Category: Working With Children

“I give very few lessons on how to give lessons…”

Maria Montessori, as quoted in Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, by E.M. Standing © 1957 (pg. 307)

Did you know that the 3-Period lesson, a hallmark of Montessori methodology, was not “invented” by Montessori at all?  That credit goes to the 19th century psychiatrist, Edouard Séguin, whose work was deeply studied by Maria during the years that she practiced medicine throughout the asylums of Rome.^{1 Nonetheless, the 3-period lesson, with its limited language and concentrated intentions (“naming”, “recognizing”, “pronouncing”) has become one of the pillars of Montessori lesson presentation. Especially in the primary or class for 3-to-6-year-olds in which language development is so great a focus, these uncluttered lessons are the key to growing a rich vocabulary that introduces and connects the child to a wide array of items and concepts.} 

Is the 3-period lesson relevant in Elementary?

Certainly, there is continued vocabulary development with elementary students, but this child has a different demeanor than the one found in the primary classroom. The elementary child’s thoughts are filled with questions, imagination is at its height, and constant chatter is their way of processing while being social. 

For this little human who’s entered a new level of development, the simple 3-period lesson as was given in the primary class may be uninspiring, tedious, or even a complete turn-off. This child now requires lessons to provide a sense of wonder, piqued curiosity, and the thrill of opportunity to discover beyond the lesson. As Dr. Montessori said in the rest of that quote, the guide who wants to avoid creating obstacles to learning, needs to orient to the student before them. 

The Elementary First Period

For the elementary student, the first period lesson needs to strike the imagination and touch the deepest inquisitiveness that lies within each child. My trainer, Biff Maier, called this initial, first period presentation for elementary “The Gift.” 

Think about how one prepares a gift for giving. First, we choose something intended to delight the receiver. We anticipate the reaction and begin to plan for the moment of giving. We wrap the gift in an enticing way that will encourage eagerness for the discovery of the hidden treasure inside. And finally, we present the gift at just the right moment for it to be received with great enthusiasm. 

Imagine preparing each lesson with this sort of attention: a lesson that will promote wonder and eagerness to know more.

Second Period: Practice

If our First Period “Gift” has been received as hoped, our elementary students are off and running with the aid of the Human Tendencies. Exploration, Manipulation, and Activity spur the elementary students’ choices as they move forward throughout the rehearsal period. Their desire to become masterful is supported through Repetition and Exactness. All these tendencies guide the student’s efforts to master the intention of that inspiring first period gift.  

As guides, we must be mindful to match the rehearsal phase, second period, to the student’s abilities so they can experience just the right amount of challenge to hold their interest, to give them consistent success and to keep their desire for more knowledge intact. This is flow² at its best!

Third Period: Demonstration of Learning

Not that we could limit it, but all that talking and socializing that takes place in elementary is part of period #3. In their conversations, students say what they think, tell what they know, and continue the learning into new stages of mastery. Ever listened in on two 7-year-olds discussing their pets? They tell each other all sorts of “factual” data, as they instruct the other in the ways of their favorite furry beast. This could extend their knowledge of body parts and functions, behavioral inclinations, and environmental preferences. 

Elementary children demonstrate their learning most comfortably through talking. Learning to share their learning through verbal presentations is the prelude to written and so on. There are countless ways to demonstrate learning…take a look at Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory for ideas…but talking may be the one that is most natural for our elementary learners. So I encourage you to teach your students how to talk in ways that enhance their growing sense of mastery.

Cosmic Education: The Perfect Framework for Three-Period Lessons

The big ideas found in our Universe provide the best opportunities for creating the first period “Gifts” that lead to all the skill-building and engagement we could hope to provide our students. From science to history to humanity, the package that is Cosmic Education can offer the Montessori guide limitless lessons to inspire and engross the interests of our elementary students. When we follow the elementary version of the 3-period lesson, we don’t need a formula for giving a lesson. We simply need the sheer energy of providing the surprise and awesomeness of a gift. 

