Dmt_101

DMT 101 When a baby is born into the world, unlike animals they are born without ‘instincts’. In order to survive in the world, he would have to undergo physical and mental development to help him gain new experiences and be able to survive. It is through the process of development that enables us to learn and gain the knowledge for survival. As an adult, it is how we aid the young ones in developing and preparing him to be independent and capable on his own that is important. In order to guide the child properly, we must know and fully understand the various different stages of growth the child will be going through during this short time. Unlike adults, a child has creative intelligence. From the age of 0-3 years, he is in his ‘unconscious’ mental stage. It is during this particular period the child is able to absorb and store information from his surroundings. It is this period that is the most formative. Given the right environment, love and care, the child would definitely have the desire to learn. From the age of 3 onwards, the child moves onto his ‘conscious’ mind. He is going through his sensitive period. Sensitive periods are short periods of time where the child is particularly interested in a certain aspect of his environment. These ‘sensitive periods’ are visible in the child until he is about 6 years of age. Once the child has gone past his sensitive periods, they would not come back again. He would only be attracted to that particular aspect of his environment until his needs for it are fulfilled and the child is satisfied. He assimilates his environment solely by in virtue of one of these intense and specialized characteristics. The 6 sensitivity periods are sensitivity to order, learning through the 5 senses, sensitivity to small objects, sensitivity to the co ordination of movement, sensitivity to language and lastly the sensitivity to the social aspects of life. Sensitivity to order is seen in the first year of the child’s life until the second year. He shows this sensitivity by giving positive responses when everything is in its place such as household objects to the objects in the environment. His displeasure is made clear when he throws a tantrum at unfamiliar circumstances, for example he may realize that his lunch is misplaced as appose to how his mother may usually pack it and he will inform you that it is wrong and want to correct it. During his sensitivity to learning through the 5 senses is when he has real objects in the environment whereby he can feel, touch, smell, see and hear it. This is creating his intelligence and the child is gaining more knowledge. The child has an innate curiosity and he will want to pick up objects in the environment and explore them. Sensitivity to small objects is where the child is particularly fascinated by small tiny objects such as beads or small insects, objects which an adult may not pay so much attention to. Unlike an adult, the child is able to seek out the minutest and detailed object in his environment and point it out. Another example could be where the child is in class during Montessori time, and he will pick a spooning exercise from the practical life area. You realize the child is in his sensitive period at that moment when he has been using the same material for a long period of time. Engaging in solitary or parallel play at 3 years of age, he slowly becomes part of a group as he is sensitive to the social aspects of life. The child’s sensitivity to language is initiated at around 1 ½ years and will last until 3 years. It is during this period where the child is able to acknowledge that the words coming from the adult’s mouth have a meaning and he starts to imitate sounds he recognizes. He will slowly start to relate certain words to certain actions made by those around him. It is by engaging in solitary or parallel play with his peers at around the age of 3 years onwards, that the child is sensitive to social aspects of life. He is starting to create friendships with his peers and slowly he becomes more of a social being. He will be part of games between themselves and this will also help with his language development. Dr Maria Montessori stated that the young infant is not an empty vessel but instead a ‘spiritual embryo with potentials’. His mind is an absorbent mind and is soaking up information and impressions from his environment. “Education should no longer be mostly imparting of knowledge, but must take a new path, seeking the release of human potentialities.”(http://junojuno2.tripod.com/words.html). These potentials being the 8 pre-determined psychic patterns (8ppp’s) are revealed through the child’s self-construction. These laws of natural development are law of work, law of independence, power of attention, development of will, development of intelligence, development of imagination, development of emotional and spiritual life and the different stages of growth aid him in developing his intelligence. A child loves to work and enjoys working. Unlike adults who can become lazy, they do not see work as a chore but more of a fun task. The law of work states that a hostile, aggressive child would settle down in the prepared environment to work with the materials. His destructive behavior changes into constructive work of the mind though a great need must be met for the child to be normalised which means that his physical and mental state are in unison. The law of independence is necessary for the child to be free to develop his skills. “Any child who is self-sufficient, who can tie his shoes, dress or undress himself, reflects in his joy and sense of achievement the image of human dignity, which is derived from a sense of independence.” (pg 54, secret of childhood) Instead of serving a child and limiting his independence he should be taught to do tasks on his own. His power of attention develops his ability to concentrate and builds his personality for example his attraction to materials appealing to the 5 senses enables him to concentrate allowing him to be calm and rested individual. He has innate will which is obvious through his prolonged concentration and attention. Once he has the freedom to work on his own, his will strengthen. There are 3 stages to the development of will the 1st stage is a vital urge directing him towards purposeful activities. He works through repetition which assists him in his psychic development gaining a control over himself and his environment. As he moves from the unconscious state to the conscious state, he continues making his decisions and actions in the environment. By 3 years of age he enters the 2nd stage in his will development. He accepts responsibility for his actions and understands the limits of reality. This leads him to have self knowledge and self possession. The 3rd stage is the power to obey displaying a controlled and intelligent obedience and this is the final stage. The development of intelligence is the sensorial foundation of life and his mind has already stored information of the various objects in the environment. This intelligence of comparing and discriminating between impressions is received by his 5 senses and he has a perception and mental order of them. His imagination and