Montessori Matters | The MCS Blog

Dr. Montessori’s writing and methodology are striking in its acknowledgement that work is an essential part of growth, and that, while “unremitting,” toil is its own reward.  When work becomes our joy, we are fulfilled on the deepest level, finding purpose, activity and meaning in every moment.     This is central to our identity as a Montessori school.  From the reverence that is displayed in every aspect of the learning process–the selection of task, the designing of a defi

The evolution of the role of the teacher in education is yet another way that Montessorians have been ahead of the curve by generations. The traditional teacher-centered “sage on the stage” model was challenged as the pendulum swung toward encouraging child exploration…and back again when it was established that most children could not be expected to discover all they needed to know–for example, specific reading or numeracy skills–entirely on their own.  The current research-

Dr. Montessori noted that the period between six and twelve was when a child’s imagination should be engaged and where the “maximum number of seeds of interest” should be strewn, “capable of later germination as the will becomes more directive…”     In her 1947 book, To Educate the Human Potential  (quoted below), Dr. Montessori accurately describes what is now validated by neuroscience:  that exposing the brain to many ideas in the elementary years increases the opportunitie

Some of my sweetest memories as a teacher (including in Room 1 at MCS thirty years ago!) center around playing Dr. Montessori’s Silence Game. Described in T he Secret of Childhood  (pub.1939; see below), this game was engaging to every age I was lucky enough to teach, from three-year-olds to graduate students.  It seems that we can all do with a little quiet time! In Montessori education, the Silence Game is part of the Practical Life area (more on that in the next Montessori

Earlier in the year, we welcomed parents of children in the Preschool & Kindergarten Program to campus for 'Ohana Days, where they experienced their child’s classroom for themselves. Through circumstances both expected and unexpected, I was given the very great gift of working for a few days in two of our preschool classrooms. It was a joy and a privilege to have this more protracted look at students whom I’ve had the pleasure of observing since the beginning of the school ye