THE MONTESSORI ADVANTAGE A RED Paper prepared by Kingsley Montessori School, Boston, MA
THE MONTESSORI ADVANTAGE
About Kingsley Kingsley Montessori’s approach to teaching and learning is focused on each child’s individual potential, talents, and level of development—helping children learn in the best way for them. For children from Toddler through Sixth Grade, Kingsley offers a Montessori education tailored to the talents, curiosity, and growth of each student that empowers them to succeed socially and academically. Our graduating students advance successfully to top public and private schools. Learn more at www.kingsley.org.
“I do not believe there is a method better than Montessori for making children sensitive to the beauties of the world and awakening their curiosity regarding the secrets of life.” – Gabriel García Márquez, Montessori graduate and Nobel Prize-winning novelist
The Montessori Advantage is part of a series of occasional “RED” papers on Montessori teaching and learning from Kingsley Montessori School (Boston, MA). To learn more about Kingsley, or to subscribe to future red papers, please visit our website. ©2015 Kingsley Montessori School, Boston, MA
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Contents THE MONTESSORI ADVANTAGE Why Montessori Matters Now More Than Ever. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What The Research Says. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The “Ah Ha” Moment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Closer Look. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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THINK DIFFERENTLY The Foundational Decade Of Learning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Kingsley’s Montessori PLUS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 Learn More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Further Reading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
“Everything that concerns education assumes today an importance of a general kind, and must represent a protection and a practical aid to the development of man; that is to say, it must aim at improving the individual in order to improve society.” – Maria Montessori
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Why Montessori Matters Now More Than Ever In a way, it has always been a radical idea: an approach to education that focuses on each child and respects each student’s questions, interests, and stage of development.
A Century Of Montessori Success Montessori is a child-centered educational approach based on the work of Dr. Maria Montessori, Italy’s first female physician and a child psychiatrist and educator. Using scientific observation and experience gained from work with young children, Dr. Montessori created a practical approach to teaching inspired by children’s natural curiosity and desire to learn.
At Kingsley Montessori, we teach each child as an individual. Learning here means engaging children’s natural curiosity about the world. It’s about the transformative act of asking your own questions and discovering the many possible answers. From Toddler to Sixth Grade, children here work through a carefully designed curriculum at their own pace, while teachers provide gentle guidance, direction, and support. They learn to ask for feedback as they grow, and when they’re ready, they seek new challenges. When education can move at the pace of children, it often moves quickly. When children drive their own learning, their understanding grows richer and more sophisticated. Individualized. Ambitious. Empowering. This is Montessori learning today.
Today, educational and neurobiological research are providing scientific evidence of Montessori’s unique benefits. From the first Montessori school established in 1907 to the thousands of Montessori schools around the world today, the Montessori method has been highly successful for many kinds of learners.
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A STUDENT-CENTERED LEARNING EXPERIENCE Montessori learning always starts with the child and seeks to engage the child at his or her individual level of development. It’s an education characterized by multi-age classrooms, unique learning materials, long uninterrupted blocks of learning time, a collaborative environment with student mentors, and individual or small group instruction, which dedicates attention to social and academic skills. For more than 100 years, this style of education has been popular in many countries. Today, there are more than 20,000 Montessori schools worldwide, with more than 5,000 schools in the United States, including 300 public schools. As educators interested in school reform begin to look for evidence of what really works, Montessori has taken the spotlight.
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What The Research Says New research in neuroscience and psychology suggests that a Montessori education offers distinct advantages. In Montessori schools, children learn and discover through hands-on activities. There are no assigned desks, no long periods of sitting quietly listening to a teacher. They are free to move around their classrooms, choose their work, and plan their own time.
What The Research Says
• In a 2006 study, five-yearold students in Montessori classrooms were found to have better reading and math skills than peers who attended traditional schools. They also scored higher on tests of social development. (Science, September 2006)
• A longitudinal study carried out in Milwaukee public schools showed that attending a Montessori program from the age of three to 11 predicts significantly higher mathematics and science standardized test scores in high school. (AMI/USA, May 2003)
• A study conducted by UVA
Studies show that regular physical movement and sensory learning activities have a positive impact on cognition and memory—the more you move and experience with your five senses, the more you learn. The development of motor skills actually enhances the development of cognitive skills (Adolph and Berger, 2005, 2006, 2008). In fact, motor skills are a strong predictor of later academic achievement (Grissmer, Aiyer, Murrah, Grimm, and Steele, 2010). In addition to cognitive advantages, empowering children to make choices, to ask their own questions, and to take ownership of their learning enhances executive function, self-regulation, and focus (Science, Aug. 19, 2011). Finally, sensory and self-directed learning have a positive effect on children’s enjoyment of learning. Hundreds of studies have shown enjoyment improves learning, recall, and understanding and contributes to confidence and motivation.
psychologists found that when teachers faithfully adhere to Montessori methods, students show significantly greater school-year gains on measures of executive function, reading, math, vocabulary, and social problem-solving than children in conventional classrooms. (Journal of School Psychology, June 2012) KINGSLEY MONTESSORI SCHOOL
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EDUCATING INNOVATIVE THINKERS AND LEADERS In writing their book The Innovator’s DNA, Jeff Dyer and Hal Gregersen discovered that many innovators, such as Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Jeff Bezos, Julia Child, Jimmy Wales, Taylor Swift, Yo Yo Ma, and Sean Combs, had attended Montessori schools. “They learned to follow their curiosity,” Mr. Gregersen has said. “To paraphrase the famous Apple ad campaign, innovators not only learned early on to ‘think different,’ they act different (and even talk different).” Montessori educators encourage children to value their curiosity, ask their own questions, and seek answers. That model of learning becomes internalized—and a lifelong habit.
