ECS 210 Jan. 26th

“The greatest sign of success for a teacher…is to be able to say, ‘the children are now working as if I did not exist.’” – Maria Montessori

I believe this quote emphasizes the independence that Montessori expects schools to teach students. When the highest standard of success is the students to develop an awareness of themselves and responsibilities, I think learning is taking place and paced correctly. For myself, I think that the knowledge of independence that the education system provides is ample, and it is evident that the successful teachers are the ones who push for it within their classrooms. Montessori believed that the pace of learning is individual, and this is something I feel needs to be recognized more today. I think that this quote allows people to look deeper at the hidden curriculum that they teach in their lessons. It is easy to see if a student can follow what is expected and complete tasks, but harder to see if your influence as an educator is shaping students’ ideas surrounding independence. However, I think that it also takes away from the educational experience. If the sole purpose of education is to shape the future generations of society, I think that independence is less of a priority. For myself, I think that I would judge success by looking at the humanitarian side of student development. Not that I don’t value independence, but I think being a good person is more important. I think that for teachers, this is a quote that can be used on a personal level with how they feel and teach. Those who agree with it may strive to achieve independence within their classroom. These said teachers will structure their lesson much differently from someone who values other traits in students higher. I think that more individuality would be in the classroom of someone who agrees with this quote from Montessori, while maybe a more social atmosphere would be created in a classroom where teachers have different values. In the time of Maria Montessori, schools were centered more around the knowledge and less of the actual learning experience, so I believe that the approach to curriculum that she brought forward was a big step for the shift to student-centric education. Compared to my own understanding of curriculum, I’d like to say that I agree with the quote, but I don’t think that is the ‘greatest sign of success’. I think that independence is an important lesson to teach, but I think that the actual process of education is not reflected though independence alone. I think that curriculum is reflected through understanding and healthy development as a whole. One thing I strongly agree with however is looking towards the children to deem a teacher successful or unsuccessful. In my own experience, I have seen teachers hold themselves highly due to organizational skills or mastery of a subject area, but lack in personable skills. This leads me to believe that curriculum can be realized as more of a learning experience and interactions between students and teachers instead of sets of information to be realized.