Montessori in the Classroom: A Teacher's Account of How Children Really Learn

by Paula Polk Lillard

What really happens inside a Montessori classroom? How do teachers teach? How do children learn? This fascinating day-by-day record of a year in the life of a Montessori classroom answers these questions by providing an illuminating glimpse of the Montessori method in action.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Teaching, Parenting

304 pages, Paperback

First published August 19, 1997

Reviews

[دعاء مجدي · Rating 4 out of 5]

الكتاب أشبه بمذكرات معلمة فصل منتسوري، تتحدث فيه عن تطور أطفال فصلها على مدار العام الدراسي
أحد الأطفال في بداية العام تم تشخيصه بصعوبات تعلم، ولكن مع نهاية العام كان معدلاته أعلى من الطبيعي
وطفل آخر كان يعاني من تعسر القراءة، ولكن تغير ذلك بنهاية العام
أعجبني فكرة أنه إذا لم يكن تقييم الطفل مناسبًا بنهاية العام فالمعلمة تعرض على ولي الأمر أن يبقى الطفل معها لعام دراسي آخر قبل الانتقال للصف الأول الابتدائي حتى يكون مستعدًا له، وليس معنى أنه أنهى العام الدراسي أنه ينتقل للمستوى التالي بالضرورة
أعجبني أيضًا حيادية الكاتبة في السرد، فقد تحدثت عن إخفاقاتها ومواطن فشلها بالرغم من خبرتها الكبيرة والطويلة في العمل بهذا المجال، إلا أن الخطأ وارد والمهم أن نعترف به ونتداركه
الكتاب برأيي مفيد أكثر لمعلمي منتسوري في الصف، أما الأمهات بالمنزل قد يشعرن معه ببعض الملل

[Erik Akre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lillard sets the bar high.

For any Montessorian reading of her experiences and ideas, there are bound to be feelings of exasperation and disbelief. How did she get her classroom so normalized, so perfectly? How did she come to such perfection? I don't know whether it was her desire to present Montessori as a shining example of education, or whether she just had an amazing knack with children, but her exposition is very impressive.

It may be that my own teaching lacks her finesse and wisdom. I have never had the kind of success she writes of in her book. I tend to think of her, however, as a slight exaggerator. She presents the ideal classroom, with ideal solutions to the difficulties of Montessori.

For a wealth of good ideas, this book is wonderful. Lillard presents so many useful tidbits, it nearly filled my little notebook. Just leave behind the expectation that they'll be as easy to implement as Lillard makes them out to be.

[Lindsay]

This book is decades old, so I had to keep that in mind while reading. I can’t even give it a star rating because part of me wants to give it a 1 and the other part wants to give it a 5! My main purpose in reading this was to understand how a Montessori teacher could possibly give so much individualized, differentiated attention to each child in their class - and this book satisfied that curiosity. Overall I feel I’ve gained a basic understanding of how Montessori works, and it seems like a lovely way to learn!

[Çağla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kitap bir montessori öğretmeninin günlüğü. Bana faydalı olacağını düşündüğüm ve eğitimini aldıgım bir alan oldugundan okumaya başladım ve kaknüs yayınlarını okumaya devam ediyorum. Kitabı beğenerek okudum. Kendini eleştiren bir eğitmen ve hatalı oldugu konuları iyileştirmeye çalışan ileri görüşlü bir eğitmen. En önemlisi mesleğine aşık. Tam da olmak istedigim gibi desem yanlış olmaz. Eğer siz de bir öğretmen iseniz hatta ebeveyn iseniz bence kesinlikle okumalısınız.

[Chanel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Am I keeping this book I bought secondhand on my bookshelf? Probably not. Is it a good read? Yes. This is a journal from a preschool Montessori teacher's year, detailing her behind-the-scenes concerns, observations, and questions on how to stay the course and grow as a teacher in the face of the challenges that teachers face from student behavior to issues in their personal lives.

Apparently I was 6 pages away from finishing this book for months haha.

[Ayşe Esen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Montessori uygulamaya başlayanlar ve özellikle de okulöncesi öğretmenleri için harika bir başucu kitabı. Bölüm bölüm anlayışı, yazarın yaşadıklarını samimiyetle anlatmış olması, bazı materyal tanıtımları ve örnek ders planı çok çok güzeldi. Ben çok faydalandım. Okul öncesi olması sebebiyle bazı yerleri hızla geçtim ama aynı şekilde yazılan ilkokul montessori kitabı okumayı çok isterim.

[Tessa Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite Montessori immersion book or article I’ve read so far that wasn’t base Montessori material. Realistic, empathetic, and an extremely useful tool.

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me a very long time to finish this book. I kept picking it up only to read 20 pages and set it back down for another week. I think I wasn't very fond of the author; she kept saying such un-Montessori type of things. She wrote the book during a tough year, which, professionally, I understand. But if I was writing a book to illustrate to an outsider how my classroom ran and I started having a tough year, personally, I would have set the project aside for another time.

[Tamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is fabulous! Very insightful on learning how to teach your child indirectly. Even though this is a book that was published in the last '70's, since the Montessori method doesn't cahnge it was a great way to implement some things with Collin and I've got say that he has taken to them extremely well and easily.

[Kristi]

borrowed from Lisa's new TA heather.

I feel the need to take notes. and it's too much for my brain right now. might try again.

[Dale Edmonds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good in that I kept wanting to stop to argue and discuss with the author!

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worthwhile ideas on bringing the Montessori model into public schools. A great resource for teachers to use while planning their classrooms and curriculums.