Developing future leaders, innovators & responsible citizens
Fiore is part of a worldwide Montessori community that believes all children have an inherent passion for learning, and teachers have a unique opportunity to fuel that passion into a lifelong pursuit. Rather than viewing education as a series of short-term goals, we embody a long-term holistic approach.
The results of recognizing children’s inherent strengths and developmental needs, and meeting those needs in carefully designed classroom environments, are students who not only achieve academic excellence, but also whose creative thinking and self-direction has been nurtured so that they are truly prepared to meet any future challenge or pursuit with confidence.
Because we cannot predict the skills needed for tomorrow, it is important that our children know how to learn and adapt; we want them to have the ability to analyze, synthesize, and utilize information. The world is rapidly changing. As populations increase, resources become increasingly limited. We are more closely connected and interdependent than ever before in history. Social literacy – understanding, respecting, and being connected to others – is more important than ever; it is what can differentiate employees in the ever changing job market. The future leaders and innovators, citizens of tomorrow, need to be prepared with a “new” set of skills.
In his book The Global Achievement Gap, renowned author, speaker, entrepreneur, and most recently, the first Innovation Education Fellow at the Technology & Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard, Tony Wagner, delineates Seven Survival Skills – the skills that matter most for work, learning, and citizenship in today’s global economy. Each is listed below with examples of how this skill is supported in the Montessori classroom.
1) Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
- Exploration and understanding are emphasized in the Montessori classroom.
- Children are given time to think through and absorb what has been presented.
- Repetition allows children to engage with their work and discover a solution.
- Children use materials which enable them to answer their own questions.
2) Collaboration Across Networks and Leading by Influence
- Children work in mixed-age classroom communities.
- Individual concentration is respected, but collaborative work is also encouraged and supported.
- Cultural studies and global awareness are built in to the curriculum.
- Children have opportunities to conceive of an idea, then motivate and organize a group of their peers to bring it to fruition.
3) Agility and Adaptability
- Children work within a classroom where they learn to manage change and disruption.
- They have the freedom to change course or direction: to trouble shoot and problem solve.
- Mistakes are a valuable part of the learning process.
- Children choose from a variety of objects to find the right material for the problem.
4) Initiative and Entrepreneurship
- From an early age children learn to make choices.
- Work is self-directed and projects become focused and results driven.
- Independence, self-awareness, and self-confidence are facilitated when the student is involved in self-evaluation.
- Older children raise funds and plan trips.
5) Effective Oral and Written Communication
- Classroom environments are rich in language.
- Children have many opportunities to communicate with adults and each other.
- They have continual contact with their peers during their work.
- Group interactions necessitate expression of thoughts and opinions.
- Older children share their work through oral presentations, skits and plays.
6) Accessing and Analyzing Information
Children utilize a variety of sources of information:
- books and magazines in the classroom
- resources in libraries and museums
- on-line resources that are carefully selected
- information gathered from interviewing experts
There is also an exchange of information among students as well as with teachers.
Children are given time to reflect, digest, sort, and select information.
7) Curiosity and Imagination
- Children have the freedom to follow their interests.
- The arts and other tools of self-expression are integrated into the curriculum.
- The imagination is engaged with stories, charts, and timelines.
- The children’s work is driven by questions.
- Children have the tools and the freedom to create an innovative work product.