Tag: parenting

the role of imitation in a montessori classroom

~ keystomontessori ~ Leave a comment

Everyone knows that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. While this may or may not be true, it is certain that imitation is also a powerful learning tool. Studies abound illustrating the human tendency to mimic, both consciously and subconsciously. Participants watching a video featuring rude exchanges between actors are liable to be rude themselves when put in social

situations immediately afterwards. It is clear that as a species our behavior profoundly influenced by the people that surround us, and this can impact both our actions and our learning.

How does this manifest itself in a Montessori environment? One clear component is the multi-age classroom itself, an aspect that holds many advantages for students, parents, and teachers. Children enjoy the security and comfort of staying in one room for three years. Parents don’t have to reintroduce their child’s strengths and challenges to new teachers each

September; knowing his or her teachers will gain a deeper understanding of a child’s needs given a three-year cycle. For teachers, the variety of ages and developmental stages in the same classroom allows children to move more freely through a scope and sequence of study, as the so-called “shotgun” approach, requisite to a single-aged classroom, is not necessary.

As important as these elements are, Montessorians have known all along that there are also clear pedagogical advantages to a multi-age classroom and the opportunities

it affords to use imitation as a tool for learning. Younger students watch older students, hear the language of the lesson given on the next rug over, observe the use of more complex learning materials, and mirror their behavior. This is why we often hear Montessori teachers emphasize to these older students their role as models and peer teachers. And, of course, the teachers

themselves give lessons in such a way, with great care and exaggerated movements, as to stress key elements in any given lesson. For example, the forty-seven steps to washing your hands. We can see how Montessori’s use of the phrase, “the absorbent mind” reflects her understanding of the importance of imitation.

the role of interest in a montessori classroom

~ keystomontessori ~ Leave a comment

Most adults observing a Cornerstone classroom are quick to notice its strengths. The use of manipulative materials, the small group lessons, the beauty of the prepared environment, the freedom of movement, all form an impressive tableau. A more in-depth observation would also clearly reveal the integration of subject areas, the social interaction, and the element of choice. Within that structure, students move with purpose (most of the time) and ease, seemingly without adult compulsion. Children voluntarily seek out activity, come to lessons willingly and happily, work with peers of their own accord, and, with guidance, take responsibility for their education. The structure for this drive does not come from a draconian adult or some other extrinsic force. Instead, the children appear to have an intrinsic urgency to act upon the environment. Why?

A crucial aspect of any Montessori classroom is perhaps less discernible due to its conspicuousness. The driving force in the child’s interaction and progression through the curriculum is deep interest. It is the tree that can’t be seen for the Montessori forest. This passion is created through creative and impressionistic lessons, the presentation of grand concepts, the use of large numbers, the emphasis on the power of imagination, and the liberty to choose a compelling activity for one’s self. More than a natural incentive, interest further serves as a powerful tool for learning. Studies clearly show that we are much more likely to assimilate information if it holds strong interest. One such study had participants list a series articles in terms of their interest. Not surprisingly, comprehension scores on these readings mirrored the ranking given. Areas of higher interest naturally hold our attention, heighten our focus, and compel us to iteration and practice. Consequently, the learning that takes place is more meaningful, more profoundly held, more deeply understood, more logically connected and synthesized.

And need we mention joy? So, at the end of the day (the metaphorical day, not 3 o’clock dismissal), it is the child’s likely response that speaks volumes in its simplicity. “Why do you like going to school?” “It’s fun.”

learning in context in a montessori classroom

~ keystomontessori ~ Leave a comment

A Montessori education provides a rich and integrated curriculum that stresses learning in context. The study of geometry includes a study of its Latin roots, a study of unlike denominators in arithmetic includes the writing of the rule, a study of an ancient civilization coincides with a study of rivers, ph studies evolves into soil testing. Specific Montessori materials can also reflect this sense of context. For example, the Detective Triangle Game, located on the language shelf, consists of a box of triangles of different types (scalene, isosceles, etc…) in different colors and of different size. Labels accompany the work: “Find the large, red, equilateral triangle.”…etc; geometry as a grammar work. Speaking more broadly, the concept of Cosmic Education, unique to this pedagogy, is the overarching theme of a Montessori classroom. It holds the fabric of a Montessori experience together and places everything the child learns in context. Cosmic education states, grandly, that a human developmental process underlies all growth, and further, that education has a role to play in this development. It is a belief that theoretical structures, in all areas of study, should find practical use within our classrooms. Simply put, Cosmic Education presents three concepts; that all things are interdependent; that humans have a role in the universe; and that each of us has a cosmic task.

