Maria Montessori's Morning Devotional

Morning Devotional ~

To respect children- in return to be worthy of their respect. To praise much and blame little. To emphasize their successes and minimize their failures
MAY LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING TEACH ME.


To make no promise to children that I cannot keep. To have unbounded faith in them. To know they have great potential. To have the patience and wisdom to bring it forth. To allow children the dignity of their own personality and individuality. To refrain from making them over to our desire.
MAY LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING HELP ME.


To be cheerful and ready to smile and often to laugh. Children love and thrive on cheer. As teachers, we have no right to inflict our moods on children. (Happiness is an outward sign of inward spiritual grace.)To have infinite patience with children and to make allowances, knowing there is so much for them to learn and knowing that I myself am not so very wise.
MAY LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING GUIDE ME.


To protect the child always from my nerves and from our own irritability, prejudice, pessimism, fears- showing and practicing in their presence only the opposites.
MAY LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING AID ME.


To help them choose their life's work that they are suited for. To stir up the gift that is in them. To discover the talent or talents that they truly have- the inner pattern they came with.
MAY REAL UNDERSTANDING LEAD ME.


To bring fresh energy into the schoolroom engaging all with keen alertness, interest and enthusiasm. To help children to meet life bravely, honestly, independently.
MAY LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING SHOW ME.


To give the children freedom and to never confuse liberty with license, as these two words are not synonymous ever. To show my friendly interest in each child. To consciously care for their progress, but to attain this by warmth and love rather than by rigid cold discipline. To manage children by the pleasantest of methods, with intelligence and affection and never by condemnation and fear.
MAY LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING TEACH ME.

To educate truly, by drawing out rather than spoon feeding. To guide them instead of driving them. To direct their energy instead of repressing it. To try always to understand them, instead of sitting in judgment of them: and through all misdemeanors, both trivial and serious, to let them know it is the action we deplore and never the child.
OH LEAD ME, OH TEACH ME, OH GUIDE ME.


- posted by Terri (Montessori online)

Going for a walk

I remember stories about how Maria Montessori learned that young children can walk for long distances when allowed to walk at their own pace since my earliest exposure to Montessori.  I remember allowing my daughter to just that at the shopping mall.  There was one time when she meandered between the walkway and rather extensively the railing balcony so that she could observe and play with the poles and look at the people below.  I was contently walking with my husband and in no hurry.  He told me how patient I was allow her to move at her pace.


I recently was reading one of the Karachi Lectures by Maria Montessori "When a child is walking, s/he is not merely walking, but is observing and learning.  The adult takes a walk to walk but the child walks to observe the whole environment in its smallest details.  The example of the tiny child with his/her back to the flower and marveling at the tiniest running spider should make us reflect what we need to know, to observe and to learn from the child."


It reminded me instantly that walking is the child's activity.  When schools, directors and teachers set up a plan so that children can go for a morning walk every day, it's not the same.  A walk on a prescribed path or at a certain time or when one is unallowed to explore is not a walk.  It is exercise and it does not belong to the child, but an infringement of their choices.


I want to walk in the garden today with children, watch flowers or bugs and hummingbirds.  Perhaps they will walk with me.  Perhaps not.

And another one down for our school systems...

