The three-period lesson is one of the most basic tenets of Montessori-style education.  It may seem complicated, but it’s actually quite simple.  (Also, it may not literally be in exactly three sessions.  It’s more like a 3-stage lesson.  If you’re familiar with classical education, think of it as the grammar, logic, and rhetoric stages of a given lesson.)

Montessori’s 3-Period Lessons

Period (“Stage”) One:
Provide the student with information.  At this point, you are telling the student what is what.

Let’s use as our example learning the states.  (Also, you probably don’t want to start by focusing on all 50 states at once.  Just pick a few, and expand the selection as your student gets the hang of it.)  During this period, you will point to (for instance) Maine and say, “This is Maine.”  Point to New Hampshire and say, “This is New Hampshire.”  Point to Vermont and say, “This is Vermont.”  That’s all you’re doing at this point — providing the student with the necessary information.  You will repeat this stage until the student understands.  Keep in mind that, depending on the student and the subject, this may take more than one sitting.

Period (“Stage”) Two:
Ask the student for feedback, but give specific direction.

“Which one is New Hampshire?”  “Which one is Maine?”  If he’s missing a lot of them, you probably need to go back to stage one.

Period (“Stage”) Three:
Ask the student for feedback, but leave it open-ended.

Here the student will need to understand the information at a slightly less concrete level.  Now you are not asking, “Which one is ______?”  Rather, you are pointing to an item and asking, “Which one is this?” He will have to produce the name from his memory bank.  Again, if he has difficulty with this, he’s not ready for this stage, and you need to backtrack.

Things to Keep in Mind

Keep in mind that:

1. Each stage does not necessarily correlate with a sitting.  In some instances, you may have to repeat a single stage over several lesson periods.  In other instances, you may be able to go through several stages at once.

2. Too much new information will overwhelm the child.  You’ll want to start with not more than a handful of different items.  Add new ones in as the child grasps the concept.  You don’t teach the whole alphabet at once!  Don’t try to teach that quantity of new information in other subjects all at one time, either.

3. This will work with nearly any, if not any, subject.  Parts of an ant, life cycle of a frog, shapes, letters of the alphabet, states or provinces, parts of speech.  You do, however, need something to point to.  Pictures in a book, 3-part cards, words (for students who can read), or actual manipulative objects will all work.