One aim of Cosmic Education is the development of the whole human being. It would follow then that academic achievement is not the only goal of a Montessori classroom. The child will realize their full natural potential, learning that involves the physical and emotional being, not only the intellect. A second aim is the formation of relationships. By building a sense of marvel and respect for the vast scale of things and appreciating the dignity of all things, we show a relationship between the child and the universe. A third aim is the realization of responsibility, to all life, to the human species, and to the child themselves. And a last aim is one of independent action. In broad terms to take, but to give in return, to share willingly and with compassion, and to appreciate both the conscious and unconscious service of those plants, animals and humans that have come before us. Cosmic Education then, is not a singular area of study, but rather a connective web that unifies the curriculum, providing both respect and responsibility to the child throughout their school years.

toddlers and teens

~ keystomontessori ~ Leave a comment

When teacher-education is done right, a bond is formed between the presenter and the group of adult learners. If both parties are open, engaged, attentive, and respectful, the dialogues are more meaningful, the practice sessions are more energized, and it’s common for everyone to experience a “flow experience”, a concept developed by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who studied how Montessori education can be structured to achieve it. I’ve found, in these decades of teacher-education, that the same is true for quality training course. “Where did the afternoon go?” This trusted relationship continues after the course is over, when these adult learners have questions once they are in their first months of teaching. If passion has been sparked and that flame nurtured, it remains. Last week, an email from Via, in Bandung, was in my inbox. What does it mean that the first stage of Montessori Development and the third stage are the same?

There are several similarities between children birth – 6 and 12 – 18.  First, consider that the child in the First Plane is orienting themselves to this new world and environment in which they find themselves. They are learning new skills, certainly, but also observe them cognizant of being an individual, identifying themselves as part of a family, defining their relationship with their caregivers, and discovering their role. They are, at birth, nascent human beings.  A teenager, on the cusp of puberty at the Third Plane of Development is also orienting themselves to a new world, the world and environment of adulthood. They are learning new skills, certainly, but they are now cognizant of becoming an adult, seeing their changing identification within their family, defining a new relationship with parents, thinking about who they are, what music they like, what books they enjoy, how they feel about larger societal issues.  They are, at 12 years old, nascent adults. 

How do we see these manifest in their behavior? There are similarities here as well, especially noticeable if you’ve had the opportunity to parent or teach children in both planes. Children in the first plane are highly egocentric; they are the center of their world. “What do I want right now?” “What do I need right now?”  The child in the third plane is similarly motivated. “Everyone will be staring at me” “No one understands me”.  Children in the first plane, especially in the second subplane, have a complex relationship with their caregivers. Observe the five-year old on the playground who runs to their father to get picked up only to immediately wiggle away to climb up the slide. Observe the 15 year old who wants to be independent. “Why can’t I go to the concert at the arena?  You never let me do anything, I’m suffocating in this house!” but the next minute wants to curl up on the couch with mom or dad and watch old cartoons.

What’s fascinating to consider is that Dr. Montessori made these assertions well before science and medicine had access to brain studies. And yet, we know now that the first and third planes are both times of tremendous brain and neural growth. It’s common knowledge that from birth to six is the greatest growth, but less so that the second period of greatest growth is from twelve to eighteen years of age. First and Third represent growth. Second and Fourth represent consolidation.

follow the child

~ keystomontessori ~ Leave a comment

The phrase “follow the child,” used in Montessori terms, is an axiom in the truest sense of the word: it is a truth that is self-evident. Upon these three words a pedagogy was built, and this system continues to expand well past the 100th anniversary of its inception. The fact that the world continues to catch up with a model which has been established and successful for more than a century serves as confirmation of its validity. As is the case with so many concepts we encounter in Montessori education, “follow the child” exists as a literal exhortation while at the same time revealing a deeper understanding of child development. Follow the child! As teachers (and good parents), we are exhorted to dictate less information and to allow more exploration. If the child shows an interest in the sensorial materials, the adult gives a lesson! When a child asks, “How do I add these if their denominators aren’t the same?,” the teacher presents the fraction circles. Follow the interest! Follow the question! Follow the child.

