Montessori Chapter 13

Maria Montessori Her Life and Work by E. Mortimer Standing
Chapter 13 - The Exercises of Practical Life

Montessori children work at domestic tasks such as sweeping, setting tables, or polishing brass. But it's important for the teacher to understand the purpose of these tasks in order to make the most of them. The goal isn't to get the floor cleaned, or the table set, or the brass polished. Children have a biological and psychological need to practice and perfect the kinds of movements that will enable them to do tasks well and easily. But they need to practice with real things - setting real tables for a real meal, cleaning real floors, polishing brass that's really tarnished. They need to be maintaining their own selves (clipping their nails, washing their faces, cleaning their clothes) or maintaining and ordering their surroundings (this includes food preparation.)

Related to this is learning grace and courtesy - the social niceties, such as when to stand up, how to close a door quietly, which fork to use. These skills are taught objectively so that the child is doing it because he wants to, not because his teacher/directress wants him to. The directress shows him how, but in such a way that he doesn't imitate her exactly. The goal is to teach the necessary steps, but to allow the child to be independent in deciding exactly how to do it, and when. Children need freedom in order to show initiative. Limiting skill-building lessons to one period of the day doesn't encourage children to jump on a task when it needs doing (such as, mopping the floor when there's a spill). In skills and social manners, they need the tools, but they need to be free to use those tools at their own discretion. A child can be polite to a visitor or not, it's his choice. But he needs to know how to be polite so he can when he wants to. The child who wants to be polite, or do some cleaning, should have the skills he needs at his disposal when he needs them. Yet the child should never be pressured to do something.

Children are pefectionists. Once they're comfortable with a task, such as setting the table, they can rise to new challenges: can they set the dishes down without a sound? They will enjoy the attempt, using their own ear to judge their success. Thus, the teacher doesn't need to be his judge and critic. Other challenges include pulling out his chair quietly, or washing hands without spilling a drop of water. If these challenges are perfected during the sensitive period for muscle coordination (before age 7), they will become automatic habits.

Children should be made aware of the sequence of motions needed to do any task. People trip up when they do motions out of sequence--they stumble when they move forward before their foot has moved up. They spill if they pour water from a pitcher before setting the glass in place. Every task is made up of a series of smaller movements. It's helpful to be aware of them, and graceful to do them in order.

Balance is practiced by walking a straight line. Challenges can be added, like holding a flag, or holding bells but walking the line so steadily that they don't ring, or balancing a basket on their head.

Children love stillness and quiet. They enjoy playing the Silence Game, where the teacher puts a sign ("Silence") on the wall, and the children sit in perfect silence in response, waiting to hear their name called in a whisper so quiet that it doesn't break the silence. They love the power of knowing that silence is something they can create collectively by being still. In silence, children can hear their inner selves. The ability to play and enjoy the Silence Game can only be achieved by normalized children who have inner calm as a result of a Montessori education.


Read the next part of this series, or start at the beginning.
CM's Letter to the Editor regarding Montessori