Author: ashleighwilkins

By Kala Reyes — Rewarewa Head Teacher – Preschool

Freedom is regarded as the right to act, speak or think for oneself, while discipline is one’s ability to practice obedience towards set rules. Dr Montessori believed that freedom and discipline work hand in hand in the child’s development. In Montessori environments, freedom means a child can make his own choices from a carefully prepared environment. Freedom is important for the child to exercise and develop his will — but this does not mean that the child can do whatever he likes because freedom is accompanied by clear limitations, responsibilities, and whether one’s freedom is impinging on someone else’s. For example, a child is free to choose a material from the shelf as long as it is available (and this has been presented to him), he is welcome to observe but not to interrupt, he is free to take kai but need to be mindful there’s enough left for the rest of the group.

“A child’s liberty should have as its limit the interests of the group to which he belongs…We should therefore prevent a child from doing anything which may offend or hurt others, or which is impolite or unbecoming. But everything else, every act that can be useful in any way whatever, may be expressed.”

Maria Montessori, The Discovery of the Child, p.50

Dr Montessori’s idea of discipline does not involve rewards or punishment, but an intrinsic motivation or inner discipline to do what’s right simply because it is the right thing to do. Rewards and punishment may work short-term; some children may follow rules out of fear of punishment while children who thrive in praises and rewards may be motivated to work in anticipation of more rewards. Punishment itself creates a negative feeling about oneself and gets in the way of learning.

Self-control is a manifestation of inner discipline. When we see a child waiting patiently for a material to be returned to the shelf so he can use it, when he wipes a spill on the floor so no one slips, or when he pays attention during story time without interrupting — we can say that the child has self-discipline. The purpose of discipline is for children to know how to be positive members of their community. Discipline does not happen overnight and neither does the child acquire it just because we instructed him about it. As Dr Montessori said, “inner discipline is something to come, and not something already present” (The Absorbent Mind, p.239).

At school, we support the development of inner discipline by preparing real, purposeful activities that encourage independence, repetition, and support concentration. We role model the behaviour we want to see in the children and we take advantage of their absorbent minds and sensitive periods to guide them towards positive behaviours. Eventually, when many of the children have discipline, the result is a productive community of little people who show respect, kindness and empathy towards each other.

By Zena Kavas — Biology Teacher, High School

Maria Montessori often discussed the education of the whole child and the value of education not being limited to mere academic development. In Education and Peace (p30) she wrote An education capable of saving humanity is no small undertaking; it involves the spiritual development of man, the enhancement of his value as an individual, and the preparation of young people to understand the times in which they live. Although this book was first published in 1949 the message is just as valuable today. This concept fits well with the Te Whare Tapa Wha model developed by Professor Mason Durie in 1982. Originally developed for the healthcare sector, it is now used in education and career development settings, and is valued due to the focus on holistic development. 

This model represents our ākonga in four dimensions

• Taha wairua (spiritual aspect or beliefs about purpose or place in the world)
• Taha tinana (physical aspect or beliefs about ability to do something)
• Taha whānau (family and friends and beliefs about belonging)
• Taha hinengaro (mental and emotional aspects, self-confidence)

These four aspects represent the four walls of the whare, and when all four walls are strong and resilient, the whare will be strong and stable. In education, when our ākonga are strong in all four dimensions, they will learn well and develop to their full potential (not just getting good grades.) However, if one of the dimensions is weaker, or compromised, learning and development will be compromised.

When approaching a task or a course, our ākonga will already be having an internal conversation and be forming a set of beliefs.

1. Do I believe I can do this? (Taha wairua)
2. Do I have the physical resources I need to do this? (Taha tinana)
3. Do I have others supporting me to do this? (Taha whānau)
4. Can I handle or cope with this? (Taha hinengaro)

We encourage students to see the reason why they are working on a task, not just to get it done, or gain the credits, but to see the importance of the learning, to foster curiosity and to see the bigger picture. We attempt to ensure that the physical environment is safe and conducive to learning, and that ākonga will have all the resources that they need. We provide a supportive learning environment, both within the school and by inviting the involvement of whānau and the wider community. And we nurture our ākonga so that they develop the belief that they can achieve what they want to, and that no matter the outcome, valuable learning has occured. 

