Montessori Philosophy

Alligning Your Way of Being with Montessori Philosophy

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Respect

Maria Montessori emphasizes the importance of respecting the work that a child engages in and encourages us to try to understand them. She sees each child as an individual capable of accomplishing or learning how to perform tasks to become independent.

Step back for a moment and consider how having respect means allowing others (whether child or adult) to do things for themselves or discover their way of being, rather than imposing your will and way of doing things on them. Micromanagement takes a lot of energy. It is exhausting trying to bend everyone to your way. As a teacher giving a lesson to a child, you can show someone how you do something, then let them try, and allow them the space to discover their own way.

It is easy for me to recall my own experience of having my way of doing something criticized and my negative, resistant response to criticism. Some of us carry criticism wounds from our childhood that make us touchy and very resistant to this type of “teaching”. Yet if someone invites me to do a task with them and shows me how they do something and allows me to try along with them, I am much more receptive. Likely, I will learn from what I am shown and then add my flair to what I have learned and make the process my own. In turn, they may also learn something by showing me and then observing what I end up doing. This is one way in which teachers become better teachers is by observing their students and seeing the students’ ideas being added to their own.

Prepared Environment

Montessori Teachers should spend time preparing the environment for their students. In a classroom where children are working, the teacher observes how the students are responding to their environment and will be making notes regarding what is working or not. Is something hard for the student to get to? Is there enough space for children to do their work? What type of energy does the room seem to influence? Are the children interested in the activities? Is there an activity on the shelf that nobody is using, and why?

Look at your own home or work area. Like you observe children in a classroom, observe yourself in your space. How do you feel in your environment? Clutter can cause anxiety. It is very helpful to regularly make donations of things you are no longer using. What things do you have in your space that remind you of negative experiences? Maybe these things need to be purged. Can you reach the shelves you need to get to? Do you need to have a step-stool available? Continually adjust things and prepare your environment for your success.

If you have children in your home, it is important to prepare an environment for them as well to encourage their independence, especially in the kitchen and bathroom. Some Montessori homes even have a small fridge that may give a child access to snacks or drinks they can get for themselves. short shelves, accessible dishes, and cleaning supplies. I cannot stress the importance of having your children be part of a community that cares for the environment. They get a lot more from the experience of being part of the family community instead of being served, and that works best when the home environment is created with them in mind.

Humanitarian values

Maria Montessori said, “The child is both a hope and a promise for mankind.” In a Montessori classroom, the teacher promotes peaceful resolutions, conversation, expression of feelings, empathy for others, internal discipline, and, most importantly, models these principles to their students. This is an important area in which to align yourself. In your life, are you seeking peaceful resolutions to problems? Are you engaging in meaningful conversations, looking for agreeable solutions with others? Are you expressing your feelings healthily? Are you considering other people’s feelings? What do you do to practice internal discipline? In a world so full of conflict, as Montessorians, we should be doing our best to be a beacon of peace and hope for the people in our lives.

Having a positive outlook and looking for the good, focusing on love and kindness, can make a difference in your life and the people around you. Take time to be present in nature. Look at all the beauty. Make sure to seek good things to fill your soul and don’t allow yourself to get sucked into negativity. I do not mean to be naive or avoid all that may be going on, but try to stay balanced and make sure positivity can permeate into your soul so you can share it with others.

Guiding Six Year Olds

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Chapter 1: The Six-Year-Old Confronted with the Cosmic Plan

As I jump back into Montessori Philosophy reading blog, I decided to start with To Educate the Human Potential. Six year olds are intrigued by nature and can use their imagination to learn lessons about earth and our existence. One thing that is difficult in this age of media and entertainment is so much exposure to stimulation where imagination is derailed towards other endeavors such as superheroes, villains, fantastical creatures, and fantasy through so much gaming and streaming. For young people it can be confusing to determine what is real. Think about how much more they would gain using their imagination to connect with our science, math, language, and sociology? Without the distraction of media influences they can absorb so much more of the actual world around them.

As a teacher it was much harder to connect with young people that lived in a fantasy world. You would actually have to meet them in their imagined world to connect with them and then try to get them interested in other endeavors beyond fantasy play. The pretend kitchen, with pretend faucets’, plastic food, pretend stoves, and useless fridges. In the outdoors these kitchens produce bark mulch concoctions that are inedible. What would they rather do? Bring them into a real kitchen. Have them help prepare real food and learn how to use a real kitchen safely with the reward of food to eat and share with others.

