What is Montessori? What Are Your Thoughts & Experiences?

[dulciean]

hi fefe- just a question. am wondering where you studied your Montessori qualification, and whether they offer training on-line? I have lots of self-read knowledge about Montessori and would love to hear of somewhere recommended/reputable to go through. any ideas would be great!

[fchaudari76]

I did not do my qualification in Australia, I did do it correspondence though most places wont offer Montessori training correspondence.
I know most of the ppl training at my last place of work were doing their Montessori Quals thru
http://www.mwei.org.au/wordpress/
I would recommend if u can to do it thru AMI but they will not do an online qual as they do not believe in it but AMI is THE montessori qual ... most places who want Montessori teachers will say AMI trained as they are the best but Montessoris are not hugely popular here in Oz so if u have any Montessori quals u will be snapped up pretty quick by any Montessoris out there
I found with both my jobs I rang said Montessori Diploma and BOOM they wanted me then and there. My last job even created a position where there was none just so they could hire me before someone else did !

[Lorina]

Hi Fefe,

I've been reading up on Montessori ever since you mentioned you've had experience from there... I've never worked in a Montessori centre and I was wondering how is it different? I know that Montessori has their own activities etc.. specifically designed for them but how does the teaching strategies differ from a non Montessori centre?

Cheers ,
L.A

[fchaudari76]

LA its hard for me to say since I have never really worked in a non-Montessori Centre, except overseas.
The best way to put it is obviously we want the child to develop properly. Montessori believed that there are 3 planes of development

First Plane - Infancy
Occurs between birth and six years and coincides with the development of the absorbent mind and individual personality. It is a period when the child is moving towards physical and biological independence.

Second Plane - Childhood
Occurs between six and twelve years and sees the elaboration of mind and personality in the child. During this plane the child moves towards mental independence.

Third Plane - Adolescence
Occurs between the ages of 12 and 18 years. In this plane the child develops his or her social personality and moves towards social independence.

Fourth Plane - Maturity
Occurs between 18 and 24 years. Now fully grown, your child's social personality is elaborated on as he or she moves towards spiritual and moral independence.

We have mixed age group classes in a Montessori system
Children are free to choose their own activities during the work cycle, Montessori is very child orientated, the teacher is merely the guide
We show the children the way to use the materials properly (each piece serves a particular purpose eg knobbed cyclinders give the child a tripod grip thus preparing them for holding writing implements down the line)
A Montessori teacher must know when a child is ready for what piece of equipement & then present it

I do not know what else I can tell you except I think it is a great system and children really respond to it.

If anyone has some specific questions about materials etc I am happy to answer them best I can, I am trained in 3 - 6 yr olds but doing Montessori for 0 - 3 is just a simplified version of 3 - 6 so I can try to help there too

[Lorina]

Hi Fefe,

Just trying to get a better understanding of what Montessori is... Do you have planned group times etc for the group of children because I read somewhere that a Montessori teacher only teaches to an individual child, so how does that work? I have a set group time for my group of children each day and during that time we sing songs, read books have discussions etc... Do you have a set routine throughout the day?

Cheers ,
L.A

[fchaudari76]

Probably what they meant is when we "present" materials in a Montessori classroom we usually will be presenting it to only one child at a time, thus you are working 1 on 1 with a single child, however Montessori is most def a group experience, in a proper Montessori class 1 Directress (as they are called,not teachers) can have 30 children ....obviously because of laws/ratios etc we do not have this here in Oz but that was how it was intended to be.

LA I will give u a run down of how my day was planned at my last centre which will give u a better idea of how our routine was

this was for the age group 2 - 4.5 pretty much though on paper my class was 18mnths - school age

9am children came in - group circle time (good morning, what we will do today, i showed them group presentations of montessori materials)

9:15 - 10:45 - Montessori work cycle, children chose work and did that, i observed & presented materials to individual children & small groups.
also within this time was morning tea, children served themselves, sat down at a table for 2 and then washed their plates & went back to work

10:45 pack away ...sit in circle. sunscreen on and in turns got hats (usually done in a fun way, if your name starts with f, s etc go get your hat, if u r wearing something yellow etc ...letters done phonetically of course!)

11:00 - 11:20 Gross motor activities outside... used to set up various obstacle courses or fun activities to help gross motor development...usually ended with races, and games like duck duck goose!

11:20 - hats off ....wash hands... sit down for lunch

lunch time 1 child served 1 child gave out food ... tables already laid with help of 3 children, doing tablecloths, plates, glasses & filling them with water....very Montessori, the children do or help do whatever they can

after lunch was wash hands etc and rest time

2pm - depending on days was French class, music class if was a day with nothing then I did story time, show & tell or music myself with them where we not only sang songs but learnt about musical instruments what they sounded like, as well as composers & their music
also used to take in my laptop and show them clips of things to do with our theme of the term eg Australia - showed them aboriginal music & dancing
some days at 2pm we did art & craft activties or cooking or gardening(keeping in mind they were free to do art & craft during Montessori work time as well but painting was about learning the techniques 1st before just splashing paint on paper, they learnt to make lines and curves, thick brushes gave a different stroke to thin, water colours needed different paper & had a different effect to acrylic etc) this art & craft was more "free" making themed stuff for the term, colouring sheets, etc

at 3pm we would do circle time again and say/sing goodbye and then go out for free play

