IB - Montessori part 2 - Peace

"Averting war is the work of politicians; establishing peace is the work of education." Maria Montessori

People that follow the work and life of Maria Montessori and the evolution of Montessori education closely have little need for a reminder of the strong connection between her work in schools and her ideal of peace.  Montessori's life and work on 'Peace Education' was engendered by two world wars, work in the slums of Rome, her exile from Italy by Mussolini, the Spanish Civil War and her work at UNESCO and as a UN ambassador.  

At Waterfront Montessori our Primary and Lower Elementary programs set a strong foundation for an understanding of the world and its peoples.  The Lower Elementary student knows peace and the world through mapwork, studying fundamental human needs, and an emphasis on human togetherness.  

The Middle School IB curriculum gives us an opportunity to abstract peace and human relations and cement the concept of peace.  As our students develop into abstract thinkers and continue to challenge subtleties and disconnections between what we say and do, questions invariably arise.  

Why do we fight?

Why does inequality exist?

Why are people sometimes cruel to each other?

What can we do about it?

Even an average IB curriculum is a strong peace education ally because of its focus on internationality and plurality of thought.  By focusing on economics, political geography in context and especially on understanding the mind and motivation of the other, our IB Middle School program asks all the right questions to develop that Early School Montessori foundation.

Open-mindedness is one of the IB learner profiles that we aim to develop in our understanding of peace and human relations.  In our curriculum, we explore iterations of a key question that informs the relationships we have with our classmates, peers and neighbors:

How do our experiences help determine our opinions and who we become?

We can extrapolate that question into the realm of international affairs and peace among nations and peoples.  The most important lesson however, is that the different experiences we've had yesterday will inform our actions and opinions today.  That we are not fundamentally different but have lived different circumstances and that what brings us together is much more powerful than what separates us.  

Our Montessori-IB students develop that question and answer every day.  The strong peace connection of the philosophies make them experts in the field and leaders of Peace Education.

IB - Montessori part I - Questions

We know from experience and Montessori's work that the driving force in our classrooms are not the adults standing in front of them, but the questions that develop in the child's mind.  The role of the teacher in the Montessori classroom is that of a guide, and that of a storyteller.  Through the five great lessons and countless stories we set the stage for a universe of human reality and wonder for the child to begin exploring.  Their questions will ultimately create their understanding of those lessons and of our universe, as well as provide their focus going forward.


The Montessori classroom is able to create an environment that prolongs the interactions that infants and toddlers have naturally with their parents, friends and surroundings.  Interactions where the toddlers are innately curious and voracious in their exploration. 

• What is this?
• What does this do?
• Why is this here?
• Where does this come from?
• Why are we going there?

The child's curiosity is insatiable.  Not only verbal, but also - as any parent will eagerly chime in - completely sensorial.  The child touches everything, tastes everything, listens to everything, smells everything and attempts to transform everything in this exploration.  By taking advantage of this instead of suppressing it, the Primary and Elementary Montessori curriculum is second to none. 


We chose to create an International Baccalaureate Middle School because the program is founded on asking powerful questions.  The difference in the two philosophies is that in the Montessori tradition our questions are not explicit or necessarily shared. Taking advantage of our MS students moving into a decidedly more social plane of development, we understand that discovery and exploration is not only private and self-driven but has also become a shared peer experience.  In our Middle School curriculum we share questions and ideas, we still let the child drive his learning by asking questions, but we now make their questions explicit and available to their classmates.  We tell stories and expand on the great lessons and use student curiosity to develop our curriculum.


We are driven by questions instead of content:

• What is order? What is chaos? Instead of Ancient Greece.
• What is a number? Instead of base ten number systems.
• What is an ideal community? Instead of The Giver.
• When is it good to be wrong? Instead of the Scientific Method.

Montessori and the International Baccalaureate

A match made in heaven!  And explored in our Montessori - IB Middle School as well as countless others.  The connection - Look at the center!

 

Part 1 of this magical relationship next!