In a larger sense, “follow the child” is also a reflection of two overarching themes. First, the adult’s role is one of preparation and guidance and as a facilitator of the natural process that marks each child’s development. Second, a strong measure of independence is both a more humane approach to education and a proven component of a more profound level of learning.

Following is riskier than leading. For one thing, you have to watch where you step. For the teacher, this means adopting a level of comfort with trust, yes, but a trust that is buttressed by experience. For the child, being followed also involves trust: trusting that the adult, whether parent or teacher, is there to point things out along the way, provide support in case of a stumble, and allow him or her the space to walk.

montessori’s living legacy

~ keystomontessori ~ Leave a comment

As part of the celebration of Dr. Montessori’s birthday last week, I was asked to participate in a global, daylong series of webinars, sponsored by Montessori-Haus Asia that spanned five time zones: China, Australia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, and my house in Berwick, Maine, United States.  As a nine hour event, it was meant to reach an international audience with the question, “One hundred fifty-five years after Maria Montessori’s birth, what is her legacy?” The word legacy seems, at least for me, to connote something that is finite. It was accomplished, in the past tense, and it’s been left to a school, a community, the world. That doesn’t really fit how I see Dr. Montessori’s work, and that formed the basis of my session. I see the Montessori method as alive and current. What she initiated as supposition, has become accepted conclusion.

I talked about the enormity of research, really over the last 50 years, be it educational or even neurological, that supports what Dr. Montessori somehow intuited over a century ago. They are too numerous to list here, but here are a few, just in the last 20 years, to highlight a small fraction. A study comparing Montessori and non-Montessori elementary students found Montessori children showed “superior outcomes in reading, math, executive function, and social problem-solving, suggesting the method supports both academic and social development.” (Lillard & Else-Quest (2006, Science) Research following Montessori middle school graduates into high school found they “performed as well or better than peers in math and science, indicating Montessori builds a strong foundation for later academic success”. (Dohrmann et al. 2007, Journal of Research in Childhood Education) An early difficulty interpreting Montessori studies was that it was conducted by Montessorians, which is of course, just bad science. There is much more rigor in these more recent studies. A randomized controlled trial of Montessori preschool programs showed “children had better academic outcomes, social understanding, and mastery orientation compared to peers in conventional classrooms.” (Lillard et al. (2017, Frontiers in Psychology) According to another study, using experience sampling (when subjects record their feelings and thoughts in real time), Montessori adolescents reported “higher levels of intrinsic motivation, interest, and engagement in learning than peers in traditional schools.” Rathunde & Csikszentmihalyi (2005, American Journal of Education)  A similar study found Montessori students demonstrated “greater social cognition and positive peer interactions, suggesting the prepared environment fosters not only academic but also social-emotional growth.” (Lopata, Wallace, & Finn (2005, Journal of Research in Childhood Education). And last Spring, I read a fascinating study, reported in MontessoriPublic, titled, “Learning by Heart or with Heart: Brain Asymmetry Reflects Pedagogical Practices”, published in Brain Sciences (August 2023). This study used “neuroimaging to compare brain hemisphere asymmetry in schoolchildren educated in traditional versus Montessori settings.” On admissions tours at the Cornerstone School, I often joke, sort of, that, “Montessori kids are just wired differently”. I was right! Traditional‐schooled children showed “greater rightward asymmetry—linked with fixed, situation-specific memorization, but Montessori students showed left-dominant asymmetry, associated with semantic encoding and flexible conceptual connections.”  As Montessori educators, we feel that our classrooms support not only  in-depth learning, but also a deeply integrated experience that weaves knowledge in all curriculum areas into an integrated whole. A tapestry of understanding. It’s gratifying to know the concepts which Dr. Montessori felt were true, are in fact demonstrably true.

kindness in a montessori classroom

~ keystomontessori ~ Leave a comment

One positive aspect of the social media explosion is the ease of staying in touch that it affords. Alumni and their parents now share their post-Montessori school experiences more freely, because it’s just a click/send away. For some past students, their time in a Montessori school represents 12 years of their life, building a sense of ownership and home that is not forgotten by a mere change of address. In short, these schools commonly receive letters. The following is from a parent, a forwarding of an e-mail the parent had received from a high school teacher of a Montessori graduate: 

“I just wanted to let you know your son ended the semester with one of the only A+ with Honors I have ever given. On that note while I know you know how talented he is, I want to throw in my 2 cents that he should take as many AP classes as possible next year. I have tried hard to keep him challenged in my class, but he is so far beyond other students that I don’t think regular classes are the place for him.”

