Montessori Myths
by Maren Schmidt & Dana Schmidt

What Montessori Is

In it's simplest form, Montessori is the philosophy of child and human development as presented by Dr. Maria Montessori, and Italian physician who lived from 1870 to 1952.

In the early 1900s, Dr. Montessori built her work with mentally challenged children on the research and studies of Jean Itard (1774-1838), best known for his work with the "Wild Boy of Aveyron" and Edward Seguin (1821-1882), who expanded Itard's work with deaf children. In 1907, when Dr. Montessori began using her teaching materials with normal children in a Rome tenement and discovered what she called "the Secret of Childhood."

The Secret? Children love to be involved in self-directed purposeful activities. When given a prepared environment of meaningful projects, along with the time to do these tasks at his or her own pace, a child will choose to engage in activities that will create learning in personal and powerful ways.

Over the past 100 years Montessori classrooms all over the world have proven that, when correctly implemented, Dr. Montessori's philosophy works for children of all socio-economic circumstances and all levels of ability. In a properly prepared Montessori classroom, research shows that children learn faster and more easily than in traditional schools.

However, the implementation of Montessori philosophy is a school's biggest challenge. There are many factors to consider when putting theory into practice, for example: parent support and understanding of Montessori philosophy; and the training and experience of teachers, assistants and administrators. These are only a few of the elements that create a Montessori School.

Because of this, Montessori schools come in all shapes and sizes including the small in-home class for a few children to schools with hundreds of students, from newborns through high school.

While schools come in many shapes and sizes, all successful Montessori classrooms require three key elements:

1. Well-trained adults;
2. Specially prepared environments; and
3. Children's free choice of activity within a three-hour work cycle.

Finding the right school for your family – whether it's a Montessori public, parochial, alternative, traditional or home school – requires a bit of investigative work and an understanding of the needs and concerns you have for your family. Being clear about what Montessori education is and what it is not can help you make an informed decision.

What Montessori Is Not

In my twenty-five years in Montessori education – as a parent, school employee, volunteer, trainee, teacher, school founder and school director–time after time. I've come to fresh and deeper understandings of Montessori philosophy and the process of human development and education.

My first encounter with Montessori was less than positive. As a college student, I frequently visited my family after my four younger siblings school day had ended. Our family tradition was to have a snack after school. Friends and neighbors were always welcomed.

The neighbor girls, ages four, five and six frequently joined the group. They would barge into my parents' home and head straight for the refrigerator. No knock on the door, no hello. They inhaled huge amounts of food with no manners nor thanks. Their lack of decorum appalled me.

The neighbor girls' grandmother chatted with me about how wonderful the girls' Montessori school was and how much the girls learned there. I attributed the girls' little savage conduct to their Montessori School. If a school would put up with that kind of behavior, I figured it couldn't be any good.

A few year's passed and I had children of my own. Our friends and co-workers recommended the local Montessori school to my husband and me. Because of my experiences with the neighbor's children, I responded negatively to my friends' suggestions. I began to notice, though, that our friend's children were well mannered, articulate and a joy to be around. Hum? So what was up with Montessori?

My mother helped clear up my misconceptions. The neighbor's girls, even thought they lived in an expensive home, were suffering the effects of a newly divorced and stressed mother attending law school. The girls were starved for food, attention and adult guidance. Their behavior was a reflection, not of their Montessori schooling, but of the turmoil in their home.

This experience showed me that what we may think are the effects, negative or positive, of a Montessori school, may be something quite different. Let me use my twenty-five years of Montessori experience to help dispel a few misconceptions about Montessori schools, some of which I've held myself.

Myth #1
A Montessori classroom is too unstructured for my child.

The Montessori classroom is very structured, but that structure is quite different from a traditional preschool. Montessori observed that children naturally tend to use self-selected, purposeful activities to develop themselves. The Montessori classroom, with its prepared activities and trained adults, is structured to promote this natural process of human development.

Students new to the Montessori classroom, who may or may not have been in a traditionally structured school, learn to select their own work and complete it with order, concentration and attention to detail. Montessorians refer to children, who work in this independent, self-disciplined way as 'normalized' or using the natural and normal tendencies of human development.

Many traditional preschools work on a schedule where the entire classroom is involved in an activity for fifteen minutes, then moves on to the next activity. This structure is based on the belief that young children have a short attention span of less than twenty minutes per activity. A typical morning might look something like this:

Traditional Preschool Schedule

The above schedule reflects structure created by and dependent upon the teacher.


In a Montessori classroom a three-year-old's morning might look like this:

Montessori Preschool Schedule

In the Montessori classroom each child creates his or her own cycle of work based on individual interests. This cycle of self-directed activity lengthens the child's attention span. The teacher, instead of directing a group of children in one activity, quietly moves from child to child, giving individual lessons with materials. The teacher or assistant mat lead a few small-group activities, such as reading a book out loud, cooking or gardening with two to six children.

The Montessori classroom is a vibrant and dynamic learning environment, where structure is created by each child selecting his or her activity, doing it and returning the activity to the shelf. After the successful completion of a task, there is a period of self-satisfaction and reflection, then the child chooses the next activity.

Montessorians call this rhythm of activity a work cycle. Stephen Covey, in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, refers to the habit of a work cycle as creating an upward spiral of growth and change. Covey describes a spiraling process of learn–commit–do that empowers us to move toward continuous improvement, both as children and adults.

Make sure to look for next month's issue of the online school news to read about more Montessori myths.