1. You may read about this in Maria Montessori: A Biography by Rita Kramer, part 1: The Early Struggles, chapter 3

2. Flow, The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi © 1990, Harper Collins Publisher, New York, NY.

“ ‘Courage, my dear, courage! … Go on triumphantly. I am here to help you.’ This kind of encouragement is instinctive in those who love children. ”

Maria Montessori, The 1946 London Lectures, p. 131

A lot of Dr. Montessori’s writings, in fact most of them, focus on the potential of the child…a potential that many adults have trouble seeing and believing. How many of us are driven by a need to “make sure” that the child accomplishes, learns, or demonstrates some bit of wisdom: tying shoes, reading, or fixing a snack independently? 

When we adults are driven by our own agendas, what do we do; what actions do we take with the children on a day-to-day basis? Many times what we do is try to take control of the situation; to make sure that all the bases are being covered. For example, If I’m concerned a child isn’t learning to read fast enough, I might make practicing flashcards a daily requirement. I might prod or coax a child through a book they “should” be able to read, asking them to sound out a word, to recognize a sight word, or try to read a complete sentence. I might constantly remind the child to pick up a book and give it a try. Sound familiar? 

Letting go of our fear response

While desire can impact our actions in a variety of ways, one thing is certain: if we are taking action that pushes or coerces the child into an activity they resist, then we are not trusting the child. That lack of trust could come from some fear of failure,  a negative assessment of the child’s abilities, or a worry that the student won’t meet some benchmark or answer a question correctly on a high-stakes test. It might simply come from a lack of faith that the child really wants to be successful or competent. 

In The Absorbent Mind, Dr. Montessori tells us, “The teacher, when she begins work in our schools, must have a kind of faith that the child will reveal himself through work.” (P. 252)

But how do we develop the discipline, the courage and the security in our method to find that faith, to get the children to “success” as reflected in this well-known quote: “The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, “The children are now working as if I did not exist.” The Absorbent Mind by Maria Montessori, Ch. 27, (p. 283), 1949.

The teacher, when she begins work in our schools, must have a kind of faith that the child will reveal himself through work. She must free herself from all preconceived ideas concerning the levels at which the children may be.

Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind, p. 252

The answer lies right in that “faith” quote…”through work.” In fact, Dr. M gives us even more instruction if we continue the quote through the next sentence: “She must free herself from all preconceived ideas concerning the levels at which the children may be.”

Guiding Principles for Building Trust

In thinking about the practical application of trust-building in my classrooms over the years, I maintained a few guiding principles. Here they are, in brief. 

1. Know yourself and your students…deeply. Then use that awareness to inspire curiosity, by cultivating your own sense of wonder and awe and sharing it with the children.
2. Observe…while keeping in mind that the activity chosen by the student may seem aimless on the outside, but may be providing a great service in preparing the student for a future endeavor. Observe with curiosity, instead of assessment or judgment. 
3. Engage the lively elementary imagination. Use movement, art, music, poetry, and construction to excite their creative juices. Play!
4. Create regular opportunities for children to share their discoveries with their peers and their parents through visual, verbal and written expressions. Daily or weekly in-class opportunities build a “learning” community in which students get excited to be leaders and teachers.

5. Embed skill-developing activities into the cultural studies where they will be perceived as purposeful in mastering the subject of interest. There are so many ways this can be accomplished. For example, when you offer subject-related vocabulary, make note of the word construction (ex: “in-conceiv-able” would allow a discussion of roots and affixes.) There’s no place this works better than in your timeline work: Paleontology, Precambrian, Neozoic…so many! Another timeline example: all sorts of math operations around the study of geologic periods, even having the students make their own to see if they can stump their classmates.  

6. Provide lots of “practical life learning” to connect to the natural world while developing confidence and competence. For example, attach a micro business to botany that would allow application of long-term planning, prediction, budgeting, sales, promotion, and all the reading, writing, and calculating associated with it. 

Introduce, Stand Back, and Take it ALL in!

Whenever I shared some new theme or subject with a story, a possibility, or an opportunity to discover, design, and share, my students rarely responded in any way that was less than amazing. 

Of course, there were those students whose hesitations required some extra support or effort on my part, but the rewards were totally worth it! Watching my elementary students take leadership and teaching roles with their peers and their parents never failed to raise them up, bring them confidence, and spur them on to the next project that would move the needle just a little closer to mastery. 