Written by Peter Gray.  Read the complete article at...  (This is abridged!) The "ADHD Personality": Its Cognitive, Biological, and Evolutionary Foundations Posted: 19 Aug 2010 12:31 PM PDT "Last month I posted an essay linking the dramatic increase in diagnosed ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) to our increasingly restrictive system of schooling (see ADHD and School)." My overriding point was that, because of the increased competitive and standardized nature of schooling, behaviors that in the past would have been regarded as within the range of normal are now considered to be abnormal. At present, in the United States, roughly 12% of boys and 4% of girls have been diagnosed with ADHD. What kind of a society are we if we consider 12% of boys (one out of every eight) to be mentally disordered in this way and in need of strong psychoactive drugs as treatment? Some people who commented on that post objected to my sociological analysis by referring to evidence that the brains of people diagnosed with ADHD are in some ways different from those of other people. To them, the evidence of a brain difference is somehow proof that ADHD is a "medical" or "biological" disorder and that a sociological analysis of it is out of place. But if you give it some thought, you will quickly realize that there is no contradiction at all between biological and sociological analyses of ADHD or any other condition referred to as a disorder. My goal in that essay was to explain the extraordinary increase in rate of ADHD diagnosis that has occurred over the last two or three decades. I don't think that increase is primarily due to a change in brain structures in the general population; I think it is primarily due to a change in social values and especially in the conditions of schooling. Today, as a society, we are far less tolerant of children who don't adapt well to our system of compulsory education than we were in the past, and so we diagnose them and give them drugs. The basic cognitive characteristic of ADHD appears to be high impulsiveness and reduced "executive control." According to the most widely accepted cognitive model of it, the fundamental problem in ADHD is not one of attention so much as one of impulsiveness.[1] By a wide variety of measures, people diagnosed with ADHD are more impulsive, less reflective and controlled, than other people. This impulsiveness is believed to underlie all or most of the distinguishing behavioral characteristics shown by such people. Impulsiveness leads them to be easily distractible, which is why they are seen as inattentive. It also leads them to be impatient and restless, unable to tolerate tedium or to sit still unless something truly grabs and retains their interest, which is why they may be seen as hyperactive. And it leads them to be highly emotionally reactive; they tend to respond immediately, emotionally, overtly, to stressful or otherwise arousing situations. Continuing reading at...

Fantasy and Imagination

Note: The majority of this was written by Sharon Cauldwell of the Montessori Foundation. It was part of a larger post on fantasy and imagination on the Montessori_online yahoo group. There were a few key ideas that I wanted to pull out and add small notes of my own.



Distinguish between fantasy and imagination

"Maria Montessori believed that the creative imagination of art and science is based upon truth. In the context of Montessori education, the imagination is seen as the mind's power to form images based on what has previously been learnt through the senses. The imagination enables us to know and understand something which we cannot see and touch. This means that if we are to truly be able to use our potential for imaginative thought, we need a firm foundation of factual knowledge. Fantasy, on the other hand, is something untrue, an "illusory imagination, based upon credulity". By carefully observing children, Maria Montessori noticed that children in her schools derived a deep satisfaction from working within a realistic environment tailored to their needs.


Because she began with the Aristotelian belief that "nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses," the challenge for her was to understand how such basic sense impressions became the loftiest of human knowledge, knowledge which could issue in the great artistic, scientific and social achievements of humankind. She came to see imagination as the link between these lower and higher forms of knowledge.[1]



To fully grasp the importance of this, it is necessary to understand the extreme respect that the Montessori approach has for the developing child.She saw fantasy essentially, as lies concocted by the adult. At best these fabrications entertain and distract the child, but more often than not they

deliberately mislead the child, who trusts the adult implicitly.

Hence the difference between true imagination based on true images or ideas derived from reality and false imagination based on fancies and fantasies without any bearing on reality. True imagination forms an important part of human intelligence; but false imagination consists of disorderly movements

of the mind.[2]



Put very simply, imagination is an activity of the mind which is concerned with real things – both what is, and what could be. Fantasy is unreal and can never be real. It is a flight into worlds which could never be, populated by beings, not of a child's imagination, but of an adult's creation."



I've long reflected on this subject. Adults love imagination and telling stories. In fact, stories are part of every culture. Yet very young children often can not distinguish between reality and fiction. In these days of constant media and entertainment the younger children are often convinced in the reality of characters that they can not see. I believe that their brains are different and that they process thought differently. It's truly necessary to accept them where they are. Yet, I've often had young children tell me that "it was just pretend." I think the dividing line between imagination created by the child and that created by the adult as a way to enjoy time with the child is small. I think that even very young children know the difference between dishes that they eat from and those that they feed their doll. It is different type of activity than an adult imposed fiction that the child can not escape from.



Fantasy and behavior

"In essence, Montessori came to realize that "normal" children did not seek refuge in fantasy and pretend play. That when given the opportunity to use real objects, in real contexts, they wanted to do they same tasks they saw adults performing, and that when given the information they needed, they applied their active imaginations to exploring the limitless wonders of reality.



