Module 3 • Teaching Methods The teacher as “guide”


• The Montessori teacher, child, and environment may be seen as a learning triangle, with each element linked, and a vital part of the whole.


• The teacher thoughtfully prepares a classroom environment with materials and activities that motivates her students to learn.


• She may guide her students to new lessons and challenges, but it is the child’s interaction with what the environment has to offer that enables learning to occur.


• Because the teacher isn’t meant as the focus of attention, she can often be difficult to spot. • Typically you’ll find her sitting on the floor or at a table, observing her students as they work, and taking notes about their progress, or consulting with an individual or a small group.


• Instead of instructing with rote lectures, handouts, worksheets, and lesson plans, a Montessori teacher will offer guidance, but the child is ultimately responsible for his or her own individual learning.


• The classroom will often contain several stations, each containing toys which allow children to explore and learn. For example, a common station in a Montessori classroom will have a bucket of Lego blocks and several pictures of simple objects like an apple or a house, which the children can build if they want. Other stations might have books, crayons, a xylophone, or other engaging activities. The whole idea behind the Montessori classroom is allowing children to learn through playing.


Montessori developed a new philosophy of education based on the intuitive observation of the children in her care.


3. Sensitive periods


Maria Montessori believed that education begins at birth and that the first few years of life are the most important. Even the smallest baby must be exposed to people, sounds and cuddled and talked to. The baby has an active mind and he becomes apathetic when he constantly is left alone.


Proper learning methods in the first years, from birth to six, will largely determine the kind of person the child will become.


Maria felt that, in the early years of life, he has six major sensitive periods during which he is particularly receptive to certain stimuli.


3 1. Sensitivity to order (birth to two years)


• The childmust have a routine to establish order. • The baby wants to sort out and categorise all his experiences and this is easier to do when there is routine/order in his life.


• His mind is very absorbent and is open to sensory experiences.


134


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162