Montessori Today: A Comprehensive Approach to Education from Birth to Adulthood

by Paula Polk Lillard

Overview

Paula Lillard, director of a Montessori school ranging in age from 18 months to fifteen years, provides a clear and cogent introduction to the Montessori program for the elementary and later years. In detailed accounts, Lillard shows how children acquire the skills to answer their own questions, learn to manage freedom with responsibility, and maintain a high level of intellectual stimulation by using the Montessori method. This is an essential handbook for parents and teachers who have chosen the Montessori alternative for the older child.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307761323
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/07/2011
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	240
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Paula Polk Lillard is the author of Montessori: A Modern Approach and Montessori in the Classroom. She is cofounder and director of the Forest Bluff School in Lake Bluff, Illinois.

Editorial Reviews

Lillard (Montessori: A Modern Approach) brings over a decade of experience as a Montessori teacher and administrator to this overview of Maria Montessori's teaching methods which, says Lillard, ``balance freedom with responsibility in the classroom and also set high standards of intellectual and social development for children. Lillard uses graphs to explain the fundamental difference between ``regular'' education and Montessori, showing that regular education offers an ascending, relentless scale of information and responsibility while virtually ignoring the pivotal years between birth and Kindergarten. She contrasts this with Montessori which considers the ages from birth through 24 years, and within those argues that there will be four periods of ``intense change'' in the child as well as four periods of ``slower pace.'' Lillard, co-founder, director and teacher atthe Forest Bluff School in Lake Bluff, Illinois, draws heavily upon classroom anecdotes and examples, bringing these theories to life by discussing real children and their very real imaginations, words and artowrk. Teachers of ``regular'' classrooms would gain insight from Lillard's ideas; any adult interested in children and education would find this book an important link between the ideal of liberal education and the reality of the United States' collapsing school system. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Lillard, author of "Montessori: A Modern Approach" (1988) and cofounder of a respected Montessori school in Lake Bluff, Illinois, describes the Montessori approach and sketches its application from preschool through early adulthood in this short but thorough volume. After a brief discussion of the origin and implications of Montessori's theories about child development, the author surveys the primary years and the stories and lessons that are most appropriate to this stage of development; analyzes the elementary classroom and teacher from both theoretical and practical perspectives, complete with anecdotes from her own and other Montessori teachers' experiences; and moves into less familiar territory to describe the impact of Montessori's theories on education at the middle school, secondary school, and college levels. "Montessori Today" will be a useful tool for parents analyzing educational alternatives as well as for students who may be thinking about a career in education.

Mary Carroll

"Paul Lillard is an excellent guide to Maria Montessori's key ideas and to the place of Montessori education in contemporary society."--Howard Gardner, author of Frames of Mind

"Children's schools shape their lives, intellects, and worldviews. This clear guide to Montessori education today will help parents to consider the Montessori alternative for their child."
--Jane M. Healy, author of Your Child's Growing Mind

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