Montessori Method - The Child

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The great Montessori discovery is that children are the builders of humanity[4]. From a Montessori point of view, it is not adults who “build” children, but children who make adults. The adult depends on the child's efforts. This is the size of its importance – it is no longer a passive being that will be what we make of it, but an active being, striving all the time to prepare the humanity of tomorrow. Therefore, the child's commitment is always in the direction of becoming more and more independent from adults, stronger and more powerful.

For Montessori, development happens in phases, which are called Development Plans. At each level, children seek a new level of independence from adults.

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First Development Plan (0 to 6 years)

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In this first phase of life, children have two main goals: to learn how the world works, to know how to function in the world [5], and to acquire physical independence from adults.

Learning how the world works either starts with  absorb the world, its images, its language, its rules and its culture, its physical, chemical and biological laws. This is not easy, and children rely on the enormous capacity of the infant brain to transform itself with each new information. Montessori could not observe the brain, but he did observe behavior, and he knew that children had a very special kind of mind [5]. He called it the “Absorbing Mind”, and with that he explained how the child starts from “nothing” and manages to build a competent and strong human being in a brief six years of life.

Physical independence, another pillar of this first moment of development, can be summarized in a sentence, said by children: “Help me do it alone” [6]. They want to learn, but they don't want adults to do things for them. want to do. It is through action that they are constructed and transformed. Children face the difficulties and failures of the first attempts and even insist on success and learning. Montessori said that we should never interrupt a child in something he believes he can do on his own, no matter how slow his progress.

This Foreground is guided by Sensitive Periods [5]. Cycles during the first few years of life in which the child's interest, focus, and efforts are completely directed to one area of development. There are sensitive periods for movement, language, senses, writing, mathematics... And if the child is free to pursue his interests during sensitive periods, he will develop more easily, fluently, apparently without effort, and the results will be very higher than they would be if sensitive periods were ignored or suppressed.

As they do things more and more difficult, children dominate the world closest to them, begin to yearn for the unknown world, and then reach the next stage.

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Second Development Plan (6 to 12 years)

The children of the Second Development Plan have already mastered enough of the nearest world. They know how to take care of themselves, and they can even take care of others and their environment. Physical independence is gained enough, and now they want to reach other worlds, which cannot be touched [7]. Distant worlds: other continents, the universe, past civilizations, the Earth at the time of its formation and animals in the history of their evolution.

About the youngest children, from the Foreground, Montessori said that their “hands are the instruments of human intelligence” [5]. If that's the case, imagination is in the hands of a 6-12 year old. It is with imagination that the child investigates and understands distant and unattainable worlds. Reading, listening, studying, imagining, children gain intellectual independence. They learn to think without the help of adults [8]. And because we think better when we think together, these children work better when they work in groups, with less and less and more subtle mediation.

It is inevitable that, in this intense coexistence, moral problems appear, and an important phrase for children from 6 to 12 years old is “That's not fair!”. If children need to ask questions, listen and tell many stories to understand the world, to understand moral aspects and coexistence, it is necessary to give space for analysis [9]. We shouldn't solve their problems, nor is it appropriate to dismiss children by belittling what they say – even when they are questioning our behaviors. The adult's job in the Second Plane of development is to provide elements for understanding, and then to allow free reflection – questions, stories, dialogue and time. Socialization becomes increasingly important in children's lives until they reach adolescence.

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References

[1] Lillard, L. Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius. Oxford Univ. Press, 2018.

[2] Trabalzini, P. Maria Montessori: Through the Seasons of the Method, The NAMTA Journal, Vol. 36, No. 2, Spring 2011.

[3] Kramer, R. Maria Montessori: A Biography. DeCapo Press, 1988.

[4] Montessori, M. Formation of Man. Kirion, 2019

[5] Montessori, M. Absorbing Mind. Portugal/Nordic.

[6] Shields, J. “Help Me to Help Myself”: Independence and the Montessori Philosophy. Montessori Guide, AMI/USA, 2014. Available at:  https://montessoriguide.org/help-me-to-help-myself

[7] Lillard, P. Montessori Today: A Comprehensive Approach to Education from Birth to Adulthood. Schocken Books Inc, 1996

[8] Montessori, M. To Educate Human Potential. Papirus, 2014.

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Source: Gabriel Salomão by Lar Montessori

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