SYLLABUS OF NCDC MONTESSORI THEORY 2- MONTESSORI PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION Unit 5 COMMUNICATION WITH CHILDREN: DAY 9-11
SYLLABUS OF NCDC MONTESSORI THEORY 2- MONTESSORI PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION Unit 5 COMMUNICATION WITH CHILDREN: DAY 9-11
Pre Home Assignments
Learning Activity 1: Read passage & Meditate: Should read the passage in this unit minimum 3 times. After reading each paragraph, close your eyes & think about the paragraph content for a few minutes. Also do the preparations for the Live Class Lesson Activities.
Learning Activities for Live Class Session:
Learning Activity 1: Pair Talk: Two pupils sit face to face and talk about their experiences regarding their communication with their teachers during their school days.
Learning Activity 2: Skit: Make students into 4 or 5 member groups and plan and present skits regarding the way and the technique of communication followed in Montessori school.
Learning Activity 3: Face to face Interview: Two pupils sit face to face like a TV interview. One acts as Dr. Montessori. The other one asks questions about Communication with children in a Montessori school. After one round change the pair and continue practice.
Learning Activity 4: Speech: Write the 10 points of Communication with children in Montessori school in a small piece of paper. Fold or roll them and keep together. Let one trainee pick one from the lotto pick and give a speech about that five minutes. After that remove that from the lotto and continue the process with remaining students. One student can be the anchor of the program.
Learning Activity 5: Group Discussion: Arrange a Group Discussion like in TV. All students are participating in the discussion.
Round 1: Purpose and objectives of learning and practicing the content in this theory unit
Round 2: How to apply the knowledge and the ideas in this unit in your life, career and in society.
Learning Activity 6: Pair Talk: Two pupils sit face to face and talk about the ways and techniques of developing socialization among children based on the ideas of Dr. Montessori.
Learning Activity 7: Fashion Parade: All students participating in cat walk by holding any one of the Montessori Quotes made & pasted in a hard board in an attractive way. One student can be the anchor of the program.
Learning Activity 8: Group Discussion: Arrange a Discussion about ‘different quotations of Dr. Montessori written in the last pages of this book by forming trainees into 5 or 6 members groups. One student can be the moderator of the Program.
Learning Activity 9: Learning activity as per students’ choice. Conduct a learning activity as per the choice of lesson activities coordinating group.
Self-Home Assignments & with classmates:
Learning Activity 1: Self Speech in front of Mirror: Do a Self-Speech regarding the below topic in front of the mirror by following all the formalities and techniques of public speech:
10 points of Communication with children in Montessori school.
Learning Activity 2: Face to face Interview: Two pupils sit face to face like a TV interview. One acts as Dr. Montessori. The other one asks questions about Communication with children in a Montessori school. Faculty prepare the list & put it in the group.
Learning Activity 3: Pair Talk: Two pupils sit face to face and talk about their experiences regarding their communication with their teachers during their school days. Faculty prepare the list & put it in the group.
Learning Activity 4: Pair Talk: Two pupils sit face to face and talk about the ways and techniques of developing socialization among children based on the ideas of Dr. Montessori. Faculty prepare the list & put it in the group.
Learning Activity 5: Self Speech in front of Mirror: Do a Self-Speech regarding the below quote in front of the mirror by following all the formalities and techniques of public speech:
“We discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being”- Maria Montessori
Learning Activity 6: Self Speech in front of Mirror: Do a Self-Speech regarding the below quote in front of the mirror by following all the formalities and techniques of public speech:
“Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed”- Maria Montessori
Individual & pair learning activities as Post Home Assignments:
Learning Activity 1: Make Chart: Write the quotations of Dr. Montessori written in the last pages of this unit in a Chart paper in an attractive way.
Introduction: The adult in the house of children has greater responsibilities. Their communication involves attitude, body language and actions responsive to the children and their needs. The communication of an adult helps each child under three, to develop trust in the caregivers, feel free to move and explore and develop the child’s own skills. It is the duty of the adult to prepare a congenial environment for the child so that he can have freedom to work at his development.
There are ten important ways of communication in a Montessori House of Children. They are as follows:-
1. Prepare the Environment carefully.
A carefully prepared environment communicates the child to move and explore freely and safely. The relationship that the child has with the Montessori environment grows deep. He gets to know the environment so well, that he can make out what is missing, what is new, what needs repair etc.
There are a few examples of how you can prepare the environment to communicate important message to the children:
(a) The material used should reveal its true nature. The nature of the material should not be hidden or camouflaged.
(b) The material should be such that the child can handle it with ease and also serve the purpose. It should not be too big or too small.
(c) The material should be such that the child would like to work with it. The material should be within the reach of the child’s eyes and hands. Hence we can say it should be ‘eye catching’. By attractive we mean beauty coined with utility.
(d) The material should be made perfect. The most effective way of using the material should be adapted based on the activity.
2. Use proactive guidance strategies.
The Caregivers in a Montessori House proactive of Children play a vital role. They act as guides for the children. Using proactive guidance strategies rather than praise or punishment, the caregivers communicate to them when they are not acting suitably and show the children that there are many alternatives to unsuitable behaviour.
There are a few examples of ways you can communicate what is suitable behaviour. There are a few examples of ways you can communicate what is suitable behaviour to young children.
(a) There is a lot of joy when the child is able to do an activity individually and become emotionally enriched.
(b) Children should be shown that playing cooperatively can be fun. Develop a constructive cooperative game and play it regularly with the children.