Truthfully, this is not uncommon for Montessori graduates, but the parent highlighted the second part of the teacher’s e-mail as being more meaningful: 

“The other thing I think is great about your son is that even though he finishes his work easily, he helps other students. There is one student in particular that sits next to him and she struggles every day. With the patience of a teacher he helps her ALL class. Sometimes I think she is going to wear on his patience but he just gently answers her questions.”

Can kindness, in fact, be taught? As Montessorians, we would answer, “No more than we ‘teach’ geography or arithmetic or science.” Rather, a Montessori school creates an environment, carves a space, and maintains a culture that allows a natural process to take place. And while it is not quantified on any conference report, the grace and courtesy aspect of our curriculum is an integral component of the fabric of our classrooms. This serves, strongly, as the tapestry on which our lessons are woven. It is so present, in fact, that a consistent comment I hear from prospective parents, even after a mere 20-minute observation, is the kindness they witness amongst our students, regardless of class level. Most Montessori teachers will relate similar comments from docents, waiters, park rangers, or other adults encountered on field trips.

One time, after an especially moving observation, a prospective parent sat with me in the hallway, asking me the hows and whys of our school. This parent enthusiastically embraced the peacefulness and kindness she saw that morning. “Does that happen every day?,” she asked, perhaps a little suspicious. At that precise moment, two 3-year-olds walked by, hand in hand, on their way to deliver a note to the office. “Yeah,” I said, “Pretty much.”

the spilled water lesson(s)

~ keystomontessori ~ Leave a comment

Maria Montessori said, “Never help a child with a task in which he feels he can be successful.”  This means that a child who is learning something new should be given the freedom to try to succeed.  If we as the adults rush in to “save the child”, the child will not learn.  Children learn through their activity, through their effort, and, very importantly, through their mistakes!  

Let us consider a child in our classroom.  He approaches the practical life area and sees a tray containing a small pitcher of water and a glass; it is a pouring work to practice control of movement.  He chooses to bring it to a table where a friend awaits.  The teacher is observing closely.  Perhaps this child has been shy about trying new things and here he is, ready to take on this challenge.  He has been given a lesson in carrying a tray with water and cup.  One must be very careful when lifting the tray, to turn slowly, and place each foot slowly, one in front of the other, as you move across the room, keeping one’s eye on the tray to keep it level.  He takes one step, two steps, he hears a bird call and his attention is drawn away from the tray.  The pitcher begins to slide…..!

The teacher is still watching.  They consider to themselves, “What is the best thing that could happen right now?” “What is the worst?”  We may think that the best thing to happen would be for the child to successfully walk across the room and gently place the tray and pitcher on the table.  How proud he will be!!  He did it!  And this would be wonderful, no doubt.  But let us consider the opposite outcome.  The tray tilts, the pitcher slides, the water, pitcher and cup all spill to the ground.  What does the teacher do?  The child is upset and so the teacher comes to his side and comforts him, yes, but very quickly asks him what he needs in order to clean the spill (a rag, they are kept by the sink), how to sweep up any pieces of pitcher or cup (a broom and dustpan hangs on the wall), how to wring the wet rag out (a bucket is under the sink), and how to tell his friends and classmates to be careful of the spot until it dries.

What are the lessons learned here?

