Sarah Shares: Montessori on the Brain

Sarah Shares: Montessori on the Brain

“The child has a different relation to his environment from ours… the child absorbs it. The things he sees are not just remembered; they form part of his soul. He incarnates in himself all in the world about him that his eyes see, and his ears hear.”

Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind

Next week is National Montessori Education Appreciation Week, but I find that I can’t wait until then! As part of my training to receive a Montessori Administrator’s Credential, last week I attended the Association Montessori Internationale conference in Seattle, Washington. In a two-day refresher course on “Understanding Human Development,” 150 of us (out of the more than 1300 who attended the conference) reviewed recent research on the brain and the remarkable importance of growth from in utero through age six. Alejandra Rosas, Assistant to Infancy Director of Training at the Montessori Institute of San Diego, reviewed for us a plethora of recent research that confirms the findings of Dr. Maria Montessori more than 100 years ago, that formed the approach and philosophy that we practice today. 

Here are some of my key takeaways, affirmed both by recent brain research and expressed by Dr. Maria Montessori through her observations and work with children: 

• Between birth and age six, children’s brains absorb all that they experience. 

• Children’s experiences directly inform who they are. 

• Social relationships are at the core of human development.

• Parts of the human brain will only develop through interactions with others. We are designed to work together.

• The Montessori method works well because it so closely aligns with how children’s brains develop. 

It is inspiring to be part of your children’s most critical time of development, here at Greene Towne Montessori! 

See you all at the auction!  

Warmly, 

Sarah