The greatest sign of a success for a teacher…is to be able to say, “The children are now working as if I did not exist.”
– Maria Montessori
Education is full of endless possibilities as well as impossibilities. As an educator, one is responsible for the growth, success, well-being, and new understandings achieved by all students. What can be made possible or impossible in education must not only be encouraged and enforced by teachers, but also achieved individually by the students to build one’s confidence.
I believe this quote presented by Maria Montessori beautifully breaks down the role of a teacher and exemplifies the individual success of a student which needs to be achieved throughout years of education. In order to succeed completely, a child must have their own found confidence in their capabilities of succeeding. Children working confidently and independently provides proof of the child’s individual success and the endless possibilities they will discover as they proceed in life.
In a way, this quote can make the impossible slightly possible regarding the idea that a teacher’s work is never finished. Although I believe that just because a student can work without the need for a teacher’s constant guidance, that does not mean that a teacher’s work is finished. Teacher’s are constantly offering their school time and personal time to support the success of all students, and once one student or group can work independently, the teacher simply moves onto the next.
Montessori supports the important role of a teacher in her most simplistic quote because of the immense time and effort in which a teacher must put in in order for a student to be able to work without the needed presence of a teacher. A child’s independent success is when an educator can know that they are doing their job as their student’s succeed on their own. A good teacher is an educator who can give their students the resources and confidence needed to achieve their academic goals without having a teacher by their side. Teacher’s give their student’s the knowledge and understandings needed to make their own new understandings. This quote also supports the capabilities of students as they are able to engage in their own learning after appropriate guidance from a teacher who is confident in their student’s success.
My own understandings of curriculum and school are pleasantly challenged by the Montessori quote because I did not focus on this understanding of the importance of an educators role and the effects they have on student success. I hope to engage my students in a learning environment where they can actively support themselves in their new understandings after I have taught them enough to improve their confidence. My role as the educator would not end, but my confidence in my students success would be supported in their individual learning experiences.