Montessori Curriculum

Preschool teachers are in high demand in today?s world. Preschool student are generally 2-6 years old. Early childhood is the stage in a person?s development that is most impressionable. The basic personality structure is formed at this stage. Psychologists & educators believe that values & habits inculcated during this period are likely to stay with the child throughout his adult life. Therefore, it is imperative to provide these children the right kind of guidance by the Preschool teachers.

Several theories, methods & curricula can be found regarding early education of the child. One of the most famous methods is the Montessori Method, developed by Maria Montessori in the early 1990s. She believed that children learn best when they are allowed to explore things on their own.

According to her, children should be encouraged to be independent & find out things through exploration & interactions with other children. Montessori believed in building upon the child?s natural needs to be independent & respected & utilising his imagination & curiosity to ensure his proper development. In Montessori Teaching Method education is a continuous process & is inter-disciplinary, with different streams merged together. Preschool children enjoy two natural gifts ? Sensitive Periods & Absorbent Mind. The former refers to the child?s tendency to focus on one activity with full concentration at a time, like learning to crawl; the latter refers to the fact that child?s mind can absorb a huge amount of information at this stage. The Montessori Method makes full use of these two gifts to impart education to the children.

The Montessori curriculum follows the following basic guidelines:

? ? Children are encouraged to learn through self- exploration & peer interactions.

? ? They are taught to be independent & do things on their own, like eating, drinking & tidying up after themselves.

? ? Classes comprise of mixed age groups, which helps the children adjust well in the society, where they have to interact with people from different age groups. Mixed age groups also encourage peer learning.

? ? Since much emphasis is laid on individual & group learning, teachers act as guides, & the teacher student ratios are lower.

? ? Use of all 5 senses is encouraged for learning. Tactile materials work best at this stage of development.

? ? Children are allowed to choose their own topics & learn at their own pace.

? ? Children are encouraged to learn new concepts in a group & then explore those on their own.

? ? Children are encouraged to use their imagination, creative & analytical thinking skills to discover the relations between different objects & understand the underlying principles.

? ? There is a structured or prepared environment, which helps the child to learn effectively using different Montessori materials. Each material contains one error, which the child can rectify, thus enhancing his self-confidence.

? ? Children are taught to love nature using activities like outdoor play and going for walks.

Montessori courses prepare the Montessori Teachers to make effective use of the Montessori methodology & materials.

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