How important is it that children feel in charge of their own educational destiny? How crucial is autonomy in our classroom? ‘it’s critical’ and here’s 5 ways to implement the change?
- Choice – when lessons are being delivered, make sure that children have a choice in who they work with, where they work and how they represent their research! Having everyone doing the same thing at the same time may be easier to manage, but independence is lost!
- Authenticity – make sure that the children understand why they are taking this class? Make them understand how it will benefit them in the future and don’t dress it up to be something that it’s not! They’ll see straight through you! Be authentic.
- Freedom – freedom within limits is the rule here. Children need to feel involved in decisions, what equipment they’ll need, how long they want to work on a project for? Yes they will make mistakes, but from these comes amazing moments of growth.
- Integrity – be honest, promote honesty and always talk about the consequences of actions. What happens if we don’t try our best, help our neighbour or tell mistruths. As teachers we should always lead by example here.
- Give them power – make every single lesson a chance to make a change in the world. teaching #montessori #education
2 Responses
Hello again Gavin …once again I feel called to respond. I’ve been a mainstream educator for nearly 30 years. So much of what you say resonates with me.
Can you guide me to a good website or boof to understand the Montessori approach better.
I am inspired