What makes a Montessori teacher different and successful?

If you are a Montessori teacher, you are anything but a conventional teacher. This teaching approach puts great focus on children`s improved academic abilities with the freedom to make their own decisions. The method was developed during the early years of the 20th century by Dr. Maria Montessori as a way to improve the education of children by encouraging them to educate themselves.

Today`s teacher preparation for Montessori is about learning the process where young minds can be guided. There are some qualities of Montessori teachers in India that parents can look for when selecting the best Montessori education center for their children.

1. Be the connection between the children and the materials

If you don`t know how to use it, then neither will the kids. You can get out of practice even though you've had the instruction on other things that aren't used too much. Research and study, and be prepared to leap into and present work whenever appropriate (or re-present it, if required).

What else will you do to relate the kids to their surroundings? Show them how to do classroom cleaning and maintenance. Do not have something they can`t handle in school. When they question you about it, be prepared to teach them how to use the material. Rearrange the materials to be easier for them to access when needed.

2. Trust the method

That can be so difficult. We`ve set up ideas about what we think kids will do and how easily they can move forward. We may have a bit of a dream of how a good Montessori Education would be. We also want kids (and the adults around us) to see things our way. When things are shaky the problem with the Montessori approach is simple to believe.

What we must do is give time to ourselves, and the children. The kids need time to acclimatize themselves to a Montessori classroom and materials that are different from everything else they see in the world around them. We need to allow them time to rehearse, which is important for a skill`s mastery. With presentations, classroom management, and time to develop a special relationship with each child, we need to give ourselves time to feel relaxed.

It doesn't happen in one moment, one day, one week, or even one month. The 3-year cycle has a basis. The children will begin to grow and develop with discipline, close attention, and yes, even love. They should smooth out the rough edges of wrongdoing and internalize society, dignity, courtesy, autonomy, and self-confidence concepts. Montessori, done right, does work. Let`s never deny that they do.

3. Make children independent

It can be pain stuff being the only adult in the room. It's all about supervision, right? This creates traditional education. The teacher is at the front of the room, and the classroom center. The teacher knows everything. You ask the teacher if you have a question. Montessori flips that logic over completely.

The children are the focus of the classroom, not the teacher. The teacher is seated at a table or on the floor, with the students. The teacher blends into the classroom (it would be hard for an outsider to find you). The children will learn to rely on the error control developed, on each other, on inspection cards or booklets, and reference books or materials.

4. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it kept Montessori education alive

Curiosity is the driving power behind self-education. Ever since the first person in the cave was curious, "What's over that hill? "Curious people were driven by human exploration and invention. Children are very obviously curious (the amount of questions they ask is the most common manifestation), and adults sometimes find it distracting. The teachers at Montessori shouldn't. Instead, they would be able to make discoveries as well. You can bounce off your curiosity as you learn new and exciting things about the universe and all the delightful things it contains.

5. The power of Observation

This is a great asset for a Montessori teacher, because when you observe you are getting to the heart of what Maria Montessori did to develop her method in the first place.

"After I started learning design with Quillow, I realized that I had Improved to very advanced levels. - Chris Collins

Observing One Child

1. Is the child in a spot to choose the job independently? If not, who is proposing the job, the teacher or another child?
2. Will they get work done in the right order – first the rug or the table mat, then the materials? Are the materials used for their proper purpose? Was the work complete, or was the child needed to acquire material from another room area?
3. Is the child moving purposefully, or are his or her movements random?
4. In which stage of development does the child work to master the subject, or have they mastered it, and are working towards perfection now?
5. How will they report their work when the child`s done working, if at all? Fill out a worksheet, draw an image, create a booklet, compose a paragraph, and do a project.
6. Could they concentrate, and for how long? Is the focus disrupted in the classroom by disturbances? Was the disruption related to the choice of workspace – too close to the entrance or the snack area? Do other children, or teachers, protect the focus of the child? Could attention recover after a breakdown?
7. Does the child show environmental awareness and if so, how?

Observing More than One Child

1. Will kids feel free to be working together? Who chooses the partners in the job, the teachers or the children themselves?
2. How do kids decide who is doing what part of the job? Do they divide the job in equal measure or does one child do more than another?
3. Do you find examples of the kids working together? See them compete with each other? Is there something that triggers collaboration or competition?
4. Should the children in the room consider their source of assistance (a guidebook, a control card, or another child), or do they rely on the teacher?
5. Do any of the children show leadership skills? How will they prove themselves?

If you figure out the answers to the questions above, it will help you figure out the following-

• How to properly manage workspace and shelves
• presentations need to be refreshed – unrolling a blanket, removing work from the shelf, or presenting specifically for a job that was done wrongly
• Growing children can make independent choices for work and which ones need to focus on the skill
• Social skills required to be learned or refined: teamwork, settlement of disputes, helpfulness, appreciation
• If the child understands the focal point of the work or not, and after completion can document the work in a meaningful way.
• How much independence a child has established, and what you can do if necessary to promote greater independence?

These are the 5 top strategies that truly differentiate a Montessori teacher in a classroom as opposed to any early childhood educator. But to become a truly differentiated teacher with a strong focus on early childhood learning outcomes one would require to be trained in the true Montessori way by an internationally recognized Montessori teacher training institute. Atheneum Global Teacher Training Institute is a truly International Montessori Education provider. With its global outreach and internationally validated curriculum, it is one of the very few Montessori Teacher Training Institutes in India that provide training in the true Montessori way.

Published by- Atheneum Global