Importance of Practical Life Exercises

The practical life exercises are the beginning activities for young children. These exercises improve motor control, eye hand coordination and concentration. The practical life exercises include environmental care, personal care, eating, dining and many more. Children love these practical life exercises and are also taught good work habits by being encouraged to complete the whole task. Teaching the children to be thoughtful of the rights of other children, they are prepared for a successful citizenship and career. The practical life activities contribute invaluably to the development of the whole person with inner discipline, self-direction and a high degree of concentration. In short, Practical Life Exercises are just that, they are Exercises so the child learns how to do living activities in a purposeful way.

Aim of Practical Life Exercises:

            The aim of practical life exercises is to facilitate learning through day to day work in the children’s home. By entrusting house work to young children, they learn important lessons; they execute their work with devotion and accuracy. By doing this they become singularly calm and dignified. These exercises are foundational to many aspects of Montessori education. The relationship between movement and cognition, these exercises are particularly important because they employ the body in the service of the mind to fulfill a meaningful goal.

           

            Children are attracted to precision in the early years, such that they like to know exactly what sequence of steps to carry out in an exercise. According to Montessori, during the sensitive period between births to 6 years of age the child is constructing his inner self. Child is preparing himself for the big world, using his motor skills and problem solving abilities. Child needs order and repetition of the same activity to refine certain skills. The child needs to move to gain balance, grace and confidence.

            Based on an idea that freedom implies self-sufficiency, exercises on practical life sought to train the growing children to master such essential skills and knowledge as dressing, maintaining themselves clean and tidy, dusting and sweeping, table-setting, meal and serving etc. Montessori aims at free activity not at the cost of good manners, social order and harmony. Children under the aged three to seven play and work under the supervision of a directress who does not act as a passive onlooker but as an active observer. The exercises of practical life are designed to teach the child to be independent, to supply his own wants and to perform the actions of daily life with skill and grace. Children keep the workplace in order, dusting and arranging the furniture, and putting away each piece of material as soon as they are through with it. They wait on themselves while they are working, getting out the things they want, finding a convenient place to work, and then taking care of apparatus when they have worked with as long as they like. Children do all the work connected with the meal, setting tables, serving food and the clearing away and washing the dishes. All children share alike in this work, regardless of their age. Children of three and four soon learn to handle the plates and glasses, and to pass food.

Importance of Exercises of Practical Life:

                Practical life exercises have designed to inspire movements directed to constructive ends. Some of the main purposes of including such exercises in the classroom are:

1.      To educate the children’s movements to be geared to a purpose

2.      To develop children’s ability to concentrate on a task

3.      To help children to carry out a series of steps in sequence

4.      To help children learn to care for the environment

One of an example of a practical life exercise in Montessori classroom is equipped with a set of material for Table washing. This set includes a large basin to fill with water, a plastic mat to go under the table, soap, a scrub brush, a sponge and a towel for drying. Items are all children sized and are usually of the same color so that they obviously go together. The teacher demonstrates for the child a precise sequence of actions that are carried out in Table washing. The child has probably also observed other children carrying out the sequence of actions, enabling him to learn by observation.

Dr. Montessori discovered the importance of the practical life exercises as follows:

1.      To enrich the child emotionally.

2.      To endow the child with affirming experiences.

3.      To encourage responsibility.

4.      To engage the child physically.

5.      To enliven the child constructively.

6.      To fascinate the child with learning.

7.      To enable the child to appreciate independence.

Two main purposes of practical life exercises:

·         First is the dignity of work. In the past, the child had an opportunity in the home to fold clothes, pour water, fetch and sweep. As a result, children developed motor skills of grace and fluid movement at an early age. More importantly, children developed competent participation around the home and the rest of their environment.

                                                                                 

·         Second reason for the practical life exercises is to enable children to organize themselves as functional human beings. To do this we must begin by the time the child is two years old, primarily physical and primarily concerned with himself. We must help him to become master of himself and then he will be able to master other things.

142nd Birthday of Dr. Maria Montessori...

Today is her 142nd birthday.... no doubt about it , that she had done such a marvellous work for the generations, in education sector.

Teacher role in Montessori

Montessori believed that “it is necessary for the teacher to guide the child without letting him feel her presence too much, so that she may be always ready to supply the desired help, but may never be the obstacle between the child and his experience."

Montessori teacher is like a guide/ helper to the children. For better understanding a role of a teacher, we should know that there are two types of art of teaching; one is Productive and the other is Cooperative.

Productive Arts:

            In this art results are predefined as for example; activity of a shoemaker or tailor etc. always have the end product and without those, shoes and clothes can’t stitch.

Cooperative Arts:

            In this art the results or the end product is not predefined. This art is further elaborate in three common forms; Farming, Healing and Teaching. As without a farmer, doctor or teacher things can happen at their proper and particular time. They are helper to the given environment. 

The Teacher’s Role:

The key role of a teacher in Montessori classroom is:

Make children the center of learning: The Montessori teacher should not be a center of attraction for children or should not give a large group lessons many of times. Instead, make individual children the center of learning.