Even when the struggles were big and scary, like dyslexia or dysgraphia, or the fragile self-confidence that caused procrastination or flat-out refusal, the desire to participate with the group, to find their own unique way of joining in, usually won out over time, until even the most challenged found their way to building the skills that would take them into adolescence and adulthood with a growing “can do” attitude. 

It was sometimes after years of work, when I sent them on to the next level or got to witness their success through the years, that I knew I was seeing Dr. Montessori’s teachings in action. Yes, I had to exercise a great deal of faith during my early years. I had to rely on what often seemed like tiny, tiny glimmers of the potential held within the child, but now that I can look back with the gift of 30 years and dozens of students, I know that the faith I was able to muster was not in vain. 

“These things may seem useless to us, but the child is preparing himself and preparing the coordination of his movements. One consequence of this is that he wants to climb.”

Maria Montessori, The 1946 London Lectures, p. 124

“It is therefore necessary that the environment should contain the means of auto-education”

Dr. Maria Montessori, The Advanced Montessori Method – I (1918/1991) p. 57

It invariably comes up in workshops with non-Montessorians or parents: “Don’t they have to be able to take tests for when they go to middle and high school? Will so much choice assure they will be able to get into a good college? (ie: when they go to real school that matters for their future?)

I suppose it’s taken for granted that families want what’s “best” for their children. They want to make sure that the education their children receive will give them plenty of opportunities and choices for their future. But when it comes down to the “how-to’s” the many different opinions about what works get into the weeds…if not into open conflict!

So how do teachers and parents confidently support their children to receive the kind of education that will help them be successful in adulthood?

Step 1: Define “success”

As a product of the 1960’s and 70’s, my college years were filled with education classes that encouraged new systems of education. The examples were perfect for our carefree spirits: Summerhill and free-schooling appealed to those of us who were frustrated by the establishment, whether in school, government, or politics. Like many “revolutions” however, the vision of an education that also offered personal freedoms appeared to lack both outer and inner discipline. It felt like “throwing out the baby with the bathwater” and the outcome wasn’t a better education.

In those days, and even in those since, education continues to struggle with what successful education really is, or what “successful education” even means.

Success is personal. For some families, success means following a prescribed path to an adulthood that offers “riches and fame,” not necessarily in the literal sense, but certainly in the security that specific professions provide. As a result, well-meaning parents may push their child along a path of accelerated goals. When their child struggles to meet the goals, they may even be labeled in negative terms that the child might internalize for a lifetime of feeling inadequate to the task or, if not explicitly, somehow simply deficient.

In the eyes of “no child left behind,” schools have even said that a child who doesn’t read at a certain level by a certain time will never be able to succeed. This kind of thinking limits not only the individual, but also all those around the child who may fail to see their genuine potential, even failing to continue to fully support the child’s growth and development.

Step 2: See the Child Before You

Maria Montessori encouraged adults not only to meet all the physical and emotional needs of children, but to learn to see the humanity in them; to see the “man who exists as a silhouette around the child, a duty towards this man of tomorrow.”*

Montessori school, once I delved into it, offered both the freedom to pursue one’s passions and interests while providing the structure and systems for learning that appealed to the human spirit. Children in Montessori appeared to be truly engaged in pursuing their own learning path, and, once established, had the discipline and understanding of how to go about acquiring the knowledge they needed so
they could move forward in life.

It didn’t happen without careful preparation of a learning environment that went well-beyond the practical set-up of the classroom. The preparation included preparation of the spirit. Dr. Montessori called it the psychic growth of the individual. It didn’t’ happen without a guide who understood how to connect students to their inner purpose. It required teaching ideas and concepts that were often left out of traditional curricula.

Clearly, we have a social duty towards this future man, this man who exists as a silhouette around the child, a duty towards this man of tomorrow. Perhaps a great future leader or a great genius is with us and his power will come from the power of the child he is today. This is the vision which we must have.

Step 3: Teach Goal-setting and Support Students in Making Their Own Goals

Prioritizing is a skill that requires learning about prioritization, discerning how to make prioritizing decisions, and then practicing making those decisions and seeing if they work. Determining what one wants and needs to do, making sure progress in taking place, and enjoying the journey takes time, reflection, and discernment. Mostly it takes time, along with a lot of patience on the part of the adult!

