Dear Maria Montessori by Paula K
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Dear Maria Montessori by Paula K. Greene We live in people’s hearts. —Angeles Arrien Dear Maria Montessori, Seven weeks into his third-grade class in public school, my oldest son asked, “When will the teacher teach us something? It’s October and I haven’t had a lesson yet.” Having come from both Montessori preschool and elementary classrooms, he was used to daily lessons— key experiences—demonstrated by a teacher to a group of students and explored by individuals, pairs, or small groups of students during class time. He liked his new teacher and was an excellent student, ac- cording to her, completing all assignments legibly, on time, and without errors. He did the work, but he missed the lessons—stories and scientific study that sparked his imagination—the essence of your cosmic plan for education. I was introduced to you when I was 17 years old. Though you had passed away nearly 15 years earlier, your words and your works were be- ing revisited and reprinted. Your teachings were being explored in new schools throughout the world. My own small-town librarian handed me The Absorbent Mind (Montessori 1949/1967); it was a new release on the bookshelf. I read it in one night, thrilled with your views of the absorbent and constructive nature of the young child’s mind and the indelible worth of a prepared environment. Your words formed a wellspring for the thoughts I held about the nature of learning—thoughts I had been unable to express coherently. Responding to Volunteering in a local elementary school, I witnessed teachers view- Montessori’s work, the ing children as empty vessels that needed filling, dismissing the wealth of perceptions and experience these students carried into their classrooms. author penned this Your view of the teacher as expert guide placed the child at the center of letter, which teachers his or her own learning and asked the teacher to pay attention, to observe well, to trust that growth was natural. In 1915, you noted (Montessori should find valuable 1915/1997, 13), “The attention which one pays to things is not passive, but corresponds to an activity and an inner meaning. We do not take the for their own practice world as it is, but as we are.” As we are teaching, learning, growing, or and reflection. stagnating, we shape the world. Paula K. Greene is Associate Profes- The Key for Me sor, Resident Faculty in the College Throughout my own teaching in Montessori schools, public of Education at Northern Arizona schools, and universities, I have found both solace and inspiration University–Yavapai in Prescott. She in your work and words. What has been the key message for me? In a teaches graduate students and has word: observation. a special interest in the historical In your work at the University of Rome’s psychiatric clinic in the late accounts of the roles of educators. 19th century, you observed the actions of “mentally ill” children and She serves as Counselor for NAU’s devised an educational program to meet their needs. For two years, you satellite chapter of Kappa Delta Pi volunteered your time, calling these years (Montessori 1915/1997, 12) your in Prescott. “first and true titles in the field of pedagogy.” 164 Kappa Delta Pi Record • Summer 20042005 Then, your success with “nor- Observe: Freedom of Choice tinguish between a child’s natural mal” children in the slums of How excited I was to discover development and behavior that San Lorenzo in 1907 astounded that Alexander Graham Bell was interferes with that development. educational communities in Eu- instrumental in bringing you to How essential it remains to identify rope. Casa dei Bambini, Children’s the United States in 1913 and strategies and methodology that House, became a beacon for child- that John Dewey presided at your work well with children. centered education. About that introductory lecture at Carnegie experience, you wrote (Montessori Hall. The New York Times (1913, Observe: The Method 1946/1974, 3–4): 3) quoted you as stating, “The Dr. Montessori, you asked Scientific observation has child must grow in liberty if he shortly before your death (Montes- established that education is to grow well, and there is no sori 1950/1978, 1), “Why are there is not what the teacher gives; other way in which his natural so many difficulties, so many con- education is a natural process development can take place.” tradictions, so much uncertainty spontaneously carried out by Again, the teacher’s observational with regard to what are commonly the human individual, and skills would distinguish between called ‘Montessori Schools’ and is acquired not by listening freedom and free fall for the child, the ‘Montessori Method’?” Kahn to words but by experiences the former leading upward and (1990, 2) answered this question upon the environment. The the latter a definite decline. That beautifully: task of the teacher