Montessori Myth number 2

See part 1

Myth 2.

            In Montessori a child is allowed to avoid a subject that scares them.  A child might get great at math or reading but completely neglect other subjects.

Why its wrong: 

            In a Montessori classroom parents trust us to take care of their children for an entire 3 year cycle.  AMI trained Montessori Elementary teachers know 6 years worth of curriculum in all subjects (for the 6-9 and 9-12 year old cycles) and know we have a responsibility to get all children through all subjects.

            This means that if a child avoids doing math work for the first month that is alright, but we know that at some point we will have to make a plan to get the child their 3 years worth of math instruction.  In my class I know that the most important thing is to teach the children to concentrate deeply on any task.  Once they have that ability to concentrate they will be able to transfer that concentration to work in any subject.  So, they start the year with a lot of hand work type tasks like folding origami to build concentration.  Another activity that was popular in my class early in this year was the “pin maps.”  These maps have hundreds of little flags that children place on maps of each Continent; the flags represent all the countries, major cities and geographic features of that Continent. 

            This requires great perseverance; even laying out the flags in an organized manner takes up to half an hour.  Then children must scan the guide map to find specific cities, locate the pin for the city, and follow bodies of water to find the right location.

            Several of my boys were immediately drawn to this and spent around a week doing the pin maps of Europe then Africa.  In a traditional school they would’ve got 30 minutes of Geography in a day (if lucky, most American schools don't do that...no wonder more Americans want to bomb Syria than can find it on a map!) then 40 minutes of math then 30 minutes when children must read.  Some teachers would freak out that my boys didn’t get any math instruction the whole time they were doing the pin map.  Yet they were learning deep concentration skills that will transfer to math, reading, or any activity they choose.  Are they somehow less equipped to learn math now?  With a 3 year time frame to work with children, we have time to let children spend a whole week learning the names of countries and cities in Africa and Europe.  Sometime later on they will apply the same passion to math.

            Many Montessori schools in the US have a copy of state standards in the class as a reference material for children.  They are used as a positive motivational tool rather than a sledgehammer to “hold children and teachers accountable.”  A teacher might say “this is what the state of Oregon says children your age need to know.  Of course in every subject you want to know at least as much as the State says.  And look, you learned this part when you were 6.  You are beyond this standard!  But uh-oh, we haven’t learned this part here yet…let’s make a plan for how to do this.  Let's watch ourselves go far beyond these standards!”

            And for some schools this isn't even necessary.  I know of a masterful Montessori teacher in Canada who spent several weeks of his summer matching the Montessori curriculum to the new common core US standards.  He said he was going to put it in kid friendly language and put it in his class for reference but realized his kids were so far beyond the standards already that it was unnecessary!  State standards can help motivate some children but if a positive enough class culture of work is created they aren't necessary.

            Another tool the guide has is to decide which lessons to give each child.  If a child spends a week doing nothing but math the teacher will see they aren’t getting reading practice.  The teacher thus has an obligation to give the children lessons that will motivate them to read.  We will start to flood the child with lessons that have reading or research as follow up work.  In Montessori classrooms children are not mandated to follow up on a lesson independently, but a culture is created in which you do unless there is a good reason not to.  A guide must decide what lessons will perk the child’s interest and then guide children towards the work they need.  Then the guide presents these lessons with enthusiasm to get the child interested in the subjects in which they struggle.  If a child continues to avoid work in one subject the guide will need to eventually say “Hey, you really need to learn math facts, you’re turning 9 and this is important.  Let’s make a plan for how you can learn these facts.”  At some point during the 3 year work cycle avoiding a specific skill ceases to be an option.  Yet the child will be engaged in deciding how to tackle the challenge.