Abstract/Notes: While many BIPOC Montessori educators engage in anti-racist and culturally responsive teaching, Montessori education remains predominantly race-evasive. As a philosophy, it is rooted in colorblind perspectives in its focus on "all children" and lack of explicit centering of BIPOC students’ experiences. Teaching must account for race and racial lived realities in order to better support BIPOC students’ ways of knowing in culturally relevant and sustaining ways. This study seeks to center the voices of BIPOC Montessori educators and disrupt the pattern of Montessori research conducted without a critical racial lens. Framed by Critical Race Theory, this study focuses on the strengths, assets, and anti-racist teaching practices that one BIPOC educator brings to her classroom. I use critical ethnographic methods to better understand how a BIPOC Montessori teacher at a public charter Montessori school interprets and enacts the Montessori method to support BIPOC students. I consider how her racial identity informs her practices, and the structural barriers she faces at her school when enacting anti-racist and strength-based approaches. The guiding research questions of this study are: How does a Black Montessori teacher interpret the Montessori philosophy to more relevantly support her BIPOC students? How does she practice the Montessori method through culturally relevant and sustaining practices? What are the structural barriers that continue to challenge her as a Black educator doing her work? My analysis suggests that the teacher maintains her classroom space as a tangible and intangible cultural space that reflects and maintains her students' identities; that her own identity as a Black woman deeply contribute to the school's work around anti-racism and culturally responsive pedagogy; and that there are external barriers that both the teacher and the school face, that prevent them both from fully achieving culturally responsive teaching practices. At the core of the study, I seek to understand the possibilities and challenges of Montessori education from the perspective of BIPOC Montessori educators, and how we could learn from them to better support BIPOC students. I hope to begin a path toward more counter-stories in the Montessori community to specifically support BIPOC Montessori educators and understand the structural barriers they face to anti-racist teaching in Montessori programs in the United States.

Language: English

Published: College Park, Maryland, 2023

Abstract/Notes: The analysis was carried out as part of a master's thesis and it aimed to analyse the extent to which the Montessori educational philosophy and teaching method incorporated inclusive educational qualities. The Montessori Method was first developed for children who were disadvantaged and considered 'idiots', in the slums of Italy's San Lorenzo. With the usage of her didactic materials, Maria Montessori proved that the children in question were indeed educable given the correct type of instruction. The focus of this article is on the inclusive qualities embedded within the Montessori philosophy and teaching method, which can be reason enough for it to be adopted by developing countries that have limited budgets/funding for the purpose of special education. This method could prove to be an easy alternative for the immediate implementation of early childhood inclusive education for countries such as Malaysia which do not yet possess specific legislation governing special education.

Language: English

DOI: 10.2304/ciec.2008.9.2.178

ISSN: 1463-9491

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: Montessori's Feminist Activism and Child Advocacy As I have argued elsewhere, unearthing and identifying Montessori's feminist histories as a justice-driven project can act as a springboard for ongoing practices of justice and care in contemporary times (Mohandas, 2023). Besides addressing the dominant themes of the suffrage movement, such as women's right to vote and own property, she also addressed the issue of female teachers' low status and pay and their adverse working conditions-problems that persist today. Locating Montessori in Its Colonial Capitalist Context n addition to recognizing Montessori's advocacy and social justice efforts, we need simultaneously to situate Montessori in the colonial capitalist contexts from which it arose. [...]the point I wish to reiterate is that we must situate the Montessori approach in its wider political, social, economic, and historical context to effectively do justice-related work in contemporary times. Intersectionality as Means for Deep Coalition Whiteness as a system and mechanism of power values and privileges particular features and qualities that are inextricably enmeshed in certain economic drives.

Language: English

ISSN: 1054-0040

Abstract/Notes: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the Learning Cycle 7E learning model assisted by Montessori media on the critical thinking skills of elementary school students in class IV hearing senses. This research is motivated by the existence of a phenomenon where students have difficulty understanding material about the sense of hearing which is quite complicated because of the many terms used. Science subjects in elementary schools are generally taught by lecture and assignment methods, this will make students feel bored faster in class and unable to absorb the information conveyed correctly. Therefore, research was made to show how effective the Learning Cycle 7E model assisted by Montessori media was on students' critical thinking skills. This research was conducted using a quantitative approach with quasi-experimental methods. The research design developed was a quasi-experimental design model with nonequivalent control group design. The sample used was fourth grade students at SDN Sukarasa. As for the data processing techniques, the authors use descriptive techniques to obtain conclusions from this study. As a result, there is a positive relationship from the Montessori media-assisted LC 7E learning model to students' critical thinking skills. This is also supported by the opinions of experts on how effective learning can be done, one of which is by using a fun learning model so that children's thinking abilities increase.

Language: English

DOI: 10.57235/aurelia.v2i2.600

ISSN: 2964-2493

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: Montessori learning classrooms, defined as an arranged environment, provide learners to opt for their work freely and construct their own learning. Thus the roles of the teacher differ from the roles of the teachers in traditional schools whereas the child is in the center in Montessori method based schools. The objectives of the communication and collaboration between the child and the teacher is determined correspondingly. This study aims at determining the differences between Montessori Method and Traditional Teaching in communication and collaboration with the child at primary schools.

Language: English

ISSN: 2544-980X

Abstract/Notes: Maria Montessori strongly advocated for music learning to be fully integrated into the classroom; however, many Montessori classrooms are dominated by materials aimed at developing children’s visual sense. The purpose of this critical participatory action research (CPAR) study was to address this perceived learning disparity by developing and implementing a curriculum that is consistent with the Montessori approach, child directed, and focused on sound examination and music learning. We designed six shelf works and offered them, over the course of 6 CPAR cycles, to 20 3- to 6-year-old children attending a Montessori school. Findings from qualitative and quantitative data indicate that the children received the works positively, chose to engage with them, became more confident in their musical tasks over time, showed signs of deep concentration and attention, and demonstrated consistent performance across similar tasks related to perception and cognition. We conclude that the presence of these 6 curricular works began to disrupt the perceived learning disparity we identified; however, more can be done to understand and change the classroom practices that support that disparity.

Language: English

DOI: 10.17161/jomr.v6i1.10631

ISSN: 2378-3923

Abstract/Notes: Individual development plans, which are sometimes designed as ‘agreements — contracts’, can be considered the most rigid type of regulation on the individual level in the history of preschool in Sweden. Today we speak about a deregulated school. This regulation seems to have changed its character, gradually drifting from school regulation to individual and self-regulation. The study aims to map and discuss the variation of content and positions for children in the documentation from all preschools in a municipality in the south of Sweden. Documentation and individual development plans (IDP) are studied from preschools with different pedagogical profiles. Materials from Montessori- and Reggio Emilia-inspired preschools are focused on. A critical didactic perspective refers to a discussion and critical scrutiny of the structure of contents, assessment and position of children in different types of documentation. The perspective leads to questions such as: how is content constructed, and what governs the choice of content in IDPs and documentation at the institutional and individual levels? How is content related to pedagogical profile? What identities and positions are formulated for children in relation to various contents and profiles? The empirical data in the study were gathered in 2008 and comprises text in the form of governing documents on different levels: as municipal guidelines, profile descriptions on the municipality’s websites and IDP forms. Tentative results show a variation with both similar and diverse constructions of contents and positions related to pedagogical profiles.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1177/1476718X10389148

ISSN: 1476-718X

Language: English

Published: Washington, D.C., 1967