Chapter one starts by pointing out the difference in personality that occurs around six year olds that make them very receptive to cultural lessons. Montessori recommends sowing as many seeds of interest as possible. This way the seed is there waiting for germination later.
Another important matter for six year olds is the development of moral activity. During this time they are trying out their own judgement and trying to impose their judgements on others. “An inner change has taken place, but nature is quite logical in arousing understanding, but a claim to mental independence, a desire to distinguish good from evil by his own powers, and to resent limitation by arbitrary authority.”

Six year olds also need to participate in organized activity, mixing with others in a group. It is normal for groups to develop leaders that the others obey. It is natural for mankind to organize itself and these young people will be able to use their morality, sense of right and wrong, to be part of organized society later in life.

At this age it is also important to allow the child to learn by their own activity and allow them to follow their choices and has a need for exercising their own mind. In Montessori philosophy teachers are considered guides not dictating what it is they need to learn but giving them what they need to satisfy their curiosity. Montessori says they must have ABSOLUTE freedom of choice. This frees the teacher from syllabuses and time , but the teacher needs to be knowledgeable in every subject so the teacher can help the student in their endeavors. “We shall walk together on this path of life, for all things are part of the universe, and are connected with each other to form a whole unity. This idea helps the minds of the child to become satisfied, having found the universal center of himself with all things.”

In my experience, there are many Montessori schools that are not true to guiding students and instead impose assigned school work, worksheets, and homework. This is not in line with Montessori philosophy. I’ve had my share of sheets tracking which lessons a student has had and where they are at on their not so self led journey. In these environment I even feel a lack of freedom. If I am not free as a teacher, how can expect the students to feel they have real choices and are learning what they are wanting to learn. When I am at my best as a teacher, I am afloat watching and observing the actions of the children, thinking about what work they would want to do and looking to see how I might help draw their interest to new areas. My real work is in preparing the environment. The key to this preparation is observing the classroom.

Montessori Approach to Parenting Adult Children

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I have reached a stage in my life where my children are grown. Although they faced hardships as young people, they have become independent. They are freethinking individuals who want to make a positive change in the world. I couldn’t ask for more!

“Peace is what every human being is craving for, and it can be brought about by the humanity through the child.” – Maria Montessori

If we raise children to be lifelong learners, they could truly impact the future of our planet. Allow them to develop and nurture their compassion for others. One thing I have to remember is to listen. I should not try to solve any problems that arise unless they ask for help. They need to have the opportunity to experience success and failure. So, keeping in line with Montessori principles, they experience the outcomes of their choices. No one tries to fix their mistakes for them. Often, just like me, they just want someone to listen while they work out their solutions.

I am not a fan of the approach of ‘now that you are 18, you need to move out and support yourself.’ I suppose this is like teaching your child to swim by throwing them into the water. We live in a world where this could lead to desperation. Choices are more limited while they are trying to figure out how to “adult”. I prefer going into the water with them. I show them and help them learn. At the same time, I gently encourage them to start swimming on their own.

So for a child entering adulthood it is important to watch and see what they are confident in and see what they ask for help with in order to develop their own independence separate from you. Be available to help, but try not to do what they can do for themselves.

For a young adult learning to take care of their bodies it could be helping them learn about health insurance, selecting a doctor, making appointments, and picking up prescriptions. They may need guidance regarding money management and learning how to use money to take care of their environment. They may request assistance in budgeting, opening bank accounts, how to make deposits, transfer money, paying bills, and taxes. These tasks when accomplished or mastered builds confidence and independence.

Parenting an adult should be a balance between showing, assisting, and acknowledgment of their ability with the goal of building their own intrinsic value and confidence that will allow them the freedom and independence to swim on their own.

Cylinder Block Exercises

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“There naturally follows as the result of the repetition of this exercise a sharpening of the eye in making distinctions, a greater keenness in observation, and a greater attentiveness in carrying out a systematic operation; and this in turn stimulates the reasoning power, which notices and corrects its errors.” (p. 125, para. 2)

For those that have not had formal Montessori Training, the purposes behind the Montessori materials may not be realized.  One mysterious work is the solid insets, more commonly called cylinder blocks.  These blocks contain groups of ten cylinders.   Maria discusses the composition of the insets in great detail down to the size in decreasing diameters, heights or both.   An additional benefit of the exercise is that when the child removes and replaces the cylinder using the small knobs on top, they are using their pincer grip muscle, preparing the child for holding a pen or pencil.

