Mentorship in our classrooms: Why Mixed Ages Work

Have you ever noticed the mixed-age classrooms in a Montessori school and wondered why? This is a specific design that allows younger children to benefit from having older peers as role models and mentors and enables older children to step into leadership roles. This model mirrors real-world experiences where people of different ages work together and learn from each other.

In our IMSP classrooms, older students relish and value the opportunity to be leaders, sometimes stepping into a teaching role. Mentoring their younger friends increases the independence and competence of the older students. This model is also beneficial to the younger children as they look to older students to be role models and helpers. They know that they can count on them for help and, because of this, they can accomplish tasks they may not be able to do independently yet.

As a whole, children can cooperate rather than compete, creating an environment of learners who support and care for each other. Check out this video to see Montessori mentorship in action!

Want to learn more? Read our next article:

STARTING PRESCHOOL: HOW TO HANDLE SAYING GOODBYES?

Comments

Další články

Magic mat

There are a few things typical to Montessori classrooms worldwide that might give the casual observer a pause. Picture it: you walk into a beautiful Casa environment, full of children working, many of them on mats rolled out on the floor. The students moving through the room know to step between mats, never on them. Of course, in the beginning of the school year it took many presentations, repetitions and reminders to instill this routine in the students.

Tidy Up! An Activity Your Toddler Will Love

Looking at our Toddler classrooms, even a casual observer will notice that half of the children’s time seems to be spent cleaning. They’re busy sweeping, wiping, mopping, scrubbing and brushing; even almost antiquated activities, such as washing laundry by hand or polishing wood and metal objects, have their place.

IMSP PODCAST: MEET ALUMNUS Jonáš Zapletal

“The thing that IMSP really contributed the most to me would be developing my curiosity. Just, letting me as a kid explore my own world in my own way,“

Reading from a Young Age Matters

A picture is the first content of a book that a child can „read“. Thanks to pictures, a child can understand a story without knowing how to read, interpreting the main figures/animals, the environment, and the situations from the visuals. From illustrated facial expressions and body language the child can also tell emotions. Enjoying a good book raises a love and passion that is necessary for prereading skills.

Future of Education

Radka Dohnalova, a parent of three IMSP children, has been researching the future of education in this world. She has summarized her findings in the article below, which was also recently published. Radka wanted to share the results with the IMSP community when her research revealed how Montessori education aligns with where the future of education is heading.