It is our job as teachers and caregivers to ensure that all aspects of our tamariki are strong, so that our ākonga are receiving an education that is capable of saving humanity.

By Tania Gaffney –  Deputy Principal Primary

Kia Ora Koutou,

Often in Primary School the question is asked by parents – “What has happened to my sweet pre-schooler?” Montessori often referred to the primary years as the age of rudeness.

In Montessori speak, we often talk about the planes of development. Pre-school is the first plane and primary is the second plane. It can take many months for ākonga to transition from one to another. For a very long time they can have a foot in both camps. The physical changes are easier to see e.g. coarser hair, teeth falling out, and the face thinning out, but the social, emotional, and intellectual changes can be harder to spot.

Tamariki are transitioning from the absorbent mind to the reasoning mind; from thinking about self to beginning to think about others; from thinking about the here and now to being able to think about the past, the future, or any situation that is not concrete or sensorial.

When children come into the primary this will be the first time that they are interacting with others with this newly forming reasoning mind (although when they first start, they are still in the first plane). They are developing this ability at varying speeds. Primary ākonga are attracted to the group; they have a need to be with others that are outside of the family now. This is where we need to understand that tamariki are learning the skills to go with this need, just as they are learning the skills to read or write and it can take a long time – in fact, it takes a lifetime and this is just the beginning, therefore mistakes will be made and feelings will be hurt.

In primary we often talk about the social and emotional curriculum and remind ourselves that this is a ‘big work’ for the child. Some of the internal struggles of the child at this age might be – What do I do if someone annoys me? What if I want to annoy someone else, what could happen? I know that if I say this to that child this will happen – should I do that? How do I react if someone touches my stuff? How do I ask to play or work with someone? What do I do or say if they say no or yes? What if someone else asks me to play or work with them and I don’t want to – what do I do? If I am doing a shared project how do we split the work – there are just a million interactions to think about over a day.

For progress in this area to be made we need to provide the environment where children can practice these social skills again and again. Although there is the occasional time for this, if we are always telling them what to do e.g. deciding the work groups, dividing the work, managing their time, then they are never able to practice to improve. It is our job as the adult to help them navigate their way through this time of building their social skills and being able to interact with one another in civil ways.

By David Starshaw–Mathematics Teacher–High School

How does someone become an expert? This is a driving question for teachers as we guide our students from being relative novices to relative experts in a specific area. But it’s also relevant for all of us in any area of our lives where we try to become more proficient. How do I win at this game? How can I run faster? How can I be more confident with public speaking?

Many of us intuitively understand that practice is a key ingredient of expertise. You have to practise to get better. As the saying goes, “practice makes perfect” (or alternatively, “practice makes better” or “practice makes permanent”).

In 1973, William Chase and Herbert Simon performed an experiment where a chessboard was set up with around 25 pieces positioned as they might be during a game. They asked a chess master and an amateur to look at the chessboard, cover it up, and recreate the setup of the pieces on another chessboard. They could go back and peak at the original chessboard as many times as they needed to. Unsurprisingly, the master took far fewer looks than the amateur – 4 compared to 8. But then the researchers rearranged the pieces in such a way that would never occur in a real game. This time, the master was no better than the amateur.

The masters weren’t better at chess because they had a better memory in general, higher IQ, or “natural talent.” Instead, they had seen lots and lots and lots of chess games. Experts have experienced a staggeringly wide variety of previous attempts and have learned what to do when similar situations happen in the future. These can be thought of as if-then statements. If I see my rook cornered, then I move my pawns forward. If I see a quadratic equation, then factorising it will likely be helpful. If I fumble a line in my speech, then going back a sentence helps me to recover. These if-then statements become totally automatic for the expert – like a reflex. They don’t need to consciously think about them which frees up their working memory for thinking about the big picture. I really like one of Niels Bohr’s quotes in which he says “An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.”

So when people tell me they are “good at maths” or “bad at maths”, what I hear is that they either have or haven’t built up a good library of these if-then automatic reflexes. And just like any reflex, it can be improved with focused practice. Once you have a lot of these automated, everything starts to fall into place as you travel further along the road from relative novice to relative expert in a specific area.