I have experience with Montessori.
I felt the same way when I visited the school. A 3 year old was being told to use the paydough properly and not put it on his head. I thought this was harsh and kept her home another year.
When she started at 4, because it was the best school choice available, I realized how wonderful an education and environment it really is!
The teacher should not be engaged in creative play. The children are allowed to be creative, as long as the creativity is child led....
The teacher should never encourage play, or jokes. She is their to be a guide. She is their to guide the children and introduce the children to use things that they will explore and discover on their own. She will step in when the child is ready for other discoveries and introduce more to the child.
The child uses the teacher as a tool in the classroom to learn.
The teacher is NOT your child's friend.
The teacher should be well trained to handle emotional and dicipline problems.
Our 3-6 class teacher was warm and friendly..not intimidating, but VERY sturctured. She knew what each child was working on, talking to...and made strategic alterations to the class set-up...even if she thought that two children playing together would be holding back one child's learning. She would let one child become involved with an activity before excusing the other child from group...That way each child could chose their activity based on their own needs and not that of their friends..
She would then create a place for them to work together with something they were equal at.
The children learn from the children in Montessori.
Activities are called "work" not projects or crafts of toys. Using the Montessori material in a respectful way ensures that your child is learning from them. If your child is using the beads as a necklace (which all children do until they are taught how they are really to be used) he is not learning from them and should chose and activity that will help his learning.
A child who is not ready for an activity (shown by misusing it) will simply be asked to chose something else.
The teacher is trained to notice if the child is ready for advanced work, or is simply not ready or interested enough to learn from a particular "work" station.
An example....there is a washing bin, some clothing, a clothes line and pins....
The child who in interested in this work, will fill the bin with water by using a small pitcher, bringing to the sink, filling it up and pouring into the bin. The child will be told how many times he should return to the sink for the appropriate amount of water. They then wash the clothes. They are taught to squeeze the clothes to remove excess water and hang them on the line with the pins. Using the pins properly helps develop their writing muscles....
When a child is done, he/she empties the water from the big and dries the bin and uses a dry mop to dry any spills. They are done.
Until the teacher thinks that a child is ready to follow all these steps on his/her own, the child isn't presented the work.
I know from experience that it is a very satisfying for the child to be taken seriously and do tasks that the child feels are meaninful...
Often my daughter would choose to sit at the 4 person table and draw with her friends. The are allowed to talk. The pictures she drew were done socially. She would also write stories. One time, she sat at the table and 3 other children told her how they wanted the story to go, and she wrote it down.
She came home with a 3 page story. The children were engaged, creative, socail, and learning.
I believe they sat at that table for an hour and a half.
Another reason the structure works for young children - they need to feel safe.
Any child not following the rules is singled out...not the whole class, just the child. This prevents that child from interupting YOUR child's learning process.
Mistakes are encouraged, there is never any shame and there are not tests...there is NO competition.
It is beautiful...I miss Montessori...:(
My DD9 stayed until she finished second and my DD6 was there for age 3 and 4...
We moved and they are both in public school now.
