The Montessori Academy of Cosmic Education is a space that I am in the process of creating, designed to bring together Montessorians of all experience levels and locations. All are welcome – guides at nonprofit and for-profit schools, guides at private and public schools, homeschool Montessori guides, administrators, interdisciplinary teachers at these schools, parents of Montessori children, TEP instructors and coordinators, and everyone in between. The goal is to create a collaborative, positive community that encourages the growth of all members in a way that aligns to the writings by and spoken doctrine of Dr. Maria Montessori.
The words that are often chosen to describe this alignment with Montessori doctrine are authentic or high-fidelity. As many things, the application of Dr. Montessori’s pedagogy falls along a spectrum. These terms are adopted to differentiate between a “Montessori school” and a “Montessori-inspired school.” Her name can be found regularly stamped upon a welcome sign or marketing brochure for schools that do not employ trained teachers, do not use small furniture or Montessori-designed materials, or other core pillars of a Montessori classroom. Authentic and high-fidelity do well to separate environments that follow the pedagogy and those who use it as a marketing gimmick. Within the community, these words can be used to isolate schools or communities that follow many of the core components of Dr. Montessori’s pedagogy but may have a “watered down” approach.
Some more-experienced Montessorians may even slip and refer to use the word pure to reference the strict adherence to her work. This can be confounded with the idea that schools or communities can be ‘associated’ or ‘accredited’ by national or international organizations such as the American Montessori Society. Those within the community may pause here with a side-eye. It is no secret that there are many authentic/high-fidelity/pure Montessori communities that are neither associated nor accredited. It is also not secret that there are associated, and even accredited, schools that do not follow certain core pedagogical pillars.
In my opinion, the use of these terms should not be done in an exclusionary way or a way to consider one school/guide/community as superior to another. I am of the mindset that more Montessorians are good for the world. More Montessorians means more adults caring for children in a respectful way. More Montessorians means more adults mindful of efforts to improve peace throughout the world. More Montessorians means a better world.
Now, we must define a Montessorian. The American Montessori Society (AMS) defines this through the Five Core Components of Montessori Education:
Trained Montessori teachers
The Multi-Age Classroom
Using Montessori Materials
Child-Directed Work
Uninterrupted Work Periods
This does well to define some central aspects to a Montessori education. These are generally held as acceptable benchmarks within the community, with some being debated. Is a multi-age classroom enough or is it mandatory to follow the given age ranges? How much should materials be used – particularly as the child moves through abstraction in the Second Plane of Development? What constitutes an interruption to the child’s work cycle? Or exactly how long should a child have uninterrupted during work periods? The latter has recently been explored in the Montessori Life (vol. 35, Spring 2023) article “Mandate or Myth? The Uninterrupted 3-Hour Work Cycle?
If these five are the nucleus of a Montessori education, it’s clear there are way more components that nebulously create the specter of authenticity. Wherever you stand on these and many other foundational principles, I hope you remember to keep the Montessori an inclusive, welcoming, and loving community.
I appreciate you visiting the website and reading the first blog post! I look forward to sharing more thoughts about the Montessori pedagogy and some other related topics.
Comentarios