THE MONTESSORI DIFFERENCE

The Academy is committed to the educational philosophy and approach developed by Dr. Maria Montessori in Italy over a century ago. Montessori is child-centered, allowing for and challenging students to take the lead in their own learning. It emphasizes independence and self-sufficiency, as well as grace and courtesy.

 

Foundational Principles

We believe in and adhere to the following program elements put forth by the American Montessori Society:

  • The nurturing of a positive self-image, auto-education, self-discipline, and self-motivation
  • The prepared environment, both the psychological and physical milieu
  • The child’s freedom within the prepared environment: freedom to choose, experiment, and evaluate
  • The role of active learning: learning to do and doing to learn
  • The role of teacher as model, nurturer, observer, and facilitator
  • The parent-teacher collaboration component
  • The importance of process over product

 

Mixed-Age Classrooms

Once our students reach the Primary level, our classrooms are grouped in three-year cycles, comprised of a mix of ages. Collaboration between age levels is integral to reinforcing leadership skills and encourages mentoring. Younger children look up to, emulate, and learn alongside older children. Older children exercise greater responsibility in the classroom and truly master skills as they help teach younger children.

 

MONTESSORI VERSUS TRADITIONAL EDUCATION

Montessori Education
Traditional Education
Teacher has guiding role; child is an active participant in learning.
Teacher has dominant role; child is a passive participant in learning.
Prepared environment and method encourage self-discipline and personal responsibility.
Teacher acts as external enforcer of discipline.
Three-year age cucle in classrooms encourages mentoring. Collaboration integral to skill reinforcement.
One-year age cycle in classroom limits collaboration between parents, teachers, and students. Limited teamwork.
Values concentration and uninterrupted time for focused work cycle to develop.
Values completion of assignments; time is tightly scheduled.
Individualized work plan.
Standardized work plan.
Instruction pace enourages internalization of information. Child identifies own errors through self-correcting tools.
Instruction pace set by group norm. Work is corrected by the teacher; erros are viewed as mistakes.
Comprehension and feelings of success reinforce learning internally.
Rote memorization, rewards and punishment reinforce learning externally.
Courtesy and conflict resolution are integral parts of the curriculum.
Conflict resolution is taught separately from classroom dynamics.
Measures success through portfolio of student's work, prgress reports, teach journals for each student and collaborative conferences.
Measures success against a uniform standard. Progress reported through report cards and grades.
Multi-disciplinary, interwoven curriculum. Goal is to foster an individual love of learning.
Disiplines generally taught separately. Goal is to master core curriculum objectives.

THE CASE FOR MONTESSORI

These videos and articles nicely capture why we think Montessori is the way to go:

 

Montessori Madness!

Trevor Eissler

Montessori Build Innovators

Andrew McAfee

Living Montessori

Stephen Curry & Family

Science Magazine Evaluates Montessori

Angeline Lilard and Nicole Else-Quest