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My Montessori Teaching Training for Children aged 3 to 6 – The Montessori Path

I wrote this article right after finishing my Montessori Teaching Diploma for 3-6 year olds in the summer of 2014 in order to capture my experience and my impressions in fresh footsteps. And now, after almost 2 years, I’m getting this article out of my bins and posting it on this site so that those who are still thinking about the possibility of taking Montessori training may draw a grain of inspiration and have the opportunity to put together a picture of what awaits them on this way.

At one time, when I was trying to figure out the intricacies of training Montessori teachers in the United States, I was faced with a huge vacuum in terms of information, and in order to understand which organization I should go with (AMI – Association Montessori Internationale or AMS (American Montessori Society ), and then which training center to choose, I had to work hard, try different paths, drive from one state to another, personally visit several training centers, in order to finally choose my future path with my heart. But even then, When I made my choice and when I moved to Portland before starting an AMI course at Montessori Northwest, I had no idea what was in store for me, so I hope this article will shed some light on the path of learning to be a Montessori teacher at AMI courses

I am overwhelmed with gratitude that my heart led me specifically to AMI courses and specifically to Montessori Northwest in Portland and specifically to the academic year program. Yes, it was a big decision that entailed a lot of changes: moving to another state, leaving work, huge reshuffles in financial affairs. But when, starting the course in September, you meet the same people who completely reshaped their lives to bring into their lives the opportunity to study at AMI teacher training courses, your heart overflows even more with admiration for the dedication and ardor that brought these 40 people from different corners of the country and even from other continents to this place, from which a new stage begins on the path of serving the child.

AMI training courses for Montessori teachers are called training, and this is no coincidence. Training involves active learning aimed at developing skills and abilities. As part of the training, not only knowledge is transferred from the trainer, but also in active practical work, the skills and abilities necessary for the profession are developed. Now, at the end of the 9-month training, I definitely understand that this word is the best way to describe this professional training for teachers. No amount of lectures listened to and books read could not provide what is required for real quality training as a Montessori teacher (lectures and reading books are an integral part of this, but in themselves insufficient).

So, I’ll tell you what the Montessori AMI training for the level of 3-6 years is like through the prism of my perception.

I’ll make a reservation right away that I can’t be absolutely sure that the construction of the course and its organization is identical in all AMI centers. Despite the fact that the International Montessori Association regulates and monitors the quality control and authenticity of Montessori teacher training centers, there is still a human factor: who is the trainer, what experience does he have, his understanding of the Montessori philosophy, outlook on life and much more that can bring its own flavor to his work. Therefore, everything I will tell you is my experience gained at Montessori Northwest and experienced by me personally and, of course, passed through my own prism of perception.

One of the distinguishing features of training at Montessori Northwest was that instead of one trainer, which is traditional for most AMI courses, we had two. Each with their rich experience, their history, their unique personality, they complemented and enriched each other so well. Ginni Sacket and Sarah Warner Andrews immersed us in the fundamentals of Montessori theory and practice and inspired us even more on the path we chose from day one.

Montessori Northwest has been in business since 1979 and offers a well-designed and functioning Montessori teacher training program. I, very demanding on the quality of education, watched with admiration how the center worked, how carefully and comprehensively the program was thought out, and what wonderful people who devoted themselves to serving children gathered there.

The course itself included a theoretical part (the study of Montessori philosophy and developmental characteristics of a child aged 3-6 years), the study of Mochtessori Materials and the practice of presentations, observation in a Montessori environment, pedagogical practice in a Montessori garden and exams.

Theoretical part

The theoretical part of the course includes the study of child development and the philosophical foundations of the Montessori system. Traditionally, in AMI Montessori teacher training courses, this knowledge was transmitted orally from Montessori trainers to students, and therefore there are no textbooks on the Montessori method in the AMI lineage. In other words, you can’t buy a textbook with information organized by topic and study everything on your own. Of course, you can study the literature collected on the basis of the lectures of Maria Montessori herself or the literature written by her son, Mario Montessori, but you will be forced to collect scattered fragments bit by bit in order to add up maybe 30-50% of what certified teachers give in their lectures. AMI coaches.

