Friday, December 23, 2011

Can we offer value education at pre-school level?


I visited a pre-school last month where value education is being given to children below 6. If you visit the website of Living value international, you will understand the work that is being done to inculcate values at the stage of school. Values that are typically inculcated are of peace, respect, love, responsibility, honesty, cooperation, humility and others.

Although i could see the huge effort to inculcate values, i am not sure if it is really useful if given in the way it is typically given. Let me explain.

As the child's mind is absorbent mind till the age of 6, that i talked about in my blog , the child takes in things without understanding anything. How can such a mind 'understand' the concept of 'peace' or 'humility' which is very nebulous, vague and requires 'conscious intelligent mind' to comprehend ? At this stage, the child cannot even comprehend the difference between 'real and unreal', which is why when such a child is introduced to 'unreal' stories of comics and fairy tales, his mind absorbs it unconsciously and becomes a 'chaotic mass of impressions'.

Although the child, due to his absorbent mind, may 'recite' the meaning of values verbatim, he is not likely to practice them until he understands them ( which is unlikely because he is still developing his intelligence). In such a situation, can something be done to help the child 'imbibe' values before the age of 6? The answer is definite yes, but it will only work if it is done by following the laws of the child's nature, not by avoiding it. Here are some suggestions:

1. As the child's mind is absorbent mind, he learns through constant observing and repeating the 'behaviour'  he sees around him. This is the dominant mode of learning at this age. If the child has to 'imbibe' these values at this age, it will only 'imbibe' them, only if the environment around him is nurturing that type of behaviour.

That is why Montessori method of promoting the value of 'social development' through design of the environment is so effective. We have seen how through design of the environment, Montessori method enables child to imbibe the social skills ( which sometimes are also called values) such as  'patience' and  'respect'.

2. Because the child's mind is absorbent mind till 6, these values cannot be 'taught' in a class-room fashion through instruction or even facilitation, as is done in a traditional school.

One has to ensure that the behaviour is practiced infront of the child consistently to make him 'absorb' the value, so to say. For instance, if you are trying to enable the child to show 'respect', he will 'learn respect' only if the behaviour is consistently practiced with him and infront of him.

Consistency is the key.  If he does not want to eat, and you are pushing him to eat because it is lunch time, you are not showing your 'respect' to his views that 'he is not hungry'. If you want your child to play till, say 6 pm, you have to show him respect by telling him 'he can play till 6 pm' beforehand. You cannot just 'tell him to stop playing abruptly' at 6 pm.

3. Because 'values' are tied to 'behaviour', it is better to relate the value to the child's interpretation of value rather than your interpretation. For instance, if the child of age 5 says that 'respect' means 'not interrupting another child when he is working', you should resist 'giving' your definition of value to him.

More importantly, you should not 'force' the child to 'practice' the behaviour because it is 'right'. The child is more likely to practice the behaviour only if he 'voluntarily accepts' to practice it. Do not force any agenda in value education. Instead it is far more prudent to let the child dictate the agenda. As systems thinkers say Slow is fast.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Are you creative enough to foster imagination in your child?

As we discussed in the earlier blog, imagination ( not fantasy) is useful for developing 'creativity'. Creativity is 'reconfiguring' the existing combination of elements in the 'real world' in a new form that did not exist till then. Creativity in music, for instance, is 'reconfiguring' the same seven notes of music ( and the silence between the notes) in a uniquely different way. It is not creating the eighth note, so to say.

A child seems to respect the 'real' world intuitively. For instance, if you ask your child to draw an elephant, he will always draw elephant in 'black'. If you try to tell him to draw it in 'orange', he will listen to you, only if he has not seen a 'real' elephant. If you tell your child to draw a tree, he will always paint the leaf of a tree with 'green' color.  Although 'drawing' can be done only by 'imagining', the child refuses to draw something 'unreal', unless we provoke him.

Why is it important to keep the distinction of real and unreal for a child below the age of 6? Because the child's mind is a absorbent mind till the age of 6. Till this age, therefore, the child 'takes in' everything indiscriminately. When the mind is 'absorbent', it soaks in whatever it receives without any filter, like a camera. Child's absorption is so powerful that he can recollect the long list of numbers and objects, without understanding them.Because of the child's ability to 'recollect' and 'repeat' whatever he sees or hears, we often confuse this 'absorbent mind' with 'intelligent mind'.

Because of his powerful absorbent mind, a child can readily 'absorb' stories of unreal people like Superman or fairy tales. Once he absorbs them, his equally powerful  mind starts using them 'unknowingly'. For instance, a child fed with these comic book stories will be seen running from one place to another, telling you that he is 'flying like superman'. Or tell stories to their children about going to a 'planet', fighting 'demons' and so on. Their mind becomes fully occupied with 'ideas' that are based on unreal world.This reduces the child's engagement with the 'real' world and 'real' work, which is not a helpful habit.

