| About Montessori |
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Maria Montessori was a pioneer from Italy. Trained as a physician, she developed a fascination with children and their developmental phases. She developed materials that promoted more involvement of the senses. She “followed the child” and believed that children’s imagination and sense of wonder must be tapped if true learning should take place. Her son, Mario, and many others, have carried on with the Montessori approach. Today we are lucky to have five public Montessori schools within the City school system.
I see the Montessori method as the most effective in meeting the needs of so many students. I was trained as a 6-12 Montessori teacher after teaching within a special education/resource room setting, after teaching in a traditional 6th grade classroom, and after working within the model of Expeditionary Learning. Finally, after eight years of “wandering” I feel I have found my heart and home in Montessori Education. Here are just a few of the benefits:
• More freedom of movement
• Opportunities for students to work with each other, as well as guide each other
• Tactile approaches in which students are using their hands as they learn
• Marvelous manipulatives for mathematics
• Multiage setting, which helps build stronger classroom communities, rather
than divisions between age groups
• Community meetings held on a daily basis
• Fewer worksheets and more layouts on rugs
• Small group lessons
• High value placed on Instructor assitance so children have more opportunities for instant feedback and guidance
• Continuity of materials from preschool to grade 6. For example, the bead bars, stamp game, geometric solids are all familiar to the upper level Montessori students.
Naturally we have goals to further enrich our students’ learning experiences.
Some of the goals for this coming school year include:
• Field experience involving a study of the natural world
• Quarterly research projects
• Increased use of technology
Most importantly, I wish to increase my communication with parents, and I feel this web page will provide an opportunity for this. Please feel free to email me with your comments, suggestions and questions.
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