becomes balance between too much struc- The Montessori idea allows that of preparing a series of ture and too little scaffolding for the dialectic. It produces motives of cultural activity, has sometimes been misunder- community among teachers spread over a specially pre- stood and abused in Montessori in a common quest for a rec- pared environment, and then classrooms, just as it has in other onciliation between freedom refraining from obtrusive child-centered classrooms. Lib- and discipline, structure and interference. erty cannot exist without authen- motivation, choice and limit. tic choice, and anarchy does not Such are the creative tensions Through careful observation, produce liberty. You asked, quite which make the teacher a de- with scientific passion, you pre- simply, that children be allowed cision maker and Montessori sented the practice of a cultur- to use freedom wisely, to find joy pedagogy an applied art. ally rich prepared environment. in learning. Wow! Children could choose I think that your definition Montessori methodology is a work that was meaningful and of discovery embraces the notion concept. It was conceived through interesting and attractive. They of liberty. On your second visit to your own scientific observation, could become caretakers of their the United States, in 1915, you de- laboratory schools, lectures, teacher learning environment. They could scribed the method of discovery training, and writings. It has grown repeat work, choose new work, (Montessori 1915/1997, 9) as “a through the hands, heads, and work alone, and work with oth- phenomenon of development, in- hearts of your many devotees. It is ers. They could establish a work stead of a phenomenon of taking a dynamic process that is only as cycle, without interruption. The in” and declared, “With our meth- good as the practical and effective teacher would observe, guide, od, one has the phenomenon of application of keen observation. It spark, and isolate difficulties. In- successive development.” In a implies sparking children’s imagi- stead of teaching isolated details, prepared environment, children nation, providing uninterrupted the teacher would present the have freedom of choice within work cycles, and awakening a genu- bigger picture, exposing relation- an intentional learning structure, ine thirst for learning. ships, retaining attention, trying and the teacher has a view of up- My favorite quote—the one I “to hold the intelligence of the ward mobility for each child. How use to this day when someone asks child” (Montessori 1915/1997, 7). vital it is, then, for teachers to ob- me “What exactly is the Montes- Within a prepared environment, serve what motivates each child, sori method?”—comes from The the teacher supported children in what interests and disinterests Secret of Childhood (1936/1972). making choices. each. How important it is to dis- I can almost see your smile when Kappa Delta Pi Record • Summer 2005 165 you replied to repeated ques- the habit of thinking—sensorially References Gibbons, M. 2004. Pardon me, Didn’t I just hear tions of methodology (Montes- and intellectually—you have de- a paradigm shift? Phi Delta Kappa 85(6): 461–67. sori 1936/1972, 136), “There was veloped a path. One hundred years Kahn, D. 1990. Montessori education: Interactive idea for human understanding. The NAMTA no method to be seen, what was later, it can still lead us through Journal 15(1): 1–9. seen was a child.” If teachers teach educative property. Montessori, M. 1909/2002. The Montessori method. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications. children, not subject matter, they Your granddaughter Renilde Montessori, M. 1913. ‘Give child liberty,’ says Dr. Montessori. The New York Times, December will need to observe the child and (R. Montessori 1988, 3) described 16. Montessori, M. 1914/1965. Dr. Montessori’s own lead by following the child. Your your notion of being an effective handbook. New York: Schocken Books. Montessori, M. 1915/1997. The California lectures cosmic plan for elementary edu- observer as follows, “When she en- of Maria Montessori, ed. R. G. Buckenmeyer. Oxford, England: Clio Press. Available at: cation was fourfold: sow the seeds joined us to look at the child, to fol- www.moteaco.com/lectures/lectures.html. Montessori, M. 1916/1964. The advanced Montes- for knowledge, explore the moral low the child, she fully expected that sori method, trans. from Italian. Cambridge, field, allow social growth, and feed we, as educators, would do so with MA: R. Bentley. Montessori, M. 1932/1972. Peace and educa- a hungry intelligence (Montessori reverence and awe, with awareness, tion. An address by Maria Montessori for the International Bureau of Education, Geneva, 1948/1973). The “method” follows with common sense and with de- 1932. Montessori, M. 1936/1972. The secret of child- the child. light.” I think we, as teachers, need hood. New York: Ballantine Books.