Maria Montessori's early development method
Today Montessori pedagogy is actively used both in preschool educational institutions and by parents at home. At the same time, disputes around the method developed at the beginning of the 20th century by an Italian teacher, doctor of medicine Maria Montessori, still do not subside.
The resolution of the State Scientific Council of the USSR, written in 1926, read: “In addition to the completely unacceptable ideological side, the Montessori system also suffers from gross defects in the field of its biological and theoretical material. A number of misconceptions about the biological content of children's age-related evolution, underestimation of the biological significance of play and imagination, distortions in the understanding of the motor factor, underestimation of the value of general processes in comparison with special skills - all these flaws exclude the possibility of using the biological theory of Montessori as a pedagogical basis of Soviet preschool pedagogy …
After such an official conclusion, Montessori groups in our country were banned for a long time. This method of early childhood development was not available. What has changed recently regarding the Montessori system? Today Montessori pedagogy is actively used both in preschool educational institutions and by parents at home. At the same time, disputes around the method developed at the beginning of the 20th century by an Italian teacher, doctor of medicine Maria Montessori, do not subside until now.
Let's try to figure it out with the help of the latest knowledge in psychological science - the system-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan - in the essence of Montessori pedagogy.
The role of an adult
In the Montessori system, the main task of the educator is to create an active developmental environment for the child, in which there is no place for random objects and details. The desk turns out to be an unnecessary element in such an environment, since, according to Maria Montessori, it limits the motor activity and cognitive abilities of babies. Instead, the teacher suggested using light tables and rugs that can be easily moved in space at the request of the child.
According to the method of Maria Montessori, the room is divided into five zones, in accordance with them the collected thematic material is placed there: the zone of practical life, where the baby learns self-service (cleans shoes, cuts vegetables for salad, washes dishes), the zone of sensory development (goes through cereals, small beads), the mathematical zone (masters the concepts of quantity), the language zone (learns to read and write) and the space zone (gets the first ideas about the world around, history and culture).
The concept of Motessori development is that adults, first of all, should help children learn to do everything by themselves, create comfortable conditions for their self-development, self-study, self-control, self-education. Without criticism, comments, instructions.
Teachers provide help and support to children only if they themselves ask for it or begin to experience serious difficulties in completing assignments. Also, teachers contribute to the formation of warm, respectful relations between their pupils.
His Majesty the Child
The one and only one of its kind, eligible for an individual training program, the child chooses for himself - what, how and when to do it in a developing environment. Montessori pedagogy gives each toddler unlimited freedom - freedom of choice. He must decide on his own what he wants to do: tie his shoelaces, plant a flower or start counting. It is about the early age of the child. The Montessori system focuses on the free development of basic skills in a toddler.
It is believed that children themselves learn the principle: the freedom of one person ends where the freedom of another begins, so the kids do not make noise, do not indulge, so as not to interfere with others, put the materials for classes in place, wipe the dirt.
The child is the center of the universe for the parents. He is naturally endowed with endless possibilities, and the task of adults is to provide him with the most comfortable environment for their development.
Maria Montessori convinced that all children are successful and talented from birth, but not all find themselves in conditions that stimulate their development, allowing them to reveal the potential inherent in nature.
In the age periodization of child development, developed by an Italian teacher, a child's sensory development lasts from birth to five and a half years. This is the most productive period for the baby to absorb all kinds of information. Moreover, the teacher believed that the “doors of perception” close at a certain moment and the chance to develop abilities is lost.
How are classes
Maria Montessori has developed a system of teaching children, in which children of different ages are engaged in one group, as in a large family, and the "old-timers" of the school teach "newcomers". Children teach each other themselves.
The teacher acts as an observer. He accepts the child as he is, allowing him to express his individual characteristics and develop at his own pace. In the Montessori method of early development of children, there are no concepts of age norms, clearly stated requirements for a child, what he should be able to and know.
It should be noted that in the classic version of Montessori learning, children's games are not provided. They are considered useless, inhibiting the intellectual development of the child.
