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Montessori |
vs. |
Traditional |
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| ... views the child
holistically, valuing cognitive, psychological, social, and
spiritual development. |
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.. views the child in
terms of competence, skill level, and achievement with an
emphasis on core curricula standards and social development |
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... makes
the child an active
participant in learning; allowed to move about and
respectfully explore the classroom environment; teacher is an
instructional facilitator and guide. |
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...
makes the child a more passive participant in learning;
teacher has a more dominant, central role in classroom
activity |
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... is a carefully prepared
learning environment and method encourages development of
internal self-discipline and intrinsic motivation. |
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...
assign the Teacher as a primary enforcer of external
discipline promoting extrinsic motivation |
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...
adapts instruction, both
individual and group, to students’ learning styles and
developmental levels. |
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...
adapts instruction, both individual and group, to core
curricula benchmarks |
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...
involves three-year span of age
grouping; three-year cycles allow teacher, students, and
parents to develop supportive collaborative and trusting
relationships. |
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...
involves same–age and/or skill level grouping; one-year cycles
can limit development of strong teacher, student, and parent
collaboration |
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... makes
grace, courtesy, and
conflict resolution are integral parts of daily Montessori
peace curriculum. |
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...
teaches conflict resolution separately from daily classroom
activity |
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... values concentration and
depth of experience; supplies uninterrupted time for focused
work cycle to develop |
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values completion of assignments; time is tightly scheduled |
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... allow
a child’s learning pace to be
internally determined |
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... set
Instructional pace by core-curricula standard expectations,
group norm, or teacher |
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...
allows child to spot own
errors through feedback from the materials; errors are viewed
as part of the learning process |
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... has
work that is usually corrected by the teacher; errors are
viewed as mistakes |
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... reinforces learning
internally through the child’s own repetition of an activity
and internal feelings of success |
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reinforces learning externally by test scores and rewards,
competitions and grades |
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.. emphasizes care of self and
environment as integral to the learning
experience |
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...
puts less emphasis on self-care, spatial awareness, and care
of the environment |
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... encourages the child to work where he/she
is comfortable. The child often has choices between working
alone or with a group that is highly collaborative among older
students |
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...
assigns the child to a specific work space; talking among
peers discouraged |
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... involves a multi-disciplinary,
interwoven curriculum |
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teaches curriculum areas usually as separate topics |
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... teaches the child to share
leadership; egalitarian interaction is encouraged |
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promotes hierarchical classroom structure |
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... reports progress
through multiple formats: conferences, narrative reports,
checklists and portfolio of student’s work |
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...
reports progress usually through conferences, report
cards/grades, and test scores |
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... encourages children to
teach, collaborate, and help each other |
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emphasizes teaching by the teacher and collaborations is an
alternative teaching strategy |
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... provides the child with
opportunities to choose own work from interest and abilities,
concepts taught within context of interest |
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organizes and structures curricula for child based on core
curricula standards |
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... aims to foster a love of
learning |
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.. aims
to master core curricula objectives |
