letras y números de madera, juguetes didácticos que iban a ser una de las herramientas clave de los futuros colegios Montessori. Pero aún quedaba mucho para eso; primero aquellos niños con déficits mentales debían aprender a leer y a escribir.

Juguetes didácticos. Espacios separados para cada tarea. Responsabilidades a su medida para fomentar su autosuficiencia. En definitiva, muchos estímulos, cuidados y amor. Con estos ingredientes, Maria fue alimentando a los niños a la vez que les enseñaba el temario para el examen decisivo con que quería demostrar al mundo que merecía la pena dedicar recursos a los niños y a su método de educación, pues los niños eran la esperanza del mundo.

La revolución educativa: cada niño es un milagro

Ellos le daban la razón: el cerebro de los niños era una esponja maravillosa que absorbía todo cuanto se le ofrecía y lo devolvía multiplicado. Solo había que adaptarse a su ritmo y a su forma de aprendizaje, y no al revés.

"El niño, con su enorme potencial físico e intelectual, es un milagro frente a nosotros. Este hecho debe ser transmitido a todos los padres, educadores y personas interesadas en los niños porque la educación desde el comienzo de la vida podría cambiar verdaderamente el presente y el futuro de la sociedad”.

La revolución que llevó a cabo Maria Montessori en el ámbito de la educación partió de esta idea tan simple y a la vez tan transgresora.

Lo que se derivaba de ella daba la vuelta completamente al modo como se entendía la escuela hasta entonces: un lugar donde un maestro transmitía conocimientos a unos niños pasivos. Al contrario, para Maria la escuela debía ser un lugar donde la inteligencia y la mente de los niños se desarrollara mediante el trabajo libre con el uso de materiales especiales que proporcionaran conocimientos de modo sistemático y autónomo.

Escuelas libres: ¿cómo logran acompañar a los niños hacia la felicidad?

Un lugar en el que cada niño trabajara a su ritmo, con relaciones de ayuda mutua entre todos, sin competencia sino con respeto y valoración de los logros de cada uno, y donde los errores se considerasen parte del aprendizaje. En definitiva, un lugar en el que el maestro no modelase a los niños, sino que ejerciera como guía en una educación para la vida y la libertad.

El legado de Maria: Cómo es un aula Montessori

En una escuela Montessori los niños tienen libertad de movimientos y eligen en cada momento la actividad que prefieren dentro de unos ambientes preparados con finalidades didácticas.

Hasta los seis años usan materiales agrupados por sentidos: materiales culinarios para el gusto y el olfato; diversas formas, texturas y temperaturas para el tacto; materiales con diversos colores, dimensiones, volúmenes y formas para la vista; y otros basados en sonidos y música para el oído.

Se trata de fomentar su autonomía y su evolución en los diversos aspectos:

• La vida práctica: ayuda a desarrollar la coordinación, la concentración, la independencia, el orden y la disciplina.
• El área sensorial: para el desarrollo de los cinco sentidos.
• La lecto-escritura: también comienza desde lo sensorial, desde la coordinación ojo-mano y muscular, el sentido de la lateralidad y el trabajo de psicomotricidad gruesa y fina. Por ejemplo, repasando con el dedo formas de letras antes de pasar al lápiz.
• Las matemáticas: se comienza asociando números a cantidades y yendo de lo concreto a lo abstracto.

¿Qué es y en qué se basa el método Montessori?

 

Cada día que pasa más personas se interesan por el método Montessori, como es el caso de los Duques de Cambridge. Desde que surgiera a finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX, sus resultados han convencido a una gran cantidad de gente que está haciendo que cada día sea más conocido y reconocido.

Cuando somos padres empezamos a preocuparnos por la educación y formación que recibirán nuestros hijos fuera de casa, momento en el que aumenta nuestro interés por conocer cómo se hacen las cosas tradicionalmente y qué otras opciones existen cono alternativas.

Viendo los resultados a veces tan dudosos obtenidos con el método tradicional especialmente en España, es lógico que actualmente los padres se interesen por métodos como Cossettinni, Waldorf, Kumon o mismamente Montessori.

Te dejamos un vídeo en el que hablan profesionales de las tres metodologías para que puedas comparar entre ellas:

¿Qué es el método Montessori?