Such deviant behaviour is observed in a child who is admitted to a Montessori pre-school, after he has attended a play school for 6 months. Such children find it 'so difficult' to undo their habits ( and do the real work in Montessori), that they often go back to play schools. These children get sucked in the fantasy world and have difficult time in correcting themselves later!

On the other hand, if this power of absorbent mind is used with the elements of 'real' world, it can 'establish' habits and patterns that can help the child develop his imagination. As Dr Montessori mentions ( in her book The Absorbent Mind), adults require special kind of sensitivity to create an environment for the child that will help the child to foster his imagination by using the elements of 'real world'.

Here are some examples to guide your creativity in helping create events that will help your child imagine and not fantasise. Remember imagination uses elements of 'real world' ( as contrast to fantasy which uses elements of 'unreal world':

1. A child can only understand 'concretes'. Help him use his 'imagination' to understand the 'concept'.

For instance, a child understands the distance of 1 meter, because he can see it 'concretely'. But he has to use 'imagination' to 'understand' the distance of 10 Kms, because one can never 'see' 10 kms. How will you help him 'imagine' 10 kms?

Or a child cannot see the physical property of 'long' or 'heavy', because it is a concept. A pen can be long, a ruler can be long, or a car can be long. How do you 'isolate' the physical property of 'length' from these three different objects by using his 'imagination'? How will you do it? Hint: Montessori method uses different materials to help the child 'understand' these physical properties. Ask your Montessori teacher for more ideas.

2. The child cannot understand the concept of 'time'.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow are concepts for a child to comprehend. That is why, he cannot understand that he has to 'wake up at 7 am to go to school at  8 am'. How will you help the child to imagine 'time'? Hint: Buy a calender for him and 'make' him 'paste' events on the date, and see it 'later'. Ask your Montessori teacher for more ideas.

3. Use 'real' world mysteries of life to provoke child's imagination. 'Biology' mysteries are most suitable at this age, because the child can 'discover' the mystery himself by using his 'eyes'.

For instance, tell him how chicks come out of 'eggs', while puppies come out of the 'stomach' of a dog? Or how some plants can be seeded with 'seeds', and how some can be seeded with 'stems'? Or how the same 'water' can exist in three forms : solid, liquid and vapour? Or the air is full of 'gases' which we cannot see? Hint: Ask your Montessori teacher for more ideas.


Imagination is a powerful tool to help the child become creative. But if the child has to use this tool, we have to become creative in designing an environment that will help our child use imagination. Are we creative enough? 


Saturday, December 3, 2011

Pre-school is not a school for killing time

Pre-school, the school for 3-6 years, is still regarded as a school that will help a child to spend time away from the house. As one of the woman parent told me ' I am unable to do anything when my child is at home. Only when she is in the school for 3 hours, can I do something constructive'.

This view - that pre-school is only meant to kill time - is shared by parents across different strata. Parents in a modern city like Bangalore share this view as strongly as the parents in a small city like Dharwad and Belgaum. Even education does not make a difference. Educated parents and uneducated parents both believe that pre-school is meant to keep the child physically active. Even language and culture does not matter. Parents in Mumbai and Delhi both believe that pre-school is just a 'preparation for the final school'; not a real school.

Parents therefore expect very little from pre-school. They expect pre-school to help their child play with toys. Or engage with other children in playing group games. Or learn rhymes like 'Jack and Jill went up the hill'. Or celebrate 'birthdays' with other children. Or participate in 'Annual days'. Or run on the sports day. Or participate in fancy dress.

At the most, parents expect children to learn something as a bonus. They expect the preschool to teach their children 1-100 or A to Z, at the most. They want pre-school to help their children to imbibe social grace and answer questions such as "What is your name" or "What is the name of your school", because it will help their child get dmission in a ' real school' in the first class.

So when these parents hear that Montessori method helps their children 'develop', they do not believe it; because they think that it is not possible to help develop a child at 3 years. When they see children of 3-4, they see children as irresponsible, undisciplined, unruly and noisy. When they try to help them 'eat food', they refuse help. When they 'tell' them to stay silent for a while, they make 'noise'. How can a child of age 3 helped to develop?

When Dr. Montessori first discovered that a child can behave differently in 1907 ( in her first school in Italy),  if proper 'development environment' is provided to him, everyone was surprised. She discovered that a 'child' can concentrate on an activity, not just for 10 minutes, but also for 30 minutes if proper activity is given to him. She found out that a child can also learn to have 'patience to wait', if the environment is primed for it. She discovered that a child can 'choose' his set of activities, if he is given appropriate practice to do so. She found out that a child of 4 can help other child of 3, if the children of his age are around him. In other words, with proper environment and scientific help ( done through Montessori method), a child can be helped to develop 'habits' that can prepare the foundation of his personality by the age of 6. Dr Montessori discovered that pre-school is the real school, where the foundation of child's personality is created.



Many parents in Italy could not believe what they saw in 1907. It took 50 years for American parents to learn that Montessori method is 'scientifically right'**. Even In India, Montessori schools are not known beyond Bangalore and Chennai, even when Dr Montessori was in India for 9 years from 1939.

