Montessori places children at the center of their learning

Sister Mary Stanislaus, IWBS, with her Montessori and Kindergarten class at Incarnate Word Academy from 1965-66.

Maria Montessori’s approach to education was to never help children do something that they can do by themselves. That is where the sense of competency comes from for a student in being able to learn or achieve something that they have initiated.

Her philosophy and methods of education gave rise to an approach for teaching young people that bares her name—the Montessori method. It places a child at the center of their learning. It is developmental, meaning that the main task of a Montessori teacher is to prepare the classroom environment that will help the child develop.

The Montessori program at Incarnate Word can be traced back to three women in particular; Jean Adams, Ellen Flood and Irene Maeney. It was through the encouragement of these women that the Sisters of The Incarnate Word added an elementary level Montessori program, which was the first of its kind in Corpus Christi and remains as the only Montessori program in Corpus Christi that currently includes the first through fifth grades.

IWA preschool students, from left, Landon Anthony, Richards Atkins and Kelley Cruger work with the Trinomial and Binomial Cubes, which are a concrete representation of the algebraic formula (a+b+c)³. The cubes and prisms represent the factors of the equation. Contributed photo

The school has classes that consist of children of three-years of age all the way to the fifth grade. There are three age groups collectively in one classroom and each child within this learning community is placed where they need to be as far as their learning stages.

For example three-year olds might be ready to start building words so they are put in a position to do so. Other children of the same age might be in the early stages of putting together sounds and letters so they are provided with an activity to teach that skill. As each child advances so do the lessons and activities.

The main task of a Montessori teacher is to have this three-year span of curriculum ready and available in a system that is both organized and aesthetically pleasing to the child. Teachers in a Montessori school must be ready to follow the children, let them lead the instruction, or take the initiative as far as their learning is concerned. When the child is ready they will initiate a piece of work. The teacher will then offer a presentation and the child will repeat the exercise demonstrated in that presentation until they have mastered the skill.

Montessori teachers do not necessarily have a lesson plan but they do have all their lessons collectively prepared for the year. At any point in a time all the lessons must be out and available and the teacher must be prepared to demonstrate those lessons. Cultural lessons—such as history, geography, botany and geometry—are developed for the year. Math and language are subjects in which the teacher must follow the child and meet them where they are in that subject.

A typical classroom can be filled with anywhere from 19 to 25 children with 25 being the maximum amount per class. The basic idea is if there are 20 children in a classroom there are 20 different lesson plans to follow. This is what distinguishes a Montessori environment from other forms of education.

It is a challenging feat for some to become a Montessori teacher because they have to be prepared not to follow a daily lesson but to follow a child in their learning process. Teachers have to be ready to give any particular lesson when a child asks or when they observe that a child is ready for that lesson.

Teachers must have a Montessori credential to be able to teach in a Montessori environment. It is a long rigorous process. It requires close to 2,000 hours of work. Houston Montessori training center is the closest training center for the Coastal Bend area. Most teachers will attend for two summers to get training for the different subject areas. For the length of one year they must conduct a research project in which they create new material and present it. The second summer the teacher will go for oral training in which they have to present lessons in front of a Montessori panel.

Children, grouped in each classroom by three ages, stay in the same classroom community and are with the same teacher for three years. This also helps in the development of the child as the younger children learn from the older children in the classroom. They interact with each other and learn from each other in this way. It empowers the older children as they are able to offer help. They develop social skills that they might not learn in a typical early childhood environment.

This also helps children achieve a certain academic mastery, as they cannot teach what they themselves do not know. So as a third of the class advances out a new group of children comes in keeping the learning environment in a forward motion. It becomes a very tightly knit learning community.

It is a very interesting process to see at work. When one goes into a traditional classroom setting they see rows of desks with the teacher at the front of the class. They will teach a lesson and deliver instruction. In a Montessori environment the child is initiating the work. When students have that freedom of choice they are exercising not only their academic skill but they are also exercising their free will.

Children are always in that work cycle developing a functioning work ethic. The child will choose an assignment based on interest. This is a practical life skill, which is building on top of the academic skill. The child becomes a doer and learns about time management. By learning to take the initiative in their education students learn to apply these skills to everyday life.

Incarnate Word Academy is an environment that is about helping the child be independent while also helping the common good, ‎Montessori director Blanca Cummins said. Teachers at Incarnate Word talk a lot about the common good. They do not give gold stars as rewards but instead offer something in the way of helping their community. A reward might be something as simple as adding a stone to the stone yard on the premises. It is more than just for the benefit of one child it is a way of improving the community through these children.