Podemos decir que el método Montessori es un método educativo cuyos pilares son el desarrollo de la independencia de los niños, la libertad con límites, el respeto de la psicología natural y el desarrollo social y físico de estos niños. Como puedes ver, es más que un método, pudiendo ser considerada una filosofía, como así es denominado algunas veces.

Fue creado por María Montessori gracias al trabajo que realizaba con niños con trastornos mentales y necesidades especiales. Con el objetivo de que estos niños pudieran lograr un desarrollo integral como personas, se planteó como objetivo lograr el máximo desarrollo de todas sus capacidades intelectuales, físicas y espirituales.

Para ello estructuró sus ideas básicas en un método basado en que las diversas actividades a realizar fueran dirigidas por los niños, actuando los adultos como observadores clínicos o guías, haciendo que le entorno de aprendizaje del niño se adapte a su nivel de desarrollo.

Diversas investigaciones realizadas a partir de los años ’70 han mostrado los resultados positivos del método Montessori, en los que no solo hay una mejor puntuación en pruebas estandarizadas de lectura y matemáticas, por ejemplo, sino que los niños muestran una mejor interacción social, empatía y control ejecutivo entre otros parámetros estudiados.

En el año 2.007 se dirigió una miniserie de dos capítulos basada en la vida y obra de María Montessori que puedes ver a continuación:

FP de Grado Superior en Educación Infantil

Formación en el Método Montessori

El método Montessori no es una metodología que cualquiera puede impartir; para ello se requiere una formación previa en sus principios y que actualmente está regulada por la Asociation Montessori Internationale, con la intención de que no se perviertan los planteamientos originales de su fundadora y que puedan preservarse con la mayor calidad posible.

Actualmente el método Montessori está regulado por alguna asociación local en 27 países, y en España concretamente lo hace a través de la Asociación Montessori Española, la cual es la responsable en nuestro país de avalar las diversas formaciones en el método Montessori.

Dentro de la formación que ofrecen podemos destacar el “Curso de Introducción a la pedagogía Montessori”, “Curso de Actualización de guía AMI en matemáticas” y “Curso para Asistente Montessori”. Solo tienes que ponerte en contacto con ellos y solicitar más detalles.

En este video puedes ver las características del Método Montessori:

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Elementos del método Montessori

A la hora de poner en práctica su filosofía, el Método Montessori parte de diversos elementos que hay que trabajar a conciencia para obtener los resultados positivos esperados.

El Niño

Se parte de la idea de que el niño para poder desarrollarse plenamente en todas sus capacidades, debe adaptarse correctamente al ambiente, dándole así un sentido a todo lo que le rodea y construyéndose a sí mismo respecto a ese mundo que le envuelve.

Además, cada niño es único en distintos momentos, por lo que habrá que reconocer sus necesidades en cada etapa y poder aportarle un ambiente físico y espiritual favorable que ayuden a cubrir esas necesidades.

El niño pasa por una serie de etapas que necesitan integrarse las unas en las anteriores para poder desarrollarse plenamente. Podemos denominarlas en orden de evolución: mente absorbente (0-6), mente razonadora (6-12), mente humanística (12-18) y mente especialista (18-24).

El Ambiente

En el método Montessori el ambiente en el que los niños aprenden tiene mucha importancia, por lo que cada elemento está controlado al milímetro siempre con el objetivo de adaptarse a las necesidades evolutivas de los niños.

El ambiente por tanto tiene que ser un lugar abierto y amplio, en el que prima el orden y la estética de una manera real y sencilla. Para ello por ejemplo, hay sillas y mesas de diferentes medidas y las estanterías son bajas para que los niños no tengan problemas para acceder a ellas.

El aula está dividida en distintas áreas temáticas, donde están los materiales correspondientes permitiendo así a los niños una gran libertad de movimiento. A esto además hay que sumar la convivencia en la misma aula de niños de diversas edades, lo que permite el aprendizaje y la colaboración espontanea, el respeto mutuo y la profundización de conocimientos a la hora de enseñar a otros niños.

Guías o adultos

En los colegios Montessori a los profesores se les llama adultos o “guías”, puesto que en ningún momento son transmisores de conocimientos a receptores pasivos, sino observadores y guías que ayudan y estimulan a los niños a la hora de aprender.

El guía tiene como objetivo observar las necesidades e intereses de los niños y facilitarles oportunidades para que las desarrollen de una manera inteligente, siempre respetándose a sí mismos y a la comunidad de la que forman parte en el aula.

