Montessori Education Vs Traditional Education

Both Montessori and traditional education teachers have many important roles. While both are primarily concerned with the education of the child, the most apparent difference is in their teaching method.

In regular education, teaching is more teacher-directed than child-led. The teacher usually follows a sequence of skills given to them by their administration that must be completed on a timeline. From this, the teacher may be allowed to format their own lessons or may have to follow what they are given in order to present the material. She then tells the children what they will be learning and presents the information to them in a variety of ways, such as lectures, large or small group activities, note-taking, worksheets, etc. Once the material

It should not be distracting. The walls should be free of clutter and the colors of the classroom should be neutral allowing for the utmost concentration. There is a conscious placement of each material in the classroom. Materials should be grouped in areas according to type, such as Sensorial, Practical Life, Math, and Language Arts. Materials placed on shelves are of interest to the children and serve a type of educational purpose to help the child build skills. The environment should be calm and orderly, allowing the child to explore and observe the materials available. Any activity that is placed for student use should be self-checking so that the student can check his work to make sure he has completed the activity successfully. As stated by Maria Montessori, “it is necessary that the spontaneous development of the child should be accorded perfect liberty; that is to say, that its calm and peaceful expansion should not be disturbed by the intervention of an untimely and disturbing influence. … But to ensure the psychical phenomena of growth, we must prepare the ‘environment’ in a definite manner, and from this environment offer the child the external means necessary for him.” (Montessori, The Advanced Montessori Method, p. 198. Daily maintenance of the classroom consists of making sure it is clean and all materials are in pristine conditions. The teacher checks to see if learning materials have been

They can be given individually or with a small group of two to three children. This relies solely on the needs of the student. Until a child receives a lesson on a material or activity, the child should not take that activity or material to their work mat to complete. After a lesson has been presented to a child, that child is free to get that activity as much as the child would like. The interest of child is always important. If a child is not interested in a lesson being offered to him, he has the right to refuse the lesson. Another approach to offering the lesson or finding an alternative aspect of the lesson may need to be used to intrigue the child. Students are always involved in the decision of what they would like to work on and learn. They are never forced to do something that they do not want to do and it is important that they guide find the interests of the child to help guide his learning. Observation is the most important tool that any Montessori guide can use. It helps to assess in which sensitive period the child may currently reside, gives insight into the interest of the child and helps determine where the child should go next. Not only can the child’s learning be assessed through observation, but the child’s social growth can also be determined through observation. Using these observations as a form of record keeping will help to guide the child’s