Re: Pre-School VS Montessori
Thank you Muzna for a very detailed response.
The Montessori philosophy has 3 main points: care of self, care of environment, and care of others. This philosophy is embedded in the curriculum. A good example will be when children take a work out, they are taught to keep their work in their space, take care of the material, and clean up.
The growth of the child is not measured in a specific learning area but as the whole child.
Another thing Montessori said there is a sensitive period for everything, it is the time when child secures a specific skill through repetition. It is the time when child is extremely absorbed in that skill, it can be anything like tying a shoe lace, coloring, learning sounds, sorting objects, etc. The curriculum also helps children develop an uninterrupted work cycle. That means a child will develop a long concentration span, will move on to another activity after finishing the previous one. The teachers observe child and give them lesson throughout the curriculum as needed. I had an ELL student who in beginning of the year with a material used for sorting and building patterns for almost 2 months. Everyday, the first thing she get was those cubes and prisms.
The curriculum is also build in to help children learn grace and courtesy, be passionate and caring to each other. I love when my older children ask me if they can give a lesson to their little friends. Once I had two little boys arguing, i was just watching to see how they will solve their issue. A little girl who was extremely involved in her writing got up, went to them and actually helped the two boys resolve the issue.
I think teaching children problem solving skills and letting them help each other is way more effective then a teaching always initiating the problem solving process.
I was working a public school montessori program, therefore I would get all sorts of child (of course never had any diagnosed with extreme special need) but stuff like speech needs, adhd, i had couple kids with emotional behavior issues, one with mild cerebral palsy. Again all these children came in the class not diagnosed, so I basically had to try various intervention to making their classroom experience exciting for them and keep their spirits high.
It is also fun that eventually you don't need to assign children jobs but they will make it their own duty to make sure the classroom is presentable for the next day, i have children who at clean up time will roll all the rugs without me asking them, fix pencils and color pencils, wash breakfast trays, put the chairs on the table, etc.
I started studying about Montessori when I got my first job as a Montessori teacher, I have to say that I am loving every bit of it. It is a wonderful program. The key is to make sure you start the program at the right time. Children who join the program as 3 or 4 year old have much more advantage over the children who join the program as 5 year old kindergartners. Initially, the older ones who have joined the program as 5year old feel a little bit more challenged when they see their other peers (who have been in that environment for an year or two) know so much more. It is lot of hard work to keep them confident and bring them to that level.
You know I think I read a bit about Montessori when I was younger, but now raising my daughter it like actually "clicks!" It makes sense with the way she learns, the way she gets absorbed in certain skills. When I am with her I am very relaxed in terms of "teaching" her anything. We chat and when she asks about things I tell her and if she shows further interest, I let her play and test out whatever she is intrigued by. It seems like montessoris would cultivate that kind of learning process. Makes a lot of sense.