• Give mini lessons and have short discussions about what it means to want to learn
  something, gain a skill, or meet a requirement.
• Ask students about the difference between wanting to know something (like everything
  you could know about cats) or needing to know something (like being able to read).
• Help them to identify the difference between practicing a skill for mastery and being
  engaged in learning something new…while learning the value of both.
• Revisit goals that are set, taking stock, revising, and staying the course!

Step 4: Help Students See Their Learning: Make it Visible

Making Thinking Visible** changed my thinking about teaching. The ideas and exercises designed to create student awareness of how they think, as well as what they think about their thinking sparked an idea for me: How can I help my students better perceive their learning…make their learning more visible?”

I knew that my elementary students were well-beyond the absorbent mind period when they learned through osmosis, and they talked incessantly throughout the day because of their growing sociability and innate desire to be part of the group. I knew I wanted to allow them to be who they were, but I also wanted to have them talking about their learning projects and their growing knowledge base.

I knew that I needed to teach students ways to work together that would bring obvious learning results.

For example: I taught students how to do math work together. First, I taught how to record their process and check the answer; then, how to correct their mistakes. This could be a multi-step set of mini lessons that could be given to the entire class. My older students, who’d already successfully learned this also gave the lessons and worked with the newer, younger students in our class. In time, teaching this method paid off not only in math accuracy and acquisition of growing skills, but it also saved me time because the students were independently in charge of making sure they were learning. Their conversations began to be more focused on those subjects that were occupying their thinking throughout the working/learning period, and they were excited about that!

I say “YES!”

After seeing all the success in learning that came about through these processes, I whole-heartedly believe that all children can become successful in their learning for now and in the future if given the opportunity, support, and trust to do so.

And that’s where the hard part for adults comes in: Letting go and Letting Come. This concept, put forth as Theory U by Otto Scharmer*** , requires the adult to have faith in the children, allowing them to reveal their authentic selves by letting go of prescriptive definitions of success that look a certain way by a specific time. Teasing out the difference between progress and deficits can be a real challenge. We must keep in mind that our adult job is to continually support the child with an eye to the silhouette of the man that surrounds him.

*Maria Montessori, The 1946 London Lectures, p. 140

**(Ritchhart, 2011) Making Things Visible, by Ron Ritchhart, et al.

***(Scharmer, 2009; 2016) Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges

Next Week: Learning to Trust While Making Steady Progress

 “…when the cycle is completed…refreshed and satisfied, he experiences the higher social impulses…”

-Dr. Maria Montessori, The Advanced Montessori Method – I (1918/1991)  pg. 76

Is the 3-hour work cycle challenging you or your students? From time management to task management, sorting out how to effectively get through the 3-hour work cycle can be a SUPER challenge! When I first started teaching, I couldn’t quite imagine orchestrating the work cycle so my students stayed on task, while I accomplished the lessons that would help all of us meet the goals I had for the students.

That italicized “I” is on purpose…my goals for them! I didn’t realize, when I was a new Montessori guide, that it was their goals for themselves that truly mattered. My work was to prepare the circumstances that would hold the students securely while they discovered what those goals really were.

Focus on Order

Order is the primary influence on student self-management of the 3-hour work cycle. Dr. Montessori’s discoveries about focus and psychic development are the keys to a work cycle that unlocks the child’s potential. It’s not difficult to create an environment that establishes this order. It takes awareness of the students, an intention to implement a routine, consistent observation to determine how the routines are working (or not), and a commitment to stay with it until the routines and culture of the classroom are established. One must exercise prudence and patience throughout the process. It won’t happen overnight and even once established, can slip unexpectedly into something chaotic for no “apparent” reason.