I know that it is difficult to believe that a child can be developed till the age of 6. But do you want your child to miss an opportunity because you find it difficult to believe. Do you want your child to miss his  'development' because you could not understand the magic of child development? Do you want to blindly follow other parents and put your child in a play school, because you think that is the most a child can do ?

Or do you want to benefit from a 100-year old Montessori method of child development ? Do you want to learn more about Montessori method that can help your child grow 'better'? Do you want to take the 'pain and effort' to understand child development and help your child with your 'open eyes'?

However, if you want to give the best to your child, you will have to understand child development. Using  home grown recipes of child development will not help you any more. You will have to understand the magic of child development, by asking questions and verifying evidence. You cannot just rely on someone, because your child's future is at stake.

If you do not want to waste these 3 years of your child between 3 to 6 years of age, we can help you. 

** This book of Angelina Lillard ( Montessori Method: The science behind the genius ) explains why Montessori method works.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

If you choose learning over development, schools will happily oblige

Raageshwari, a 4 year child studying in a Montessori school, had recently learnt the words which has 'ch' and 'sh' as one of the sound. That day, Raageshwari told her mother, who is a professor, what she learnt at school. In her eagerness to help her daughter,  Raageshwari's mother opened up a dictionary and started narrating words with 'ch' and 'sh' to Raageshwari. She asked  her daughter to write those words in her notebook. She listed out almost 24 words. Rageshwari got 23 right. Raageshwari's mother was very happy with her child's progress. Buoyed by her success, Raageshwari's mother started giving her new words every day whenever she was taught a new sound, say like 'sk'. Raageshwari's mother thought that she was helping her daughter ! **

While educating a child, especially a child less than 6 years of age, there always comes a time when there is a conflict between development (developing qualities in a child like concentration or willpower) and learning (such as learning English words, or counting numbers). And like Raageshwari's mother, we often (sometimes unknowingly) choose learning over development !

When traditional schools make the mistake of promoting learning at the cost of development, the mistake is 'understandable'. However, even when your child is in Montessori school ( which is development centric) you still have to be careful. Today's parents have to understand the trade-offs normally done in child's education, and not just blindly try to help their child that will 'undo' the 'development growth' of a Montessori child. 

Whenever i meet parents ( during my coaching sessions), they always tend to assume that ''development traits' can be fitted in a child like 'plug and fit' piece. They feel that child is like a toy-machine, whose 'development' mistake can be corrected anytime by just 'screwing the nut and bolt tighter'. For them, having a will-power is just a matter of resolve and serious intention. Ignorant of the arithmetic of development, most of the parents, such as Raageshwari's mother, just 'focus' on learning, instead of helping the child to 'practice will-power'. 

Raageshwari's mother came to know about her mistake only when Saritha, Montessori Adult (a teacher is called as Adult in a Montessori environment) called her to the school after a month.

Saritha asked her 'if there is something odd happening in the home'. When Raagheshwari's mother replied that everything was fine, Saritha looked surprised. She told Raageshwari's mother that lately she has observed a significant difference in her child's  behaviour. She told that Raageshwari has been constantly pestering Saritha for help, which was very unlike Raageshwari. 

For instance, when Saritha taught new sounds, Raageshwari kept on asking Saritha 'for words' instead of finding them by herself. Or when Raageshwari came  in the morning, she asked Saritha for direction of what should she do. When Raageshwari wanted to go for lunch, she came to Saritha to ask  for permission. When Raageshwari wanted to rest, she asked Saritha's permission. Saritha  was surprised to see that Raageshwari was unable to make simple choices. When Raageshwari's mother told Saritha on how she has been helping her daughter with words, Saritha understood the root cause of Raageshwari's behaviour.

Helping child to develop will-power requires a huge effort and attention to details. One of the component of willpower is to help the child practice making simple choices between seemingly similar alternatives. Montessori environment is carefully designed to confront the child in making choices by creating different scenarios. For instance, a child is encouraged to choose her own work from the 300 odd activities. Even if the child comes to the Adult to find what she should do, the Adult will simply tell the child " There are many activities that you have learnt. What would you like to do?'. Even if the child wants to rest and not do any work, the child is 'never asked why'. The child's choice is respected. ( Montessori environment also has a rest place for a child!) If the child wants to help others, she is indirectly encouraged because that makes the child 'independent'. In short, all seemingly simple decisions are 'pushed back' to the child so that the child  practices them repeatedly. Initially, a child will be nervous and keep on asking help from the adult; but slowly and surely, she learns to develops her ability to take these decisions. 

By helping Raageshwari to find more words, Raageshwari's mother unknowingly discouraged her daughter in finding her own words. This ready-made help prevented Raageshwari in using her own 'ability' to find more words on her own. She became dependent on her mother to find more words. This dependence became so 'habitual' to Raageshwari that she started finding it difficult to make even simple choices such as 'which activity to work in the morning' and so on. Slowly and surely, she started pushing her decisions on others, because these decisions invoke lot of anxiety in the child in the first place. 

