Sunday, August 11, 2013

The Middle Path of Montessori


As a Montessori teacher, I have for years heard two presumptions about this educational method from those who know a little about it, but not a lot: "Montessori is really structured, isn't it?" and "Montessori? That's not very structured, right? Kids just get to do whatever." These dualistic opinions have often puzzled me, and it is only after reading a great book called The Genius in Every Child: Encouraging Character, Curiosity, and Creativity in Children by Rick Ackerly, that I finally have come to understand why people -- usually, parents with children new to Montessori -- think one way or the other. Ackerly -- although not a Montessorian -- writes from the perspective of a longtime educator and father about his experiences with students, their parents, and his own children in a way that resonates with the Montessori approach. He makes a key distinction between guiding students and leading them, the former being superior to the latter. His writing is very succinct, humorous, and insightful about the ways in which education can develop the "genius" alive in each student by encouraging responsibility, honoring uniqueness, caring for the "whole child", and engaging the will rather than expecting mastery. 
1. Responsibility. Ackerly adeptly shares anecdotes which illustrate his evolving understanding of a life's work in education. One of the key points he makes is that children need to be trusted with responsibility. Parents and teachers, he cautions, "can take that enthusiasm for learning away from them if (a) we care more about it than they do, (b) we get worried about their success, (c) we make them give up play (which is a child's right), and (d) if we turn their parents into teachers" (6). One of the main tenets of Montessori education is the presentation of a carefully prepared environment (of both hands-on materials and curriculum in the form of key lessons) that encourages and supports what Maria Montessori called "auto-education". She believed that children have within them the will to pursue their own development, to ask questions, and to challenge the boundaries of reality. This is in stark contrast to the ideology of John Dewey, the father of contemporary public education, whose approach was modeled on the assembly line in the early days of the Industrial Age. That is not the world we live in now, and Maria Montessori had the foresight over a century ago to see children as they were and to help them develop as human beings in relation to the world. Students show their interests, teachers give them lessons on math concepts or parts or speech or kingdoms of life, and the community of learners go as deeply into their studies as they wish.
Ackerly clarifies the term "genius" in his book as "the teacher within... the you that is becoming" (ix).  "Another manifestation of genius is character, and ... to the Greeks kharakter was the imprint that the gods put on the soul at birth. Educating is creating conditions in which the character that is your child becomes what he or she is supposed to become" (38). This reminds me of the aphorism at my school, which hangs above the entrance: "I am becoming..." The verb tense of that statement underlines that the present moment -- not the past, not the unknown future -- is the source of character, curiosity, and creativity in the learner. Another tenet of Montessori education is that it takes place within a mixed-age three-year cycle, whereby two-thirds of the class returns each fall and younger students work with older mentors to understand their environment and studies. Some people ask about the role of the teacher in a 1st through 3rd grade classroom, and it is one of the main reasons that I enjoy my work so much. The teacher (or, as Montessori called her, "guide") is as active as necessary and as invisible as possible. An effective Montessorian observes the children -- not only their intellectual pursuits, but their physical habits, their interactions with one another, their wonder at nature and beauty, and the ways in which they react emotionally throughout the day. Montessori teachers walk a fine line, being careful not to interrupt a child in a state of flow and asking questions only when a need arises. Ackerly strongly suggests that parents honor their role in their child's life with the reminder that "children need teachers at school and parents at home" (7). He comments on the trend of "helicopter parenting": "Hovering is perhaps normal these days, but it often unknowingly stifles, inhibits, and in many ways is counterproductive to the discovery and development of a child's genius" (13). 
Ackerly also addresses the subject of responsibility in terms of a child's social behavior. In the past ten years, I have had many different kinds of interactions with parents, most of them very supportive and understanding. Parents want their child to succeed, of course, and sometimes this becomes an extreme desire to prevent anything bad from ever happening to their child. Sometimes, parents take on their child's social or emotional issues and project hostility toward a teacher. Ackerly, himself an educator and a father, reminds parents: "If you care more about it than they do, you absolve them of responsibility... Support them in the lifelong challenge of harmonizing their needs, drives, and interests with those of others" (34). Far from sparing a child from growing emotionally through a struggle, he states that in educating a child's character, "Nothing succeeds like taking responsibility. Nothing succeeds like failure. Failure is at least as powerful an educator as success" (48). If a parent reacts with anxiety and anger when the child experiences a challenge, the child learns that s/he is not trusted to handle his/her emotions and social interactions. The parent behaves as if the child is in constant need of saving. The best parent-teacher-student relationships I have experienced over the years have consisted of respectful communication between the adults about the child's learning life. Ackerly advises that "our children need to be noticed more and analyzed less, delighted in more than worried over, challenged more than protected, not so much made to be good as taught to be good at being themselves (40). One of my favorite suggestions is to "act as if you are the variable (and your child and everyone else are the constant)." Complaining or blaming are less useful than taking responsibility for oneself and becoming comfortable with adapting to the many aspects of life we cannot control.