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The “Aha!” Moment Science tells us brains thrive on “aha!” moments. Learn it for yourself, by yourself, and learning is richer, more vivid, and more meaningful. The best learning takes place in an active, challenging, engaging environment, where you move your body as you learn, when you observe, construct, and share what you’ve learned, when you create and experience new knowledge yourself. So how does this translate into the Montessori school environment? Take a peek, and you’ll see that a Montessori classroom just looks different. Montessori classrooms tend to be sparer, calming, and use more neutral colors than conventional classrooms. There are no desks facing front— instead, there are work areas throughout the room. What Makes A Montessori Teacher
• Certified Montessori teachers complete 400 hours of training in Montessori teaching techniques in addition to traditional educational training.
• Montessori teachers are not at the center of the classroom. They may be sitting with a preschooler asking questions about geography or working with older students to identify bones pulled from an owl pellet.
Montessori classrooms are also mixed-aged—students learn from and observe each other. They care for and teach each other, and through these relationships, they develop strong social and leadership skills. As they grow older, these roles become more formal as they take on larger community and leadership roles with confidence.
• Teachers carefully prepare their classrooms with materials and activities that meet their students’ interests, academic levels, and developmental needs.
• They monitor each student’s progress as he or she works toward mastering a particular concept or skill and know when to step in with support, feedback, or a new challenge.
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GIVING OWNERSHIP Montessori teachers look at each child each day and tailor their experience in the classroom to meet their individual needs. We encourage children to take ownership of their education. They quickly learn to see the correlation between their work and their accomplishments. The learning in a Montessori environment comes from the child working with the materials over time. I remind parents how often their child repeated their first words, or wanted to play the same game. Repetition is how children learn. When they have mastered a skill, they will move on. The education here is designed to keep them interested and engage their curiosity. Our aim is for students to feel confident meeting new challenges and exploring areas of new interests as they grow into adolescence. And we hope that confidence and curiosity will stay with them—and inspire them—for a lifetime. – Juliet Clark, Early Childhood Teacher, Kingsley Montessori School
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A Closer Look Walk into any Montessori classroom, and one of the first things you’ll notice are the beautiful learning materials. Early Childhood classrooms emphasize sensory-motor activities— seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching, and movement. Children use these specially designed materials to develop cognitive skills through direct experience. These experiences provide the foundation for more abstract and conceptual learning as children grow.
What Makes It Montessori
• Multi-age groupings that support the collaborative learning and the development of strong social skills.
Elementary classrooms are a little different and support students as they make the leap from concrete to more abstract thinking and reasoning. A thoughtfully integrated interdisciplinary curriculum of learning activities helps students broaden their understanding, organize their knowledge, and apply their learning to real-world situations.
• Large classrooms organized around work areas, rather than desks.
• Long blocks of learning time allowing for extended periods of focus. In conventional schools, teachers may change children’s focus every 30 minutes or so.
• Developmentally appropriate learning activities. Because teachers know students as individuals, they can offer appropriate challenges and projects that engage unique interests and stretch children’s growing skills and abilities.
• Montessori learning materials organized to reflect the way we read. Students start their curriculum with easy-to-use materials from the left side of the classroom before continuing rightward to more challenging lessons and activities.
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THE PREPARED ENVIRONMENT Montessori learning materials encourage children to work independently and are designed to provide concrete experiences of abstract ideas. “Control of error” components are built into many activities and help the student to determine if he or she has completed the exercise correctly and empowers children to work in a self-directed way.
Golden Beads
The Pink Tower
The Moveable Alphabet
Golden Beads are physical representations of our decimal system. Children learn to recognize quantity, count, and perform mathematical operations with 1s, 10s, 100s, and 1000s. This hands-on experience, which continues into Lower Elementary, lays the foundation for future work with more abstract concepts.
A graduated set of 10 stacking blocks, the Pink Tower provides young children with the equipment to assess dimension and understand ordering principles. The activity also introduces the language to express these concepts. The material encourages accuracy, order, and precision, all necessary for future math and science development.
The Moveable Alphabet gives young children the ability to express themselves in writing before they develop handwriting skills. The activity lets children use their knowledge of sounds and symbols to form words. Over time, their use of phonetic spelling paves the way for the emergence of more sophisticated language.
Puzzle Maps
Dressing Frame
Montessori Timeline of Life
Puzzle Maps help students acquire a sense of the relative location and size of countries and continents. They set the stage for physical geography and cultural exploration. Each year, the Puzzle Maps become more detailed with the addition of capital cities, geological features, and points of interest that enhance students’ knowledge of the world.
