Montessori vs. Public

NOW PERMANENTLY CLOSED

SUNSHINE MONTESSORI BOWMANVILLE VS TRADITIONAL EDUCATION
HOW ARE WE DIFFERENT?

Parents will notice some very striking differences between the Montessori approach to learning and the traditional education, they grew up with.  Sunshine Montessori Bowmanville obliges that for every 5 children there must be 1 Montessori CCMA, AMI & International MACTE Accredited Montessori Casa Diploma teacher/directress, a considerable amount of individual attention whereas compared to the Public School system 1 teacher and a teacher’s aide for 30 students. The children are also encouraged at a very young age to learn to trust their own ability to think and solve problems independently. The goal of teacher/directress is to guide children to think for themselves and become actively engaged in the learning process. Children learn at their own pace.

SUNSHINE MONTESSORI BOWMANVILLE embraces the reform ideal of individualized learning, joy of learning, creative expression, enriched learning environment, building trust and confidence but we will not sacrifice the time-honoured rigours of traditional education. Weighing the best of both models, we make it our mission to build self-discipline, stimulate high achievement, and practice awareness of personal responsibility.

Traditional Methods Rejected	Reform Methods Rejected
Homework overload; comparative grading; reward/punishment incentive	Lack of structure; accountability
MONTESSORI	TRADITIONAL
Emphasis on cognitive structures and social development	Emphasis on rote knowledge and social development
Teacher has an unobtrusive role in classroom activity; the child is an active participant in learning.	Teacher has a dominant, active role in classroom activity; child is a passive participant in learning.
Environment and method encourage internal self-discipline.	Teacher acts as primary enforcer of external discipline.
Instruction, both individual and group, adapts to each student’s learning style.	Instruction, both individual and group, conforms to the adult’s teaching style.
Mixed age groups.	Same age groups.
Children are encouraged to teach, collaborate, and help each other.	Most teaching is done by teacher and collaboration is discouraged.
Child chooses own work from interests and abilities.	Curriculum structured for child with little regard for child’s interest.
Child formulates own concepts from self-teaching materials.	Child is taught concepts by teacher.
Child works as long as he/she wishes on the chosen project.	Child generally given specific time limit for work.
Child sets own learning pace to internalize information.	Instruction pace usually set by group norm or teacher.
Child spots own errors through control of error from material.
Learning is reinforced internally through the child’s own repetition of an activity and internal feelings of success.	Learning is reinforced externally by rote repetition and reward/punishment incentive.
Multi-sensory materials for physical exploration.	Fewer materials for sensory development and concrete manipulation.
Organized program for learning care of self and care of the environment; order in the classroom is very important, teaches order in their mind.	Less emphasis on self-care instruction and classroom maintenance.
The child can work where he/she is comfortable, move around and talk at will (yet not disturbing the work of others); group work is voluntary and negotiable.	Child is usually assigned own chair; encouraged to sit still and listen during group sessions.
Organized program for parents to understand the Montessori philosophy and participate in the learning.	Voluntary parent involvement, often only as fundraisers, process.