We do a lot of stuff u probably do in normal childcare centres but during the Montessori Work Cycle we only do Montessori things which incorporated, practical life, sensorial, language, mathematics, geography, botony, art & culture ... we always had a book corner & children were free to sit & look at books etc as well during this time. Montessori work time was for me to observe what the children were chosing to do and when I saw they had mastered a particular Montessori material I would then move on and present either extension exercises materials (if they had any) if not then presented the next level up of that skill
http://www.infomontessori.com/sensorial ... ablets.htm
If u read the info in the link it will give u all the exercises possible with the 3 colour boxes
I would not start colour box 2 unless i know the child has mastered box1, likewise I will not start doing any of the extension exercises for colour box 2 unless i know he has mastered the basic of it

sounds complicated but really isnt as if I had 3 children I knew were ready for Colour Box 2, I would invite them (they r never forced or told they HAVE to) come and watch if they wanted, usually they will all come out of interest of something new...so I would present the material to them as a group.
If when a child chose that work and i saw them doing it incorrectly i would not correct them but at a later stage invite them once again to watch how i did, without saying they had done it wrong or anything. you just re-present the materials they do not use correctly until they do

Phew lol hope that has explained something of it there.....hard to explain so easy to do when u know how!

[catchmeifucan]

v interesting topic... Montessori is certainly interesting and perhaps a little different techniques..

hey fefe, I always wondered - Do you get paid more in Australia if you also have a Montessori qualification? I read this in one of your post in another topic somewhere and you had mentioned that you get paid extra 10% more for having a Montessori Diploma & 10% more for being a part of the staff for this particular Montessori..Is this the case with most of the centres? Also do you get paid more even if you work in a non-Montessori centre in Australia because of a Montessori Diploma?

just wondering..thats all..

[fchaudari76]

I think that was just that particular centre, they were good that way. I'd think most montessoris obviously won't hire u unless u have a Montessori qualification u may get paid a tad more but I can't say. When I was on the gold cost i just got award wage even though it was a Montessori. So prob differs place to place

[catchmeifucan]

Thanks for clarifying fefe..

Looks like you are literally the Motessori Consultant of Aussie Childcare Network!

Cheers

[fchaudari76]

No probs. My pleasure. I love that ppl r interested in Montessori & curious as to what we do etc

[Steffelz]

Hi Fefe, I am doing my cert III through Study Solutions Australia, they apparantly use a montessori based curriculum. I was wondering if it would make any difference if i did my hours at a regular kindy eg ABC or if I should do them with a Montessori Kindy? What do you think?

[fchaudari76]

Id say if you are doing a Montessori based curriculum do some hours at a Montessori if u can find one .... I would also suggest doing some placement in a mainstream system ABC, C & K etc as it will give you a more rounded experience of different systems and how they work

Whereabouts in QLD are you, I can give u some contacts of old colleagues and places ive worked which may help u find a placement

[Steffelz]

Im on the gold coast, and thank you so much

[fchaudari76]

Cool well I will message u privately details of where i used to work there along with some issues I faced, but if you are doing a placement shouldnt really bother you much.

[dulciean]

it would be my dream to work in a Montessori Centre- the methods have fascinated me for years. There were alot of them in Western Australia when I lived there but not so many here in Sydney.

[fchaudari76]

Really?? Thought Sydney wud have a quite a few! Strange Montessori isn't that common or popular here in Australia

[didadi]

hi, just wondering if anyone had Montessori teacher certificate from North American Montessori centre.they are online course. I know it will have one in Melbourne, but they are so experience. so just interesting in this online course at the moment. anyone has any idea?

[fchaudari76]

If u r based in Australia then look at http://www.mwei.org.au/wordpress/ they do Montessori certs and diplomas

[angelina_lw]

Montessori (pronounced MON-tuh-SORE-ee) is a philosophy of education that is based on the research findings of Dr. Maria Montessori. It is founded on the observation that children have a natural love of learning that is driven by their desire to understand and explain the world around them. The purpose of Montessori education is to nurture each child’s developmental needs, interests, deeper understanding of language, mathematics, science, music, social interactions, and much more. These assist them in achieving their full potential.

Montessori is a child-centred educational approach, which is often thought of as "Unique" in the method of education, and the classroom likely looks different than what you think. This type of education practice should prepare children to face all aspects of their life. In my experience, Little Wonders Montessori teaches both education and play for kids. The classrooms of LW Montessori are secular in nature and beautifully crafted environments designed to meet the needs of children in a specific age range. These all enhance the children's opportunities to develop their potential as they step out into the world as engaged, competent, responsible, and respectful citizens with an understanding and appreciation that learning. Although the Montessori educational method can be integrated successfully into a faith-based program.

Every material in a Montessori classroom supports an aspect of child development, creating a match between the child’s natural interests and the available activities. Children can learn through their own experience and at their own pace. They can respond at any moment to the natural curiosities that exist in all humans and build a solid foundation for life-long learning. So the Montessori kids are having a better future of their life.