Montessori Curriculum

Maria Montessori lived in the late 1800's and studied medicine, psychiatry, education, and anthropology in Italy. In the early 1900's, she came to the US and her teaching technique was put on display at the Panama-Pacific Expo in San Francisco. During World War II, she lived in India and continued to work on her curriculum. She was also nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize. She has since died, but her teaching techniques live on, emphasizing people to focus on the child.

Dr. Montessori's curriculum empowers the child to learn from their environment, and much like Cal Poly, through a "learn by doing" approach. Most Montessori schools are multi-age, and that allows more interaction and learning from many different people. The younger children can learn from the older children and in turn, the older children can learn how to responsibly take care of a younger child or sibling. Teaching a subject is sometimes the best way to learn more about it. It creates a responsive and entertaining environment for all. The teacher is not standing in front of a classroom giving a lecture all day. Instead, the teacher directs and aides the student in learning about their environment. The student is also allowed to freely move around the class room or home as they like. If they tire of one activity, they can go and start another. I can remember in school, I would easily become bored with the lecture and "tune it out", but with the Montessori Method the child doesn't have to tune it out, they can just move on. This lets the child be fully focused and at maximum learning capacity while they are doing the activity.

As the children grow up, the curriculum continually changes to take account for hormonal needs, more sleep, and less of an attention span. She takes more of a trade school type approach, teaching the older children practical life skills while they are utilizing different skills to complete projects. As they continue to grow, more towards high school age, the curriculum keeps changing. The intellectual studies come back and the children are usually encouraged to find a part time job or even find an apprenticeship. The managing of money is a key emphasis of the last years the child is studying in the Montessori school.

This subject caught my interest for this paper because my girlfriend went to Montessori school in her younger years. I can see many of these qualities in her. The kids are more curious, love to learn, and can learn from anything. I was skeptical of how well it would work from what I knew of the program, but after doing this research and reading up on it, I think that is a great way to raise a child. The program also is tailored to each child's needs not to a standard set by the school. The curriculum revolves around each individual child, not a number they get from a standardized test. When I have children, I will now consider this type of education as a wonderful opportunity for my child.

Works Cited

Maria Montessori, MD. 30 9 2007 .

Montessori For Ages Twelve to Eighteen. 30 9 2007 .

Montessori Materials & Learning Environments for the home and the school. 30 9 2007 .

The Montessori Method. 30 9 2007. .