creativity is formed based on the realistic environment that has beauty, harmony and freedom. The formation of mental images in the absence of a concrete stimuli is imagination for him to be creative the child would need the power of attention, independence of judgment and he must be open to reality. Instead of handing him fantasies that have no form of need in his future life. His mother’s affection that he responds to develops his social/ emotional life and he moves on by receiving stimuli from people by interacting with them. His period of growth with marks the different stages which are from 0-3 years where he grows in size rapidly and is gaining control over his body. From 3-6 he is grows on to be the child and 6-9 he starts losing his milk teeth and growing taller. At 6-9 where his education is continuing and he is at a calm stage. From 9-12 which will mark the different initiation of hormonal changes especially for the girls. From 12-18 years he becomes a teenager. These are once again the internal aids that assist the child in his self construction. The external aids which can be controlled are the environment and the child’s freedom. An environment that is prepared according to his needs in mind and giving him the opportunity to perfect himself by developing his intelligence and gaining the independence that he requires. In this prepared environment the child is given the freedom to work with what he may wish to and is often directed by his teacher. One must bear in mind that when we give freedom to the child, it is always within limits. He may choose his work and work with it when he wishes to and is free from any pressure, competition, danger. He has the freedom to love and be love, freedom of speech to say what he needs to, freedom to grow spiritually n build his inner self and his freedom of movement. Ms Maria Montessori designed materials to help these little explorers develop their mind constructively. Each material caters to the 6 sensitive periods of the child and they are all based on reality or in relation to nature which also helps him to abstract ideas and build upon his imagination and not fantasies. To assist these young explorers in not only developing their intelligence but also help them to be the normalised and independent physically and mentally, a directress is in place. She is one who must be spiritually ready having an interest in humanity and faith in each child. A faith that believes a child would reveal his true self through work. Treating each of them as an individual and recognizing his strengths, empowering him to be free to learn. Her virtues as a person are her main qualifications. “The training of the teacher who is to help life is something far more than the learning of ideas. It includes the training of character; it is a preparation of the spirit” (www.montessorimom.com). The role of a teacher is not that of giving lessons on size, shapes or quantities but that of using materials correctly. She is a passive observer while the active learner is the child. “She does not have need of words, energy or severity but she must be able to make prudent observations to assist a child by going up to, or withdrawing from him or by speaking or keeping silence in accordance to his needs.”(pg 150, Discovery of the Child). She must be aware of when to intervene and when to refrain from being the intruder. She prepares herself by keeping her imagination alive also freeing herself from preconceived ideas regards to the levels the child maybe at. She would watch him or his concentration level instead making sure he is not being destructive or disruptive to the work of others. Also she looks out for his behavior making sure he is not in distress, hungry or unwell. She is a keeper and custodian of the environment which requires her look after it as if it were her home by maintaining an order, beauty, harmony, cleanliness and in perfect condition in the environment. This could also be related to the child’s sensitivity to order of his surroundings. She too must be neat and tidy in appearance for she is the role model for the children. Having poise and grace in her work or ways and her behavior towards them should be warm, and dignified. She is the experimenter as she tailors the environment to meet the perceptions of the children at the same time a dynamic link between the children and environment. She will respect them and help them to grow in spirit. Supporting him when he may need a helping hand at the same time knowing when to step aside so as not to interrupt him and destroy his activity. “The great principle which brings success to the teacher is this; as soon as concentration has begun, act as if the child does not exist.” (pg 280, the absorbent mind) This skill however comes with practice and resilience and she would be serving the child’s spirit and she has to serve it well. This means that she assists and guides him to acquire physical and mental independence and not serve him by doing it for him. The guidance here is to develop his personality through motor, sensory and intellectual activities learning more about him and his specific needs or sensitive periods. This will direct him at achieving his full potential. She facilitates communication between parents about the evaluation of the child’s progress and also to her staff. She also would at the same time play the peacemaker between disagreements within the children. She must know when to step in to disallow the further escalation of unhappiness. In the Montessori environment, there is only one piece of each work. For example if one child is using the knobbed cylinder 1 and another would like to work with it, he must wait till his friend is done with it. This way he learns to be patient and he respects his friend through this wait. She would be the demonstrator who gives clear, interesting and relevant lessons and the child would be able to work within the control of error. Each material has a control of error which helps the child to correct himself instead of asking his teacher for help. In this manner he himself becomes a disciplined individual. “Discipline is born when the child concentrates his attention on some object that attracts him which not only provides him not only with a useful exercise but also with a control of error.”(pg 264 Absorbent mind) When a child works with these materials demonstrated by the directress, he builds upon his character. To have qualities such as independence, confidence, respect, discipline patience and social grace and courtesy the child needs to be guided through. Through the law of nature, he works in repetition in perfecting himself to his environment and not perfecting the environment to his needs. “For perfection and confidence must develop in the child from inner sources with which the teacher has nothing to do.” (pg 274, absorbent mind) In the prepared environment he has been given the freedom to grow as a person, developing mentally and physically. As he grows, these personalities that are his basic foundations to being part of the society of cohesion. Through the constant education, love and guidance that we hope the child blend into this norm of society and still shine in his area of strength.