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Training the New Teacher

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Because of the prime value of the new relationship between the new child and the new teacher, OBMC places considerable effort in the recruitment and selection of its candidates for training. Undergone in two summers and a semester, the O.B. Montessori Teacher In-House Formation Course covers three phases:

TECHNICAL TRAINING requires the teacher-trainee to master Montessori philosophy together with the presentation and handling of the different Montessori materials on Practical Life, Sensorial Education, Language, Math and Geometry, and Cultural Arts. The teacher personally creates an apparatus book, which describes these materials and procedures together with their aims, and the ages of the children for which they are intended.

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PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAINING helps the aspiring Montessori teacher to undergo self-transformation to acquire the virtues of the new teacher: order, concentration, love of work, obedience, initiative, friendliness, and joy, paralleled with curriculum mastery.

SPIRITUAL TRAINING focuses on the acquisition of humility and patience that take the place of anger and pride, for the Montessori teacher “studies how to purify [the] heart and render it burning with charity towards the child . . . puts on humility and above all learns to serve.” This phase of the training allows the teacher-trainee to develop attitudes of faith, hope, confidence, and love, along with the proper modulation of voice, clarity of speech, and the consciousness of speaking in public.

Lectures go hand in hand with readings of Montessori reference books, and are concluded by the submission of a wide range of essays. Once the teachers pass their theoretical and practical exams, they undertake an internship in the classroom, working closely with a senior Montessori teacher.

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Significant time is invested in mastering the art of individual child observation so the teachers can truly aid the development of the students’ learning and behavioral faculties to maximize their potential.

All throughout their training, the teachers face the challenge to change their traditional ways and to replace them with the Montessori way of educating children.