Children gain confidence when they can successfully perform tasks they see adults do every day. As children practice snapping, buttoning, zipping, and tying with the Dressing Frames, their independence increases and carries over into all aspects of their learning. These materials present opportunities for young children to refine motor skills, enhance concentration, and find satisfaction in purposeful activity.
The Timeline helps students develop a conceptual framework for understanding geologic history. Four large color-coded charts divide the major eras of life (Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic) into Periods and Epochs for the last 4.5 billion years. The charts engender a sense of awe concerning the origins of our planet. Inevitably, they prompt questions and curiosity and encourage children’s further research.
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The Foundational Decade Of Learning
Montessori And More
• Kingsley has more than 40 full-time faculty members including Co-Curricular teachers in Performing and Visual Arts, Science, Engineering & Technology, Physical Education, and Spanish. All Early Childhood and Lower Elementary lead teachers have completed an accredited Montessori training program. The Upper Elementary has a combination of Montessoritrained teachers and traditionally trained educators.
• Kingsley’s unique Montessori PLUS program combines proven Montessori practices with a rigorous, integrated curriculum. Inquiry-based learning, individual and collaborative projects, and advanced academic challenges bring multiple disciplines together.
At Kingsley, we know that the best learning is inquiry-based and responsive to student interests and questions. It combines self-direction with high expectations, and it empowers children to undertake new challenges. We encourage students at every age to reach higher, ask harder questions, learn by doing, and persist. In our supportive environment, learning can be fearless. When we think about the education we are providing at Kingsley, we think in terms of the critical years from two to 12. This 10-year perspective allows us to set the stage for a lifetime of curiosity, confidence, and accomplishment. The simple materials and activities of early childhood evolve over time, from blocks and beads to computers and microscopes. Kingsley’s unique “Foundational Decade of Learning” blends proven Montessori practices with our innovative, 10-year integrated curriculum—Montessori PLUS. Our aim is to empower students to take ownership of their learning and become happy, confident, and successful learners for life.
• At Kingsley, we challenge children of all ages to find purpose in learning. In partnership with Boston Medical Center, students regularly participate in programs that focus on issues of hunger, literacy, and the environment.
• Kingsley Sixth-Grade students lead a yearlong study of the Charles River for younger students to learn about the history of Boston, study the environment, and participate in community-building exercises.
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KINGSLEY’S MONTESSORI PLUS Robotics, environmental studies, or computer-based music may not be what most people think about when they imagine a Montessori school, but these subjects are typical of the kind of learning our Kingsley students are engaged in.
• Visual Arts at Kingsley offers real artists’ materials and high-quality instruction. Children explore different media and processes while teachers demonstrate techniques.
Kingsley is committed to providing students with an education that reflects today’s challenges. Our Montessori PLUS curriculum extends learning with new and relevant academic challenges—including increased learning experiences with technology, engineering, science, and the arts—and offers greater socialemotional development and leadership opportunities.
• Kingsley students use technology starting in Preschool. Naturally, this leads to questions about how technology works. Many children quickly take an interest in engineering.
• Music is everywhere at Kingsley. Our students learn musical notation and composition. Every student sings in a chorus and learns to play the recorder, xylophone, ukulele, and African drums.
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Learn More
Kingsley Montessori is an independent day school in Boston for children ages two through 12. To learn more about admission or to apply to our program, please visit www.kingsley.org.
CONTACT US 617-226-4900 Director of Admissions Amy Weed aweed@kingsley.org Assistant to the Director of Early Childhood Education Whitney Schultz wschultz@kingsley.org
Kingsley Montessori is accredited by the American Montessori Society, as well as by the Association of Independent Schools in New England, and is a member of the International Montessori Council, Montessori Schools of Massachusetts, the North American Montessori Teachers’ Association, and the National Association of Independent Schools. Kingsley Montessori School does not discriminate in any of its policies or programs on the basis of race, color, gender, sexual orientation, family composition, nationality, marital status, ethnic origin, or disability.
Assistant to the Director of Elementary Education Holly Pratt hpratt@kingsley.org
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Further Reading “You can’t understand Google unless you know that both Larry and Sergey were Montessori kids…This is baked into how Larry and Sergey approach problems. They’re always asking, why should it be like that?” – Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo! Christian Science Monitor: Maria Montessori: Is The Montessori Method Any Good? Forbes: The Future Of Education Was Invented In 1906 Guardian UK: How Google’s Larry Page Became A Responsible Entrepreneur Harvard Business Review: How Do Innovators Think? Harvard Business Review: Montessori Builds Innovators Korn/Ferry Institute: What Do P. Diddy, Sergey Brin, And Peter Drucker Have In Common? Investors.com: Maria Montessori Stands At the Head Of The Class The New Yorker: Will Wright. Game Master Science Journal: Evaluating Montessori Education Wall Street Journal: The Montessori Mafia Wired: Larry Page Wants To Return Google To Its Startup Roots
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kingsley.org Early Childhood 30 Fairfield Street Elementary 26 Exeter Street Boston, MA 02116 617-226-4900