During the author's first year teaching, she, like many first-year teachers, found that the most difficult task in creating a peaceful classroom environment was not in the lesson giving or preparation of the classroom, but in managing the "misbehavior" of the children. Meanwhile, her mentor, a veteran teacher of over 20 years, seemed to handle the…

This study examines life in a Montessori classroom, with special attention focused on spontaneous episodes of imaginary play. The goal is to better understand what is going on when children engage in imaginary play and how this play assists young learners in their development. This article examines three play episodes, each from a different area…

One of the goals of Montessorians is to spread Montessori education and make quality Montessori education available for children. However, one of the obstacles is the lack of information in the world (and an abundance of misinformation) about the Montessori philosophy. In 2009, these two issues came to a head in what evolved into a battle of…

Currently, the Montessori community is increasing its focus on the importance of research. The purpose of this article is to provide some background for critical readers of research related to Montessori education and to provide the tools to implement these findings in one's own Montessori work. Research articles are generally organized in a way…

As educators in the public sector confront the challenge of guiding all students toward academic success, policies and practices associated with prevention, early screening, and identification of learning needs have moved to the center of the enterprise of schooling. This article is about the lessons that accompany that challenge, and their…

"The way you make your bed is the way your day will go." The way in which people gather is an extension of the making-the-bed analogy: "The way we gather is the way our school days go." The mindfulness people bring to the little ways they behave with one another sets the tone for the entire organization. When Montessori speaks of allowing the…

Albert Bandura, the leading pioneer in the study of self-regulation, has defined the term as the child's ability to self-educate, self-direct, regulate motivation, and learn to think about what she is learning (1994). Lev Vygotsky's theory that children can be taught to think independently about how to solve problems expands upon Bandura's work…

Providing opportunity for musical exploration is essential to any early childhood program. Through music making, children are actively engaged with their senses: they listen to the complex sounds around them, move their bodies to the rhythms, and touch and feel the textures and shapes of the instruments. The inimitable strength of the Montessori…

The early 1960s was a critical, albeit chaotic, period for the revival of the Montessori movement, which had been recently rekindled in the United States. The success or failure of the movement can arguably be said to have rested squarely upon the backs of those founding members and early supporters of the fledgling American Montessori Society,…

Have you ever found yourself lecturing a child, with the best of intentions, in an attempt to help him or her learn a lesson or process a situation in a manner that you feel will be productive? Curiosity questions, which the authors also call What and How questions, help children process an experience, event, or natural consequence so that they…

There is an underlying, often verbalized, assumption by which Montessori teacher education programs operate: every child should receive every presentation. The author has heard the head of one Montessori teacher education center put it this way, "Every child has a right to every presentation." But the more authentic question for a Montessori…

In 2002, Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) adopted a policy committing itself to develop all schools in the district as community learning centers. In Pleasant Ridge, one of Cincinnati's most racially and socio-economically diverse neighborhoods, the community set itself to the task of rebuilding what had been a failing school that reflected little…

In this article, the author shares some of his recollections around the birth of the American Montessori Society (AMS), beginning in the 1950s. He explains the way AMS evolved in its earliest days which reveals something of who its members are now and how they have been part of the 50-year journey. He adds that by recounting the past, members of…

This article offers a brief history of the establishment of the American Montessori Society (AMS) and takes a closer look at its structure. The history of AMS has essentially been a search for standards and a search for community in its efforts to further the welfare of children in America. It has been an indigenous effort by American parents, and…

Today, on almost every continent, there are schools adopting in spirit and practice the ideas of Maria Montessori who ranks with Pestalozzi, Froebel, and Dewey in the field of education. Her approach to early childhood education can be linked to the Thomistic dictum that there is nothing in the intellect which is not first in the senses. In this…