Roles_of_a_Montessori_Directress

“The teacher must bring not only the capacity, but the desire to observe natural phenomena. In our system, she must be passive, much more than an active, influence, and her passivity shall be composed of anxious scenic curiosity and of absolute respect for the phenomenon which she wishes to observe. The teacher must understand and feel her position of observer: the activity must lie in the phenomenon”. Comment on the statement and explain how directress assist the child in his psychic development. According to Dr. Maria Montessori, a directress must have passion to work with children. She is an observer who aims at seeing each child unfold his potential. She is a quiet and soft spoken person, who loves all the children entrusted in her care equally. A directress must train her spirit to have the ability to serve, see children as individuals and have faith that every child will reveal himself. Looking at the above quotation, Montessori believed that a directress should be more of passive, but also anxious to see the child she is observing unfold and reveal himself. In order to achieve that, she must take track record of what the child loves doing. How often does he go to the shelf to choose a particular material' Is he easily distracted' What kind of exercise does he enjoy the most' At what time of the day is his concentration level at its peak' The Montessori directress can observe the child in the following ways: - The directress must observe the child while working. - She must observe his conduct. - The directress must also observe the development of the child’s will and self-discipline. The first stage of the Montessori teacher’s responsibility is to take care of the prepared environment. She is expected to pay attention to the surrounding in which a normal and constructive life can flourish, making sure that the class is clean and all the materials are kept in order. The directress must also serve as the exemplar and a role model in the environment. She is also a link between the child and the environment, she prepares the environment while the child uses the environment to construct himself. A child, in the first period of his life requires consistent adult attention. Hence, it is the duty of the adult (directress) to serve and guide the child in a passive way according to his natural course of development. Two external factors are necessary for a child’s uninterrupted natural development: a nourishing environment and freedom within limits. The child must be allowed to select what attracts him, relate to it without interruptions or limitations; to discover ideas and solutions on his own and communicate with others at will. The child creates the person he will become, and if he is allowed to develop fully without any hindrance, he will not only bring happiness to himself, but also will be a significant human being, who will want to serve mankind. The child is the spiritual builder of mankind, and obstacles to his free development are the stones in the wall by which the soul of man has become imprisoned. Montessori regarded the first six years as the most important period of human development. A child contains special characteristics during this period that makes the age different from any other time of his life. They are the “Absorbent Mind and Sensitive Periods”. The Absorbent mind illustrates how a child gradually builds himself up and applies himself to the world. It is the state of a child’s high mental absorption, taking information indiscriminately like a sponge. For example, talcum powder scenting in the air or water running through the fingers stimulate the Absorbent Mind and produces reflexive responses in children. A child is very intent on using his senses for exploration through movement and manipulation of the environment during this period. Subsequently, the child comes to make sense of the world around him. His mind categorises the information, and this leads to knowledge. On the other hand, the Sensitive Periods are the stages when the child shows exceptional interest to certain aspects of his environment. For instance, if a child is experiencing sensitivity to language, it is likely that he would listen, talk, sing or recite nursery rhymes over and over again. Hence, during this period, the child learns language in a focused and efficient manner by himself. This period is transitional and if the child is not exposed to the certain aspect in accordance to his sensitivity, he could suffer limitations to his intellectual, emotional and physical development, which may not be recaptured. These two special characteristics thus, work hand in hand within the child’s life building foundation for his adulthood. The prepared environment consists of the directress, the premises, the materials and the children community. It provides the children with all the necessary resources and conditions aiding necessary for their own laws of development. The curriculums are prepared to cover every aspects of human nature, providing gradual guidance and supports for each child to develop physically, cognitively, emotionally and intellectually. “We must prepare an environment in which we do as little as possible to exhaust the child with our surveillance and instruction” Dr. Montessori (Child in the Family, p.27). The child must be allowed to work independently with minimal adult intervention. ...”it is the environment itself which helps to make the children continuously better...the teacher can remain a quiet spectator of all the little mistakes that occur around her” (The child, p.12-13). Children have their own inner guidance for self-directed development. As a quiet spectator of this normal development, the teacher’s involvement is then usually no more than patient waiting and occasional eye contact to support children in their free, independent activity. In this position, she can make prudent observations necessary to best determine what interactions to carry out from one moment to the next. “The teacher must be able to make prudent observations, to assist a child by going up to, or withdrawing from him, and by speaking or keeping silent in accordance with his needs” (Discovery of the child, p.150). Before children normalise, the teacher must certainly observe and analyse what to do to resolve the various misbehaviour scenarios that emerge. Based on these prudent observations, she then decides on a specific course that will best control the environment in that situation. The right amount of involvement with children depends largely on the priority level of the particular scenario in question. In low level fantasy situations, what is necessary may be nothing more than eye contact and patient waiting. However, the teacher must still be prepared to interact more actively with children when their uncontrolled movements threaten physical harm to others or materials. Every child must be able to have respect for others, himself, the environment and materials. “The law of minimum effort to attain the maximum productivity with the least expenditure of energy. This is a law of utmost importance” (Secret of Childhood,p.191). The basic law of minimum effort teaches the teacher to use the least amount of involvement possible to achieve the greatest value for all. This law is well reflected by the protocol least amount of adult involvement, which always guides the teacher to interact with children in the most effective way possible for their true normal development. A Montessori directress focuses on the child’s learning, not on the teaching. The