Realize that people will always put their best foot forward when being observed. A good teacher will always be supportive and every other thing you can imagine. But there are a few that can appear that way during visiting times. Obviously, if they’re not treating the children well, don’t go. But realize that’s not the only indicator. I suggest to people that they look at the details of the classroom:

1) Is the classroom clean? The Montessori Teacher’s main job is to be in charge of keeping the environment clean and orderly. If materials are in the wrong places, are missing parts to them, or it seems like the trash is not taken out, that is a sign that the quality of teaching will not be up to par.

2) Is the teacher the center of attention? Montessori is very different. If there’s too much time where there is group instruction, it’s not quality Montessori. Montessori depends on a long work cycle where the children work on their own and the teacher comes in only when needed or after the child is ready to learn something else from the material. For example, a child might work with the map of Asia, taking it apart and putting it on the control map. After that, the teacher will come over and help the child to learn the names of some of the countries. The teacher won’t sit there with the child while they do the puzzle map. A presentation can be done on it, but if it’s all group presentations and nothing else, it is not Montessori.

3) Look at the teacher’s area. I’ll admit I get messy at times. So don’t take this as the only indicator. LOL But it is another thing to note.

4) Read up on Montessori and ask questions as if you don’t know the answers. What are the main subject areas of the classroom? Is there a reason why they’re put a certain way on the shelf? Ask a lot of “what do you do with this material?” type of questions. See if they can explain the purpose behind them.

5) Observe a class. See if you can find a place that lets you watch an actual class from start to finish. Plan to spend a good 3 hours there so you can see the whole process. This will give you a better feel for things than if you just stop in and see it during a quick tour of the school. The teachers may be able to change their habits during that time. The children may change their normal habits for a short time. But nobody is going to change the children’s habits for the whole 3 hours.

A few notes if you do observe:

–Watch out for what we call “false fatigue.” This is a period of time where it seems like nothing productive is happening. In reality, it’s similar to our adult smoke break or coffee break at work. So don’t think of that as a bad thing if it happens half way through the day and the teacher lets it happen. The children are just resetting themselves. Don’t let that set you back any.

–It’s probably going to be early in the school year. So children may not be used to the classroom yet. They still may be doing a lot of moving around from one thing to the next, getting things out and forgetting to put them back, dropping stuff, etc. The beginning of the year can be challenging at times in the classroom. Watch more how the teacher handles it. If a teacher acts frustrated towards the children, it may be red flags. (If they’re frustrated and walk away for a minute, that’s a different story….)

Hope this helps some!

Matt

Ask where the teachers received their Montessori teaching CREDENTIALS from. If the director can’t tell you, or if too many people are “working towards” theirs, press harder. Ask where they got their college degrees from. If the director says something along the line of, “We believe that teaching is in the heart not on a piece of paper.”, send up a few red flags. I sadly worked in more than one “Montessori school” (in quotes because they were Montessori in name only) where I was the only person who was not only Montessori certified, but had finished a BS. Over the years I have even seen schools where most of the teachers “teachers” didn’t even have HS diplomas, but in all honesty these are few and far between.

Check to see if the materials are in use. Some “in name only” Montessori schools have some materials displayed, but the children have no idea how to use them. Check to see if the materials on the shelf have dust on or around them. This is a sure indicator that the materials are just for display purposes only.

A good way to ensure that the teachers are certified and the children are actually being instructed in the Montessori method is to ask if the school is ACCREDIDATED. If they say, something along the lines of, “We are AFFLIATED with…” politely respond that that is very nice and ask again, “Are you ACCREDIDATED by any Montessori certifying agency?” ACCREDIDATION means that they have had someone from a certifying agency observe the classrooms and the teachers, and they have passed or met the standards required accreditation. AFFLIATION means the school paid 50 or so dollars to an organization. They may even have a pretty nicely bound certificate to show you, but if they only have one with the word AFFLIATED on it, it means very little.