If you've been here for any length of time I have no time for fundamentalist Montessorians who say Montessori must look like an AMI trained teacher, with a specific brand of resources and a certain class size to be 'real' and perfect white washed shelves etc.
In saying that there are some things that are the basis of Montessori:
- Prepared Environment(may include mont. equipment)
-Spiritually prepared adult (reflective, life long learner)
- A broad curriculum based on the cosmic vision of Montessori
-Hands on learning
-learning responsive to the individual child
-Self directed learning
-Age appropriate learning
-Creativity
There are many things that could be Montessori. These are just a few:
1) An adult in a refugee camp using a stick in the sand to teach numbers and allowing the child to use the stick to explore the same concept.
2) A Montessori trained teacher with no shelves who has some home made equipment set out on the floor. The children in this class are particularly interested in turtles so the teacher has linked the Great Stories to turtles.
3) A homeschooler with multiple children who has a couple of pieces of equipment, a Montessori scope and sequence and observes and presents lessons based on sensitive periods and interest.
There are other pedagogies that are their own things that are worthy of respect. We can not claim them as 'Montessori' when they are not. There may be aspects of them that overlap though, We should definitely look for common ground! White washing them to claim them as Montessori is not respectful to those who created them or follow them.
Examples:
Indigenous based learning
Unit based studies - adult directed study of a topic
Reggio
Waldorf
Classical
Unschooling
Play based
Project Based
Inquiry Based Learning
