From birth, the young child has been unconsciously absorbing his
world. Its many sounds, shapes, colors, moods, objects he has touched
and the way people and various things have touched him, have become an
integral part of who he is. He is with every passing day since birth,
becoming more and more who he will become. Montessori called this
ability within the child his absorbent mind. At about 2-1/2 years of
age the child begins to have a conscious mind. He can begin to
communicate with language and he has an inner need to move and
continually refine and perfect his newly emerging energies
independently of others. Montessori spoke of sensitive periods in a
child's life as times which are transitory, but also vital in helping
the child to achieve his true potential as a human being. Movement, a
love for small objects, learning through ones senses, a need for order
and routine, language acquisition and receptivity to an adult's
guidance characterize the young child's development and are his areas
of sensibility.
Montessori said, "When we speak of environment we include the whole
assemblage of things from which the child is free to choose for using
just as he pleases, that is to say, in conformity with his inclinations
and his need for action". (Montessori, The Discovery of the Child, pg.
99) This "whole assemblage of things" (Ibid) she spoke of is the
prepared environment. Within that environment "are pieces of work which
are planned and arranged in an order, not only as regards successive
difficulties of execution, but which demand a gradual development of
character, because of the patience which is necessary for carrying them
out, and the responsibility which they involve in order that they
should be carried into effect". (Montessori, The Discovery of the
Child, pg. 99)
The works in practical life are the child's first introduction into
a Montessori classroom. They provide as Montessori herself has said, a
sequential arrangement of materials along with the element of free
choice as well as providing for his intrinsic need for movement. But as
the child works his way through the practical life area, he will
undergo an inner development that will prepare him both physically and
psychically to more into the other areas of the classroom. "All the
same, we know from other experiences that this easy writing does not
come from our use of the sensitive period alone; it also depends on
certain preparatory exercises which the child does at an earlier stage
still, when his hand is busy with our carefully designed apparatus for
practicing his powers of sensorial discrimination. For this reason a
new principle has found its way into our method, the principle of
indirect preparation". (Montessori, The Discovery of the Child, pg.
213)
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| The materials found in the practical life area have no scientific
background but rather they are created from materials familiar to the
child and his culture. Therefore, they can be very different from place
to place while still reinforcing universal goals for each child using
them. Despite how different they can be they all must entice the child
to want to use them and from that use the child's concentration,
coordination of movement, acquisition of independence, and furthering
of intelligence and will are heightened. "Truly the brilliancy, the
colors, the beauty of gaily decorated objects are no other than voices
which call the attention of the child to themselves and urge him to do
something. These objects possess an eloquence, which no mistress can
ever attain to. "Take me", they say, "see that I am not damaged, put me
in my place". (Montessori, The Discovery of the Child, pg.125) It is
the materials which call out to the child. It is the role of the adult
to model the use of these materials for the child. She must move with
precision and grace and offer a pristine presentation of each work a
child wishes to do. The child will watch carefully and then the child
will do the work. If difficulty is observed the teacher will merely
observe. She will then take the opportunity at another time to assist
the child either directly or through another child or with a similar
activity. This way the child's spirit is not broken and he is inspired
to strive for further refinement of movement from within himself.
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Practical Life works are prepared to assist the child in developing
a harmonious personality. This is done through exercises on the line,
the silence game, care of the person exercises, care of the environment
exercises, and exercises for social relationships. Movement is the
external expression of the nervous system. It is the child's means for
contact with the environment. The child must move. Montessori said,
"Precision is found to attract him deeply, and this is what keeps him
at work. From this we must infer that his attraction towards these
manipulative task has an unconscious aim. The child has an instinct to
coordinate his movements and to bring them under control". (Montessori,
The Absorbent Mind, pg. 222)
As the child begins to do very simple works in the practical life
area, such as getting a rug and carrying it from its source to the
place he has chosen to lay it, he is already coordinating his actions
through movement. That movement, although initially awkward and
haphazard on the part of the child has been presented in a way that
works to create increasing order and precision in its execution by the
child. He has been shown how to carry a rug, how to walk around another
child's space, how to unroll the rug and re-roll it and carry it to its
source. He is responsible and made accountable for his actions both to
himself and to others. He also begins to be able to make decisions
about which works can be done on a rug and which ones need to be done
at a table. He also learns to wait if a certain work requires a table
and none is available or he will choose another work. Gradually he
moves into learning to carry a tray and return it to the shelf. He
learns to be sensitive and helpful. This is seen when glass is broken.
The children should be taught this is the one thing they do not touch
but also be assured that things do get broken.
Sequential arrangement of the materials, along with built in
external clues, provide continual feedback to the child. They help the
child to focus his attention to the task at hand and to control his
body movements to successfully achieve a task. As the child's
concentration, coordination, independence and sense of order increase
internally an external change becomes visible in the child. He is
visibly more peaceful and self assured, more able to wait, and he has
been indirectly preparing himself to move into other areas of the
classroom.
Sorting has prepared him to move into both language and mathematics.
Clothespinning, spooning, spooning and pouring, tonging, tweezing, and
eye dropping exercises have increasingly prepared his hand for writing.
Setting the table has prepared him in a practical way to move into
one-to-one correspondence in math. Table scrubbing has indirectly
prepared him visually for the left to right progression needed in both
reading and writing. The silence game has given him a sense of group
cohesion. Grace and courtesy exercises have instilled in him respect
for others and the ability to stop for a minute and wait or to use
language that is genteel and calm. The defining of space through rugs
and tables has heightened the need for respect of self-space and the
flip side of granting others the same courtesy.
The practical life area is the child's first encounter with the
prepared environment. It is the adult's role to set the stage so that
the child's movement from his initial experiences to more difficult
experiences are beneficial.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Montessori, Maria, The Absorbent Mind: 1992, Kalakshetra Publications, 10th ed.
Montessori, Maria, The Discovery of the Child: 1993, Kalakshetra Publicaitons, 10th ed.
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