|
Extract from a talk by :
David Kahn: American Montessori Educator and expert on Montessori Adolescent Education
Children grow into adolescence in very individual ways. What is unique about Montessori adolescents is that they have a school whose mission is to accommodate their individuality and the changing needs of a new stage of life.
Though there has been a proliferation of Montessori secondary programmes in North America, these have been experimental, with no governing standard or consensus of design.
He quotes Montessori, in an essay on Erdkinder;
“It is impossible to fix a priori a detailed programme for study and work. We can only give a general plan. A programme can only be drawn up under the guidance of experience.”
Montessori argued for the need to provide adolescents with work and study which exceeded the usual definition of schoolwork. Work and study, she believed, should be bound up with the larger functions of society. It should include the integration of the intellect and the physical, indoor and outdoor activities, and vocational opportunities in the workplace. Hence her concept of Erdkinder, a farm on which adolescents could work at real work, real economic maintenance and real collective enterprise.
Extract from a talk by :
Gary Casebeer, founder and co-ordinator of a secondary Montessori programme in North America.
For me, the key to developing a Montessori programme is a recognition of the fact that adolescence is a stage in which the individual is becoming aware of the deeper nature within him/her self. It is a period of `self construction'. The teacher's role is that of guide, and the focus of curriculum development, is the total development of the individual through an integrated educational process which encompasses the practical, experiential and academic needs of the individual adolescent.
So what are these needs. Eight were identified by students:
1. Physical activities on a daily basis.
2. Reassuring and informed adults who respect them
3. A voice in planning ALL ACTIVITIES
4. A close relationship with peers and adults
5. To see themselves as active parts of their culture
6. Opportunities to express feelings and emotions without negative feedback.
7. Wide intellectual activities
8. Creative outlets for energy and expression.
Specific goals which Casebeer outlined for the adolescent programme are too many and detailed to deal with here. One goal, however, neatly summarises the overall aim of the programme -`to balance our emphasis on solid academic or cognitive work with attention to other educational needs; physical training and well-being as well as emotional or affective growth.
|
Montessori 
