Middle School Program
“The role of education is to interest the child profoundly in external activity to which he will give all his potential.”
– Dr. Maria Montessori
The Montessori focus on student-led, hands-on learning, continues in our Middle School program. Middle School students continue the group work they began in Elementary with an in-depth focus on collaboration, leadership, and service.
Dr. Montessori believed that with the changes in development at this age, students are ready for many different types of education. One focus at this age is on taking care of the land where their school is located and doing service for their community. This leads children to a deeper connection with nature and an understanding of their responsibility in taking care of the Earth and the people that live all around us. Another core idea is that the successes of the group are more important than the successes of the individual. Each lesson, research project, or group activity, is aimed at emphasizing the importance of cooperation and collaboration in preparation for adult work and personal relationships. To improve leadership skills, regular community meetings are held where students can address concerns around the classroom environment and come up with solutions together, suggest research projects, and share interests that they are exploring. Throughout the encouragement of collaboration, practice being a leader also emerges. Students are encouraged to question and challenge work and presented material in groups to discover their own ideas, research, and thoughts.