A fully equipped Montessori classroom is a wonder of great physical beauty. However, the finest materials are not enough to effectively establish a Montessori environment. Senior in importance to materials are skillful, committed teachers to effectively apply the Montessori principles. Therefore, effective teacher training centers are urgently needed now.

The IMS affiliation program enables committed individuals to create the needed teacher training centers for their local areas. Primary and elementary course curriculum guides provided to affiliates are excellent tools which enable training center directors to successfully provide the effective training programs needed. In addition, advertising, certification and other support services enable affiliates to establish their centers without excessive cost or burden. Expert, personal consultation is always available.

Since the basic IMS independent study course requires about one year for students to complete, it is urgent to begin the affiliation process now to prepare for future needs. Complete the Reader Response form for further details and to receive a preliminary confidential application. 

Montessori Materials… What is Needed

Perhaps the last significant barrier to realizing the new education is the sense of inadequacy experienced by teachers and administrators with respect to providing materials for the classroom.

Beginning a classroom or school, the new Montessori teacher soon realizes the significant financial commitment and personal effort and time required to provide the exacting and beautiful items needed for an effective physical environment. Excessive costs, insufficient availability and selection and inconsistent design among manufacturers can result in discouragement and frustration.

Current Efforts

The Association Montessori Internationale (A.M.l.) has attempted to provide uniform standards and consistency through its approval of specific materials. Kaybee (India) and Nienhuis (Holland) serve as the foremost examples of A.M.l. approved materials. However, even these companies appear unable to maintain and enhance traditional quality as a result of the changing conditions in the world. Nienhuis, for example, has recently abandoned the use of glass in the manufacture of the bead material. As Nienhuis explained in the A.M.l. newsletter, Communications, 1979, No. 4, “After using glass for over fifty years, this has had to come to an end”. Montessori teachers can judge for themselves the suitability and quality of the new plastic product which replaces the traditional glass beads.

Faced with increasing prices, inadequate selection and changing quality of materials provided by the major manufacturers, elements within the Montessori community have sought their own solutions by making materials and establishing small companies to provide the needed materials unavailable through the larger companies. These small companies provide a needed supplemental service; however, there is no substitute for a single primary source for all the basic materials needed for the classroom.

What is Needed

Needed is a materials production and distribution approach closely integrated with the needs of the Montessori community. The teacher training centers must be intimately engaged in the management and consultation with respect to the production of materials so that needed changes and services can be adequately and effectively made.

IMS supports the idea of materials production and distribution from a single primary company within the Montessori community functioning in close cooperation with the teacher training centers and effectively responsive to the needs of the classroom teachers. Such a company would include on a single price list the finest apparatus from many different manufacturing sources. Consistent and effective design of new and modified materials would conform closely with the needs of the teachers. A primary aim of this company would be to provide the highest quality materials at the lowest possible price.

No Substitute for Wood

Unfortunately, it would appear that some of the beautiful, traditional Montessori materials may no longer be commercially available. Explaining the replacement of glass for plastic in the Nienhuis manufacture of the bead material, Mario Montessori stated (AMI newsletter, Communications, 1979, No. 4) that: “The famous Montessori bead material…cannot be made any longer in the same quality”.

It is possible that manufacturers may also choose to replace the traditional wood apparatus with the less costly synthetic materials, such as plastic. However, teachers and children might significantly object to such a modernization.

The natural beauty and texture of wood could not easily be matched by synthetics. In addition, wood products are connected to the child’s immediate sense of nature and call the child to investigate the historical development of tools and machines. Therefore, the continued use of wood in the construction of traditional Montessori materials deserves priority consideration beyond purely economic factors. Moreover, it is possible that the future use of wood may actually increase as innovative manufacturing processes and creative design are employed in meeting the need for new and modified devices for the primary and elementary Montessori classrooms.

Classroom Management Is Communication

Classroom management is an expression of the Montessori principle, Preparation of the Environment. The essence of effective classroom management is communication; responsible, firm, patient, clear. Communication is realized through the teacher’s presence which does not always require verbal expression.

Dr. Frederick H. Jones, a psychologist at the University of Rochester who provides discipline and classroom management workshops for teachers, believes that excellent teaching is teachable. Dr. Jones its done effectively, discipline is almost invisible, so low key and precise, just moment to moment, that it prevents rather than terminates the majority of disruptions. One of the things I have to train teachers to do is keep their mouths shut…eye contact is very important…It’s 95% body language”.

Originally published in 1980 in Vol. 1, No. 4 issue of The Montessori Observer