My “album” on Montessori theory

As part of the AMI Montessori training, students create their own teaching aids – the so-called “albums”, which further constitute reference material on their professional path after the end of the training.

A few years ago, and in some courses to this day, all lectures of the trainer are recorded by students by hand and form the basis for a theoretical album. Now, at least in Montessori Northwest, we were provided with printed theoretical lectures by our trainers. That is, we did not have to frantically write down what they told about Montessori theory, but we had fun and, in principle, had to give a lecture in advance and come to the lecture and discussion already prepared.

In order to ensure the quality of the study of the material, for each lecture we had to make notes and write our own reflections on the topic (essentially a mini-essay). All lectures, together with notes and reflections on the topic, after checking, went into our personal theoretical album, which seriously increased in size over time.

In addition to lectures, the study of Montessori philosophy passed through the reading of publications collected on the basis of the lectures of Maria Montessori herself. Once every two weeks, seminars were organized to discuss what we had read, where for the most part we worked in groups and then presented the developments and rethinking of the topic in the form of a poster or generalization in front of the entire group of students.

Thus, we were prepared not only to work in a team and discuss ideas, but also to publicly present our reflections and conclusions. Often our task was to tell everything as if we were facing people who knew nothing about Montessori. By the way, this is a very difficult task. We have all noted time and again how difficult it is for us, studying the theory of Montessori and absorbing the peculiar professional jargon, to express these ideas in conventional words! But this is so important: after all, we have to deal with parents, and indeed with people who are interested in what we do or who are interested in the upbringing and education of the child.

A great asset of the theoretical part of the course was the integration of Montessori philosophy and its discoveries about child development with modern research in the field of the brain and language. It was here that I first learned that modern scientists are coming to the same conclusion that Maria Montessori said about children over a hundred years ago. The desire of the Montessori movement to unite with the advanced minds of modern neuropsychology, child psychology, speech therapy, and linguistics has also become obvious, which has been successfully carried out in recent years. I have yet to delve deeper into the work of all these people whose names I have added to my list of books to read.

One of the students of the course presents her theoretical project

Another aspect of the study of Montessori theory was an individual theoretical project, for which we ourselves chose a topic of interest to us from the theory, studied it in depth in the primary sources of Maria Montessori and her followers, as well as in articles recognized by Montessori -magazines. This project was to be completed by the spring and presented either as a written paper (kind of like a term paper) or as an oral presentation.

Learning Montessori materials

The learning of materials took place in zones of the prepared Montessori environment: we started with oral language from the language zone, then moved on to practical life, then to the sensory development zone, returned to language (writing and reading) and Finally, math.

Ginny’s trainer presents the material to the “child”

First, we watched the presentation of a separate material with the participation of the “child” in the person of one of us, then we discussed the presentation, clarified the details, discussed the goals, age and criteria for the child’s readiness for this material. Then they moved on to the next presentation before starting to practice themselves. It was quite intense and required our full attention. It was necessary to catch every detail: how the material is located on the table, what movements are used, the sequence of work.

There is nothing superfluous in Montessori presentations, every movement and word is thought out and worked out: the movements are smooth and graceful, the words are minimal and do not overlap with the movements, but are spoken during pauses. As if spellbound, we looked at every refined graceful movement of our coaches, because that’s exactly how: gracefully, with calm enthusiasm and love for what you do, thoughtfully and gently, we had to learn how to work with each material.

After presenting a few materials, we were given time to take notes and then practice the material and make presentations. Here we split into pairs and practiced with each material, changing roles from teacher to child. Coaches at that time were nearby, observing, correcting, providing assistance when needed.

Course students practice with materials in the language area

We kept a record of our practice ourselves and had to track our progress ourselves. This is very much in tune with the Montessori philosophy, where everyone is responsible for their own learning process. We each had our own diary, where we were asked to write down our thoughts, to conduct reflection at any time we wanted, but preferably at the end of each day.