2. Uniqueness and the Whole Child. Many contemporary educational models claim to be "holistic" in their interdisciplinary approaches. Montessori education values a rich and wide array of academics and extends its "holistic" approach to place intellectual development on the same level of importance as a child's emotional, social, spiritual, and physical development. Ackerly echoes this belief when he writes that "everything a child does occurs in an intellectual, social, emotional, and spiritual context... the primary determinant of how and what the child learns" (23). Of course, school is a place to learn -- just not simply about history, chemistry, phonics, and fractions. School is a place to learn about oneself and others -- other people, other places, and other ideas. When a child is learning, s/he enters a wonderful state where s/he is intimate with study and peaceful in his/her curiosity about it. That moment is crucial and should not be interrupted, even by an adult's admiration -- which Maria Montessori cautioned her guides to restrain. Ackery agrees: "When your child shows you a piece of work, it is undisciplined to say: 'My, how smart you are.' Much better for us to think of something new like: 'Oh, good, I can see you have been practicing,' or 'Did you work hard on it?'" (30). In my class, I strive to use value-less language or to ask questions, rather than to give approval or disapproval, because the child's work belongs to him/her and is special. It should have nothing to do with anyone else's opinion, which can easily influence children's self-esteem. 
Ackerly calls this curious and engaged state of learning "greatness (which) can never be achieved when comparison is involved. If you look over your shoulder to see if there is a person gaining on you, someone will. Fear will kick in, you will become more self-conscious, and the greatness that you are will fade -- and with it, the quality of your work" (157). Some people ask how children can avoid comparison with others, especially in a mixed-age classroom where the disparity between a six-year-old and an eight- or nine-year-old becomes evident. I often reply that, because students work collaboratively and stay in the same community for three years, there are hundreds of opportunities for children to notice uniqueness and appreciate each individual's struggles toward ability. Students in my classroom are incredibly compassionate and  enjoy gathering for weekly "class meetings" to share aloud their observations about one another, such as "I noticed that Zach was careful with his handwriting," or "I noticed that Sreya was helpful when the pencil tray spilled." Montessori education supports a child's own pace in learning. Self-correcting materials -- such as word study cards or the Stamp Game -- show a child his/her error without judgment. Each child's uniqueness is honored, through the "genius" design of Montessori's concrete materials. A child can revisit the Checkerboard as many times as needed until s/he comprehends advanced multiplication. A child need not be constrained to a single grade curriculum if s/he demonstrates understanding by using the materials. 
3. Engagement, Not Mastery. A school principal for many decades, Ackerly addresses some common parental concerns about their children's learning: "One of the important dimensions of education that the 'back to basics' people and the No Child Left Behind project leave out ... is the prefrontal cortex. To function effectively in the world ... a person needs to use his or prefrontal cortex a lot. This part of the brain deals with complex problem solving, self-monitoring, and abstract thinking skills. It is required for flexibility of thought and the ability to hold and manipulate information in working memory" (84). Contemporary brain research concurs with the Montessori approach to engage these "executive functioning" skills -- which, coincidentally, are supported by increased independence, responsibility, self-awareness, and organization. Again, the design of the Montessori classroom and curriculum is so important for the training of this ability in children. The center of interest in a 6-9 classroom is called "Cosmic Curriculum," the stories from many cultures that address the coming of the Universe, the planets, and life on Earth. In addition to key lessons which the teacher gives in subjects such as chemistry, physics, and geology, students freely explore each of these curricular areas with beautiful and imaginative shelf work -- such as a wooden Bohr diagram for studying atomic structure, gravity experiments, and plate tectonic activities. 
Despite this abundance of creative material and opportunity, parents often worry that school is too easy or too hard for their child. A middle path between these extremes exists, and Ackerly observes that "IQ does not predict success. Neither do grades in school, nor scores on standardized achievement tests... One thing that does predict success, however, is the passionate pursuit of interests" (81). An engaged child is learning and enjoys learning. A nervous or stressed child cannot learn, because the amygdala inhibits brain electricity from crossing the midline when a person's emotions are elevated. Ackerly continues: "Parents can have a powerful role in maintaining this (a child's enthusiasm for learning), mostly by not getting worked up and anxious about their children's academic achievement... This can be very destructive (80). "Our children are on their own journey ... (and) need us to have confidence in them. If we lose confidence, it is our fears that are showing, not their weaknesses" (143). It is our responsibility to children to believe in them and not project our concerns or opinions onto them. 
What I finally understood about the aforementioned presumptions people often make about Montessori (being either too structured or not structured enough) is very simple: both of those extreme points of view reflect the person's relationship with the fine line, the middle path that is the Montessori Method. In reality, a Montessori classroom provides structure and encourages individual pacing and depth, honors uniqueness of the individual and respects the needs of the community, and engages student interests while adhering to (and often exceeding) the minimum requirements for learning (benchmarks). One of the main tenets of Montessori education is to "follow the child" -- an aphorism I selected for this educational blog, because it reminds me of my quiet role in remembering that, as Ackerly states, "the child knows".