Mary’s School Blog

Montessori learning: Emphasis on cognitive structures and social development
Traditional learning: Emphasis on rote knowledge and social development
Montessori: Teacher’s role is unobtrusive; child actively participates in learning
Traditional: Teacher’s role is dominant, active; child is passive participant
Montessori: Environment and method encourage internal self-discipline; individual and group instruction adapts to each student’s learning style
Traditional: Teacher is primary encorcer of external discipline; individual and group instruction conforms to the adult’s teaching style
Montessori: Mixed-age grouping
Traditional: Same-age grouping
Montessori: Children encouraged to teach, collagborate, and help each other
Traditional: Most teaching done by teacher and collaboration is discouraged
Montessori: Child chooses own work from interests, abitilies
Traditional: Curriculum structured with little regard for child’s interests
Montessori: Child formulates concepts from self-teaching materials
Traditional: Child is guided to concepts by teacher
Montessori: Child works as long as s/he wants on chosen project
Traditional: Child usually given specific time for work
Montessori: child sets own learning pace to internalize information
Traditional: Instruction pace set by group norm or teacher
Montessori: Child spots own errors through feedback from material
Traditional: Errors corrected by teachers
Montessori: Learning is reinforced internally through child’s own repetition of activity, internal feelings of success and repetition
Traditional: Learning is reinforced externally by rewards, discouragements
Montessori: Multisensory materials for physical exploration
Traditional: Few materials for sensory, concrete manipulation
Montessori: Organized program for learning care of self and environment
Traditional: Little emphasis on instruction in care of self and environment
Montessori: Child can work where s/he is comfortable, move and talk at will (yet doesn’t disturb others); group work is voluntary and negotiable
Traditional: Child assigned seat; encouargaed to sit still and listen during group lessons