Posts Tagged Discipline Without Stress and Montessori

A friend of mine has two children (ages 5 and 7) enrolled in a Montessori School. As with most Montessori schools, this one does not issue grades. While my friend does receive a progress report for each child four times a year, it is devoid of the standard A, B, C, D, F grading system. Instead, it reveals which specific skills her children are being introduced to, which they are developing, and in which they have achieved mastery.

My friend revealed that while she is pleased with this progress report system, the rest of her family doesn’t understand it. They ask her questions like, “How do you know how they rate compared to the rest of the class?” and “What’s … >>>

On June 2, I will be presenting to the staff of Clark Montessori Junior and Senior High School in Cincinnati, Ohio.

I have long admired the Montessori approach. The following shares four fundamental characteristics that Discipline Without Stress and the Montessori approach have in common.

1)
Children learn best through intrinsic motivation.
There are neither rewards nor punishments in true Montessori environments.

2)
Competition hinders learning.
Students learn to monitor their own progress in order to recognize self-growth. This leads to personal satisfaction based on effort—instead of comparisons about what others may have accomplished.

3)
Montessori develops self-discipline and independence.
Students in a Montessori environment learn to be responsible for their choices. They become truly self-disciplined with much less need … >>>