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(An excerpt from Aline D. Wolfe's manual, A Parent's Guide to the Montessori Classroom)
THE CHILDREN AT WORK
The Montessori classroom is indeed a child's world, geared
to size, the pace and interests of boys and girls between the ages of three
to six. It is designed to put the child at ease by giving him freedom in an
environment prepared with attractive materials. These materials are arranged
on low shelves within easy reach to even the smallest youngster.
The tables and chairs in the classroom are movable, permitting
flexible arrangement for many activities. The children also work on small mats
on the floor where they are naturally comfortable.
The Montessori materials in the classroom can be
divided into three main groups: The Practical Life Exercises, which are
the beginning activities for three and four year-old children; The
Sensorial Materials, which can be used by all ages in the class; and
The Academic Materials, which await each child's moments of interest in
reading, arithmetic, and geography.
THE ROLE OF THE TEACHER
In a Montessori classroom there is no front of the room and
no teacher's desk as a focal point of attention because the stimulation for
learning comes from the total environment. Dr. Montessori always referred to
the teacher as a "directress," and her role differs considerably from that
of a traditional teacher. She is, first of all, a very keen observer of the
individual interests and needs of a child, and her daily work proceeds from
her observations rather than from a prepared curriculum. She demonstrates the
correct use of materials as they are individually chosen by the children. She
carefully watches the progress of each child and keeps record of his work with
the materials. She refrains, if possible, from interviewing and allows him
to discover his own error through further manipulation of the self-correcting
material. This procedure follows Dr. Montessori's principle that a child learns
through experience.
BEHAVIOR OF THE CHILDREN
There is always a busy hum of activity in a
Montessori classroom because the use of the materials involves many
motions - walking, carrying, pouring, speaking, and particularly the
constant using of the hands. All activity, however, is guided by
respect for the teacher, a respect for work of others, and a respect
for the materials themselves. Dr. Montessori never equated goodness
with silence and immobility. Self-discipline, she felt, should be
acquired gradually through the absorption in meaningful work. When a
child becomes vitally interested in a particular classroom activity,
his behavior almost always matures. If a child misbehaves in a
Montessori classroom, the teacher usually helps him to select work
which will more fully absorb his attention.
WHY THE MIXED AGE GROUPS?
If the classroom equipment is to be challenging
enough to provoke a learning response, it must be properly matched to
the standard, which an individual child has already developed in his
past experience. This experience is so varied that the most satisfying
choice can usually, be made only by the child themselves. The
Montessori classroom offers him the opportunity to choose from a wide
variety of graded materials. The child can grow as his interests lead
him from one level of complexity to another. Having children ages three
through six together permits the younger children a graded series of
models for imitation, and the other ones an opportunity to reinforce
their own knowledge by helping the younger ones.
NON-COMPETITIVE ATMOSPHERE
Because the children work individually with the
materials, there is no competition in the Montessori classroom. Each
child relates only to his own previous work, and his progress is not
compared to the achievements of other youngsters. Dr. Montessori
believed that competition in education should be introduced only after
the child has gained confidence in the use of the basic skills. "Never
let a child risk failure," she wrote, "until he has a reasonable chance
of success."
ACCOMMODATION OF DIFFERENT ABILITIES
The use of individual materials permits a varied pace that
accommodates many levels of ability in the classroom. A younger or slower child
may work for many weeks on the same piece of equipment without retarding the
other members of the class. Advanced children in the same room can move from
one piece of equipment to another very quickly, thus avoiding the boredom of
waiting for other members of the class to catch up. The children with a high
level of ability are constantly challenged by the wide variety of materials
and their many uses.
It is a well-established fact that young children
mature at very different rates and their periods of readiness for
academic subjects vary a great deal. Because interest is stimulated and
the materials are at hand whenever the child is ready, some youngsters
in a Montessori class begin to read and calculate at an unusually young
age. However, very early learning is not the norm, nor was it ever Dr.
Montessori's objective. Her ideal was only that the learning experience
should occur naturally and joyfully at the proper moment for each
individual child. "It is true, we cannot make a genius, " Dr.
Montessori once wrote, "we can only give each individual the chance to
fulfill his potential possibilities to become an independent, secure,
and balanced human being." | 