  1. My teacher loves me.  They do not yell or scold me if I make a mistake. If I make a mistake in my math or reading, they will not be angry.  I have learned that it is a good thing to try things that are difficult. I will learn more if I take risks, try difficult math problems, sound out difficult reading words.
  2. When I make a mistake, there is a way that I can make it better. I have learned that math problems can be corrected, words can be erased and spelled correctly.  If I hurt a friend’s feelings, there is a way to make it up.  My actions have consequences, and I must deal with them, but I can try to correct my mistakes.
  3. This is how a spill is cleaned, I know where the tools are and how to use them.  I have learned that I can be independent. I can take care of things on my own.  I don’t realize that the movement of my arm in wiping the spill, and the fine motor control I exercised in wringing the water out will help me later when I learn to hold a paintbrush and pencil and learn to draw and write.
  4. The whole class has learned a lesson!  All eyes are on the teacher if the water spills, to see how they will react.  There is no scolding, no impatience, no anger.  Only calm and peace.  The rest of the children learn that this is a safe place.  Engage, try, fail, try again, succeed!

still learning after all these years

~ keystomontessori ~ Leave a comment

Way back in the day of my Montessori career, like early morning, I gave my first talk at an AMS National Conference. So long ago that it wasn’t yet called the Montessori Event!. I’ve added an exclamation, but perhaps that’s how it’s supposed to be spelled and pronounced now? In any Event (see what I did there?), that year it was in Chicago and my rather ambitious topic was “Zen and the Art of Montessori Teaching”. Leading up to the presentation I had nightmares, envisioning a group of saffron-robed Buddhists shouting me down as “not knowing what I was talking about”.  As I was barely thirty-years old at the time, those dream monks may have had a valid point. The main thrust of the talk was how difficult it was to stay present as a classroom teacher, to stay in the moment, to stay in the “now”. How difficult it was to maintain a “beginner’s mind”, a concept explained beautifully in Shunryu Suzuki’s seminal book, “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind”. The idea being that often it is our younger and less experienced teachers that bring a more valid view to a classroom, a child, a material. They are unburdened and unshackled from preconceived notions of an area of the environment, or the behavior of a child.  “We can’t put the group circle there, because I’ve tried that before and it didn’t work”. “That intervention won’t work for them, because I had a student just like that before and it didn’t work”. It could well come to pass that a new teacher tries something and observes the result to be disastrous, but at least it fails on its own merits. There’s honesty there. My presentation concluded along the lines of keeping yourself open to new visions, strategies, concepts, children, because truly we never experience the exact same classroom twice, even moment to moment. In more modern, more trendy language, it would probably translate to “keep and cultivate a growth mindset”, but I like “beginner’s mind” better.

This past week, I gave a series of webinars online, at the request of Alison’s Montessori; the subject being Geometry at the Elementary Level. Included in the many materials I presented, was the Triangle Drawer of the Geometric Cabinet, specifically, The Sum of the Interior Angles of a Triangle. It’s one of my favorites. Tracing the Seven Possible Triangles in the Universe, children color the angles in red, cut them out, and lay them angle to angle to angle, showing they form a straight line, a straight angle, 180 degrees. It  illustrates quite elegantly the difference between a traditional school experience, starting with the answer and those dry “If…. When” statements from 9th grade Geometry textbooks, and a more constructivist model in a Montessori classroom, done when the student is ten years younger and ten years more interested in Geometry. Not wanting to reveal in great detail just how old I am, I have probably given that presentation a few hundred times to both children and adult learners. It’s hard to hold on to that beginner’s mind when your mind could probably do that lesson and check email at the same time (Important Note: I didn’t do that). “Are there any questions?”, one politely asks the group at the end of any lesson. I was only mildly flummoxed when a teacher asked, “Why?”.  “Why do we show this lesson?”, I replied.  “No, why do the interior angles add up to 180 degrees?”  My brain rolodex started to spin… surely I knew the answer to this question… had no one ever asked me such an eloquently simple thing? Much like the Grinch when he attempts to assuage Cindy Loo Who (who was no more than two), I fumbled a bit, drawing circles around each angle… in the end admitting that I was botching the whole thing quite royally. Sigh. The next day, it was off to the Internet to find the answer.  My son, Elijah, famously (at least in our family) stated that “if you have a question, someone else had the same question”. Sure enough, there were a great many sophisticated geometry websites that gave various ways to prove the theorem, but I was looking specifically for one that could be adapted to a Montessori material. I was very satisfied to find one, using the congruency of alternate interior angles, which is a separate Montessori presentation, in the proof. Rapture! I eagerly awaited the next evening’s webinar to show the group (see photo below). It’s debatable who was the most excited, me or the webinar participants!

