The Montessori method is an educational method created by a doctor named Maria Montessori. It is used in schools all over the world with children from nursery through high school. The method encourages development, independence, and values respecting each child’s limits, letting everything happen in its own time. The belief is that this approach allows for the natural physical, psychological, and social development of each child.

There are several aspects considered essential for a school using the Montessori method, which are:

  • Total freedom for the student to choose which activity to do, among those proposed in the classroom.
  • Classroom with students of different ages from 3 to 6 years old
  • Total freedom to move around within the classroom

Trained teachers who are prepared to develop the Montessori method are a fundamental part of achieving the method’s focus, applying it alongside the educational materials and activities developed by Maria Montessori and her Montessori collaborators.

The pillars of the Montessori method are self-education, education with science, cosmic education, prepared environment, and balanced child. Each of these points aims to meet and naturally develop children, working uniquely with their own effort and so that the child is interested in learning more and more about the subject that most interests them, giving them freedom and autonomy to learn and research any topic that interests them.

The Montessori method is contrary to all conventional and traditional teaching methods because it believes that these methods push children’s learning and developmental boundaries. That’s why they implement a liberal teaching approach, so that the child shows spontaneous interest and has more success in the activities they do, without imposing rules, deadlines for completion, or any kind of pressure, everything in the child’s time.

Some Teachings of the Montessori Method

Sensory – In the Montessori method, the concept of feeling is a key element. According to Maria Montessori, a child discovers the world by feeling shapes, textures, sizes, smells, tastes, and sounds. Boxes, walls, and baskets with different objects in various shapes and textures are used so children can discover, touch, and feel each one. This sensory method is believed to aid in the development of the child’s motor coordination, creativity, and memory, among other benefits.

Montessori Bedroom – Following Montessori pedagogy, this method has increasingly been applied in homes. The method is used when objects are within easy reach in the child’s room, making the room not the parents’ dream room, but instead the CHILD’S room, with easy access to everything and objects that will stimulate the child’s development.

Shelves at the child’s height, educational and interactive toys, puzzles, musical instruments, building blocks, cloth dolls, and wooden toys are also great options. When it comes to bedtime, the method considers the conventional crib a restriction for children because to get out or reach something, they need to climb or cry to be taken out.

Therefore, in the Montessori method, it is advised to use mattresses on the floor or even a low bed where the child can easily get up and has total freedom to get in and out of bed whenever they want. Another point concerns television: the method does not recommend its use in children’s bedrooms, while the use of sound devices for listening to music is very welcome.

Montessori Classroom – In a Montessori class, various topics are addressed, such as animals, fruits, numbers, arts, musical instruments, and many other things, naturally related to the students’ age group.

Activities involve physical movement, work on the children’s concentration, and develop skills through music, as well as teaching about the importance of silence, encouraging children to listen to the sounds around them, such as music, birds singing, and even the sound of cars passing on the street.

Nowadays, the Montessori method is being applied and used in several settings beyond schools worldwide, such as in psycho-pedagogy clinics, nursing homes, and even psychiatric clinics, using certain methods for treating dementia and even Alzheimer’s.

The Montessori method goes far beyond what we cited above, covering many other teachings and methods for the development of children, some much more complex, but worth learning about and perhaps adapting to. Today, there are many schools that apply the Montessori Method in all regions of Brazil. Some public schools are already starting to adapt to some characteristics and functions of the method that have proven to uniquely help children’s development.

See also: Educational Games – Playing and Learning at the Same Time

Photo: Steven Depolo, valilouve, valilouve