(c) Communicate to the children that cooperative behaviour, not competition, is the norm. Do not encourage the children to run races or to be the first in line.
(d) There should be an effort not to reward unsuitable behaviour or with direct attention. For example, when a child screams in anger or throws on the floor in a rage, we should not react immediately. We should help the child to identify the feelings behind it: “I see that you are feeling angry” or “I hear that you are crying. Are you feeling sad? Then calmly look for opportunities to direct the child to more suitable behaviour.
3. Intervene gently, quietly and when necessary.
This is another way of communication. (a) Give the children time to solve their own problems and settle their own differences.
(b) Try to prevent unsuitable behaviours by gently and quietly distracting or redirecting.
(c) The Montessori caregiver’s goal is to guide the child and allow the child to move and work independently.
(d) When the children are absorbed in activities, communicate that their work is important to you as well as to them. Intervene as little as possible.
4. Give direct choice.
As much as possible, give a child direct choice that offers the child opportunity to make a decision without negative consequences. This way of communicating shows the child that you have confidence in the child’s ability to make a choice and gives the child experience in expressing preferences. Do not offer the child a particular thing; instead offer the child two choices with similarly positive outcomes.
5. Use Touch often.
Touch is an important form of communication. It helps children’s brain development. Touch in the form of cuddling and stroking has been used to communicate caring and comfort to young children. It allows them to experience the people, things, sensations around them. More neural pathways are established in the child’s brain. Montessori caregivers can find many opportunities for touching other than trees. The caregiver can also make a special time each day-after feeding for e.g.: to massage the infant’s body. Touching can also provide an opportunity for a language activity, where the caregiver names the parts of the body or sings a body song to the child.
However, caregivers need to remember that not all young children welcome and respond to touch the same way. To use touch as an effective way of communicating the caregiver should approach gently and quietly, observe the child’s reactions to gently touch and learn each child’s preferences.
6. Slow down.
Caregivers who worked with under-threes already developed fine and gross motor skills, cognition, language and so many other skills. Lower than three years are the starters to develop all these skills. The caregivers can think and move quickly and efficiently to communicate careful and safe movement Montessori caregivers have to adjust their rhythm to the children’s rhythm. Caregivers can communicate careful and safe movement by showing the children how to carry items carefully – one at a time, in both hands – and by carrying items always that way themselves.
7. Speak and listen with respect.
An important part of communicating with children in the Montessori way is speaking and listening with respect. A respectful caregiver observes and listens before deciding what to say, how to say it or whether to say anything at all. Dr. Montessori felt that most children often forget what they hear and that having to listen to someone can disrupt a child’s concentration. The caregivers learn to stay back quietly and let the child have their own experience as much as possible.
8. Use non-verbal signals for quiet and stopping.
At times it is necessary to communicate quickly with the children in a school. Most of the Montessori caregivers work out-verbal signals should not be the same as used to signal changes in the daily schedule, should not be easily confused with normal body movements and should be used only when needed. The signal is often used for quiet movements and should be used only when needed. The signal is often used for quiet in a Montessori centre to stand still, without speaking and hold out your arms or hands with the palms up.“The signal used for stopping is more dramatic because it has to get more attention from the children quickly. For e.g.: On a park outing a three year old child picks up stones and starts to throw. Suddenly his caregiver claps her hands loudly twice. As the caregiver has presented lessons showing that two loud claps always means “Stop now” and gives the children opportunities to practice stopping quickly in body movements activities, the Child stops.
9. Make socializing an everyday experience.
One of the important and major goals of the Montessori program is that each child learns and practices social skills. Montessori caregivers help the child learn and practice social skills in everyday experience. There are some ways which caregivers can help children to learn socialization. They are:-
a) Greet each child when they arrive and welcome them into the school.
b) Address each child by name
c) Everyday spend time – talking with each child under your care.
d) There should be an opportunity for group activities for developing and practicing social skills.
e) It should be noticed that socialization into active times with infants should not be when they are eating and sleeping.
10. Support competence and Independence.
Communicating the Montessori way also means encouraging competence and independence in the children. In this process, the children will feel that they are important members of the childcare community. The Montessori caregiver gives the children as many opportunities as possible to do everything by themselves and that gives the child vast experiences of learning and development.
Maria Montessori believed that education is a process in which teachers help children to develop to the full extent. For this they ought to know the hereditary potentialities of children and how they develop in the environment. Learning and maturation help children’s development. Development simply means growth. Growth refers to a quantitative change, that is, a change that can be measured. However, we do not merely grow in size. There is a change in form and increase in the complexity of body parts and their functioning, thinking abilities and social skills, among many others. Development thus refers to both quantitative as well as qualitative changes. It includes changes not only in structure but also in function. Montessori education helps the child to get faster as well as everlasting functional development.
TOP 10 QUOTES OF DR. MARIA MONTESSORI
“Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war”.
Maria Montessori
“The child who concentrates is immensely happy”.
Maria Montessori
“We discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being”.
Maria Montessori
“One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child”.
Maria Montessori
“Free the child’s potential, and you will transform him into the world”.
Maria Montessori
“Early childhood education is the key to the betterment of society”.
Maria Montessori
“Joy, feeling one’s own value, being appreciated and loved by others, feeling useful and capable of production are all factors of enormous value for the human soul”.
Maria Montessori
“The development of language is part of the development of the personality, for words are the natural means of expressing thoughts and establishing understanding between people”.
Maria Montessori
“Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed”.
Maria Montessori
“The greatest sign of success for a teacher… is to be able to say, ‘The children are now working as if I did not exist.’
Module Developed by: Baba Alexander