Lectura recomendada: «Cursos de Auxiliar de Guardería«.

El objetivo último de los guías es intervenir cada vez menos hasta conseguir que el niño piense y actúe por sí mismo, con autoconfianza y disciplina interior, no siendo necesarios por tanto los castigos y las amenazas.

¿Quieres ver qué hace el guía en un aula Montessori?

Materiales Didácticos

Al igual que el ambiente, los materiales didácticos utilizados en las aulas están diseñados a conciencia de una manera científica y en contextos experimentales. Se observó los intereses de los niños en cada etapa evolutiva y con el objetivo de proporcionar material que ayudara al desarrollo del conocimiento y el pensamiento abstracto.

Estos materiales permiten su manipulación repetitiva, lo que favorece la concentración, objetivo prioritario en esta metodología. Además, permite a los niños investigar y explorar de manera individual e independiente.

Tienen dos propiedades muy importantes: aislamiento de las dificultades, lo que permite manipularos introduciendo una única variable, aislando el resto, y el control del error, que hace que sea el propio material el que muestre el error al niño.

Te dejamos un vídeo con imágenes de diverso material que se emplea en las aulas:

Currículo

El currículo del método Montessori queda dividido en las siguientes etapas:

• Comunidad Infantil (0 a 3 años):

Se presta especial atención al desarrollo del habla, el movimiento coordinado y la autonomía que va a permitir que los niños desarrollen su autoconfianza, descubran su potencial y lugar en la comunidad de la que forman parte.

• Casa de niños (3 a 6 años):

La vida en el aula se divide en cuatro áreas:

• Vida diaria: actividades de cuidad de uno mismo, los demás y el ambiente.
• Sensorial: trabajo con cada uno de los sentidos.
• Lenguaje: se inician en la escritura y por tanto en la lectura.
• Matemáticas: el trabajo con materiales concretos ayudan a la comprensión de los conceptos matemáticos.

• Taller I y Taller II (6 a 9 y de 9 a 12 respectivamente):

Se proporciona una visión histórica e integrada del conocimiento y el desarrollo humano a través de cinco grandes lecciones:

• Desarrollo del Universo y de la Tierra
• Desarrollo de la Vida
• Desarrollo de los seres Humanos
• Comunicación por Signos
• Historia de los Números

Por último, te dejamos un vídeo de un día en el Centro Educativo Leo Kanner en el que aplican el método Montessori.

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Gaia Montessori, un soplo de aire fresco a la educación tradicional en Badajoz

 Abre en Valdepasillas un centro de educación bilingüe para niños de 0 a 6 años que sigue las doctrinas de la pedagoga italiana.

 

En la mitología griega Gaia es la madre tierra, aquella que proporciona todo lo necesario para que el ser humano crezca y se nutra correctamente. Bajo el mismo nombre y con el mismo propósito, pero aplicado únicamente a la infancia, Sandra González ha fundado en Badajoz el centro infantil bilingüe Gaia Montessori.

Ubicado en Valdepasillas, es un espacio en el que se aplican pedagogías activas (en las que se acompaña el aprendizaje natural según las capacidades del niño), principalmente la desarrollada por María Montessori. Abrió sus puertas en diciembre impartiendo talleres y desde hace algo más de mes y medio, tiene horario de mañana. Ya hay ocho bebés matriculados.

Gaia Montessori está ideado para niños de 0 a 6 años. Sin embargo, es imposible encontrar ni un solo muñeco. Todos los materiales son nobles, predominando las sedas y la madera. De estética sencilla y agradable, las paredes están pintadas de rosa porque, según explica Sandra, «es el color del amor y la base de esta pedagogía es el amor y el respeto».

En la estancia, dividida en varias áreas temáticas, todo está a la altura de los ojos de los más pequeños. «Es un mini mundo que cambiamos a diario», indica la responsable. La otra parte fundamental de Gaia es Leticia Garlitos, una psicóloga pacense que comparte con Sandra la misma mirada «respetuosa» hacia la infancia.

A lo largo de su trayectoria profesional, Leticia se fue separando cada vez más de la parte adulta y se centró en la infantil. Se había dado cuenta de que la mayoría de los problemas psicológicos de los adultos –excepto patologías– provienen de la infancia o de la adolescencia. «Pensé que por qué no solucionar o enseñar desde la etapa infantil para evitar esto», confiesa. Así que desde ese momento se enfocó en psicología infantil y del desarrollo. «Nuestra intención es crear adultos felices y sanos emocionalmente, siendo conscientes de la importancia que tiene la primera etapa de la infancia para el resto de la vida», apostilla.

