Why Montessori Schools Succeed in a Crisis

by Elizabeth Topliffe, Head of Stepping Stones School

“Adaptation to the environment is the first necessity.”

—Maria Montessori (London Lectures, 1946)

Editor’s Note: This was written on March 30, 2020. Clearly, there has been

a delay in the writing and printing of this article. In fact, it’s been about a year; although it seems like “dog years” (i.e., times 7), it shows the spirit with which Montessori schools took a moment to grieve and then quickly turned to the problem at hand: how to educate our children.

Just three weeks ago, our Montessori school was preparing for the seemingly inevitable (but perhaps a long way off)—school closures due to COVID-19. Writing this, I had to go back to my diary to confirm that it was indeed only three weeks ago. My diary entries reflect my concerns. I was worried about how a Montessori school could EVER do school from home. Our pedagogy depends on specialized materials and hands-on learning, At-home learning felt impossible. I was so wrong, and here is why.

MONTESSORI STUDENTS, GUIDES, AND SCHOOLS ARE ADAPTABLE

One of the fundamental tenets of Montessori philosophy is that we meet our students where they are with what they need at that time. As an educational community, Stepping Stones is always asking, “What is needed right now?” “Does this still work?” “Why are we doing this?” “How does it benefit each student or students?”

A Montessori school does not begin each academic year with a curriculum plan and goals for where we would be on each and every day. Instead, we begin with some broad ideas for concepts and lessons we want to share with our students. Once their interest is piqued or they’re hooked, we follow them, finding things to fuel their interests, asking questions rather than providing answers, and wondering with awe at their discoveries.

In other words, our entire academic year is one of adjusting and adapting. We cannot predict anything, and we have strengthened our ability to be flexible. Because our model is designed for adaptation, our guides are better equipped than many educators to jump into the unknown, changing as we go in order to meet our children where they are.

Many parents of Montessori children are already prepared for this adaptation, as they aid in their child’s learning all the time! They realize that learning is happening no matter what the activity. The challenge is the mental shift in understanding what it means to “learn from home,” as opposed to feeling that you (as a parent) must become a teacher or strictly manage your child’s time.

MONTESSORI SCHOOLS ACROSS THE WORLD ARE ONE COMMUNITY

Did you know that Montessori is the largest pedagogy in the world, with Montessori schools present on all six continents? It is true, and a global community has made us stronger in this pandemic. While many local schools were looking to the health department, the CDC, and the news for answers. Stepping Stones also looked to colleagues in Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, and the Netherlands, long before schools in the United States began to close.

Montessori administrators were coming together online to share experiences and resources, and to support one another. The Montessori School of Tokyo shared its fabulous Learning from Home Handbook, and they offered to let any other Montessori school in the world use it. Stepping Stones adapted it for our school. This offer saved us days and days of work.

The Association Montessori Internationale and American Montessori Society hosted webinars for school leaders. One of these included Karin Ann, co-founder of the International Montessori School of Hong Kong. She shared insights about messaging and about how Montessori schools might adapt to learning from home. The Montessori Administrators Group (an international Google group of Montessori administrators) shared resources, adapted one another’s work, and offered words of encouragement and hope to Montessori schools everywhere.

Because schools in other areas of the world are weeks ahead of us in their pandemic response, and because they are extraordinarily generous, Stepping Stones and other Montessori schools have avoided missteps. We have reacted more quickly, and we have been better prepared.

These students often do not realize that the only person responsible for their education is themselves. Montessori students know that from the start.

MONTESSORI CLASSROOMS AND SCHOOLS ARE BASED ON RELATIONSHIPS

At Stepping Stones, our classrooms begin each year by forming relationships. The classroom establishes norms, expectations, and culture. This process (called “normalization”) binds the classroom community together. Students behave well when they want to support the entire classroom community. Parents also bond and shape a school’s community, well beyond classroom walls.

In our infant and toddler classrooms, play dates and outings are shared among families. The parent-created ski club promotes friendships and support as much as (or more than) skills on the slopes. Birthday parties, dances, and fall festivals bring families at our school together to share support and care for one another. By the time our students reach middle school, the students themselves create relationships beyond the school walls: planning parties, hang-outs, and group chats.

I have heard from administrators in other schools that parents have become confrontational and disrespectful, demanding that teachers and schools “do something” about this current situation—as though the schools created the problem. Fortunately, our school has not experienced that. Instead, comments on our posts have exploded with support and care for one another and for the guides and staff of our school. We are all being asked to do a great deal. Discontinue travel. Distance ourselves physically. Work from home. Have everyone home all at once, all the time; support our children’s learning; figure out how to work when our children are in the background; worry about the older adults in our lives; and pay attention to the news without falling into the abyss of constant news threads.

I know that I have felt that stress. I have relied on our community daily for my own sense of being. I have seen you doing the same for one another. Thank you for prioritizing relationships and for supporting one another.

MONTESSORI STUDENTS CARE FOR THEMSELVES, EACH OTHER, AND THE ENVIRONMENT

These are our three rules. Many guidelines fall out of them, but this is the foundation of every rule at our school. In a crisis, these three rules matter more than ever. We are in a global pandemic. All of us. The entire globe. People are stressed, afraid, sick, and dying. If we can take care of ourselves, each other, and our environment, our entire world will make it through this thing. Yes, your children need to be able to read, do math, and research. Right now, those things fade in comparison to taking care of ourselves and others to the extent that we can.

MONTESSORI STUDENTS ARE SELF-MOTIVATED LEARNERS

This one comes home to me every time I see a student from a traditional environment adapting to our school. In a traditional environment, students see school and education as something they are given. The responsibility for learning falls on the shoulders of teachers, administration, and the curriculum and textbooks. These students often do not realize that the only person responsible for their education is themselves. Montessori students know that from the start. They are able to explore, learn, and grow because they make that happen. They do not need to wait for a teacher to tell them what to do. Their satisfaction in learning does not come from a test score. They own their education and their knowledge. At a time when we are learning from home, this skill is perhaps the most important.

Now, more than ever, I am grateful for the amazing work of Maria Montessori, a genius and a pioneer. I’m so glad she is with me in that. 