From JewishMontessori
Children have what is needed to be able to grow, a mind full of excitement and imagination. By giving them the freedom to use their mind letting them make their own decisions, children are able to overcome limitations.
Overview
A child develops and grows through stages, There are, four periods of development. Each period has three identical patterns that happen during development. They are:
a) a goal in development
b) a direction to reach a goal
c) a given sensitivity that makes the goal easier to reach.
The First Period is from birth to six years : Here children experience fast cognitive and physical growth. They need proper care and nutrition, with good sleep and a balanced diet to provide for the rapid growth of brain and body . The child starts to become its own person mentally and physically. The main thing needed for emotional development is a stable, secure and organized life. The child’s environment should have physical activity and mental stimulation.
The Second Period is from 6 to 12 years; when the child grows at a more regular pace. Muscles develop, bones strengthen and baby teeth are replaced by new teeth. The child is more resistant to disease and has a lot of physical and mental energy . It is very important to guide the child towards positive things with intellectual and physical activity to avoid behavioral problems.
The Third Period is from ages 12 to 18. This is the start of puberty and the second rapid physical growth. Adults have to be very patient and understanding towards the child.
Teenagers often have hormone related symptoms like irritability , moodiness, acne, identity issues and conflict between parent and child.
These changes could be damaging for the teenager. Adolescents should eat well and get good sleep.
The Fourth Period is from ages 18 to 24, a transition from dependence to independence and adulthood. Montessori saw how important it was to have strong roots in education from birth, letting the child grow spontaneous to develop communicative skills needed for solving problems as an adult.
Dr. Montessori’s main points are:
- People grow in stages; by observing the child the educator can notice their abilities and their potential within the learning environment.
- People grow through interacting with their environment; the learning environment should be made according to the child’s stage of development. This interaction is best when is self chosen and developed by the child’s own interests.
Montessori teaching believes in giving the child freedom to develop in the learning environment; helping the child do things on their own. She didn’t believe in forced learning, the main thing is the development of one’s personality and not the amount of information. By having a balance of encouragement of initiative and independence in learning the child develops self discipline and responsible social behavior. Educators have the responsibility to direct a child’s activities to divert his instinctive needs preparing him for the world at large.
The First Period of Development
A baby’s mind is constructed during the first three years of life, neglect or interference in its development will appear by age three, affecting the character and the intellect for life. “A little cut in a young tree is a large cut in a large tree.” It is important to let the child grow naturally with guidance, love and simplicity. Being sensitive letting the child learn at his natural pace. One must engage the child with activities and ideas seeing ultimately its reason. Being open to the child’s own assumptions. The innate characteristics of a person are developed during childhood, making the education during childhood most important for a successful future.
Children four to six years old have a big desire to learn how to read, write and experience math; by encouraging that motivation one can instill in a child good study habits and enjoyment in learning. Everything needs to be introduced to the child at the right time; the teachers must observe and know the child’s interests and abilities to be able to provide him with the proper exercise. At this age intellectual challenge is a fun experience. If the child looks bored the teacher needs to look into his way of teaching. Children are proud of their efforts; they gain their power and energy through their own efforts.
The teacher has to be careful not to interrupt the child’s spontaneity helping them in their independence letting them do things themselves. Children absorb experiences and information, by giving them the environment necessary for growth a child can develop positively.
The Sensitive Periods
The Sensitive Periods
Children have sensitive periods causing them to have a strong desire or ability for acquiring a certain skill or knowledge. A child is guided by sensitivities that dominate his attention; studying, absorbing and learning with enthusiasm, until a new stage of development.
Sensitive periods refer to the learning process of pre-school children.
Children have a sensitive period for language that only lasts for the first few years. Having enthusiasm to study, absorb and learn, each with a new stage of development at the appropriate intake for each individual child.
It is very important to let the child learn while he is still excited and instinctually learning words.
By recognizing these stages the teacher can take advantage of the child’s ability to absorb new experiences and information.
At the end of the first year children are more sensitive towards external order, they are interested in where the object is located within a certain place.
If the child is not able to develop these sensitive periods, not receiving the external stimulation he needs, the child is not able to develop naturally.
It is common during these sensitive periods that a child works only in a particular subject, putting a lot of effort and deep concentration on that one subject.
By a child learning with his hands physically, he is expanding his intelligence. We should not try to feed the intelligence more than the hand.