Dismay at not knowing the answer to the initial question quickly evaporated, to be replaced by a much more comforting thought that there are still things to be learned, still lessons to be revealed, even within experiences we’ve lived over and over.

montessori and the need for activity

~ keystomontessori ~ Leave a comment

Maria Montessori was a scientist interested in psychology and the unfolding of the adult through childhood.  Pedagogy, and mathematics came second.  This is an important point; her primary interest was in the process of learning, not in any one specific area. How did the physical environment as well as the human environment affect education?

When she was given the opportunity to work with children, she soon discovered that their greatest need was for activity.  She first gave the young children materials, sensorial materials, and the language associated with those objects, the red rods, the pink tower, etc…  Ever the scientist, the observer, she noted that they retained very little of the concept, and “met her with blank stares”. (honestly, I’ve had my share of those reactions over the years as well).  So instead, she simply showed the children the activity itself, the sorting, the discrimination of size or shape or color.  And? The children understood!  And Dr. Montessori understood as well.  Create manipulative materials that isolate a concept. Give the child exact instructions on how to use it, and later, but only later, will the child be responsive to language, the word lessons. Pondering upon the phenomenon, Dr. Montessori realized that 3 important things had occurred, always starting with activity: “formation of the subconscious knowledge”, “point of consciousness”, and “indirect preparation”.


The formation of the subconscious knowledge is the accumulation of impressions not consciously registered, but stored in the subconscious- An illustration of this is a person who, having for many years walked through a woods on the way to work, certainly had stored the impression of innumerable leaves. Yet he might have paid no attention to the difference between a lobed and a smooth/even Ieaf, A casual remark from a botanist would bring the difference immediately into focus. Why? because the knowledge was already there subconsciously. But if the Iong experience with leaf-impressions had not been there, would the botanist’s remark have aroused such immediate understanding? Yet something is needed to build a subconscious knowledge into the light of  consciousness’ It may be a spontaneous sudden realization, or a word after years of sub- conscious experience: a point in a Iong line that stretches into miles!

“So”, she reasoned, “this point oI consciousness can come either spontaneously or it may be provoked purposefully or otherwise”‘The indirect preparation was the unconscious or purposeful incorporation in an attractive experience of items which will prepare an ability necessary for a future task.

“Sensitive periods” were her next discovery  During these, at a determinate age, certain activities had an irresistible attraction but left indifferent younger or older children. Though the attraction lasted for a limited period, while it lasted, it made young children very eager to Iearn. This eagerness garnered Dt. Montessori a lot of criticism and misunderstanding on the part of pedagogues and psychologists who accused her of forcing children oI a tender age to do things which older children found difficult and distasteful. The greatest misunderstanding was, and arguably still, is in the field of the acquisition oI mathematical knowledge.

A few of things to keep in mind. Dr. Montessori was not interested in teaching children any particular subject. So she did not specially try to “teach mathematics”. Her interest was in the child itself and the task she imposed on herself was to try to discover the process of the natural development of the child in its various aspects. She prepared an environment which contained objects the use of which caused the children to arrive at an abstraction. The children were of mixed ages, 3 years at least, and the different groups {three to six, six to nine, etc.) were in communicating rooms so that the children could circulate from one to the other. There was no time-table as {ar as subject-teaching was concerned so that children could remain practicing the same subject for an indefinite length of time. This gave them the possibility of storing a subconscious knowledge which culminated into a conscious realization at a certain

Montessori discovered that abstraction was the result of individual experience and the time involved in reaching it vaded with the individuals. Also, the interest in the exercise was determined not by the efforts of the teacher, but by the sensitive period of the child. And finally, the materials she gave the children contained either an indirect preparation for something to come in the future, or the possibility of bringing into the light oF consciousness certain items which the child already possessed in the subconscious.

The basis of mathematics for children is counting.  Associating symbol to quantity. It was logical to conclude that the next step would be to continue with I l, 12, 13 and this D/. Montessori did for many years until one day when by chance children of this age were present at a lesson given to seven year olds with materials which presented in concrete form the working of the decimal system. The seven year olds were luke-warm, but surprisingly the younger ones showed great enthusiasm. In a day or two, they had gained possession of the materials and brought it to their room. This was another example oI the sensitive periods: what Ieft the older children more or less indifferent aroused intense interest in the younger ones.