Raageshwari's mother's unnecessary help to her daughter helped her learning of English words, but discouraged her ability to become independent. It took Saritha 3 months to correct the Raageshwari's development behaviour, because Saritha spotted the mistake early enough. It takes huge amount of effort and patience to develop such qualities in the children, but it can be 'undone' easily by such a 'small' mistake.

If you are a parent who is proud of your child's ability to recite a table of 9, instead of her ability to choose between green dress and blue dress, you are unknowingly making it difficult for your child to develop. If you are a parent who is proud of your child's ability to recount 30 words in a jiffy, instead of her ability to 'concentrate on her work for 10 minutes', you are unknowingly making it difficult for your child to 'develop'. Schools will be happy to help your child 'learn', instead of develop, because it is easier for them.

Please remember that a mistake in learning can be rectified easily even at a later age, but a development mistake becomes more and more and more difficult to rectify with passing age. Until parents understand the arithmetic of development, they will continue to make wrong decisions !

** Source of case: Dew Drops Montessori House of Children, Bangalore

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Does Montessori offer too much freedom to a child?

One of  the parent, named Ashwin, who was invited in a Montessori school to observe his 3 1/2 year child for half an hour ( who was studying in the second year of a preschool Montessori house of  children) told me what he observed in the school:

My child was sitting in a mat. Did nothing for 5 minutes. Then he went and chose an activity of 'pouring grains'. Worked with it for 10 minutes. Did nothing for next 15 minutes. He seem to be watching some other child's activity. No adult came to suggest him or even ask him why the child is sitting idle. 

I can understand that the child should be given 'freedom'. But doesn't the child misuse the freedom?

Based on 30 minutes of observation, would you react like Ashwin? Even when we go for work, we chat, we engage in banter, and we also work hard. So can we expect children to 'work hard' all the time like Ashwin?

Remember, in Montessori House, the child is engaged in 'work-activity' and therefore goes through four different periods of Engagement, Relaxation, Activity preparation and Assimilation phase (where the child recapitulates the activity and absorbs it in her psyche) as he works. In a Montessori House, it is therefore observed that every child goes through these four periods in a cyclical manner, repeated 2/3 times in a day.

Therefore, only when one is aware of what the child has been doing, one can make realistic assessment of the child's 'engagement' or 'idleness'. Even 'pouring grains' is supposed to be a 'relaxation' activity for a  3 1/2 year old child, although it was a challenging engagement for a child of 2 1/2 year old child when he learnt it first. It is therefore imprudent to conclude anything from a snap shot of 30 minutes ( or even one hour) without knowing the full context.

This however does not answer Ashwin's question: does the child misuse the freedom: the freedom to work or not, the freedom to choose the type of work?

Does the child misuse the freedom in a Montessori House of Children?

In a Montessori, a child is never seen to misuse this freedom . Quite the contrary, it is observed that the freedom given to a child generates many intended and unintended consequences, all of which are surprisingly positive: the child develops his own will power to choose his own activity, learns to thwart other attention-diverting distractions, practices self-discipline without being told.

However, Montessorians also observe that a child sometimes misuses 'freedom' to avoid doing a 'challenging' activity. For instance, a Montessorian will notice that when a child is introduced to a new challenging activity, which is just above the threshold level of his 'capability', the child will tend to avoid that activity for a while. Such activities could be learning addition through snake exercise, or forming words by phonetic analysis of sound such as milk or cat.

The Montessorian is trained to observe this 'resistance' and not 'react' to it. She gives the child enough 'time' to 'readjust' her expectations. Only after the child refuses to 'overcome' the resistance on her own, will she gently prod the child. She may even 'repeat' the presentation of the activity. She uses various indirect ways to prod the child back on course without damaging the child's delicate sense of confidence.

Because of the mixed age grouping ( 3-6 year old are in one group) in a Montessori, a parent will observe that young children spend considerable time in watching the activities of older children. A Montessorian will never discourage this 'watching activity', because this is how a child gets interested in newer challenging activities. While observing someone else, she is also gaining the 'confidence' that she will also do it in the same way when she grows up.

Due to the mixed age grouping, a parent will also observe another occurrence in a Montessori House of Children. She will see that a young child will call an older child to 'evaluate' his activity, and not go to the Montessori Adult. Very often this is confusing to the parent. They feel that an older child may misguide the younger child. On the contrary, it is observed that an older child can point out 'mistakes' in a younger child far more directly ( it may look ruthless if done by the adult) and in a fashion that is far more easy to correct. 

Friday, October 28, 2011

Is Montessori method meant for mentally challenged children only?

A well-read parent asked me this question last week ' If Montessori method is meant for mentally disadvantaged children, is it really useful for normal child?' I think this (misleading) perception has got formed in the public psyche due to two reasons.

One, it is because of Dr Montessori's background in psychiatry and her initial successful experiment with mentally challenged children. After studying medicine, she was working as an assistant to a Professor of Psychiatry in the University of Rome. In order to cure the mentally challenged children, she worked with these children because she felt that what they needed was not medicines, but developmental treatment. She worked for two years with these children.

