Freedom in a Montessori Environment

Explain in your own words the following: A. FREEDOM IN A PREPARED ENVIRONMENT B. THE SENSITIVE PERIODS C. NORMALISATION D. ABSORBENT MIND A) FREEDOM IN A PREPARED ENVIRONMENT All over the world in constitutions of countries freedom is enshrined. This freedom applies not only to the adult but also to the child. For it is in freedom that a child reveals himself. Therefore a directress in a prepared environment must have the opportunity to observe the child in a free and open environment. Also the child’s inner guide must be allowed to direct the child’s growth.Thus a child will be aided to grow through independence and must be allowed growth through his inn guide. This is because a child uses his environment to grow. A child must therefore be aided in his development through activities that will encourage independence such as self-help skills like wearing shoes buttoning sweeping and other activities that will make him independent. All materials should be given the correc t sizes; materials should be kept orderly; furniture should be child sized. The child must be aided in developing his will by by ensuring coordination and ensuring activities are towards a given end.The child must be given constructive work. Maria Montessori has described a classroom as a room in which all children move about intelligently voluntarily and without being unruly or loud. It is important to note that in allowing freedom, any destructive acts of the child must be limited. All other good and useful manifestations must be observed by the directress. There are however limits to freedom within the prepared environment; they are: Respect for the environment: The child has freedom but must treat the environment with care and respect.He must be courteous and treat all with respect and care. Respect for Himself: It is not enough to treat other with courtesy; he must also respect himself and use the materials respectfully without destroying. Respect for Others: The child is free to carry out activities as long as he is not interfering on the rights of other children in the classroom. Progress at his own rate and development: Each child is allowed to develop at his own rate and pace. No competitions are allowed in the environment. The Montessori environment also allows freedom in many aspects.Freedom of movement as they are allowed to move around the classroom as well as outside the classroom. Thus a Montessori classroom is not divided within work periods. A child is also allowed freedom of choice to choose their own activities in the classroom as this enables concentration and helps develop good working habits. Freedom of speech is also allowed as children speak to each other and initiate activities as a team or individually. Because they are not forced; they naturally develop the tendency to help thy neighbour.Children are expected to observe the rules of basic courtesy; which involves not interrupting other people. Freedom to grow and to construct his own mental capabilities. All materials are with a focus to helping the child build his inner self. Freedom to love and be loved is important as a child must be loved exceptionally and respected for just being himself. An example of Deji a three and a half year old who accidentally defecates on his body. Immediately other children start complaining about the smell and proceed to laugh at the child. The teacher who was also horrified was disgusted and showed this to Deji.The child sat still ashamed of himself. A well trained directress should correct Deji and clean him up and also discourage other children from making fun of him. It is important that love is shown in such circumstances while correcting the boy lovingly. Thus if such an occurrence occurs in future other children will learn to assist and show loving support. Freedom from danger is also important as a child has a right to be protected away from danger. Freedom from competition and pressure is discouraged as a child is free from artificially induced competition reward and punishments.The inner motivation of the child stimulates him to work to the best of his ability and the satisfaction is the reward. He is thus allowed to grow at his own rate and development. In conclusion freedom allow a child grow by removing obstacles which can impede his normal development. The freeing of a child consists in removing as far as possible these obstacles that will deter true development in a child. Thus to objectively achieve these demands objectively a close attention must be on the part of the adult. (B) THE SENSTITIVE PERIODThe sensitive period is a delicate and transitory period helping the child with the purpose of formation. This urge helps him to focus his attention on certain aspects of his environment with such congruency that he excludes other things. As a result of the meeting of minds between this inner urge and this activities; the child completes it and feels excited and stronger. This inner urge can be likened to an intrinsic weaving of the thread of life. The importance of the sensitive period abound as they help in later years to assist in the development of concentration and intellectual powers.Sensitive periods in language have been identified; a child who without prior formal lessons, without conscious effort learns to pronounce the language he hears perfectly. It has been identified that the sensitive period for language has already begun in the child before he can walk and talk. By four months through the watchful eyes of a child he starts making vague sounds. As he progresses the baby will begin got make real sounds. This mysterious urge starts in the soul; its intensity lights up a flame and is turned outward as a light.Under this influence the sounds separate though the child cannot understand the language. As the child interacts more with the environment he listens voluntarily to the spoken language. It had been defined as divine command