This is a unique time of year for educators. The rush of back to school and winter break is behind us, the anxiety and chaos of starting fresh in the new year has subsided, and students are settling back into their normal routines. Something else happens around this time as well, when students are finally finding comfort and confidence in their surroundings and are beginning to find their voices. As Montessorians we teach to inspire, to ignite something within the child that makes them question the world around them. It is our goal to help our students understand their impact on the world, and urge them to be curious, and to never stop questioning the information they are given.
You may have heard somewhere before that we don’t like to call ourselves teachers in the Montessori realm. The term teacher, by definition, is someone who instructs, who conveys information to someone else. Teaching implies a one-way street with little wiggle room to challenge information. But, in Montessori classrooms, the learning is not this linear. While an initial lesson is often instructional in nature, the learning that occurs afterward is an active pursuit by the child to acquire knowledge. In our classrooms, students are encouraged to ask questions for understanding, even if those questions oppose the facts previously laid out in front of them.
Let me paint a picture of what this may look like in action.
A few years ago, I was teaching a cultural lesson about Early Humans. In this unit, students were shown evidence of the emergence of humans originating in Africa, Asia and Europe. We were studying one of the first species known to have lived in the Afar region of Ethiopia; or so I thought. I explained that the earliest known species of hominid to have been found was an Australopithecus afarensis ape, nicknamed Lucy. I shared all about her skeletal remains, how she may have died, and how she got her name. We discussed, in detail, her physical attributes, what she would have eaten, her living environment. Students were captivated by the lessons and accepted what I was sharing with them as fact.
After the lesson, I gave a follow-up assignment to the students, with a choice to research another species of early human. Students quickly got to work combing through texts, looking for the hominid species they were most interested in researching. A few days later, a fourth grader approached me with excitement, eager to share what she had just discovered. “Ms. Reghan! You were wrong! Australopithecus afarensis wasn’t the first ever early human! It was just the first and most complete skeleton to ever be discovered!”
In that moment, I was flooded with several feelings ranging from confusion to frustration. It bothered me that a student was correcting me. But, as I silently contemplated this interaction, I realized that what I should have been feeling was excitement and gratitude. As Montessorians our goal is to foster independence and encourage children to seek knowledge for themselves. We teach our students that questioning the world around them is fundamental to their growth. It gives them perspective and allows them to construct a framework for how they view the world and themselves within it. This instance was a direct result of what I had guided the children to do all along. The child was not relying on my knowledge to frame hers. She was operating independently of me, taking control of her own education, and, ultimately, felt empowered to correct my misinformation.
In a traditional school setting, children are often taught to simply receive information from their teachers, assuming a passive role in their learning. Further, children aren’t even encouraged to question the information they receive, but instead are expected to accept it as fact.
One of the most magical things about a Montessori education is that we don’t think this way. As Montessorians, we know the questioning power of a child and the impact it can have on their development, and the world. We believe that children hold the gateway to our future; a future that embraces change for the better. Allowing our students to challenge their peers, as well as their teachers, in a safe environment, affords them an opportunity we most likely never had as children; the opportunity to see learning as an equal opportunity, no matter your age. Maria Montessori believed that “to teach details is to bring confusion; to establish the relationship between things is to bring knowledge.” As we continue to navigate this busy season, let us remember these words so eloquently written for us over a century ago. Let us remember that our role as the prepared adult goes far beyond lesson plans and perfectly sharpened pencils. Let us help our students make sense of the world around them, and to connect all things. But, above all, let us allow them to do the hard work of revelation. It is through this work that our students can build their own future, instead of relying on us to do it for them.
Montessori On My Mind 