When these mentally challenged schoolchildren were evaluated at the end of two years, they were evaluated by the same examination that was given to normal children. Many of these children fared better than normal children in the exams. This brought Dr Montessori’s work to the limelight. She was called a ‘miracle worker’.

However, after doing this,  she turned her attention to the development of normal children. She writes, “Thanks to the education of mentally defective, one could imagine an approach to education which is radically different from the traditional method of education”. (*)Her work with mentally challenged children helped her understand the difficulties and obstacles that were faced by normal children in the course of their development. She found that the normal methods of educating children did not help child’s development, but instead distorted development of normal children.



Dr Montessori in the first of her school

She enrolled as a student of philosophy to understand the principles of education. She worked on perfecting her method for next 7 years ( 2000-2007). She used the theories of two renowned educationist, Dr Itard ( who is called the founder of scientific education, in contrast to Binet who is considered the founder of physiological psychology) and Dr Seguin ( who perfected the system for physically challenged children). She started her first school for normal children in 1907 on these principles and later perfected this system with constant observation and experimentation.

Second reason for the above misleading perception is due to the emphasis on 'movement' in Montessori education method. Movement is also used extensively for educating physically & mentally  challenged children today.

Unlike traditional schooling, where a child is taught through 'verbal instruction' and 'blackboard', Montessori method is based on 'individual work by the child through his/her own activity'. Today, psychologists (**) agree that this educational method is the best method for any child. It is ideal for a child 3-6 years old, because the child at this age learns everything through the use of his 'coordinated movement directed by will' as his intelligence is still developing.

Conclusion

Although Dr Montessori had her initial foray in education with mentally challenged children, she had to develop educational method for normal children right from scratch, after understanding the basic principles of scientific education. Educationist and psychologists today have found substantial evidence to confirm that Montessori method is ideal for developing normal children. And , as they say, the best proof of pudding is in eating. If you meet any Montessori child of 5 year old, you can yourself 'feel' the difference of Montessori method first-hand!


* Maria Montessori: The discovery of child
** For more details, read this  book: Angelina Lillard, " Montessori, the science behind Genius" 

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Is Play school useful for your child?

Many parents prefer to put their child of 3 year old in a play school instead of regular nursery school, because they think that school will take away their innocence and joy of childhood. Parents tend to be more comfortable seeing children engage in dramatic or fantasy play, interpreting this as creative and imaginative.

Play schools look good because play is a freeing of the spirit and mind in a spontaneous interaction with something or someone and it often includes laughter and movement, both of which are valuable for a child. Because play involves games and interacting with each other ( or with an activity), play does tend to help a child in hastening the coordinating of his body muscles with his senses. This itself is an important accomplishment that helps the child to develop the necessary independence and mobility that takes him further on the path of developing his ‘personality’; or rather the foundation of his personality. In this way, play school is better than a typical nursery school for the child's development.

Although Play is very useful for a child’s development, it only helps your child partially. Having helped him build his body coordination, if you take one more step, you will be able to help your child ‘develop’ the foundation of his personality. Imagine if you can give some ‘activity’ to your child, which engages his hand, body and mind, and through that ‘activity’ the child ‘develops’ some traits in himself, such as concentration and patience, what would you like to do? This is done in Montessori school.

Like play, Montessori school also engages your child in an activity ( not in a lesson!). But there is a difference between Montessori activity ( which is called ‘work’ in the language of Montessori) and play activity. Because Montessori material is scientifically designed, a child faces ‘variety’ of challenges in performing an activity with the material. This motivates the child in repeating activity numerous times. And because the child repeats this activity alone, it fosters development of concentration. 

This early habit of concentration is critical for the development of child, because it enables child to use his latent potential fully. Many parents do not have any idea of the importance of developing this concentration early; due to which parents unknowingly discourage the development of child. Instead of waiting for the child to perform a challenging task, like opening a lock with key, parents have a tendency to interrupt child, offering unneeded help as soon as a child struggles to overcome an obstacle. This is avoided if the child is put in a Montessori school. Montessori school, by engaging your child through an activity, which is natural for him, not only builds his  body coordination ( which is what play school achieves), but also goes one step ahead and develops the foundation of his personality.


A child learning 1-10 numbers through an activity in a Montessori school

If there is no Montessori school in your vicinity, when is the play school beneficial? As mentioned above, play activities are beneficial, because they help body coordination, which is necessary for 3-5 year old child. Play school is helpful when it has activities that can be played individually as well as in group.  Play school is useful if it avoids too much of 'sensorial activation' ( excessive use of colours and sounds) and instead design activities that present 'increasing challenges' for a child. Parents also have a belief that play school promotes social skill. This is misleading. Please read what is social skill and why it is difficult to develop. Morever, as the child also 'absorbs' like a sponge during this age, it may be useful if you engage your child in a proper home study instead of sending him to a nursery school after 4 years.