Sometimes this process was organized when the trainer asked us all to take out our diary and reflect on specific topics for a certain time, for example, “What difficulties am I experiencing at this stage of the course”, “What is significant for you that you have gained this week” , “What am I doing to make my training successful and what I still need to work on. ” Sometimes they were asked to reflect on the video they watched or the article they read. A couple of times during the course, we were asked to make a table and list in one column all the presentations that, according to our feelings, we more or less mastered (that is, we can present on the go, without notes and consultations of a partner), and in another column, list all those presentations, which still needs to be worked on.

Photograph of material arrangement during presentation

In addition to organized practice time with trainers present during study hours, we were given the opportunity to stay after class and during lunch and practice as much as everyone felt was necessary and possible for them. At this time, we had to photograph the material, its location on the table during the presentation for our albums.

At home, we had to describe each presentation in detail, insert photos into the description. There was a lot of work, and each of us learned to be super-organized, if this quality was not there before. After all, without doing the work for one or two days, such a volume accumulated that it is difficult to clear it even for the entire weekend. I experienced it myself once at the very beginning of the course, and decided that this method did not suit me, and henceforth I did everything immediately, without clusters, for which I often stayed after class to practice so that I could already at home on the same day or the next day to describe the presentation for the album. With my level of organization and responsibility, this was natural for me and helped me complete the course with a minimum of stress.

Once a week, the described and printed presentations were checked and, if they met all the requirements, they were safely sent to our albums. Thus, by the end of the course, in addition to the theoretical album, we had four more albums: one for each zone. One of the students counted the number of presentations for the entire period and counted about 240. I personally did not count, I cannot confirm, but that there are a lot of them, that’s for sure.

Another aspect of learning materials was making your own. This was one of the most exciting tasks, as we had to not only show our knowledge of the principles and characteristics of materials, but also show our creativity and craftsmanship. Materials were prepared separately for the practical life zone, the sensory development zone, and the language zone.

Exhibition of Montessori language materials made by students of course

How many emotions we experienced in those early morning hours when we organized a demonstration of our materials (there were three such events in the entire course). Everyone exhibited their material, and then we had time to walk around and admire the work of others.

Then it was time for the trainers to check each material for compliance and make appropriate entries in our personal files. In the meantime, we were left to ourselves, or rather to numerous materials with which we continued to practice. Ginny never tired of repeating that there is never too much practice, and that we should take advantage of this unique time when we are given such an opportunity. After all, we had a task: to work out presentations to automatism, so that when we go to real life, to children, we no longer have to think about how and what to show, but we can focus on the child and adapt to each specific person in front of us. And for this it is necessary that the brain and attention be freed from the need to think about every movement and step.

Observations in the Montessori Garden:

If you are already familiar with Montessori education, then you probably know about one of the most important roles and tasks of the teacher – observation. Without active and regular supervision, the Montessori educator becomes a traditional teacher. After all, how can we follow each child if we do not know what he needs at the moment. As in a traditional school, in this case, the teacher begins to give the material to everyone equally, regardless of individual characteristics, needs, moods and desires. Therefore, observation is the most important work of a teacher in a Montessori environment.

Source: montessoritraining.blogspot.com

Observation plays an important role in AMI training. Each student is assigned to a Montessori group with an experienced teacher with an AMI diploma. Ideally, the student is assigned to the same group for the entire course of study, which includes two periods of observation (October and February), and a period of practice. Portland is a real paradise for Montessori practitioners, as there are plenty of good AMI schools here, and each of us had the opportunity to first see and then experience the atmosphere of an authentic Montessori environment in action.

Observations last 2 weeks each and students must receive a minimum of 90 hours of observation over the entire period. For the entire observation period, we were given daily tasks that guided us, organized a purposeful and meaningful process.

