As the “New Year” quickly approaches, the day after Labor Day for me and for many others, I’ve started to invite prospective parents to come visit, tour, and observe, starting in mid-Ocotober. It’s hard to imagine, by today’s heat and humidity, that by then the leaves here in southern New England will have their autumnal colors, the farm@cornerstone will be well-harvested, and we’ll have had at least one frost. I noted this morning that one eager family has already signed up for the first available day!

Most first impressions of Montessori take place through glass. A parent or student teacher schedules an observation, arrives at the appointed time, receives a badge, a clipboard, and a brief introduction, and then heads down a hallway and stops at the first classroom. Observers have heard of Montessori certainly, from friends or a relative, a magazine article, a blog, a lecture, or a textbook. But to many, that is just like reading the recipe without actually tasting the cake. The observers’ scrawled notes afterward are nearly uniform in content:

“I had the great experience of observing a lesson. The children had to display patience and courtesy. They teach so many things through the course of the day.”

  “Children helping each other with their work. Children do work then pick up and return work once completed. Teachers move around and help children if needed. Self-correcting work.”

  “Older children helping younger ones.” 

  “Children are all very calm and happy. Classroom is very beautiful and bright. Kids are extremely well behaved.”

  “I loved that every child was working on ‘hands-on’ activities.” 

  “I love seeing kids conversing and problem-solving together—not being “shushed.” Great cooperation. Lots of imagination.”

  “Everything with purpose.” 

“Good room flow. Teamwork and pairing. Routine and organized.”

  “Teachers kept voices low. Gentle redirection, very good patience.”

  “So many different activities happening at once. Amid all the activity the kids learn and grow.”

  “The children’s independent play—completing a task and then picking it up and putting it away before starting a new activity. The room felt very quiet, calm (no chaos). The children feel free to move around the room from activity to activity.”

  “Soft voices, individual projects and small groups. Clean and organized space. Teachers guide by example. Bright and open classrooms. Education everywhere and focus on learning.”

  “Beautiful classroom!”

To understand a functioning Montessori environment, one must see it in action, with children interacting with Montessori materials and with each other, with direction from Montessori-trained teachers, in a Montessori “prepared environment.” In this way, we can think of Montessori as being a dynamic process and, in fact, a dynamic process that is greater than the sum of its parts. If your child is in a Montessori classroom, you will eventually be found out at your neighborhood barbecue, your Thanksgiving get-together, your Christmas party, or elsewhere, having been asked something along the lines of, “So, what’s Montessori, anyway?” You will find that it is difficult to describe just one aspect of this pedagogy with any sense of completion. Those beautifully designed manipulative Montessori materials? They are certainly fundamental. The integration and crossover of curricula? Well, sure, they are important, too. The interplay of child, peer, and teacher in a carefully prepared environment? Yes, of course that. The elements of movement, the use of the hand? The nurturing of independence, of self-awareness, of self-control? Yes, yes, and emphatically, yes, they are all essential components! The 3-year age span, the developmentally based presentations, the attention to sensitive periods, the long, uninterrupted work periods? Yes, all of these points contribute to the Montessori pedagogy, but none of these points in isolation will do it justice (we can assume here that the person you’ve been speaking to at the party has, perhaps, regretted broaching the subject). A Montessori education is all of these things, integrated in play, in harmony, in success and failure, in falling down, in learning from the spill and trying again, and in growth, for children, parents, and teachers alike. To understand Montessori, you have to first look through the glass and then step through the door.