The Montessori method is a philosophy designed to help students from all walks of life learn how to study, work, and succeed. Once you understand Dr. Montessori’s goals, you’ll quickly see why this educational method is so popular across the globe.
Foster the Desire to Learn and Work
Dr. Montessori believed that children naturally want to engage with the world around them. She wrote that children are born with curiosity that will last a lifetime if it isn’t stifled by their education. She felt that boring lectures, ill-timed math lessons, and generally rigid academic structures made children believe that work was drudgery instead of a normal part of a healthy and happy existence.
The primary goal of the Montessori method is to help children maintain their love for learning. From classroom layout to lesson plans, nearly every part of the Montessori structure is designed to keep the creative spark alive for the child’s entire life.
Create a Sense of Self-Confidence
Many of the children who enrolled in the first Montessori school were not willing to engage in educational activities. After talking with them, Dr. Montessori learned that most of them had received bad marks in previous classrooms and were sure that they were simply destined to fail at their schoolwork. Dr. Montessori began to theorize that a string of “failures” might be the reason that the children had such low confidence.
To counteract this problem, Dr. Montessori began to design lessons that revolved around a series of minor successes. She complimented children on finishing minor steps, praised them when they completed a project, and generally supported them in taking their education at a comfortable but proactive pace. By stacking successes, Montessori was able to reverse the effect and help her students restore and then maintain their sense of self-respect.
Teach Focus and Concentration
Dr. Montessori believed that in order to get work done, you needed to be able to focus. Attention is a skill that can be taught, and Montessori sought to prove that she could teach it to even the youngest of students.
Montessori work cycles encourage students to focus completely on their own work without paying attention to the rest of the class. Students are given the time and space they need to become truly involved in their work, all while having a teacher on hand to guide the process. The Montessori method also encourages students to complete projects in order to feel the satisfaction of getting things done and to establish good habits for future endeavors.
The Montessori method has evolved over time, but the main goal has remained the same: to help children establish a strong educational foundation that would last for the rest of their lives. The Montessori philosophy promotes love for learning and respect for self. With these two traits, Dr. Montessori believed that any student could live a happy and fulfilling life.