The spaces inside the block act as a control of error for the student.  In the cylinder set that differentiates itself in height alone, the child will notice when the wrong cylinder into the wrong space. It will be evident as the cylinder will either stick out too far or be swallowed up by the hole.  In another set, where all the cylinders are the same height and differentiate by width alone, the correction may occur at the end when one cylinder is left that does not fit into the remaining hole.  At this point, the child will need to look to see where the error was made.  When the cylinder block contains cylinders of different widths and heights, the control of error still exists and the child continues to learn to distinguish different dimensions at a more complex level.

 

Montessori, M. (1972). The Exercises. In The discovery of the child (pp. 123-125) New York: Ballantine.

Montessori Fundamentals: aesthetics, activity, control of error and limits

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“The training and sharpening of the senses has the obvious advantage of enlarging the field of perception and of offering an ever more solid foundation for intellectual growth.” (p.99, para. 2)

Thoughts after reading: 6. The Material for Development

The classroom itself is organized and aesthetically pleasing to the child. Having a beautiful environment for the child calls the child to work or activity. It also helps them develop a sense of care and concern for their environment. They water the plants, dust the shelves, sweep the floor, straighten books, and place objects where they belong. They feel that their classroom is their own and they are proud of the care that they give to the classroom. Children want a sense of belonging.

Montessori materials help prepare a young mind for science. The materials teach the child about order and categorization. Each sensorial material isolates a single focus for the child such as weight, size, length or color. If a child is using a material in which color is the focus contained needs to be the same. Everything else about the items in the exercise must be the same. Touch pads look the same, but have different textures. Color spools are all identical, but have different colors. Bells are the same, but have different sounds. After the child does the work, they must be able to self correct, using their own reasoning to identify their own mistakes and make their own corrections.

Limitation is key in the Montessori classroom. Not every student can do the same activity, but choose for themselves work that is available. If another student is using what they want they have the choice to observe, wait or select another activity.

Montessori, M. (1972). The Material for Development. In The discovery of the child (pp. 99-105) New York: Ballantine

Priority #1 is the Child

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“The greatest crime that society commits is that of wasting the money which it should use for children on things that will destroy them and society itself….” (p.214, para.1)

Thoughts after reading Part III. 30. The Rights of the Child

Maria demands that society set its priorities straight.  The child is the most important investment in the future of our world, yet often budgetary and funding choices within the home or government do not show this.  So many lives could be changed if more effort was placed on creating the proper environment for children to prosper in the home and at school.  Parents should be prepared for the great responsibility of child rearing, understanding their responsibility goes beyond just the physical health of their child.  The greatest thing a parent can do is love their child beyond their own self, placing their needs beyond their own.  This does not mean catering and being a slave to your child’s whim.  It means thinking about was is best for your child.  Do your research, seek to understand the child, become an observer and respond to their natural development that is unfolding before you.

I have now completed Maria Montessori’s Secret of Childhood.  I hope you have enjoyed this journey with me. I look forward to my next read:  The Discovery of the Child.

Montessori, M., & Costelloe, M. J. (1972). Introduction, Childhood: A Social -Problem. The secret of childhood (pp. 209-216). New York: Ballantine Books. (Original work published 1966)

 

Hope for the Future

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“Within the child lies the fate of the future. Whoever wishes to confer some benefit on society must preserve him from deviations and observe his natural ways of acting. A child is mysterious and powerful and contains within himself the secret of human nature.” (p. 208, para.3)

Thoughts after reading Part III: 29. The Child as a Teacher
Children are the most important thing that we have to offer our future. It is in our best interest to allow children to develop and grow into “normal humans.” Normal to Maria, is perhaps different than what many of us think. Maria views the normal child as one who is “precociously intelligent, who has learned to overcome himself and to live in peace, and who prefers disciplined task to futile idleness.” (p. 148, para. 1)

This is also the true nature she believes to be inside all men, but can be hidden by deviations and struggles that disrupted the man’s normal development as a child. Often men create wondrous technologies and inventions that seek to make life better and the same technology is used for atrocities. What is meant for good is made into evil. Maria says that we need a higher form of civilization in order to have hope for our world and this can be achieved through the child. The child is our hope for a future in which society can triumph. We wish for children that become virtuous adults, looking beyond acquiring things, fulfilling their spirit through making the world a better place.