Las familias que dejan a sus hijos en manos de Sandra y Leticia suelen llevar este tipo de crianza en sus casas. «Son personas jóvenes, normalmente uno de los miembros es de fuera de Badajoz y ya conocen estas metodologías», añaden. Además, Gaia Montessori está abierto durante todo el año, solo cierra los festivos.

Límites

El hecho de que los niños puedan autodirigirse y elegir con libertad no significa que no haya límites. De hecho, son muy importantes en esta enseñanza. «Existen reglas y límites primordiales para el funcionamiento de la rutina en el centro», aclara Sandra, quien cree firmemente que los límites son beneficiosos. «Nos dimos cuenta de que en la educación habitual no se les da la importancia que nosotras creemos que tienen».

Otro aspecto relevante que se evita en Gaia Montessori es el uso de pantallas. «Somos totalmente anti-pantallas» aseveran, «ya que afectan muchísimo al desarrollo neurológico». Además, Sandra relata que desde su punto de vista, móviles y tabletas –pantallas en definitiva– se les dan a los niños para que se entretengan o se calmen y luego no saben autocalmarse. Para tranquilizarse, en esta pedagogía es frecuente realizar meditaciones y juegos de respiración.

La repetición lógica de las reglas hace que los pequeños las interioricen y las adopten como hábitos. Por eso, cuando entran siempre está la misma música puesta. Este espacio abre cada mañana a las 07.15, aunque los niños pueden acceder hasta las 09.30. A esa hora da comienzo la rutina «que es muy importante porque les ayuda a estar relajados y a abrirse al aprendizaje», comenta la guía. Empiezan cantando una canción en inglés y conociendo el estado anímico de sus compañeros.

Promueve la educación libre, en la que los pequeños participan de manera activa en su proceso de desarrollo y aprendizaje

Sobre las 10.00 comienzan a preparar el almuerzo, basado principalmente en frutas. Ellos eligen qué pieza desean paladear, preparan la mesa y comen juntos. Según las instructoras, se trata de un momento muy importante porque transversalmente están trabajando aspectos como el turno, el respeto, la paciencia, la gracia y cortesía...

Después, el grupo Nido (bebés de 0 a 21 meses) se echa una pequeña la siesta y a los demás, que se encuentran en el punto álgido de la atención, les toca el trabajo específico que preparan las guías para cada niño. En estas horas de tareas es especialmente importante el silencio y la concentración.

Un viaje revelador

Ahora, con 28 años, Sandra tiene su propio espacio físico de educación libre y respetuosa, pero es algo con lo que lleva muchos años en mente. Confiesa que ya desde pequeña soñaba con ser profesora, «pero no de la forma tradicional». Por eso, siguiendo el consejo de su madre, estudió Magisterio y después Logopedia para poder innovar desde dentro del mundo académico. «Yo no sabía que existían esas metodologías», añade.

Sin embargo, como otros tantos jóvenes, emigró a Inglaterra de au pair y allí dio con una familia que llevaba una educación respetuosa. El más pequeño de los hijos iba a una guardería Montessori y Sandra, atraída por ese tipo de crianza, comenzó de voluntaria. Fue un viaje sin retorno, mentalmente hablando.

Ahora, físicamente en Badajoz y tras haber estado adquiriendo experiencia en otras ciudades, presenta su proyecto en la capital pacense con los bolsillos repletos de ilusión y la buena compañía de Leticia, pero también con las trabas de un emprendedor. Anteriormente tuvo que hacerse autónoma durante unos meses en otra comunidad y ahora no ha obtenido ni subvención ni tarifa plana. «Es duro empezar de cero pagando casi 300 euros al mes solo de autónomo», lamenta.

Además, reclama al Ayuntamiento que adecúe la zona verde más próxima al local para poder salir con los pequeños y que tengan contacto directo con la naturaleza. Se trata de la plaza Carmelo Solís, que está repleta de malas hierbas y con aspecto de abandono. Lo demanda porque un ambiente adecuado promueve la independencia en la exploración y el proceso de aprendizaje de los que serán adultos en un futuro no muy lejano.