Reframing 3 Common Montessori Myths
For most of us who were born and bred under traditional forms of education (both public and private), watching our children learn in a Montessori enivronment can be a bit of a shock.
Sometimes, we can observe aspects of the Montessori class and misunderstand what's really happening, especially when we are looking at it through traditional glasses.
We rounded up 3 of the most common Montessori myths, and how you can reframe to better uderstand Maria Montessori’s values and her approach towards education.
MYTH #1: My child is just playing all day, instead of learning.
One day your child gravitates towards the sorting and pouring tray. Another day they go for the dressing frames. And another day they spend an hour lacing objects onto a string.
"They're just playing," you think. "Why is no one redirecting them?"
Many believe that Montessori for ages 3-6 is merely playtime without real learning.
In truth, two false assumptions are being made with this framing:
Play and learning are separate activities that should be independent of one another.
Adults should interrupt a 3-6 child's natural learning process to tell them what to do instead.
In the Montessori method for ages 3-6, play IS an active tool and vehicle for learning.
Decades of research and hundreds of different studies have shown that when young children play, they are building new brain structures that help them understand and interact with the world around them. Play also helps them learn important skills such as physical coordination, depth perception, problem solving, critical thinking, social norms and behaviors, and emotional regulation.
In our Wildflower Montessori class, the environment is carefully and intentionally designed to allow for purposeful, learning-full play. Children engage with curated and specially designed hands-on materials that teach them practical life skills, develop their senses and bodily control, and allow them to explore academic concepts in a way that is engaging and immersive.
This approach not only helps build your child's independence, but also their concentration, internal motivation, and love for learning.
When your child plays with sorting objects, they are learning to think logically, categorize information, determine which qualities of an object make them similar or different, and build the hand-eye coordination needed to put those objects where they belong.
How long it takes the children to build these skills, and how many repeated tries are needed until they master them, vary by child, which is why the Montessori method puts a high value on self-directed learning.
Unlike traditional methods of education where children are regularly told by the teacher what to learn and when to learn it, during a Montessori working block, the child's natural curiosities and interests are respected and encouraged. Through a carefully curated environment, children are allowed to choose the materials that interest them and align with their needs and explore them for as long as needed. This structured freedom allows them to engage deeply with the materials and foster their internal sense of understanding and command.
Mentors refrain from injecting themselves into a child's active learning process and instead take a step back to watch what and how they do. This observation allows the mentor to gain an intimate understading of each child's level, comman over concepts, and growing needs. Only when a child is clearly ready to move on from a material do the adults attempt to engage them in something new.
This method helps children develop their own internal decision-making skills, self-discipline, and lays a strong foundation for lifelong learning, inshaAllah.
“Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.”
MYTH #2: The Montessori working block is unstructured and chaotic.
If you come in to observe a Montessori working block, here's what you might see:
some children working on the floor
some children working at tables
some children snacking
some children working with a partner
some children working by themselves
some children working with numbers and letters
come children working with smelling tubes and sensory boxes
some children exploring their prepared environment, trying to decide what they want to work with
some children distracted from their work because you just walked in to observe them
"This is chaotic," is a first thought that might pop up. "There's not enough structure," is another one.
And both are very common misconceptions from outside observers who have not been trained in Montessori methods or instruction.
Remembering that the Montessori method encourages self-direction and exploration, the 3-6 Montessori class is fondly nicknamed "The Children's House." Maria Montessori called it this because she wanted to prioritize and focus on the needs and persepctives of the children, not the adults around them.
As adults, we see structure as something that has to always be neat and tidy. Our traditional school upbringings kick in and tell us to associate a well structured class with rows of desks, all the children sitting quietly, everyone working on the same thing at the same time. But that is an adult's version of work, not a child's.
In the Montessori children's house, the room is structured with the child in mind. They're allowed to move about freely, make their own choices of what to work on, engage in coversation or not, snack when they feel hungry, and generally direct themselves in relaxed and playful learing experiences. This helps build in the child a sense of self-awareness, empowerment, and ownership of their class and efforts.
“The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, ‘The children are now working as if I did not exist.’”
At the same time, the Montessori class is not one of total freedom.
On the contrary, each aspect of the Montessori class is intentionally designed to provide a prepared environment for learning with the developmental needs of 3-6 year olds in mind. Each material included in the class is there to provide multisensory engagement in the key areas of Sensorial, Practical Life, Language, Mathematics, and Culture.
In addition, clear routines, expectations, and limits are set with the children inside of the class to help ensure that everyone is working productively and benefitting from their time together.
When a child is having an off day, an adult steps in to help them to regulate. When a child is feeling lost or unsure, an adult is there to help guide, encourage, and faciliate appropriate opportunities. When a pair of children are in conflict, the peace rose helps them to talk it out and find solutions.
This freedom within the limits of the prepared environment helps children to find comfort in a space that respects and honors them, and build the self-discipline they need to happily hum to the rhythm of the day.
MYTH #3: There are too many different ages and stages in one class.
Some parents are thrown off by the mixed age groupings in Montessori, especially at the 3-6 stage, where skills and abilities can look starkly different from one another. Parents can worry about younger children feeling overwhelmed by older ones, or about older children having enough materials to engage and challenge them.
While it's completely normal to want to ensure our children's needs are being met, sometimes we can look down upon the Montessori mixed age groupings because we are looking at it through the lens of traditional education models which tend to group students strictly by age and/or grade level.
Maria Montessori embraced and championed mixed age groups because they:
Allow younger children to learn by observing and mimicking.
Allow older children to lead by modeling and mentoring.
Encourage children to move at their own pace, rather than expecting everyone to be in the same place.
Remove the need for students to compare themselves or compete with the achievements of their peers (because everyone is moving at their own stage and pace).
Foster greater empathy and understanding for different abilities.
Help build a sense of community as children learn to accept each other's differences and contribute in the ways that they are able to.
For all of these reasons and more, mixed age groupings are a key strength in the Montessori model, that create a dynamic learning environment where children can thrive socially and academically.
In addition, the prepared environment contains differentiated learning materials for each specific age of the group. This curated approach, coupled with the thorough Montessori training for our lead mentors, ensures that children at every stage of the class are being appropriately nurtured in a wholesome way.