Here it is worth mentioning about the usefulness of video and computer game in developing a child of 3-5 years. Video and computer games do not help the child in body coordination. Moreever, they cause 'unintended consequences' in the development of child through its overdose of 'sensorial activation'. Due to use of senses, video and computer games attract child repeatedly, unconsciously discouraging child in taking up challenging tasks and activities. This habit of avoiding challenging tasks can sometimes prove detrimental to the development of child.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Use rewards carefully & sparingly

In Montessori schools ( 3rd year to 12th year), there are no stars, merits, honor rolls or grades. It is believed that offering rewards to motivate a child is not useful for long term development of child. If you  understand why, it will help you decide when to reward and how.

Rewards are of two types: intrinsic & extrinsic. Extrinsic rewards motivate when someone is not motivated to do something. However, if a person is intrinsically motivated, expected extrinsic rewards actually interfere with the subsequent interest.(**) As young children are 'intrinsically motivated' in Montessori, they therefore do not need any extrinsic reward. Have you seen a four year old 'motivationally-deficient' child?

In a Montessori this can be observed whenever an inexperienced Montessori Adult (teacher is called an adult) repeatedly offers an extrinsic reward such as patting on the back or praising a child. When such an adult  pats on the back after a successful performance of an activity, the child takes up 'easy' activities which he believes he can accomplish with certainty.  He keeps on repeating the same activities that he can do easily to get the extrinsic reward. More detrimentally, the child avoids 'new activities' because they are inherently challenging. When he takes up new activities, he gives up easily when he encounters the smallest of difficulty. He has to be persuaded to take it again. Even if the Montessori adult repeatedly requests him to take up the new activity by using innovative methods, the child sensing the adult's urgency, resists it more.  In a Montessori house, where a child is supposed to choose his own activities, this can derail the child's development. Therefore, any form of extrinsic rewards is are not offered to the child in a Montessori house.

In a Montessori, if you watch a child finishing an activity successfully, you will find him contended and satisfied. For him, accomplishing a purposeful activity through his barely developed coordinated movement is a great intrinsic reward. His first reaction after accomplishing a purposeful activity in Montessori is therefore to do nothing for a while or take a tiffin break, or do a relaxing activity such as drawing with a metal inset . He does not 'seek' any extrinsic reward, because he is intrinsically motivated.


Metal insets ( also called as Drawing insets) used in Montessori House of Children

After understanding the dynamics of reward and how it affects the child's behaviour, following rules may be helpful in deciding when and how to reward child's behaviour at home:

1. Do not offer rewards to the child for normal expected routine behaviour

Offering rewards for normal work like waking up early from the bed, brushing teeth, or eating food sets up a a vicious loop of behaviour, as the child starts expecting reward for every normal activity. For instance, if the parents offer reward for eating food, you will find that the child wants reward for eating food every time. Vicious loop sets in. Changing the behaviour of child now is very difficult ! Later, we shall see how to alter such patterns of behaviour.

Parents also offer rewards for doing homework in a traditional school. Research has shown that child's intrinsic motivation in traditional school declines every year. In such a low-motivation situation, extrinsic reward paradoxically do tend to motivate the child to perform the homework. This is a catch-22 situation for parents whose children are in traditional school.

2. For performing a challenging activity, like walking on a rope or walking stairs downwards, offer 'smart help' to the child.

Here the intrinsic reward rule applies. For the child, doing the challenging activity itself is a big intrinsic reward. Do not spoil his real enjoyment. At the most, give a tap on his shoulder or show your affection that is commonly used.  If you want to encourage him, praise his 'act' to others subtly in his presence.

3.  Use rewards to show your 'affection' and love, not for producing successful outcome in an activity

By their very nature, efforts is not linearly proportional to outcome. Sometimes, effort produce the desired outcomes, sometimes it does not. There is a whole 'science' to explain why. But, by offering 'rewards' for successful outcomes, we unknowingly push the child in believing that  'outcomes are entirely in his control', which is not true. This belief causes so much 'stress' in the child that it directly impacts his performance.

In other words, give rewards as 'gifts', not as rewards. Find occassions to give gifts and let the child know that you 'love' him irrespective of anything. That assurance to child is more helpful than any other  reward.

4.  If you want to shower praise on your child, always praise the 'behaviour'.

Very often we praise the child by saying he is 'good boy' or a 'good girl'.  Such 'global praise' does more harm to the child, because it makes him see himself as either 'white' or 'black'. Instead, praise the child's behaviour, such as ' I liked your sharing of chocolate with Rinky'.

Girl using metal inset for drawing


** This is surprising to many, but the research support is very strong. For more details, read this summary in Angelina Lillard's book " Montessori, the science behind Genius" 

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Unique feature of Montessori

There are many features in Montessori. However, if I was asked to name just one feature and leave the rest, i would name this one: Montessori method is development-centric as compared to learning-centric methods of other traditional pre-schools.