Under natural conditions, the teacher does not sit and watch the children continuously throughout the school day. In a training setting, this is done for the purpose of teaching and developing observational skills, and, as Ginny Sackett kept repeating, such an opportunity should be perceived as a gift. After all, never again on the path of a Montessori teacher will we have such an opportunity: just to observe, without distraction from the children, without responsibility for the whole class, completely devoting ourselves to only one of the duties of a teacher.

It should be noted that it is not at all an easy task to sit and actively (!) observe and record for 6-8 hours in a row. Do not interfere, do not give signs of attention, but simply be invisible, but an observant fly on the wall. We all later noted how exhausting it was both physically and mentally, and how we came home exhausted.

Observations are organized in such a way that we had the opportunity to see a group of children at the beginning of its formation – mid-October, when children are still in most cases not normalized, and then in the middle of the school year – in February. It is simply impossible to overestimate this opportunity! I have seen with my own eyes the transformation of individual children from running in circles, playful, not knowing where to find themselves and what to do at the beginning of the year, into peaceful ones, constantly doing something and periodically asking the teacher for a new lesson / presentation a few months later.

Source: The Xavier University Montessori Lab

How my heart warmed, and sometimes tears came, at the sight of a child who in a regular school would be branded a naughty, unable to sit still for a second, during the second observation (in February) entering the room in the morning , going straight to the shelf, taking the material, working intently, putting it away and taking the next one, and so on all morning. How one day I saw him at the teacher’s chair happily telling her that he loves school and that there are so many things he loves to do. At such moments, you see in practice the transformative power of a well-built, prepared Montessori environment. And it gives so much inspiration! How valuable it was to see in practice what we studied in theory!

Pedagogical practice

We have all been waiting for this moment with trepidation in our hearts. All the theory within the course has already been studied, all the materials of all zones have been presented and at least somehow worked out, your soul is already eager for real children, and not your classmates pretending to be children. And this moment comes. Active teaching practice for a month in the same class where we had the practice of observation. This is the time when we had the opportunity already in real life, with a real child, to practice our presentations, establish a connection with him, observe, find the right moment when to offer him a new lesson, gracefully accept his refusal, if this happens (yes , children have the freedom and the right to say no if at the moment they do not want a new lesson).

My fellow student Savannah in practice at the Montessori Garden

The teaching practice in the AMI course is specific compared to traditional teaching practice, in the sense that we are not responsible for the entire group of children for the period of practice, but we receive only a few children in our leadership, with whom we are already working directly. This allows you to focus as much as possible on a particular child and on a particular presentation, without the need to monitor all the children and be responsible for all. The teacher and assistant are always present and perform their usual roles, and according to the protocol they do not have the right to leave the student alone with the children.

Observation, however, as part of teaching practice, of course, is carried out with the entire group of children. In addition, we had to conduct group lessons with a group of 3-8 people, which could include any children not necessarily assigned to us for individual lessons. Group lessons were planned and organized based on the needs of individual children and the group as a whole at a particular moment. It could be exercises in walking on the line, and the practice of oral speech (telling a poem, singing a song, reading a book, speech games), and group games for mathematical operations, and memory games from the sensory zone.

Between individual presentations and group sessions, we had to observe, record observations, record individual lessons and group lessons. All this was entered into a computer at home and, along with planning, compiled practice documentation, which we then submitted for verification.

Twice during the period of practice we were visited by trainers, who observed our individual lesson and group lesson and wrote reports. Their presence was both exciting and warming. After observing, they talked to us to make sure everything was going well and we were comfortable in our new role.

I practice with didactic materials before exams

The period of practice was a truly indescribable experience, it was so energizing and inspirational that it was emotionally difficult to finish. So many wonderful moments, so many soul-warming observations, so much love in the heart: I wanted to fly, sing, wake up again in the morning and run to school with the children in order to see their tremulous expectation of a new presentation again and again, to observe full involvement in work and joy after working with material, to be a witness to the manifestation of their beautiful spiritual impulses, their wisdom, sometimes touching to the depths of the heart.

