Why do Montessori students excel?
When they transition to more traditional settings after completing Montessori elementary schools, Montessori students have impressive scholarship skills. They are able to work independently and in a group, asking questions and seeking their own answers.
Here's why:
No higher level thinking skills (analysis, synthesis, metacognition, evaluation, to name a few) can be directly taught. Instead, these essential skills for academic success are developed slowly, over time, through experience. Maria Montessori understood this truth decades before neuroscience validated it, and crafted immersive lessons that allow children to build the network upon which all future learning rests. As always, this abstract integration begins with the concrete.
Most fundamental of these are the lessons of grace and courtesy that form the language and culture of respect. This understanding of the value for things outside of themselves, is key. It opens the door to hearing and using feedback, redirection, and error analysis without defensiveness or fear. With this, the child's embrace of learning, even when it is difficult, flourishes. The child asks for lessons, demonstrating initiative, independence and responsibility.
When we remind children to ask not take, to request not demand, when we model curiosity and not irritation when things don’t go as expected, we are setting down a model for our children to do the same. Children who then go on to be not just thoughtful scholars, but also thoughtful humans.
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