Dr Maria Montessori's ( 1870-1952)
 Source: http://www.michaelolaf.net/maria.html

Learning-centric method promotes intelligence building. In these schools, the primary emphasis is on learning language, arithmetic, or any other subject. Although intelligence facilitates development, not all learning results in development. For instance, when a child between 2-5 is taught A to Z, or 1 to 100, the child 'absorbs' this content indiscriminately and may also repeat everything without a mistake. We call this 'mugging' in common parlance. This kind of learning does not promote development.  Secondly, learning-centric methods rely more on 'direct' learning. That is why you see traditional schools use instruction and blackboard as its major tool.


Development-centric method like Montessori, on the other hand, primarily focus on developing a child's personality. That is why, you will find, the method focusses on developing traits like concentration, patience and others. Development-centric methods rely on 'indirect' tools to promote development, because one cannot 'teach' patience and concentration by exhorting or urging children. For instance, in the earlier blog, we saw the amount of effort the montessori invests in creating the right environment for the child to promote his social development.


Out of different traits, Montessori method specifically focuses on developing 'concentration' in children by coordinating different variables in a Montessori environment such as letting child chose his activities, designing material ( and its activities) that progressively challenge a child to perform the activity repeatedly, and letting the child be with an activity for as long as he wishes. By the way, developmental psychologists believe that long attention-span (in other words, concentration) is a biggest differentiator that separates talented from average individuals. Montessori prepares this foundation at a young age. 

Development-centric methods also approach learning in a very different way. For instance, Montessori uses these three variables to promote learning: 

1. Active engagement: A child can learn only when he performs his own activities and repeats them ad infinitum. That is why Montessori materials are designed in a way that keeps on throwing challenges to a child and keeps him engaged in performing activities repeatedly. A set of 4 cylinder blocks enable a child to perform 100+ different activities, each with a different type of challenge.

3. Isolating one concept at a time: In order to avoid confusion, the child is always introduced with one concept at at one time in Montessori. For instance, one set of  cylinder blocks isolates 'thick and thin' diameters of cylinder by keeping the length of a cylinder block same, another set of cylinder blocks isolate 'short and long' cylinders by keeping the 'diameter' same. If you see this video of cylinder block on You tube, you will understand what i am saying. Only after the child is introduced to varying diameters and lengths, the child is introduced to third set of cylinder blocks  that changes both the diameters and lengths at the same time. 


In language-learning, this method causes confusion in the parent's mind. Out of five different sounds of 'a', the child is initially introduced to only one sound of 'a' vowel  ( which is  'a' as in cat). Because of this, the child pronounces some words 'wrongly' where 'a' is pronounced differently. For instance, until the child is introduced to other four sounds of 'a', child pronounces even the 'a' in ball as 'a' in cat. Montessorians have to often caution parents to avoid correcting the child at this stage. 

3. Making unconscious conscious : A child of less than 5 can learn anything unconsciously, because his mind absorbs everything like a sponge. Dr Maria Montessori calls it an absorbent mind. Learning however happens only when the child converts 'unconscious impressions into conscious'. For instance, a child learns to  speak a word unconsciously. But he learns only when he consciously distinguishes the sound of each syllable and then convert those sounds into 'words'. Montessori follows this method everywhere.


Because of the money in education, many chains have entered this pre-school segment at a national level. Today, as parents, it is therefore necessary to understand different methods of education and not get drowned in the 'jargon' of education. As parents, you are today compelled to separate wheat from chaff and take an informed decision for your child, because your child's future is at stake. 


Which approach do you think is a better approach to develop and teach your child? Montessori or other Pre-schools ? If you have any doubts, please feel free to ask.



Wednesday, September 7, 2011

How Montessori promotes social development of a child



If Montessori promotes individual work, many parents ask, does it not prevent or retard social development of a child. Let us understand how Montessori promotes social development of child through it's well crafted design of environment. 

Before understanding how, let us clarify what is social development? Social development is not sitting with someone else and listening others talk, joke, blabber, or pat each other’s back. That is called 'gregarious'. Social development, more specifically, is being able to sit with others to solve common problems and pursue aims acceptable to all. 

With the latter definition of social development, fostering social development requires developing five traits: Acquiring self discipline to speak what is necessary, respecting others time and presence, taking care of common resources that belong to all, listening to others with patience, and utilizing each other's strengths to seek help or help others when necessary. 

Let us see how these traits are encouraged indirectly in a Montessori design.  No scholastic material is prepared to develop social skills of a child; instead, in a Montessori, an environment is created that invokes specific experiences in a child, which in turn promotes social development.

For instance, in a Montessori, as many of the Montessori apparatus are found in only single sets, the child, who does not find what he wants to work with, needs to wait for it to come back to the shelf. This fosters patience and tolerance towards other children in the environment. The child learns to control the urge to grab the material from others and has to instead learn to be patient with others.