Observation shows that children reared on a diet of fantasy, and starved of reality, tend to turn inward. The inability to develop an orderly activity and consequent disorderly movement produce a disorderly mind or a confused mind. The confused mind may be vivacious; but it is a vivacity without a purpose or aim.[3] "



I no longer find this true when I observe children. Children of all ages, but particularly young children do engage in fantasy, pretend and role play.. How much is it the child's home life, the role of media, or the fact that children have changed over time.




[1] John Snyder, "Imagination: The child's key to the universe".
[2] Maria Montessori, *What You Should Know About Your Child*, p. 58.
[3] Maria Montessori, *What You Should Know About Your Child*, p. 58

Education in the future and Online Education

"The necessity of making education and instruction attractive has been propounded by all pedagogists worthy of the name, such as Fenelon, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Herbart, and Spencer." says Claparede, "but it still unrecognized in the everyday practice of the schools." (op cite)


By common consent, the first duty of the educator is that of doing no harm; first do no harm, a precept also accepted in the practise of medicine.  To obey it to the letter is, indeed, impossible, because every method of scholastic education is in some way prejudicial to the normal development of the child.  But the educator will seek to alleviate the injury which instruction necessarily entails." (op cite)

This was written  about 100 years ago.   (Maria Montessori, Spontaneous Activity in Education)  and she was quoting noted educators of the day.  Does it seem like a common refrain?  The necessity of making education interesting.  She worked very hard to do so.  It's all about choice.  As anyone who has ever been "taught" something compared to chosen to "learn" something knows- it's all about your own choice.

Recently there have been several online articles about the future of education and specifically some very influential individuals saying that education in the future will be online.  At the Techonomy conference, Bill Gates said that he believes that in five years any of the best lectures in the world will be online, and that the idea of young adults needing to go to universities will go away.  Marco Masoni wrote an article on Mashable about "Online Education needs to get social."  In particular, "providers meet the challenge of satisfying the rising demand for online education by simply throwing courses up on the web and seeing what sticks" and "It’s not enough for a course to be accessible online, it must also be designed in a way that keys into the digital pulse of current events, trending topics and insider knowledge endemic to the web. The three-quarters of 18 to 29 year-olds who have profiles on social networks are likely wondering why online course offerings aren’t nearly as enticing as the content that they find on their favorite social websites."  Again, we're talking about making education interesting and exciting.

Friends, social networks, games and current events as a method of education?  Not everything will work that way.  Education isn't interesting because of games though- it's interesting because of choice and following your own interests.

A great lecture is a fantastic way to learn about a particular subject.  It may be exactly what you are looking for.  Itunes University has a collection.  There are other publishers that are currently marketing series of "Great Lectures.  True education in a field often requires both breadth and depth- not all of it may be incredibly interesting just at the moment until you get to a more complicated or intricate task or the application of your learning.  Real learning often takes place with the exchange of ideas through discussion, critical thinking and questions.

The ability to make interesting and real time use of the internet is limited.  Courses have to be planned and can not rely on current events.  Current events such as the BP oil spill become case studies most of the time.  Internet usage has to be filtered for quality.  A quality online course needs to have as much planning and development as any good educational course.  It's the individual's interest that makes it work.  Online education will have it's place in many ways, but not necessary to completely prepare one for many careers.  Some educational careers will adapt very easily to online education styles.

What about the many different types of intelligence or learning styles?  It's possible that a very well designed on-line course may meet many of them.  It's not going to be the same to watch and listen to a video though as a dramatic reenactment yourself.

Montessori education is a program by choice.  From the preschool level to the high school level children learn to choose their own learning activities.

Let me tell you about one project at one Montessori elementary school.  The Great Brain Project.  It's research based and involves several months.  The children individually choose their topics, research them and prepare presentations.  The style and the timelines of the presentations vary so there isn't huge pressure to finish by a particular day.  They are using their own "Great Brains" to best determine how to share what they've learned.  In one year children choose topics ranging from the incredibly general "plants" to Rosa Parks to atomic structure to Trilobytes.

This project initially came from Lynn Stoddard's vision, but was implemented by Aleta Ledendecker at the New Horizon Montessori School.  Aleta's article was in the June 2010 issue of Montessori Leadership published by the Montessori Foundation.

My Buzz post linking to this post is here.