Montessori Lesson Plans
The Montessori Method of education is an unconventional and eccentric pedagogical tool that was developed by Dr. Maria Montessori over a century ago.
Even after years of rapid modernization, the values and principles of the Montessori Method of education still persist.
The Montessori Philosophy, unlike conventional educational institutions, allows your child to become confident, independent, and self-reliant through auto-didactic education.
Mistakenly the concept of auto-didactic education is often associated to be chaotic, loose, and incompetent. But this statement is among the myths circling around the Montessori Method of education.
The Montessori curriculum, environment, and activities are systematic, sequential, as well as well-structured to provide children with the optimum learning experience.
Furthermore, the Montessori Lessons are one of the most integral aspects of this child-directed method of education.
Lesson Plans in Montessori play a significant role n the child’s cognitive, intellectual, academic, social, physical, and motor development.
Whether you are a Montessori Educator, Parent, or an immediate caregiver, when creating a Montessori Lesson Plan it is a requisite to equip yourself with appropriate information.
Here is everything one should know about the Lesson Plan in Montessori to effectively establish Montessori values in the home and school environment.
Contents
What is a Lesson Plan in Montessori?
In a Montessori Prepared Environment, Children are encouraged to freely explore their surroundings and learn at their own pace through the aid of Montessori Materials.
Lesson plans, as the name suggests, are the framework of what is to be taught to the pupils.
In the Montessori Method of education, these Lesson Plans are often designed in a systematic, structured, and scientific manner to efficiently facilitate holistic education.
These Lessons Plans should aid the teacher in developing highly insightful lessons that enhance the child’s ability to comprehend complex as well as abstract concepts more quickly.
What are the Characteristics of Montessori Lesson Plans?
It is important to understand the chief characteristics of the Montessori Lesson Plan to effectively facilitate holistic education for your child.
According to Dr, Maria Montessori herself, these are the important characteristics of the Montessori Lesson Plan:
1) Concise:
Conciseness is the ability to provide accurate and insightful knowledge with limited information, it is the ability to provide brief yet resourceful information.
The Lesson Plan in Montessori should be concise and brief in nature. This is important to avoid overwhelming and confusing the child.
Each word that is to be uttered by the teacher or educator during any lesson plan should be concise and must always provide aid or assistance to the child.
2) Objective:
Bias and Partial treatment can be detrimental to the child’s intellectual, social, and emotional development.
While demonstrating or establishing Montessori Lesson Plans a teacher must always be objective toward the students.
The Teacher must allow the child to freely explore their surrounding, participate in activities, and interact with materials without feeling like they make a mistake.
3) Simple:
Simplicity is the key to a child’s success. According to Dr. Maria Montessori, for the initial six years, the child has an Absorbent Mind and passes through severe Periods of Sensitivity.
It is important to keep the surrounding environment as simple as possible to avoid overwhelming the child.
The Educator must provide the child with simple yet clear instructions when establishing the lesson plan to exclude unnecessary information.
It is also important to keep the language and words while establishing the Montessori Lesson plans as easy to comprehend as possible to achieve desired results.
4) Hands-On Learning:
Montessori Lessons should always be aided with Montessori Materials and other tangible aids to promote hands-on learning.
These materials help children comprehend complex and abstract concepts as well as help them develop an intimate understanding of such concepts for future prospects.
5) Flexible Planning:
The Montessori method of education is a mixed-age level educational tool that allows children to indulge in hands-on learning.
Educators must avoid making the Lesson plan rigid to allow the pupils to reach their maximum potential and achieve higher levels of intellectual, social, physical, cognitive, cultural, as well as academic attributes.
6) One-on-one Teaching:
It is important to note that while establishing Lesson Plans in Montessori, the educator must teach children in either small groups or teach children individually.
This characteristic of the Montessori Lesson Plan is integral to the initial stage of the Lesson Plan.
What is the Purpose of Creating a Lesson Plan in Montessori?
The Montessori Method of education is a pedagogical tool that encourages children to indulge in auto-didactic education through tangible Montessori materials.
While the environment of a Montessori Classroom may seem to be too liberal, unstructured, and unorganized.