Unlike in traditional school, a child in a Montessori has the freedom to move and work wherever he wants to. To work, he has to place his work-mat anywhere he wishes in the class ( in Montessori, a class is called an environment), and carry the material to his work mat. However, he quickly finds out that his freedom is not limitless. Like others can disturb him, he also realizes that he can be a source of disturbance to others. He has to therefore learn to inhibit his impulse to disturb others if he has to enjoy his own freedom of working himself. Unknowingly he learns to respect others. A child is not taught to respect others, instead he learns this through his own experience in a Montessori.

In a Montessori, a child has to take care of the material himself.  Because everyone shares one set of material, the child understands that the materials are common resources used by everyone.  He not only has to take care of the material while working, but also has to keep it back  in the same state of preparedness and completeness that he fetched the material, after finishing his activity. This itself promotes self-discipline and acute awareness of other’s needs, an important trait of social development

In a Montessori, children with mixed age group work together. Children with 3-6 age work together in one class in Montessori, not in separate classes. In such a set up, a junior child seeks help from senior child because a child can communicate better with other child, than with the adult ( in Montessori, teachers are called adults). A child initiates speaking with each other whenver he wishes, instead of being indirectly pushed to do so. Older children therefore become heroes and teachers of the younger children, as younger children intuitively understand that when they will become older they will be able to do what older children can do. This social experience of helping each other in a Montessori strongly promotes social development. Additionally the diversity in a Montessori enables  the child to interact with different type of children: boisterous, silent, bubbly, demanding, whining etc.

Due to the brilliant design of environment, a child in Montessori develops socially through experiencing different situations , instead of intellectual reasoning or by given constant instructions of 'Be patient'. In other words, careful design of environment of a Montessori promotes social development. A play school may help gregarious development, but it is not enough to promote social development.  

Which do you think is a more powerful method to promote social development: Montessori or a traditional play school? 



Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Parenting in a montessori way

Parents have scanty information on how to develop their children of less than 5 years.We will keep on writing about it. Here are few ideas that can be used from Montessori:  http://build-a-corporate-career.blogspot.com/2011/08/parenting-in-montessori-way.html

Enjoy Parenting. 

What is a Montessori school?


Even a playschool today calls itself a Montessori school. So let us pause and understand the background of Montessori school.

In the year 1939, the Theosophical Society of India extended an invitation to the Dr Maria Montessori, who had started her first Montessori school in Rome, Italy in 1907 as part of a slum development project due to very fortuitous circumstances. The outbreak of World War II made Maria extend her stay in India till 1949, although she returned to Europe for a brief period. Over this period, Maria Montessori conducted sixteen Montessori Training Courses, laying a very sound foundation for the Montessori movement in India. Because she made Adayar, Chennai her home, Montessori schools are perhaps more popular in Chennai and Bengalaru.

Bengalaru today has two accredited training centers and supposed to have 500+ Montessori schools till the age of 6, four Montessori schools till the primary grade, and two till 8th grade. By the way, US has more than 2000 Montessori schools. Larry Page and Sergie Brown (founders of Google), the two most vocal and popular Montessorians, have probably made Montessori more a household name than anyone else, I guess. 

Montessori method of education originated for children between 3-6 years. At this age, the child cannot be developed through 'verbal instructions' because of the nature of his mind, what is called as absorbent mind. At this age, the child absorbs everything indiscriminately like a sponge. So what can one do at this age to develop a child?


Montessori method uses about 600+ activities to help the child between three and six. Because a child at this age primarily uses body and finger movements at this age, Dr Maria Montessori designed 150+ scientific material kits to engage a child's interest and attention. These material kits classified in four categories: exercises of practical life, sensorial, language and arithmetic, each meant to serve a specific purpose, have been perfected over a long period of trials. Please note that the primary purpose of Montessori method is not to teach  the child something, but to develop him.  


Dr Montessori designed these material kits after about 10 years of study. She had a academic background of medicine. Working in a Psychiatry department of a hospital, she ran a school for mentally challenged children without any experience, because she believed that ‘mentally challenged children require developmental or educational treatment, and not medicinal treatment’. When these students fared better than normal students in the state-administered tests,  the world noticed Dr Montessori's work for the first time.

Dr Montessori however felt that these methods can be used for normal children. She studied and incorporated the scientific work of Dr Seguin and Dr Itard , two developmental psychologists, to develop the Montessori method. Her first lab to test her approach, however, could be initiated only when she was invited by a building contractor to start a school for the children of his construction workers in 1907. 

The world took notice of Dr Montessori's work when visitors like Mayor, Kings and Queens, educationists and other experts visited the school and got surprised at what they saw. They observed that children of 3-6 years worked on their own without any 'teacher' to supervise them, greeted outsiders gracefully and concentrated on an activity without anyone overseeing their work. (Montessori class does not have a blackboard and does not follow group teaching).

At the age of 6, a Montessori child is self-disciplined, can concentrate on an activity for a long time, and is well-balanced. In short, the foundation of his personality is laid. Other benefits of Montessori method are supposed to be a bonus. Because of his self-control (not externally-imposed control), a Montessori child also learns faster. For instance, by six he can write a 1-page essay in English language on a subject and can perform fractions in arithmetic.