Why Montessori Pedagogy is Scolded
The Maria Montessori method does not develop the child's right hemisphere, which is responsible for creativity and knowledge of the world as a whole. Due attention is not paid to children's games, drawing - this is regarded in the Montessori system as a child's departure into the world of fantasy, which is harmful to his psyche. No emphasis is placed on fostering feelings of compassion and empathy through reading literature.
The main thing is to teach the child what will be useful to him in real life, which will bring him tangible benefits.
Opponents of this technique note that not all children are suitable for such training: children prone to autism become even more withdrawn in themselves, and hyperactive children disrupt the entire learning process, interfere with other children, and cause discontent among educators with their behavior.
The main disadvantage of Montessori pedagogy is that children do not learn to work together, do not develop perseverance, discipline, and obedience required in the traditional classroom-lesson system.
For a child attending a kindergarten where educators put Maria Montessori's ideas into practice, elementary school is a real shock. He was not accustomed to being taught, brought up, demanded to be judged.
Previously, he himself chose what he wants to do, in what form and when - without clear frameworks and restrictions. He himself evaluated his activities, found and corrected mistakes.
It should be noted that with the introduction of second generation standards in Russian primary schools, nothing in this sense has changed - the role of the teacher remains dominant, classes are held in 45 minutes and at a desk, and educational programs are aimed at specific results (mastering knowledge, skills, development of competencies). This is exactly the opposite of what a child is used to in Montessori groups. Development in them takes place in a free environment, and it will not be easy to adapt to discipline at school.
System comment
The key word in Montessori pedagogy is freedom. The freedom to choose your path from an early age. The freedom of an educated, thinking person who is responsible for his actions. Freedom of a person who is aware of and respects the freedom of other people.
A good and wonderful goal. However, we know that children are born from the very beginning with different abilities and abilities, life aspirations. And understanding, the value of freedom for each person will be different.
Not for everyone, the freedom in the concept of the famous teacher, psychologist Maria Montessori will be happiness. So, for example, anal children will fall into a stupor from a huge selection of possible activities in the absence of support, direction from elders. And the urethral ones will be the very daredevils who will pull everyone out of the "mastering the world" into games, interaction in a group. Maria Montessori's early childhood development system does not take this into account.
The same thing happens with the basic ordering attitude: different children treat order differently. It is for anal children that the usual sequence of events is important, as is the purity and inviolability of everyday rituals.
It is the anal baby who will strum if he is not dressed in the usual way or fed in an unusual way. But the dermal child quickly adapts to changes, even glad of them. He gets bored of the same thing, day after day. His inventive, flexible mind demands new ways, new experiences.
A “prepared environment” for everyone is a kind of roulette, a game of “guessing - not guessing”. A dermal baby will certainly like to study in a room divided into zones on his own - he is initiative, active, mobile, loves interesting, new, practical. He is especially attracted by logic exercises, physical exercises.
It is possible to provide a child with the best development of his natural properties only if you know these properties, then only you can create a favorable development environment for a particular baby.
The problematic points of Montessori pedagogy are the periodization developed by it. At the age of five to six years, the development of the child's potential does not end - there is primary puberty, a primitive atavism, which we inherited from our ancestors. The innate properties of a child can and should be developed until the end of puberty, that is, up to 12-15 years.
In addition, at an early age of children, the most urgent task is not at all intellectual development, but socialization, ranking the child in a peer group. In a group of different ages, a child left to himself does not solve this problem.
Spontaneous play of children helps them to assimilate patterns of adult behavior in the optimal form for them.
Of the advantages of this technique, we can note the absence of compulsion to a specific type of play activity, when the child can do what he really likes. The anal child will dig in a pot of earth and sculpt from plasticine, the dermal one will count the sticks and design, the sound and visual children will go to the cosmic corner.
For all its pros and cons, Maria Montessori's technique does not work for all children and cannot solve the main age-related problems facing children under 5 years old - active socialization and adaptation of their properties in a team of their own kind. Therefore, it can be used in addition to the main activities in the kindergarten, but not as the only technique.