In chapter III of The Advanced Montessori Method- I, Dr. Montessori writes about her contribution to experimental science. It’s a lot to read and I know you’re busy…so here’s a suggestion to try:

Create an order to the daily schedule and watch how it works

• Teach children how to start the day in quiet. My class had a choice of silent reading or sketching. “Teaching” meant to provide the materials (a choice book and a sketch book) and hold them accountable to the quiet by being quiet myself. I didn’t call to children who were talking, I quietly walked to them and gently touched them on the shoulder and put my finger to my lips indicating quiet. Try to remember that the social elementary child will not necessarily start their day this way naturally, so be patient as you stay firm. NOTE: On pages 75 to 85 Dr. Montessori writes about the activity cycle that takes place during the 3-hour work cycle for a variety of student personalities. EVERY one of them starts in quiet. 
• Create the next part of the day that works best for you or your students. Many teachers like to bring the class together for a short class meeting (15 minutes or less!) to review the upcoming events and expectations of the day. Teach the students how to lead this meeting using a consistent agenda that is easy to follow. You can have a part to play: “Teacher Time” can be an item on the agenda for you to make announcements, give a mini lesson, or share a technique for managing a current classroom concern. (You could also have Current Classroom Concern as an agenda item:  a time when students can bring up something they need to discuss.) 
• Plan lesson times for minimal interruption to student work. I liked to get a lesson in right after a class meeting, so those students had a single lesson and then no further interruptions to their morning. I planned another lesson midway through the morning for those students who could manage their time well enough to get something done before and after, or I made the lesson for those students who had trouble returning to work after false fatigue. For those students, I would make sure the lesson was lively with a compelling follow-up opportunity that they would be dying to do. This helped them get into that second, deeper-focused work period. I’d plan a third lesson for the end of the morning so that students went to the midday routine after. Once the classroom was more “normalized” to the 3-hour work cycle and students could manage their time and tasks fairly well, I might add in an additional lesson or two, but that didn’t usually happen until later in the year…and some years, not at all! 
• Keep myself quiet in voice, conversation, movement, and activity throughout the morning. Be a “guide on the side”, available for student questions, needs, etc. Don’t plan too much to do so that you can be available to your students while you teach the “3 Before Me” guideline*.
• End the morning at the same time and with the same routine every day. Teach the children where and how to put their work away for later, how to clear and clean tables, how to tidy shelves, how to clean up anything that is on the floor, and how to come to the circle when their responsibilities are complete. Spend a few minutes in the circle visually checking through the prepared environment to make sure the jobs are done. If they aren’t, make sure they are done before moving into the next part of the day…usually a lunch and recess routine.

Always take notes throughout the period of establishing these routines. Observation is the heart of our method! Give every new procedure some time to take root, then watch the impact before deciding something is or isn’t working or the students or yourself. 

*3 Before Me: Ask Yourself (Can I answer this question or solve this on my own?), Ask a friend (Have you done this work? Can you help me figure it out?), Ask a person you don’t know…maybe someone older. (Have you done this work? Can you help me figure it out?) FYI: this one can be the hardest path to take, so giving students an opportunity to role play it in class meeting is a GREAT plan for support.

Next Week: Part 2 – Acquiring the Knowledge Desired and NEEDED

In Montessori we talk a lot about becoming like a scientist as we strive for personal transformation. We know that this involves observing, analyzing, hypothesizing, testing, recording, observing again…often over and over before we make assessments or plan a response.

If we are able to live and model that in our practice, I also found myself thinking about how we might give opportunities to our students to do the same. A recent class got me thinking about how we can inspire our students to think like a scientist. Naturally, my thoughts turned to an activity that my students loved: the fossil dig.

There are so many aspects of the dig that makes it a “just right” experience for elementary students. There’s the element of surprise: The wonder and awe when a fossil is unearthed.

But with the right sort of preparation, you can also have the students imagining themselves on a rocky hillside, searching for evidence that fossils may be present and then, preparing the location for a proper dig.

 

In today’s Freebie, I’ve written up directions for having a simple fossil dig in your school’s backyard…or even inside the classroom if you must. But getting outside in a space set up for the students to discover can be just the thing to tame winter-weary bodies. I would set up a variety of pie pans with various clues as to which ones were laden with fossils and which might not bear any fruit. There would definitely be more than enough for every student  or pair of students in the class to have their very own location but there would be extra pans that they could choose to say…”Probably not that one.” But this is optional, so the Freebie includes the basic instructions. If you want more details on a multi-day or week-long study with academic and Cosmic Connections. Send me an email and I’ll see what I can do for you!

The tools needed are minimal and the preparation of the dig sites will be done by the students themselves. You’ll want to “bone up” (pun intended) on how paleontologists prepare the mapping. You might even want to provide some photographs of dig sites.