which the child imitates and do es not know why. A child who is starved of been exposed to the sensitivity of language can lead to having a difficult time learning the structure of his language. An example in Nigeria is where parents refuse their children to learn the local language and speak only english to the child.As the child grows older learning to communicate in their mother tongue becomes a challenge as the child cannot relate to others in his immediate environment. Amazing is also the sensitivity to Order as it reveals itself in the second year of life. The child at this stage displays a possesive passion in the order of things. For example Deji a 3 years old has a pack of balls bought for him in a basket by his mum. Family friends come to the house and one of the younger children removes the pack of balls from the basket. Deji starts screaming as he trys to put all balls back in the basket.He quietened down after he put back all the balls without any interfeence from the guest. It is very necessary for t he child to have order in his environment as he is constructing himself from the elements of the environment. A baby can be helped by an adult through following a general rhythm. Dont forget to add advantages Another sensitivity which occurs in the second year is the senstivity to small objects. Children are drawn to small objects alas miniature scientists. However the adult must be patient,observant and not shout when a child pick up objects.Freedom is also critical to enable a child explore their environment. The adverse effects of sensitivity to small objects will be lack of observational skills passiveness and lack of comparative judgement. Sensitivity to cordination of movement occurs from 21/2 years. This is the period A Child loves to explore the environment by jumping and running. They engage in activity that will cordinate their movement. Constuctive work that will promote good cordination of body movement eg pouring from one jug to another is important. The adverse effect will be lack of good cordination.Children between two to five love to play with their mates. They also want to do things adults and develop social skills. At this time they pick up manners and behaviours from adults. The advers effects are that children remain dependent passice and lonely. Sensitivity through learning through the five senses. Children take interest in sound shape texture. At this time the children are given activities which impress and stimulate the senses refinimg their functions. This period is important especially in adult life especially in some vocations C) NORMALISATION Normalisation has been described as the single most important result of a teachers work. This is when the teacher has helped the child to attain a normal developmental stage where they focus for long periods of time. At this stage they are satisfied and proud of their work. Normalization occurs during the first phase of development at ages 0-6 years. Peter is a three year old pupil and a new st udent at ABC School. Peter is unable to concentrate on a particular task and lacks interest in activities.After careful monitoring and patience by an adult in a prepared environment; Peter transforms and shows keen interest in activities. Children who are young or new to the prepared environment are said to be in the first stage of development. These children are not ready for the freedom and like peter in the example above are invited to work with a teacher keeping an eye on the child. These children increase their level of concentration and take pride in their accomplishment As the child progresses; the child experiences freedom and now have the confidence to move and complete activities.Children at this stage benefit from frequent and different presentations. The role of the teacher s to observe the child keenly to ensure they are receiving the assistance needed for the transformation. By the time Peter in our example above is five or six years, the child is able to focus on one activity; work in teams; teach younger children and work independently without disturbing the work of others. This journey has taken years for the child to become normalized and as such the teacher must patiently and without giving up enjoy the journey towards independence and normalization.In a growing child there is physical energy; especially the muscular energy of intelligence and will and also the mental energy of intelligence and will. These two streams work in unison to make a child complete. A normalized chid develops the following characteristics; a love for order in which a child expresses a love for the environment and a desire to preserve the environment. Also the love of work which in a prepared environment means any activity which the child becomes engrossed in and consumes his personality.A child grows to like work naturally and finds joy in completing his work. Another characteristic is profound spontaneous concentration which has been called attention to life or a w onder of growth. It is the Childs intelligence that is concentrating here and constructing itself through an exchange with its immediate environment. Following closely is an attachment to reality as a normalized Childs mind constructs itself through contact with the environment which is the foundation of the world as taken in by a child through the five senses and later is built on by reason and imagination.When a child works on this intelligence is thereafter raised to the order of intelligence. Obedience: A normalized child is obedient as the child grows through various works undergone and undergoes the development of will. Independence and initiative is what happens to a normalized child. Spontaneous self-discipline is also a feature of Montessori school children. This discipline enables the children to work for long periods in the absence of the directress. Joy also radiates on the children’s faces because they are deeply satisfied.