Gotta read through this thread at Mothering dot com.
I found it rather enlightening, especially about the
pros and cons of Montessori schools and homeschooling
with Montessori. Also, people wrote in from around the world with their own experiences. For example
Montessori in Sweden seems to be quite more open
and aligned with the national agenda vs. more
structured Montessori programs. Schools can be
so different. One lady expressed her frusteration
over the equipment being for only one use
ie. no creativity with the pink tower for example.
What do you think? Is Montessori too structured?
Not structured enough?
K.
All of the Montessori works can be used in other ways as an extension. The Pink Tower is used in so many ways in my classroom. I think with Montessori that you really have to educate yourself. In my training for 3-6, I received the basics of each Montessori material, but as far as knowing classroom manangement, extension of materials, etc. I had to figure that out with lots of reading and educating myself as a teacher.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't answer the tread but I think Montessori is excellent, the problem is just that it's not perfect, like nothing is (Waldorf, public school)I like the structure, I think is great for kids to learn that each thing must be used in a way. I work in a regular school (there aren't Montessori here) and I hate seeing kids throwing blogs at each other or kicking them, they do this because they are "free" to play, playing time is also learning time. They have plenty of time to have imaginative play at home, I think we are to used to let kids do whatever they want so we won't "hurt" their self esteem.
ReplyDelete(English is not my native language, sorry for mistakes)