Love of Learning Montessori School implements a unique form of

Long Island Business News, Feb 6, 2004 by Ken Cerini

Help me to help myself. That's the philosophy behind a Montessori education.

Following the lead of Maria Montessori, the school system's founder, the Love of Learning Montessori School offers a unique form of teaching that goes beyond reading textbooks and following lesson plans. Love of Learning is one of 20 Montessori schools on Long Island and ranks among the purest of its kind.

Our focus is to be more than just a feeding process for disseminating information, said Sheldon Thompson, co-director and teacher at Love of Learning Montessori School. The Montessori education, materials, teacher and environment all work together to help children discover things on their own.

When describing why the Montessori school is so successful, Thompson uses the analogy of starting a new job. Your first day on the job is when you truly understand the facets of your work, not when you discuss it on the interview or read the job description in the paper, he said. That's how students learn at Love of Learning. It's about being hands-on and getting involved in activities.

In the pre-school and kindergarten classes, for example, students clean up the toys and wash the tables and chairs. It helps children develop self-discipline and appreciation of order, Thompson said. They can better apply knowledge and sit and concentrate because they understand order and what they can do for themselves. It's a great self-esteem builder.

Montessori does not provide scripted learning; rather, it focuses on each child as an individual. The school doesn't always follow daily lesson plans and treats subjects - math, music, art and natural studies, for example - as interdependent.

The teacher is an enlightened generalist who can pull all the threads together and help the child see how all the pieces come together in their life and the world, Thompson said. It becomes learning through understanding as opposed to rote memory.

Love of Learning is often recommended for children who don't perform well in public schools, Thompson said, adding that's especially true today given that children are often diagnosed with attention deficit disorder as soon as behavioral problems surface. Many of those problems, though, could be attributable to a child's difficulty conforming in traditional settings, Thompson said. Once a child comes to Love of Learning, these labels are quickly shed, he said.

Love of Learning brings together students of different ages and often sparks the desire to learn. Children in first grade see what a second-grade child is doing and want to be a part of it too. They are always striving to take another step forward, Thompson said. No child wants to be little. They all want to be grown-up. That type of learning, called peer-to-peer, has been at the heart of Love of Learning from the school's inception.

Cooperative learning not only drives children to want to learn more but also reinforces what a child already knows. Students demonstrating strengths in particular areas are often given the opportunity to help other students. One of the best ways to learn anything is to teach it to someone else, Thompson said.

The success of the Montessori method is borne out in test results. Although children attending private schools are not required to take the standardized tests mandated by New York State, Love of Learning administers them anyway. We want to make sure [the children here] are on the same page as their peers at other schools, Thompson said.

That becomes important when students graduate from Love of Learning and enter a different education system. Montessori provides a strong foundation for children to meet the academic and social challenges of traditional education in the world beyond elementary school.

Children graduating from Love of Learning at sixth grade go on to attend a whole range of public and private educational institutions. On the average, our kids do very well at these schools because they know how to learn, Thompson said. They know how to organize their thoughts and they have a great attitude toward work.