materials used in Montessori classrooms are instructional and posses an internal control of error. This built-in control of error prevents the materials from functioning properly when children use them the wrong way. This makes the child to continue in the activity until he discovers the solution. It is through this self-correction process, without the intervention of a directress that confidence and independence of the child develop. In addition, since a Montessori classrooms are made up of children of mixed ages, they learn from one another. Younger children learn by watching the older ones, while the older ones reinforce their knowledge by sharing and guiding with the younger ones. This enhances their self-esteem, social skills and emotional well-being. The teacher relies on her observations of the child to determine which new materials or activities may be introduced to facilitate every child’s discovery of knowledge. The directress role is not to consistently force-feed the children with information or interfere in their work, instead she acts as a guide to maximise their potentials in every area of development either individually or in a group. Failing to do so may worsen their performance and obstruct future growth. Dr. Montessori regarded concentration as the prerequisite skills for all areas of child development. She also associates concentration with discipline. Discipline is born when the child focuses his attention on objects that attracts him and provides him not only with purposeful exercise but with control of error. This is because when a child detects the error while working on the set of materials, it motivates him to find the solution. Thus, it is through this precise action that he disciplines his mind and body to become focused towards achieving his goals. “This first stage of concentration is so fragile, so delicate, that a touch can make it vanish again, like a soap bubble, and with it goes all the beauty of that moment” (The Absorbent Mind) the teacher must be careful not to interfere with the activity of the child. 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”. Through observation, the teacher will detect a sensitive period at which point she may introduce an activity to feed that need. Once introduced, she must step back and allow the child to concentrate until satisfied. The process of concentration begins through the curriculums introduced in a Montessori classrooms, where children first explore with materials. The curriculums engage both the child’s mental and physical energies thus, contributing to intellectual growth since the performance of any new activity works on the mind as well as the body. Among the curriculums, the practical life section is first being introduced to children. Practical life helps a child to orient and adapt himself to his environment; it also refines a child’s motor co-ordination and helps him gain independence and confidence. Practical life exercises in the classrooms are designed in such a way that the child focuses on the exactness of the action, and does so with great fascination, in immense and unceasing concentration. For example, tying shoelaces for the first time requires intense concentration to recall and integrate the various steps previously practiced; either in isolation or presented in a group. It also involves in the coordination of the eye to hand movement in acting out the steps in sequence. Hence, normally regarded by adult as a simple task, shoelace tying exercise actually requires the power of the mind to focus, especially for children. In the above shoelace tying example, where the child is given the opportunity to do it by himself, the concrete experience for the first time registers in the child’s mental map and gradually programmes itself into the brain after repeated attempts. Remember children love repetition and they learn through the act of repetition. Eventually, he masters the process and the task becomes easy enough to perform without exhausting concentration and effort as before. This process is what describes the child’s law of work, the child is motivated from an inner drive to again satisfy his sensitive period. He works for perfection , in repetition cycle to internalise his process of efforts rather than the outcome. According to Montessori, an interesting piece of work, freely chosen, which has a virtue of inducing concentration rather than fatigue, adds to the child’s energies and mental capacities, and leads him to self-mastery. Hence, man actually begins his mental growth from birth, given the opportunities and ideal educational approach, he brings out the excellent traits in him. If this is achieved he will carry this virtuous circle within. The Montessori directress must be a good role model to the children by practicing what she preaches. It is the duty of the teacher to serve the children and also serve well. According to Montessori “it is not the question of washing the child when he is dirty, of mending his clothes. We do not serve the child’s body because we know that if he is to develop he must do these things for himself” This refers to helping the child to act, will and think for himself; which is the act of serving the spirit of the child. The directress is expected to walk up to the child and speak politely to the child, not shout even when they go wrong. She must speak in whisper to the children. She should always set ground rules and stick to them. The directress must be firm and consistent. She is an observer. By observing the child, the teacher sees what motivates him, and where his interest lie. The teacher learns to understand the child’s emotions and feelings and why he behaves as such. The directress observes much, she is physically passive, but mentally active in her observations. It is very important to stand back away from the child and not permit the child to rely on the directress. This will help the child to become an independent, individual person. One way to make a close observation of the child is to have a regular and consistent work cycle chart over a reasonable length of time, about six months to a year. The teacher should try to work on a 3hour work cycle and refrain from interrupting the child. It is important not to interrupt the child because he is strengthening his character by working. The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to see transformation in every child. That is when normalisation has taken place; the art of total harmony with his environment. The teacher should able to say “the children are now working as if I do not exist” it is an awesome feeling for the teacher knowing that by serving the spirits of these children, she has helped mankind in an essential part of its formation. They have fulfilled their development, and she has kept them company in their experiences. The teacher could feel the value of her work and also her accomplishment. According to Dr. Montessori, children unaided can construct an orderly society (society of cohesion). For us adult, we need the intervention of the military with guns to achieve order. However, the children have shown us that freedom and discipline are of the same coin, because scenic freedom leads to discipline. In conclusion, if the directress sees to the needs of these children, who are entrusted in her care, by providing surroundings in which a normal and constructive life can flourish; thereby achieving the power of concentration in children, then it would be a great privilege to see the manifestation of the true nature of the child, “who is the father of the true man”.