Generally by the age of six, all of the mental work of the hand and brain working in unison; empowered by the sensitive periods and absorbent mind, come together in the intellect of the student.
The teacher has to encourage the child, being clear using the appropriate expressions.
Every child has sensitive periods for all the different subjects, we should observe the child being prepare to give him the materials necessary for his natural learning need.
The Development of Language
The study of language is one of the most important areas during the first few years of a child’s education; most children begin to speak at age one , at one and a half they are putting together words, by age three they are speaking fluent full sentences.
Dr. Montessori believed that a child learns the meaning of words constructing sentences using the rules of grammar and syntax to be able to convey meaning.
Language begins even earlier, when a baby begins to make noises and laughs in response to the person speaking to her, to the sound of a human voice. This is the beginning of her efforts to learn her language.
By a baby watching a person’s mouth moving they realize that voice come from the mouth, and also try to move their own lips as well.
A babies babble is spontaneous , it helps babies work the muscles needed to make sounds; eventually they loose the ability to babble; they learn to connect sound with movement of their tongue and lips; this is the beginning of sound repetition.
Around the age of one they begin to understand words and begin to speak them one word at a time.,making the first words of infants almost universally identical.
Throughout the second year there’s an increase in language comprehension. The child begins to speak deliberately and with meaning. At the end of the second year the child is combining two or more words into basic sentence.
After the age of two a sudden and rapid development called the ‘explosion of speech’ occurs. It is not ‘baby talk’, but speech with proper pronunciation. During the third year his vocabulary has expanded; he is constructing sentences properly without difficulty.
Throughout the world babies learn different languages going through the same process of speech no matter how complex that language is, or how much the child is taught to speak. The child only needs exposure to language to develop, the more talking the faster she will speak.
The Development of Movement
Exercise is very important during the first year of life. It is good to encourage the child to move freely, building strength on his legs to be able to walk.
Once walking he is able to touch and explore independently the world around him, transforming the environment.
The environment should be arranged for the child to freely be able to explore it, learning from it, enhancing his intellectual stimulation.
Children learn to make responsible decisions and develop self discipline if they are allowed to run and play with reasonable restrictions.
It is important to observe each child’s motor development, even if each child may develop different skills at variety of time.
Still there is a general guideline so that the teacher can observe if the child is seriously lagging in his motor development.
There are also factors that can affect early motor development for example: generally most tall, muscular children tend to move more quickly than short stocky children affecting certain motor skills. Also the difference in gender may affect motor development.
It is important to give children fun games and exercises to develop their motor skills, making sure not to criticize the child’s abilities or emphasize competition causing it to hurt his self confidence.
Good nutrition is also necessary to prevent illness, malnutrition and normal growth. they should be encouraged to eat good healthy food without forcing them; this may cause anxiety and stress.
The Development of Personality
The period referred to as the ‘terrible two’s’ is when there are temper tantrums and management difficulty. Is a period where important development is happening and these tantrums prove these facts. Adults must be sensitive handling these situations.
At ages of two and six different social behavior becomes more obvious.
During the ages of two and three children develop personality and will. Children begin to develop abilities under conscious control within the child’s individual personality.
Dr. Montessori believed that the third year was the most important year for psychological development, she called this stage the development of the ‘psychic embryo’, a process which allows an individual to construct her own personality and will.
During the preschool years self reflection begins. By three and a half they can describe themselves in terms of typical emotions and belief. By having friends they learn that considering others needs and interests their own needs are best met.
They observe and react to others actions; experiencing self conscious emotions, becoming aware of approval or censure.
Parents who are sensitive to children’s needs have children that act kindly to their peers. Children need freedom, security, stimulation, love, encouragement and most of all the adult should be tolerant and understanding.
A two year old asserts her independence by refusing to do what is taught and expected. This is outgrown if she is treated with consideration and understanding. The child’s personality is being constructed and quick obedience, self control and good behavior always is not possible for a child this age. The child is full of emotional upheaval. Severity, emphatic speech, expressions of anger, punishments may only produce long term negative results.
At this age the whole mind is very impressionable, therefore is important to positively reinforce the child. Being calm, gentle, and consistent.
Not good behavior should be solved by cooperation not by battling with the child.
Children need freedom to be active. They need understanding from an adult, to be able to develop their own personality; growing into happy successful individuals.
