Marielle just completed the first semester of her First Year Level 1* in Maria Montessori and my xxGF and I were invited to attend an Open House where the students demonstrated some of the things they’ve learned.
We eagerly attended the open house as it was the first opportunity for us to make a first hand assessment of Marielle’s progress. You see, Maria Montessori strictly adheres to the Montessori Method — or Montessori Way — which is non-traditional, in every sense of the word.
Among the many peculiar distinctions of the Montessori Method are:
1. Younger students/pupils are mixed with older ones (Grades 1 to 3 are mixed in a single class);
2. The teacher’s main role is to observe instead of lecture.
3. This may sound incredible, and it is, but it’s true: There are no quizzes or exams, and there are no quantitive grades, too (at least not the ones we are used to). It follows that there are no “honor roll.” Each student/pupil’s development is assessed based on her/his own inclinations and progress.
4. Even more incredible: the students/pupils generally decide what they want to do (sounding more like an anarchy, huh?)
Going back to the Open House… For her part Marielle chose to show off her Math skills by demonstrating to us the “Distributive Properties of Multiplication” and how to derive square roots.
My jaw literally dropped! ”Distributive Properties of Multiplication”? What in hell is that? And square roots? I think I was already in Grade 5 when I was taught how to derive square roots.
Anyways… we got started with “Distributive Properties of Multiplication, whatever that is. Marielle asked for a number to be the multiplicand. I jokingly gave a ridiculously high number — 1,585, or something like that (I can no longer recall the exact number I gave). Aba! She accepted my number without a flinch, and proceeded to show us how to solve the problem.
And on we proceeded to square roots…
The fact that we enrolled Marielle in Maria Montessori already indicates our faith in the non-traditional Montessori Way. But that was more hoping than believing. We didn’t know for sure that the Montessori Way would work for Marielle. Now we are true believers.
Personally, I can almost swear that the Montessori Way is the BEST way, if only it doesn’t cost too much.
* First Year Level 1 in Montessori is the equivalent of Grade 1 in regular grade schools.
