The classroom was out of control. Children ran from one end of the room to the other. Teachers chased students around reminding them of the ground rules, but which always fell on deaf ears. The children responded to each other and their teachers rudely in speech and action (often hitting). Teachers regularly (at least once a day) escorted children (the same 3 children) into the hallway because they were hitting, spitting or unresponsive to redirection to the point of danger for the removed child and the rest of the classroom. The Montessori materials were utilized without regard, often as swords or as a tool to hurt a friend. Administration, throughout the year, observed the classroom and offered guidance and suggestions to the teachers. The teachers realized their classroom was out of control, and each was eager for help but little changed.
This classroom had two certified Montessori teachers (AMS credentialed), an experienced assistant, and twenty-eight students (ages 3-6). The room had a full compliment of the Montessori materials, and each day the teachers, through their observations, prepared the environment. The environment, built on respect for the child, supports a child’s ability to be independent, make free choices, encouraging curiosity, intrinsic motivation and free movement. The room utilized the peace curriculum for conflict resolution. After long discussions and reflection, the Administrative team restructured the team for the following year, leaving one of the teachers but replacing the other co-lead and assistant.
Flash forward to the present… When you walk into the classroom, a serene sense of peace is immediately palpable. The classroom has a beautiful hum as children work alone, cooperatively with a friend or a small group of friends, or with a teacher. Children walk carefully around the environment and use the Montessori works creatively but with purpose and care for the materials. Teachers, either seated on the floor, at a table working with a child or observing from the perimeter, blend into the background of the classroom.
The teachers move slowly and with purpose throughout the room. Children engage respectfully with their peers, and teachers and there is a new openness to redirection and conflict resolution. The three children that spent many moments each day in the hallway, now, as busy peaceful citizens in the classroom, only utilize the hallway for transitions.
A totally different classroom exists. All that is measurably authentic Montessori has remained static. The Classroom still has two certified Montessori teachers, one assistant and twenty-eight students (ages 3-6). It still has a full compliment of the Montessori materials, and each day the teachers, through their observations, prepare the environment. The environment continues to be built on respect for the child, supporting his ability for independence and of making free choices. However, recall that the only change to this classroom was two teachers.
Are we Authentic Montessori because of our materials – our environments – or is it because a certificate states we are? What are the elements that make up Authentic Montessori? Can we even name them? Is Montessori something that can be touched? Is it concrete or is abstract? What is the intangibleness that makes Montessori what it is? Many classrooms today have Montessori materials and have small chairs and tables for the children to work. Are they Montessori? What is the difference then? In my opinion, the difference is the teacher.
When examining the areas that traditionally make defining Authentic Montessori problematic, Montessorians focus on the tangible. Which accreditation authority is more authentic AMI, AMS, IMC or another? AMS and AMI teachers are often conflicted about the use of non-Montessori works verses “classic” materials in the classroom (Lillard, 2011). Statements like, “if the Montessori approach is a curriculum or an ongoing experiment” (Pickering, 2012) keep us questioning whether pullouts and specials are necessary, or do they simply interrupt the three-hour work cycle? What is really at the heart of implementing Authentic Montessori?
According to Tim Seldin (2006), in Finding an Authentic Montessori School, authentic Montessori “refers to the preparation of the teachers, and the specific Montessori designed school program that they implement.” Does preparation of the teacher end after receiving their credential?
An essential element of Authentic Montessori is respect for the child by providing a prepared environment. It allows children to make choices while encouraging and supporting independence, curiosity, intrinsic motivation and movement. It utilizes observation as a tool to uncover the needs of the child and the classroom community. However, I have drawn the conclusion that the pivotal piece of authenticity is the preparedness beyond the credential of the teacher. I believe it reaches farther than “the guide’s ability to observe and respond to each student’s individual needs.” (Abraham 2012) It embraces, and even goes beyond, the guidelines Dr. Nancy McCormick Rambusch (2002) writes about in Finding the Right School. The teacher is authoritative, is an observer, is an educational resource and serves as a role model.
The pivotal piece, in my view, of preparedness is the spiritual and reflective nature of the teacher, which can make or break how the method unfolds itself for the children, making it Authentic Montessori. In The Secret of Childhood, Maria Montessori (1972) writes of The Spiritual Preparation of the Teacher where the teacher must “prepare himself interiorly by systematically studying himself so that he can tear out his most deeply rooted defects, those in fact which impede his relations with children.” The teacher must always introspectively ask, do my actions hinder or help the child or children in the classroom? I will take Maria’s wisdom one-step further and say such a study can also help the teacher prepare to work in a team of teachers. Do my actions help or hinder the team’s ability to serve the children?
The Authentic Montessori elements of multi-aged groupings, the full compliment of the materials, observations utilized to prepare the environment and inform lessons, the emotional environment built on respect for the child, supports a child’s ability to be independent, make free choices, encouraging curiosity, intrinsic motivation and free movement are essential, but the glue, the decisive piece, is the teacher. The teacher’s reflective and spiritual preparedness will help her to address the potential obstacles she brings to the classroom (and the team of teachers). She is that crucial piece providing the foundation for the other essential elements to unfold organically and naturally in an Authentic Montessori environment.
Authentic Montessori teachers view the classroom each day – each year as fluid – as ever changing. Like the children, we are in process – we are never finished – we are constantly in a state of learning. We learn from the children. We learn from our peers. We learn from our mistakes. We observe the child in order to learn how best to serve him. We observe the child to identify works to put on the shelves. We observe the child because we know that if we do not follow the child we have not done our job. We respect the child before us, who is becoming the person she is meant to be – the person we will never know because that person is a long way off. However, we are comforted to know that, on that child’s long journey, we were never an obstacle, but a discreet guide. All the while on this journey we question ourselves. We reflect on our work. Have we done enough? Have we done too much? In my experience, this is what Authentic Montessori means.
Montessori Leadership / 2013/ p 4
