One of the fundamental components of the Montessori Method of teaching is experiential learning or learning by doing. In the Montessori school, students learn from the lectures and books provided by the teachers' who have undergone the Montessori teachers training course from training institutes. Here we will focus mostly on the principles and ideologies of Dr. Montessori in child education.
The first part of the learning depends upon cultural awareness and experiential learning. Teachers will need to teach students about the culture by doing activities that are there in the culture itself and that way children will actually be able to learn about their culture. This cultural immersion is a wonderful program for what the children were learning in their classrooms with their teachers.
Diversity is one of the many interesting factors of the Montessori principles. The system includes experiential learning opportunities for students at local Montessori schools on a regular basis. The diverse classrooms learn about different cultures by celebrating in the festivities of different cultures. As a result of this cultural immersion, children undergo a broad global awareness. In the Montessori teachers training course also, teachers learn about conducting the festivities according to different cultures. They will develop the ability to understand, respect, and appreciate the variety of students in the classroom and the rituals that they follow.
The Montessori Method itself is ever-changing and frequently interpreted into many different things. Though Dr. Montessori never trademarked the name or the method, the name is now established thanks to her revolutionary principles in teaching, and schools all over the world practice what she had followed.
There are many schools where teachers link the philosophy directly to Dr. Montessori's personality and focus on the pronouncements of her writings. However, there are others who believe it is best to let the concepts be influenced by the diverse culture, where the application of the teaching method varies i.e. they are flexible. Some of these methods are conventional thinking of the time and place within which they are operating.
Another important and common interpretations of the method are that the Montessori Method itself is natural, intrinsic, and beyond the influence of culture or personality. This interpretation allows for evolution and development of the methods beyond what Dr. Montessori's postulated and maintains superior levels of integrity and consistency with what she taught.
The Montessori teachers training course also offers parents to learn more about the ways of Dr. Montessori. The teaching methods also include educational centers to arrange a visit and introduction to the school and different types of classroom activities while meeting the teaching professionals.
A Montessori classroom needs to be set up with several stations and easily accessible objects from which students might learn. These materials may be included in categories, such as math, science, practical life, history, geography, language, culture, etc. The procedure that the environment and activities are arranged depends upon the age group.
For children aged 0-6 years, things are very flexible and less structured, allowing for exploration whereas, in the 6-12-year-old grouping, children are beginning to function with more abstract reasoning skills and are not as sensitive to their environment. Hence, the structure is best for conventional arrangements. Materials included in the environments will include more books and more of the activities will include writing and reading.
Laxmon Gope is a researcher as well as a teacher of the Montessori teachers training course at the Institute of International Teachers Training. He has produced many academic research articles and produces many journals on the teaching methods.