One of the most common questions asked by parents who want to enroll their children in Imani Montessori is usually, ‘How can children learn if they’re free to do whatever they want?’
To answer this question, we have to understand the conditions in which children do their best learning. If we understand how to improve learning conditions for kids in school, school becomes a place in which children grow, not just in size or knowledge but also in curiosity, courage, confidence, independence, resourcefulness and competence.
Kids learn when they’re motivated to learn. If they want to learn, they will. If they don’t, you can’t really make them. Any successful effort to improve learning will therefore be fundamentally about improving kids’ motivation.
Motivation is an individual activity. Kids are different in many ways. In personality, in background and experience, in sociability, in creativity, in intelligence and in their interests. And since different kids are motivated by different things no effort at motivation will succeed unless it works with these differences.
Teaching methods should vary according to the needs and interests of the individual student. Although children are free to work at their own pace, they don’t do it alone. At Imani Montessori, the Montessori lead teacher closely observes each child and provides materials and activities that advance her learning by building on skills and knowledge already gained.
Kids will not learn unless they are motivated to learn. The job of schools and teachers is to get them motivated, and if we are serious about improving learning for children we will have to be serious about making schools better at motivating kids.
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