My Journey to Montessori

My Journey to Montessori starts with my childhood.

I actually was not a Montessori kid. Up until my sophomore year in high school, I was a public school kid. I loved my friends and was quite social, but I hated going to school. I felt overstimulated, overwhelmed, and anxious. I was the kid who had all kinds of clarifying questions for the teacher that would result in halting the lesson for everyone. The teacher would try to explain but I never understood the explanations. Then I’d sheepishly whisper to whoever was sitting next to me, hoping they could help me. I’d miss the next thing the teacher was saying, and end up utterly confused and feeling hopeless. I was terrified of making mistakes, and often ended up so behind that I’d copy the answers of others in hopes that I’d get caught up and  finally understand what the heck everyone was taking about. I excelled in reading and writing-- the lessons and activities that allowed me to turn inward, create, and build. I was an intelligent kid… I just had extreme difficulty retaining information and understanding it when it was verbally deposited.

Due to time and funding constraints and a schooling model that was built for efficiency during the time of the industrial revolution, most conventional schools in the US are forced to “educate” in that way-- giving information to students, forcing regurgitation and memorization. Students are often treated as receptacles where knowledge is to be deposited, not builders of knowledge through their own experience. I hated the way multiple choice tests didn’t allow you to explain your thought process-  I always felt there were at least two answers that could make sense depending on how you interpreted the question as well as the answer choices. Wasn’t the critical thinking I was doing as I tried to solve more important than the bubble I filled in?

It wasn’t even just the pace at which we learned that made me dislike school. It was the confinement to desks-- so cold and sterile. It was the glare of the bright, fluorescent lights. It was the constraining time limits on everything-- the requirement to focus on a specific topic at a specific time, with no choice in the matter.

I longed to feel cozy, safe, and be creative. I dreamt of being in nature like the young girl I read about in my favorite Little House books, Laura Ingalls Wilder. I craved the freedom to read, write, move, and talk. 

It was because of all of these feelings of wanting that I longed to become a teacher when I grew up. I wanted to provide that feeling and space for kids that I so longed for as a child. 

Funny thing was,I chose to attend Denison University, a small liberal arts college that had stopped certifying teachers the year I enrolled. The reason my University did this was because the standards and coursework in place for a teaching certification defied the Liberal Arts curriculum. The AACU defines a Liberal Arts Education as “an approach to learning that empowers individuals and prepares them to deal with complexity, diversity, and change. It provides students with broad knowledge of the wider world (e.g., science, culture, and society) as well as in-depth study in a specific area of interest. [It] helps students develop a sense of social responsibility as well as strong and transferable intellectual and practical skills such as communication, analytical and problem-solving skills, and a demonstrated ability to apply knowledge and skills in real-world settings.” To become certified to teach, there was no wiggle room in your education. No time to discuss or explore in depth. There was red tape and strict rules to follow. 

I was so in love with Denison that I opted to go anyway and I majored in Educational Studies. It was the new major they’d designed to provide aspiring teachers with a strong foundation and understanding of the US education system, but with a strong emphasis on dissecting it, philosophizing over it, and discussing every part of it. I LOVED it. What I found through my coursework though, was that I didn’t want to teach in mainstream schools. I couldn’t drill kids for the correct answer-- I didn’t even totally believe in correct answers anyway! I believed in stretching your brain through thinking, yes, but I didn’t believe there was only one way. 

During an Honors project my senior year, I learned about Montessori-- it was at the same time that I was writing my thesis in which I was describing what I felt an ideal education and school should look like, and found that my dream vision and the Montessori philosophy had quite a bit in common! I loved the idea that children could work for three hour uninterrupted work cycles rather than running around every 40 minutes when a bell would sound. I loved that there was a great emphasis on time spent outdoors. I loved that kids could follow their desires for the day, choosing to read a book when needed or plugging away at math all day when they felt moved to do so. There was an emphasis on seeing the child as a whole human being-- one with her own strengths and interests that should be nurtured and cultivated. I realized that children could grow into the very best versions of themselves, giving the world endless value as well, if they were to be educated in this way.

When I graduated from Denison, I moved to Denver and took a job as a Primary Assistant at an AMI school and officially became a Montessori convert. I spent two years assisting in the Primary classroom and running the Before & After School programs, and then went back home to Cleveland to take the AMI Elementary Training and pursue my Masters in Montessori Education. From there, I got a job in a Lower Elementary class (ages 6-9) at a local school and worked there through the spring of 2020, before ultimately venturing off on my own to start Little Scraps of Magic. 

There is so much to share and explain about my journey to Montessori and about the philosophy itself, along with the other alternative methods of education that I’ve found along the way, and it can’t possibly all live here in this blog post. But rest assured, there will be many more articles in my future that will dive into all of my victories and challenges as a Guide as well as endless anecdotes and tips on working with children, Montessori or not. Thanks for being on this continuing journey with me!