AMI 6-12 Montessori Orientation

Course details

This Assistants Course helps interested adults become informed, capable, and supportive assistants to a trained elementary teacher. Further, the program may serve as an information course for administrators of schools and parents.
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Course units
1 - Introduction to Montessori 

• Needs and tendencies
• Self construction
• Four planes of development
• Characteristics of child in second plane

2 - The prepared environment for the second plane

• The elementary teacher
• The materials
• Other adults (assistant, experts)

3 - The plan for the elementary child

• Cosmic education
• The pedagogical techniques (examples of lessons may be included)
• Role of teacher (transmitter of knowledge, inspiration)
• Class composition (mixed ages, sufficient children)
• Story telling/oral introductions (Great Stories/ other stories)
• Content knowledge (key lessons)
• Sensorial/imaginative presentations, leading to abstraction
• Develop imagination, leading to creativity
• Awareness of necessity for social/moral development
• Going Out (implementing the child's self construction)
• Other adults (there is more outside the classroom)

4 - Freedom and responsibility

• Freedom as applied to child in elementary environment
• Responsibility as applied to child in elementary environment

5 - Interacting with the elementary child

• Manner of speaking to a child
• Appropriate direction for a child
• Manner of redirecting child

6 - Assisting the trained teacher:

• Have regular meetings with the teacher
• Observation of the children that supports the work of the teacher/child
• Maintenance of the environment
• Ordering supplies
• Accompanying children on Going Outs
• Role Model for appropriate classroom behaviors (language, movement, activity)
• Maintain confidentiality

​ Updated on 24 February, 2021