Montessori education offers a unique educational model and has a revolutionary approach which makes it as popular as ever even today. It all began with Maria Montessori, Italy’s first woman physician who starting working at the turn of the twentieth century. Dr Maria Montessori was of the opinion that every human has a natural tendency to learn which must be nurtured and she believed that the natural desires of the children to learn have to be cultivated. Children should not be burdened with facts instead they should be allowed to experience learning on his/her own.
In The Absorbent Mind, Dr. Montessori wrote, “The most important period of life is not the age of university studies, but the first one, the period from birth to the age of six. For that is the time when man’s intelligence itself, his greatest implement is being formed. But not only his intelligence; the full totality of his psychic powers. . . At no other age has the child greater need of an intelligent help, and any obstacle that impedes his creative work will lessen the chance he has of achieving perfection.” Dr. Montessori
The teacher plays a vital role in a Montessori classroom and implementing the Montessori Method calls for a comprehensive training in Montessori teaching methodologies. There are hardly any text books and children usually study in small groups and do not usually study the same thing at the same time. Environment plays a vital role as children learn directly from the environment and from fellow young learners and less from the teacher. A Montessori educator is trained to teach one child at a time or children divided into small groups. Lessons are not prepared for the entire class and the teacher has to be easily approachable when it comes to imparting the basic lessons of math, language, the arts and sciences and helps in guiding a child's research and exploration, focussing on the children's interests about a subject. Large groups are found only in the beginning of a new class, or in the beginning of the school year, and are phased out as the children become independent. The child is scientifically observed, observations recorded and studied by the teacher. Individual study helps children learn better, but also from the varied work that takes place around them during the day.
A well-trained Montessori teacher must be adept at preparing basic lessons with the materials in all areas and have to cultivate the traits of an observer who has to keep in mind that Montessori teaching calls for less intervention from teachers. She must have the acumen to identify a child's readiness—according to age, ability, and interest—for a specific lesson, and is prepared to guide individual progress. Preference is given to the interests of a child followed by passion. Subjects like history, art, music, math, astronomy, biology, geology, physics, and chemistry are interwoven allowing a child to study in any order he chooses and in his own unique way and the focus remains on children and not on teaching. The children are not interrupted when they are busy at work but the teachers have to be constantly on their toes and remain alert guiding children to help them succeed. The Montessori teachers have to actively engage children in meaningful learning and encourage them to make their own discoveries. Montessori teachers are that strong link between children and the prepared environment and therefore, have an important role to play. For Montessori learners there are neither grades nor punishment since assessment is done based on portfolio, the teacher's observation and record keeping. It all depends in the accomplishment and behavior of the children, their learning, concentration and work.
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