Working in a Montessori School

So working in a Montessori School. I don’t quite understand the whole concept completely, but whats the good, the bad, the ugly??

Thanks in advance

Realize Montessori anywhere is a very fluid term. This is especially true in Taiwan. I have seen fantastic Montessori programs and I’ve seen people put the name Montessori on the school who have no idea who Maria Montessori was.

That said, you might want to begin by looking at a yahoo answer I wrote about a week ago:
answers.yahoo.com/question/index … 916AAy4xrK

It will give you a good idea of how Montessori works.

There is little written on Montessori and EFL learning. I am putting together a few articles on it, but find myself busy and unable to do that as quickly as I hoped.

What ages will you be teaching? I can offer more advice once I know that.

I have not got an offer for any work in a montessori, I’m kinda curious that all, and starting to look for alternatives from being a zookeeper in a buxiban classroom.

One of the biggest differences between a good Montessori and a buxiban is that a buxiban is set up to look like they are teaching English. A side note: they may ACTUALLY be teaching English, so nobody jump down my throat for that statement.

Montessori is set up to aid in the child’s development. Maria Montessori was a doctor who took a special interest in learning. She started off interested in children that had learning disabilities who, at the time, were just institutionalized. She later wondered if her methods would work on more “normal” children of the time.

What she did was discover a lot about children. Reading about her method from her earlier works, it seems to focus a lot on the materials she used, schedules she kept, and how to teach. Her later writings and speeches focused a lot more on discovering a child’s nature. A lot of what we practice with children was actually influenced by Montessori.

Because of this, at its very core, Montessori is about observation. The children work and we observe them. There are materials in the classroom that the children work with and the teacher presents, but the goal is that the classroom becomes so involved that they become so autonomous and into their work that the teacher is hardly needed. I remember one day sitting in my chair in the classroom. About a half hour later, I looked over at the other teacher I worked with. We both had NOTHING to do except take more notes and observe. The students were just that onvolved.

The materials have what are called a “control of error.” This means that the student can learn what is wrong on their own, without the teacher’s direction. In this way, the material is sort of like a teacher. I’ve always argued that the reason a Montessori classroom can have more students is because each student has a teacher any time they pick up a material.

In Montessori, concentration and focus are a key part, as are helping a child discover what he or she loves learning. For 3-6 (preschool/kindergarten) a lot of work is done to help build that concentration, social skills, curiosity, and love of discovery. In Elementary, students start to take what they love and carry it over into other areas. I remember seeing the Techumseh (sp??) Play and becomming interested in him. Because of that, I wrote a lot about him, though I barely remember any of it. At the Montessori school I went to, we had a different teacher for math, science, language, and cultural. Because I liked Techumseh, my math teacher helped me learn how to relate certain facts to bar graphs and fractions. My language teacher helped me analize the sentence structure and grammar I was using. Finding my interests created a lot of learning opportunities. Now, when someone has a grammar question, I always go back to my Montessori grammar symbols as a start.

I sort of babbled. I am out relaxing and typing tghis on my blackberry. I am sorry if I made no point, but hope I got a dialog going.

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You’ve made me wonder if there are any montessori schools in Tainan! It sounds like a very good way to educate young children… and far better than the OMG TESTS! system that Taiwan uses.

Puppet thanks alot this has been really helpful.

Although I was a Montessori student myself, and worked for five and a half years at a proper Montessori school (Puppet has some useful information on what that means [url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/chinese-montessori/26841/24 I can’t add anything to what Puppet has said other than to recommend strongly that you actually visit one. Monstessori has to be experienced to be understood and appreciated.

I would love to know if there is one in Tainan. Let me know what you find if you look.

Bringing this back to life.
There seem to be 2 or 3 Montessori schools in Tainan.
One of my new coworkers at the YMCA works at one.
I will research n post as I find things.
I used to teach at one in Virginia. Really liked it.
Would love to teach at one here in Tainan.
And now, I have 4&5yr old daughters. So… More of a vested interest

I too would like to hear more about Montessori in Taiwan. It seems like related posts are all from ten or more years ago. @chichihuil, do you have any info from Tainan?

Anyone else have suggestions about which Montessori schools are “real”?
I’ve dug around FB and I’ve seen too many schools in TW that appear to be “Montessori in name only”. I’d really like to get out of the test test and more test life of a public school teacher. I’m not even the one giving the tests. I read two of Maria Montessori’s books and I feel like she published what my heart has always felt about education.

I’m really committed to the idea of doing AMI training for the following three summers, but the institute near my parents in the US hasn’t answered any of my emails, phone calls, or Facebook posts. (I’ve been contacting them about once every 1-2 weeks for about two months now). Any deets about Montessori in TW would be greatly appreciated

My wife and I almost put our daughter in a Montessori school in Zuoying district in Kaohsiung (we liked it, but we ultimately decided it was a little too hands off for us). We had 2 long visits and observed classrooms. It was definitely 100% genuine.

Montessori fills an interesting and unique niche, but it’s very free structure, which can be both liberating but also challenging. Whether you’re working there or putting your kid there, your personality and outlook on education has to fit their philosophy.

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Thanks for sharing @DrewC . Out of curiosity, what was the name of the school? I’ve looked for Montessori in Kaoshuing and haven’t seen anything (searches in English and Chinese)

I think it was this one, but it was a while back.

Thanks. That’s a kindy only situation, yes? I think I would prefer a school with elementary Montessori attached, as a career as a preschool teacher has never been something I’ve seen myself as capable of having…