Montessori Education.

   



       Maria Montessori, an Italian educator, developed an approach to education known as Montessori Education. This type of education emphasized freedom within limits, respect for children and their natural development, and independence. There are 5 main elements of the type of education. The first is mixed age classrooms, generally age 3 to 9. The seonc id the choice of activity students have, withing a set of options the teacher provides. The third is a "discover" model, where students work with materials in order to learn, instead of being given direct instruction. The fourth is uninterupted sets of time working. The last one is specialized educational material,which Moterssori developed.
       Montessori educartion is a model of education with respect to fundamental human development. There are two basic elements; children and adults enganging in self-construction through interaction with their environment, and children having an innate path of development. One of the key concepts of Montessori education is the child's freedom to choose what they learn about, from sets of options teachers provide. She believe that their choice to act freely and choose in a school environment would produce the best outcome in regards to education and development.
       Montessori belived that there were certain innate characterisrtics that we all shared; order, exploration, repetition, abstraction, self-preservation, communication, and orientation to the environment, to name a few. She thought that it was important to take these into consideration when creating a model for education.
       There are a variety of dirrent programs that favor Montessori Education. In Montessori Infant/Toddler Programs there are "nests", which are classrooms of a few children ranging from a few months old, to 15 months. The next step is classrooms called "Young Child Community", which have more children from ages 15 months to about 3. Montessori Preschool and Kindergarten classes are often reffered to as "Children's Houses". They have roughly 20-30 children, of mixed age groups between 3 and 6. Elementary Classrooms have varying amounts of students, and mix age groups between 6 and 9, and 9 and 12. Highschool Classrooms are frmo age 12 up.
       Overall, the Montesorri model of education is very open-minded, and allows the student a lot of freedom and choice in their own education. I really like this model of education. I think that if you give students a choice and let them choose what they want to do, they will be more open to learning. I know when I was in school I used to hate when teachers assigned specific books. I never read them. But when we had a choice of a few books, I could pick what I wanted to do, and I always did those assignments. I think this model of education allows children to feel like they have some control over that, and it makes them more apt to want to learn.


http://www.michaelolaf.net/1CW312MI.html
http://www.akgmag.com/article/The_Montessori_School_Philosophy.htm
http://www.nndb.com/people/189/000108862/