Goals and Purposes of a Montessori Classroom
The underlying foundation of our school is respect:
- I respect myself: true learning is respect.
- I respect my friends: we are social beings and our actions affect others.
- I respect my environment: our main duty in life.
It is imperative for a child’s learning and for the smooth functioning of our school community that each child learn the “cycle of activity”:
- I choose my work.
- I complete it properly.
- I put it away, ready for the next person.
We are working on normalization (a child in harmony and self and environment). This is accomplished as a child learns to Work and enjoys working. Work (the process, not the product) is what brings fulfillment of the FIVE MAIN GOALS:
- Concentration: The ability to observe and comprehend, the ability to remain focused on a task for ever increasing amounts of time.
- Independence: in choices, in decision-making, in care of person and environment, and in the responsibility for learning.
- Control and Coordination: of body, mind and heart.
- Purposeful Activity: learning to engage in purposeful activity, as opposed to chaotic or nervous activity.
- Joyful Accomplishment: to experience the feeling of, and to quest for joyful accomplishment (the positive experience is what propels a child to accept himself and and desire further knowledge).
With these goals in mind, each child is guided in development at FIVE LEVELS:
- Physical: potential learning problems can first be spotted in a young child’s ability to control movements.
- Emotional: young children need patience and guidance to learn to control and express their feelings.
- Intellectual: young children are collectors of knowledge (they absorb it from their environment).
- Mental: to know, to experience, to use all known information for experiments and problem-solving.
- Spiritual: develops strength of character, revelation of true personality, and desire to be of service to others.
-Class Notes from Southwestern Montessori Training Center session 1981-82.