The Technology of Montessori Teaching
Dr. Montessori did not describe or detail any technology for following her scientific approach with children. After 1952, practitioners had only the general guidance of her books and the format of conventional teacher education, which largely avoided any mention of objective means such as technology to apply in her approach.
Since 1979, the Society has been seeking to identify and elaborate the missing technology, to assure a more effective, objective basis for implementing scientific education with children. In 2003, this effort led to a surprising discovery of a comprehensive technology that anyone can use to create the special Montessori environment.

This distinctive new technology of Montessori teaching consists of a set of techniques, protocols, safe words and lesson presentations — the essential tools for following laws of nature with chil-dren. In essence, the techniques are what to do, and the protocols are how to do it. Safe words relate to specific guidance to more precisely control the use of verbal techniques with children. Lesson presentations are forms of interaction between the teacher and child, which combine the various techniques, protocols and safe words into recognizable patterns of activity. The technology is summarized as follows:

Techniques
These are the ten basic actions involved in practicing Montessori teaching — a sort of periodic table of basic elements to effectively control the environment. They are listed here from light to heavy, the lighter ones being generally more favorable and frequently employed.

1. Eye contact
2. Proximity
3. Distraction
4. Clear Direction
5. Patient Waiting
6. Repetition
7. Cooperative Touching
8. Reflective Language
9. Questioning
10. Imagination – previsioning

The techniques will only work as they are employed according to the pertinent protocols.

Protocols
The twenty protocols of Montessori teaching indicate how to apply the various techniques. These act as a catalyst to release the power and effect of the techniques in practice. The protocols are listed here in order of their general importance, starting with those that have most wide and frequent application, ending with those of more limited use.

1. Well-being of Total Environment
2. Least Amount of Adult Involvement
3. Present Moment
4. No Negative Attention to Misbehavior
5. Don’t Correct Child
6. Basis of Interest (ask; touch/look)
7. Model Good Behavior
8. Eye contact before Talking
9. Don’t Interrupt Concentration
10. Be Friendly — Get Acquainted
11. Enhance Independence
12. No Rules for Children
13. Emphasize Main Point(s) — Isolate Variable
14. Child Watching
15. Same Routines all the Time
16. Take out Everything
17. From the Shelf
18. Lay out Randomly
19. Simplify Complexity — Hint
20. Confirm Accuracy — Clarify/Expand

The verbal techniques of reflective language, clear direction, and questioning, require special attention, to avoid detrimental tendencies of negativity that would violate such protocols as #4 and 5 above. The teacher therefore must practice using “safe words” in such situations, wherever possible, to avoid the ordinary tendencies to use destructive, negative language.

Safe Words
Speaking with children is certainly necessary at times, but can be the most dangerous aspect of Montessori teaching, when many mistakes easily arise, yet are hard to notice and correct. Negative words like “no” and “don’t” can easily emerge with children in misbehavior situations. The teacher therefore needs a resource of safe words to employ in place of the more ordinary tendencies towards various types of negative, judgmental language. Some of the most useful “safe words” are:

Come over here, I have something to show you (distraction — clear direction)
Take my hand (cooperative touching — clear direction)
Where does this go? (questioning)
Watch (when child says “I don’t know” to something to do — clear direction)

The teacher combines techniques, protocols and safe words into specific forms of interaction with children. Such a sequence or combination of interactions is referred to here as a “lesson presentation”.

Lesson Presentations
A “lesson” in Montessori teaching is any interaction between the adult and child. A lesson presentation is when various techniques, protocols and safe words are combined together in a group or sequence for a specific purpose. There are three main categories of lesson presentation.

1. Misbehavior
2. Sensorial Introduction
3. Nomenclature (Seguin 3-period lesson)

The “misbehavior” lesson presentation relates to any interaction whose purpose is to resolve some type of behavior that is not consistent with true normal being. The teacher uses this type of lesson presentation to engage a misbehavior scenario, by first distinguishing the “hub” child from its surrounding environment. Then, the teacher proceeds to remove the detrimental influences in that particular environment, by using various techniques as moderated by their pertinent protocols.

The misbehavior lesson presentation is common in the beginning stages of interacting with a new group of children. The teacher engages in a type of polishing process in the environment, using heavier techniques of control in the beginning, to gradually employ lighter ones as the children show more order, calm, self-discipline and harmony.

As children become calm and orderly, they begin to concentrate with materials they choose in the environment. Based on their specific interest, the teacher then uses the “sensorial” lesson presentation, to show that particular material. This lesson presentation must be done to minimize any negative influence of the teacher’s presence, giving maximum attention to the child’s inde-pendent use and experimentation with the materials thereafter.

The nomenclature lesson presentation relates to showing a child some relationship between words and their corresponding concept or physical attribute in the environment. Most importantly, this is employed in the presentation of beginning reading, using a special three-period lesson described by Dr. Eduard Seguin. The Seguin three-period lesson can be employed to very good advantage to show many concepts and objects throughout the wide range of academic subject matter.

The teacher uses the technology indicated here to effectively create conditions for normal development. In this way, the children normalize as well as develop knowledge in a wide range of academic subject matter associated with learning in such areas as practical life, sensorial, math, language and the various fields of science. This summary is more fully elaborated in IMS workshops. A full rendering of this information will be compiled in detail in the upcoming book entitled "Technology of Montessori Teaching".