The method of Maria Montessori is one of the most popular and effective integrated methods of early development. Named after its creator, educator and doctor of medical sciences, this training system was first implemented in 1906 and has since been used extensively throughout the world, allowing amazing results.
Basic principles of the Montessori method
The method is based on the axiom that every child is unique and requires a special approach in education and training. The training system consists of three components: the teacher, the child and the environment. It is based on three fundamental principles:
- the maximum freedom of the child, the choice of means and rates of development and learning;
- creation of an individual training program;
- minimal intervention of the teacher and lack of traditional authoritarian control over learning outcomes.
What does Montessori class look like?
To develop and educate a child in Montessori, you need to organize the surrounding space in a special way. The classroom in which the classes take place is divided into five thematic zones, each of which is filled with the corresponding didactic materials:
- Zone of real life . Here the kid learns to practice to master the actions that will be useful to him in life - washing, ironing clothes, cutting vegetables, cleaning up with him, cleaning shoes, tying shoelaces and buttoning buttons. Training is unobtrusive, in a playful form.
- Zone of sensory and motor development . It collects didactic materials, designed to teach the child to distinguish various textures, materials, shapes and colors. In parallel, vision, hearing, memory, attention and fine motor skills will develop.
- The mathematical zone combines materials, through which the child learns the concept of quantity. In addition, being in this zone, he develops logic, attention, assiduity and memory.
- The language zone is equipped in such a way that the child can learn letters, syllables, learn to read and write.
- The space zone is aimed at acquaintance with the surrounding world, natural phenomena and processes.
The popularity of Montessori's early development technique is growing, and creative teachers are experimenting with the addition of new zones for a more versatile development of the baby, for example, the zone of the arts, motor, music zone. If desired, parents can recreate the Montessori class at home, dividing the rooms into appropriate areas.
Didactic materials
The materials used for classes with children in Montessori were designed taking into account the anthropological characteristics of children, as well as their sensitive periods, which Maria Montessori herself designated by the type of activity leading at this age. These materials arouse in the child interest in cognition, activate the process of self-control, help to systematize information received from outside. In the process of motor and sensory development, the child develops spiritually, and independent games for children with Montessori materials prepare them for an active and independent life.
Montessori teacher
The main task of the teacher in the Montessori child development system is to "help yourself". That is, he simply creates conditions for classes and watches from the side, while the child chooses what he will do - development of domestic skills, mathematics, geography. It interferes with the process only when the child does not know what to do with the didactic material he has chosen. At the same time, he should not do anything himself, but only explain to the child the essence and demonstrate a small example of activity.