But time is inexorable, and after teaching practice we had to return to the training center, where we were actively preparing for the exams. We had to brush up on the theoretical foundations laid down during the school year, as well as continue to work out presentations and bring them to a new level: not only be able to demonstrate work with the material, but also be able to talk about each material, demonstrate understanding and knowledge of the theoretical foundations, justifications, purposes and place of the material in connection with other materials in the given zone and other zones.

Exams

Exams are strictly regulated by the International Montessori Association itself and have a very clearly defined structure. Exams consist of two parts: theoretical and practical. The theoretical part of the exam is held in writing for two days, 3 hours each exam. The first part is devoted to Montessori philosophy and the theoretical foundations of child development in the light of Montessori philosophy. We were offered seven theoretical questions, from which we chose four and answered them in writing.

The second part has a more methodological focus, and concerns each of the zones of the prepared environment in connection with Montessori theory. It was also proposed to choose four out of seven questions and answer them within 3 hours.

After the written exam, we had about two more weeks of time to prepare for the practical part of the exams. In the practice exam, we were to give one presentation from each zone (which was determined by pulling the name card out of the bag immediately before the exam), and then talk with the examiner about the material and the whole zone as a whole.

My albums and materials are ready to go for exam

In addition, the examiners had to check our albums and produced materials for compliance with AMI standards, so we brought all our albums and materials by the day of the exam.

The examiners are appointed (or approved by the training center, I’m not sure) by AMI itself and come from all over the country. All official examiners are AMI trainers, but not all trainers are official AMI examiners, the status of an examiner is obtained by the trainer with the approval of the AMI. It is also worth mentioning that according to the protocol of the AMI, the trainers who train the group do not have the right to take exams from them, which is why the AMI appoints who exactly will take the exams in each training center.

In addition to the examiners, so-called “children” are invited to the examination. These “children” are not real children, but certified teachers, graduates of the AMI Center, acting as children. They play the role of children during presentations, and during conversations they are present and silently listen. For this (the process lasts from 7:40 to almost 17:00) they receive a professional development certificate, as well as the opportunity to refresh their knowledge due to the presence of the examiner and the future teacher during the conversation. I personally participated as a child in a summer course exam after I myself received an AMI diploma and experienced exams in two roles – as an examinee and as a child and listener.

Source: montessori-nw. org

I was personally delighted with this organization of the exam, as I felt how conscientiously and responsibly the AMI organization treats the preparation of future teachers. Exams are so comprehensive and require quality work throughout the course (and not like in traditional universities, where, in many cases, you could not study fully during the semester, and then learn tickets in 3 days and get 5, successfully forgetting everything learned in over the next week)! It is impossible to master the entire volume of theoretical material and a palette of practical skills a week or two before the exam. And even for a month. This is the result of a huge serious work throughout all 9months.

Sarah and Jeannie kept telling us that exams are a celebration of what we know. It doesn’t have to be trying to cram as much as possible into your head the night before an exam. Preparation for them should go throughout the year! For the first time in my life, this is how I felt about exams. And how much this approach differs from the traditional one, where the exam is an attempt to hide what we don’t know by all means, but at the same time get the grade we need. In the entire history of my academic life (and this is far from one year and a huge number of exams), I have not perceived exams as a celebration of what I know. Another life lesson from our wise coaches. That’s how I perceived my exams this time, and felt the difference! It was a pity when the examiner had to stop the conversation due to time constraints! After all, I wanted to extend this holiday longer! It was on the day after the exam that my inspiration, my flow, led me to the idea of ​​this site. I so wanted to keep everything that I had acquired and bring it to people that I sat down to write the first article the very next day.

Our group at the beginning of the school year

And just as a child born after 9 months of intrauterine development, when leaving the womb, just begins its life journey, so we, after 9 months of intensive work, development and improvement, leave to begin our pedagogical life, full discoveries, new realizations, self-improvement and service to children.