Accountability and Outcomes
"Wait, so the children can just do whatever they want?”
This is a common question directed at Montessori teachers and administrators from people who are just beginning to learn about the Montessori method. Newcomers are often shocked to hear about the freedoms that Montessori children are allowed. They imagine that the Montessori classroom must be chaotic. Yet when they come to visit a Montessori Elementary classroom for the first time they are shocked once again. They see children engaged in a buzzing hive of productive work, showing each other care and courtesy as they collaborate on ambitious projects.
Why is this? The first reason is that children have a natural tendency toward productive and meaningful work, a tendency which is drawn out by the Montessori teacher and the environment. The second reason is that, given the right support from the teacher, the children are quite capable of holding themselves accountable to the goals that they set for themselves as well as the goals that are set for them by society.
The Montessori student and teacher have three tools at their disposal to track progress and allow the child to hold himself accountable for his own learning: the work journal, the student/teacher conference, and external benchmark assessment.
Work Journals
Student/Teacher Conferencing
External Benchmarks
Famous Montessori Alumni
Preparing Children Today for the World of Tomorrow
Try to imagine what the world will look like 20 years from now. What sorts of jobs are going to be available? What skills will be needed? That is the world that we are preparing our children for today. This is why the Montessori approach is so important in the modern world. The goal of the Montessori method of education is to allow children to construct themselves as adaptable, educated, responsible, independent, and conscientious adults.
Famous Montessorians
The Montessori approach prepares children to succeed and prosper no matter what path they choose for themselves. Montessorians include people from all walks of life, from CEOs to homemakers, from artists to engineers. However, Montessori kids make up such a large percentage of the top levels of business and the arts, some people joke about a “Montessori Mafia”. There is certainly something about the Montessori approach that allows children to construct themselves as highly creative adults. Here are just a few of the well-known Montessori alumni who credit their early education for their success:
Larry Page & Sergey Brin
"We both went to Montessori school, I think it was part of that training… being self-motivated, questioning what’s going on in the world, doing things a little bit differently"
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
“I do not believe there is a method better than Montessori for making children sensitive to the beauties of the world and awakening their curiosity regarding the secrets of life”
Helen Keller
Political activist, author, lecturer, awarded the presidential medal of freedom, one of gallup’s most widely admired people of the 20th century
Sean "Puff Daddy"Combs
Puff Daddy attended Mount Vernon Montessori School however, rarely talks about his Montessori background. Perhaps it doesn’t fit the rapper image.
Jimmy Wales
"As a child, Wales was a keen reader with an acute intellectual curiosity in what he credits to the influence of the Montessori method"
Dakota Fanning
"I learned to read at two," she told About.com "I was in a Montessori school and they teach you to read really, really young."
Will Wright
“Montessori taught me the joy of discovery," Mr. Wright told the Wall Street Journal. "It showed you can become interested in pretty complex theories, like Pythagorean theory, say, by playing with blocks. SimCity comes right out of Montessori."
F Hundertwasser
Attended a Montessori school in Vienna, which influenced both his affinity for vibrant colors and his love of nature.