The hardest part of this activity? Getting the students to slow down and mimic the careful drawing of the site as well as the fossil reveal that real paleontologists must follow so as not to destroy any precious ancient species.

What’s in it for you? Well, this is one of those activities that will bring real joy as you watch, listen, coach, mentor…and simply bask in your students’  excitement of uncovering and discovering real fossils!

“To stimulate life, leaving it free, however, to unfold itself, that is the first duty of the educator.”

I read a social media post about a 4-year-old who was not choosing challenging work…according to the adult who wrote it. In her post she said the girl loved the land and water forms and would do them over and over. The adult appeared to be dismayed at this behavior and frustrated that the child wouldn’t choose things like writing letters or some sort of number work.

How do we get children to choose work we think they are capable of doing, when they persist with work that we believe is far beneath their abilities? 

For me, the answer is observation. Present and watch. Present and watch. Take note not only of what the child chooses, but also the level of enthusiasm, the timing of when the choice takes place (right after the presentation, or days after), the level of success, the amount of time focused on the work. Let these observations guide your next steps.

Still won’t choose appropriately? Continue with observation: What does the child choose? How often? When do they stop? What occurs at the moment of deciding to put the work away: an invitation from another child? a spot at the snack table? a lesson given to another student? 

Dr. Maria Montessori was a scientist. Scientists observe continuously, seeking hidden secrets that will lead to understanding and “right action,” not validation of thoughts and beliefs we already hold. 

Observation leads us to take action, actions that may or may not succeed in achieving what we’d hoped. But the outcomes we observe NEVER fail to give us more information about the child before us so that we may continue to choose the actions we take with each and every child. This is the reality of “Follow the Child,” Montessori’s simple and effective directions. Our thoughts of what is appropriate may be right on and require our inspiration, but they also could be dead wrong.

Montessori’s observations led her to incredible discoveries about children and human development. In response to this new understanding, materials were developed that would both connect to and enhance the children at the place they are along their own developmental path. The materials are incredible responses to her discoveries, and they are fabulous. But the materials are not the method. The method, the Montessori method, that results in the magic and success we are all seeking, is rooted in observation.

Student-Engagement: It’s one of the most common issues, worries, or frustrations (You can fill in the blank with whatever emotion fits for you!) posed by Montessori teachers, and which I have experienced myself, is lack of engagement. 

You know the ones I mean: 

• the social butterflies who seem to flit from table to table getting into conversation and after conversation and seeming not to accomplish anything on their To Do list (ie. work plan)  
• the self-distractors who sit alone and bother no one, but who also put projects away before finishing, to put it off for later which never seems to come
• the slam-bam-thank-you-ma’m student who breezes through part of an assignment (like one or two of  ten math problems for the day or one sentence strip of five for the week or a set of matching cards without really reading, then checking the assignment off as DONE!

There are probably other “types” I could come up with, but you get the picture. 

Where do you go to find help defining the student-engagement problem? To address the “problem”? To fix it?

Student-Engagement Montessori-Style

For us Montessorians, we’ve been taught to observe the student; to look deeply into what may be the child’s underlying motivation (or missing motivation) so we can help ease that challenge. 

Or we might look at the environment that we have carefully prepared, but which may not be calling to the child and sparking their interest. 

But how often do you look at yourself? What unspoken message might you be giving regarding the subject, the learning opportunity, the follow-up? The unspoken message that says, “Meh!”

Here’s the opportunity: to look deeply into yourself to discover that which you are passionate to share with children. The subject that lights you up. The activity that causes you to pursue ever more knowledge. 

What sparks you? What would you do for 24 hours a day if you only could? 

Then, how can you use your spark to ignite not only your best example of a learner, but also to spark those children in front of you?

Of course, all of these responses work together to form a whole student-engagement opportunity: the child, the environment, and the guide. (I’m SURE you’ve seen that triangle relationship before!) But how do you look at yourself as part of that diagram? 

For me, the adult’s enthusiasm (your level of engagement) is the most important key to student-engagement and to the delivery of Cosmic Education! That the teacher, on fire with her own joy of learning, finds a way to share that with her students, inspiring them to find their own spark of connection to all the possible learnings that lay before them! 

Want some help to discover your passions? Take this quick survey to find a place to begin your journey of engaged teaching.