Welcome to Montessori Live!

Montessori Live will answer a great need in the Montessori community

    Montessori is among the fastest growing reform of education today. Young people going into the field of education want to learn about the philosophy and psychology of the Montessori way of fostering successful student learning. The foundational principles of Montessori Education have been validated by current developmental research and interest in Dr. Montessori¹s methodology has been increasing in recent years, especially in the public school sector of the United States.

Montessori Method

One hundred years ago, Maria Montessori, the first female medical doctor in Italy, created a very different method of educating young children based on formal observations of how they naturally absorb knowledge. Children gain knowledge best, Montessori believed, through a personally active learning process that centers on their innate curiosity, concentration, and intentionality for learning.

Montessori methods emphasize:

• independent, student-initiated work
• problem solving
• mixed age groupings
• flexible pacing
• freedom of movement.

     Subjects are interwoven; the teacher acts as a guide; and portfolio assessments and assessments using the Montessori materials are given instead of written tests and grades. She developed many of the ideas still taught in today's Montessori training courses, and having founded "Education for Peace" Dr. Montessori has twice been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Phenomenal Growth in Popularity

    Since Dr. Montessori¹s reformation of educational practice, a growing number of educators and parents have embraced her principles, which has caused a phenomenal growth in popularity of Montessori schools nationally and internationally.

    Dr. Montessori¹s first school opened in 1906, and her model of education has continued to thrive for over 100 years in almost every country in the world. With the growing popularity of Montessori schools in the public sector in the United States, there is simultaneously a shortage of Montessori educators that is more critical than the shortage in the traditional teaching sector.

    Because Montessori schools are spread all over the country and Montessori pedagogy is not supported in most university teacher-training programs, prospective teachers are finding it harder to receive training even if they are willing to travel four or five hundred miles or more to do so.

Critical Shortage of Teachers and Training Programs

    According to Tim Seldin, President of the Montessori Foundation and International Montessori Council, the shortage of teachers and training programs has become a critical problem. There are not enough well trained Montessori teachers and administrators. The American Montessori Society (AMS), Association Montessori Internationale (AMI), and Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education (MACTE) are the main professional organizations in the United States.

To be certified under these credentials, a Montessori teacher must

• have between 200 and 350 face-to-face hours of instruction at a certified training center.
• go through a year as a student teacher under a certified Montessori educator who has taught at least two years.
• have three observations in the classroom by a supervising teacher during their internship year.
• complete a year-long project, as well as lesson resource albums in every major curriculum area.

    Today, according to the American Montessori Society's website, there are 1,100 Montessori schools affiliated with AMS and only seventy affiliated, teacher-training programs in the United States: seventeen in the Northeast, thirteen in the Midwest, twenty-six in the Southeast, nine within the Plains states, and eleven in the Western states.

Mr. Seldin's Records Show

• approximately 4,500 Montessori private schools in the U.S.
• approximately 350 Montessori magnet schools in the U.S
• approximately 120 charter schools in the U.S
• the American Montessori Society only graduated 500 teachers last year from all their affiliated teacher-training courses in the United States
• there are Montessori schools in every country in the world (except North Korea, Somalia, and Cuba)
• over 1,000 in Japan alone
• estimated 50,000 international Montessori schools

The Situation

    The influence of Montessori on the mainstream of education is growing once more. The biggest obstacle to keeping up with the demand is well-trained and experienced teachers who understand both the philosophy and methodology. A second obstacle in getting teacher training to schools all over the world is a more efficient way than the present model of face-to-face only. Otherwise, the demands will continue to outstrip the supply.

    We believe it is time to modernize Montessori teacher training and use the Internet as a way to disseminate her excellent model of education as efficiently as possible. We believe there will be a tremendous demand for this Internet-based training, especially as it relates to teachers in the public sector who are working to get master's degrees in education. Through video presentations and video lectures on philosophy and pedagogy, the demand can be met, while maintaining high pedagogical standards of the Montessori curriculum.

The Solution

    We welcome you to Montessori Live, an web-based teacher training program, designed to support teachers through training as well as throughout their teaching careers. We offer courses to give professional development credits, and will be offering courses accredited by Universities for college credit. In addition, the video lessons will be online for our members to be used as needed at any time in any time zone.

    We will also offer the lessons for sale on DVD for those who do not have access to high speed connections. Teacher support materials will be available for members, as well as important links to the Montessori world.

Thanks for visiting Montessori Live!

Kym Elder
Project Director