Montessori, M., & Costelloe, M. J. (1972). Introduction, Childhood: A Social -Problem. The secret of childhood (pp. 207-208). New York: Ballantine Books. (Original work published 1966)

Embrace your maternal instincts!

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“Maternal instinct” is thus a generic definition given to the guiding instinct that is concerned with the preservation of the species. It has certain characteristics that are common to all living creatures. For one thing, it demands a sacrifice of all other adult instincts.” (p.201, para.5)

Thoughts after reading Part III: 28. Guiding Instincts

Montessori describes the deep sacrifice made by other creatures on behalf of their offspring; the bird build a nest, bees build a beehive, and spiders become intimately attached to their egg sack. Their instincts guide them to give their offspring what they need at the perfect time for their development. Yet as adults, we try to mold the children to fit into our adult world, instead of creating the nurturing environment they need in order to grow, “He acts as a butterfly would act that would break the cocoon of its larva to encourage it to fly. Or he acts like a frog that would draw its tadpole out of the water so that it might breathe on land….” (p.205, para. 2)

We may not be able to perfectly sacrifice ourselves as other animal species do for their children; however, being aware of our selfish tendencies can allow us to open our eyes to the child’s perspective and make changes that could benefit our children . A child needs an emotional and physical environment that is suitable for their development. As they grow and change their environment also needs to shift to support those needs.

Montessori, M., & Costelloe, M. J. (1972). Introduction, Childhood: A Social -Problem. The secret of childhood (pp. 199-206). New York: Ballantine Books. (Original work published 1966)

Letting the child do for himself

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“Our concept of the education of children thus differs not only from those who do everything for a child themselves but also from those who think they can leave the child in a purely passive environment. It is therefore not enough to prepare objects for children adapted in size shape to their needs: adults must also be trained to help them.” (p. 198, para. 3-4)

Thoughts after reading Part III: 26. The Instinct to Work

The Montessori teacher helps the child perform tasks alone and they are trained to observe the and guide the child based on their individual needs. It is a disservice to prevent a child’s natural growth and development. Children need to act for themselves in order become independent adults who can learn, think and act for themselves.  When the action is accomplished the child is elated and their confidence blossoms. When they are interrupted they may feel discouraged to try again or they may become too dependent on the adult to do for them.

Before jumping into assist the child, take a few minutes to watch. If the child is having difficulty and asks for help, try to model the action for them in distinct and easy to follow motions that they can copy on their own. Try to be patient and do not rush the child as they try to perform the task. If the child seems intent on their task, let them continue to work on it on their own. If they accomplish the task entirely on their own, they will experience intrinsic reward of accomplishment.

Montessori, M., & Costelloe, M. J. (1972). Introduction, Childhood: A Social -Problem. The secret of childhood (pp. 185-198). New York: Ballantine Books. (Original work published 1966)

Embracing the child inside

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“If physical, mental, and nervous diseases that afflict adults can be traced back to childhood, it is in the life of the child that we notice the first symptoms.” (p.184, para. 1)

My father told to me that as an adult I am the same person that  I was a child. Each day I try to acknowledge this pure part of myself that is free of judgment or expectations.

Life experiences are unavoidable and impact the child, creating obstacles in their natural development. In therapy, the counselor often helps the patient reconnect with their “inner child.” Maria reminds us that as children, many of our issues developed from experiences we endured. Ripples of consequences from events of our youth influence our adult mind today.

As a teacher and a parent we must strive to do our best to cause positive ripples in children’s’ lives. Embracing the child in myself, helps me relate to children because I am making an effort to see their perspective. Taking the time to relate to the plight of the child is worth the results. Showing understanding and partnering with them on their developmental journey is the best gift you can offer.

Montessori, M., & Costelloe, M. J. (1972). Introduction, Childhood: A Social -Problem. The secret of childhood (pp. 183-184). New York: Ballantine Books. (Original work published 1966)