The values of structure, order, and balance are intimately inculcated in children through curriculum, activities, and materials.
A Montessori Lesson Plan acts as a road map for potential topics that have to be taught during their work cycle.
The Montessori Lesson Plan helps bring about balance, structure, and order, to the loose environment of a Montessori Classroom.
How to Implement Lesson Plans in Montessori:
While having an intimate understanding of the Montessori Materials, Curriculum, and activities are integral for effectively facilitating education, creating a lesson plan is equally as important.
Lesson Plans in Montessori are sequential, structured, and scientific and it can be difficult for a parent, educator, or immediate caregiver to select the right approaches as well as strategies.
Here are some steps to follow when creating your own Montessori Lesson Plan to be implemented in the classroom:
1) Label the Lessons:
Labels, as boring as they may sound, are the key to creating a successful, systematic, and organized Lesson Plan in Montessori.
It is a requisite to label your lesson plans with apt titles to help you efficiently distinguish between topics when teaching.
Teachers can also create exciting and mysterious titles that can easily catch pupils’ intrigue even before the curriculum begins.
2) Review what has been taught:
While what is about to be taught is important for future objectives, what has been taught in prior lessons is equally important for the child’s development process.
When creating a Lesson Plan in Montessori, it is important to review the prior lessons and jot down potential questions for revision.
3) Organize the Materials:
Montessori Materials are among the cornerstones of Montessori Philosophy.
These materials act as tangibles that efficiently act as sensorial stimuli and effectively facilitate auto-didactic education.
It is always best to organize or arrange Montessori Materials in a systematic order before initiating any Montessori work cycle.
4) Develop the skills:
When creating your own Montessori Lesson Plan it is best to provide children with a workstation that enhances as well as develops their skills.
Providing children with opportunities to develop their skills is a great way to promote holistic education.
A teacher must provide children with opportunities to socialize with their peers in order to develop their social as well as emotional development and linguistic skills.
5) Set up clear objectives:
In order to make a systematic Lesson Plan in Montessori, one must always focus on the said list of objectives or goals that have to be achieved by the educator as well as the pupils.
Listing down clear objectives will help deliver step-by-step lessons that are clear and concise to help children comprehend quicker.
6) Brace yourself for Questions:
Children are curious, excited, and always on the search for new knowledge. Children or Toddlers are just beginning to understand the functioning of life around them.
It is important to realize that in order to help them develop an intimate understanding of life, one must always answer their questions.
In order to create a successful lesson plan, an educator must always prepare potential questions that are to be asked by students to efficiently clear their doubts.
7) No rigidity:
While Lesson Plans in Montessori are systematic and scientific, they should be extremely rigid.
When developing a lesson plan in Montessori, teachers must always take the needs and requirements of individual pupils into consideration.
Instead of teaching a group of children, the educator must treat them as independent entities.
Furthermore, the curriculum, activities, progress, and even materials should be individually provided to each child during the Montessori lesson plan.
8) Prepare assessments:
While establishing a systematic lesson plan is among the vital steps for the child’s development process, assessments are equally as important.
The educator or the facilitator must prepare unbiased or objective assessment questions for children to track their progress.
This helps the educator comprehend and identify how effective their lesson plan is coming to be.
9) Homework:
As a prerequisite for forthcoming concepts, the teacher should provide pupils with creative and insightful homework. This helps prepare the child for what is to be taught.
The Montessori Three-Period Lessons:
Although the three-period lessons are often associated with the Montessori Method of education, it was essentially adopted from Edouard Seguin’s research during the mid-1800s.
In Montessori Lesson Plans are often introduced to children in three major parts that promote children to develop an intimate understanding of complex concepts.
- The First Lesson: The first Montessori Lesson is an introduction to new concepts and vocabulary.
The directress or the guide will introduce the child to simple words with the help of materials or image cards. - The Second Lesson: After a successful acquaintance with new vocabulary, the second lesson focuses on the association of words with images.
The directress or the guide will ask the child to pinpoint, identify, and associate words with their designated images. - The Third Lesson: Lastly, the third lesson promotes children to understand the meaning of the new vocabulary.
Before reaching the third Montessori lesson the students will be able to perform and manipulate materials independently.
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