Giving new lesson: The new lesson should be comprehensive but brief, not like 1 or 2 hour continues lecture like in conventional school system.

Demonstrate a procedure for using a material: Teacher needs to demonstrate in an easy way for every new activity to perform or every new material to be used. Rest left to the children to experience themselves and learn with freedom.

Teachers are helpers and guides: Teachers responsibility is to wait and observe that if child need any help or guidance. They can help them by taking children’s permission.

Encourage children to learn by themselves: This can happen if freedom of choice given to children and also giving them a proper prepared environment.

Observe the child: In Montessori classroom, teacher is working with one or two children at a time. Their responsibility is to properly observe each child. They need to provide them proper material/ activity, proper instructions/ advise and give new lessons. Teacher needs to be polite and know that each child have a different sensitive periods.

Prepare the learning environment: This need to be done by best possible learning environment. By providing learning materials in low shelves and placed orderly.

Evaluate the children and environment: The teacher carefully observe each child and evaluate their progress and also evaluate the environment every day too.

Respect towards children: Montessori teacher need to be polite and friendly towards children. They should know that each child have different time span to learn anything. So no need to rush or empower things on children, instead of that give them respect and appropriate time to learn and grasp everything by their own.

Teacher should be supportive and non-judgmental: This is necessary for a teacher to be supportive and friendly towards children so that they can ask question easily from them. Teacher should not be judgmental or biased.

Good Communicator: Montessori teacher should be a good communicator among children and help children to learn how to communicate with elders.

Discuss children achievements: Teachers should discuss children’s achievement and success with their parents and with other teachers or staff. Children’s work properly displayed in classrooms so that they feel proud and happy.

Role Model: As children learn a lot from their mothers and then from their teachers. They should practice all progressive and positive behaviors themselves so that children can learn positive things. Teachers should practice clam, consistency and respect in the class.

Peace Educator: Teachers should project a peaceful environment. They need to be polite, courteous and helpful. Try not to practice any conflict kind of a situation in a class.

Diagnosticians: Teachers play a role of a diagnostician, as they keep a watch on children informally to get clues about each child. They have ability to diagnose and assess the learning problems of children. They identify the strength and weaknesses of each child.

"PILES" ????

When we talk of human development “PILES” stand for:

P = Physical, I = Intellectual, L = Language, E = Emotional and S = Social

Development in 3 to 6 years is a sub-phase of a first stage of development of children. In this phase child bring his learned, observed and watched activities into practical format. He wants a freedom to practice them all by himself. Adults/teachers over helped or prohibition are a great hindrance for his development at this time. Research shows that at the end of 6 years child’s personality completely developed.

 Physical Development during 3 to 6 years of Age: At this stage child is very active, energetic and imaginative. The value of physical development and the role they play in a child's entire life is very important. A young child's physical growth first begins as muscles gain strength with use and children gradually develop coordination. The development of muscular control is the first step in this process. It also involves activities such as:

·           Running around outside

·           Jumping on the bed

·           Grasping a parent's finger

·           Balance on one foot for sometime

·           Washes and dries hand with assistance

·           Is able to use spoon without spilling

·           Can torn pages in a book one by one

·           Kick, bounce and throw ball

·           Can put on and take off coat

·           Jump from low steps

·           Pedal and steer a tricycle

·           Walk and run forward

·           Walk on tiptoe

·           Move large toys easily

·           Go upstairs like adults, but still placed both feet on coming down

·           Able to sit crossed legs

·           Dance on music

·           Touch toes while legs straight

·           Full of energy

·           Love for outdoor games

Lingual Development during 3 to 6 years of Age: Language skills also continue to improve during early childhood. Language is an outgrowth of a child's ability to use symbols. The more words a child uses in sentences, the more sophisticated the child's language development. Language develops in sequential form, phrases with inflections, simple sentences, and complex sentences. Children learn many new words all the time. Parents, siblings, peers, teachers, and the media provide opportunities for children to increase their vocabulary. Parents are children's very first teachers and when it comes to language development, parents who actively engage their babies and children in conversation can have a great impact on the child's ability to communicate verbally. Talking to babies is a wonderful way for them to begin understanding the rhythm of speech, laying the groundwork for later verbalization. Reading to babies and children, as well as enjoying music with them are other ways that young kids can internalize speech patterns, tone, and inflection, paving the way for them to become expert speakers. Most important lingual skills learn at this stage are:

·         Tell name, age, address and sex

·         Love sing rhymes and songs

·         Reading stories again and again

·         Sentence structure improved rapidly

·         Grammar also improves continuously

·         Happy to engage in conversations

·         Understand nouns and plurals

·         Always in a questioning mode

·         Able to start counting, and know the alphabets, numbers, shapes and colors

·         Feeling happy after listening humorous stories

·         Have some difficulty in pronunciation of v, r or th.

·         Vocabulary increases

·         Speak native language correctly, sometime more than one languages

Intellectual Development during 3 to 6 years of Age: Children change more quickly than elder’s. It seems that you can blink your eyes and your child has grown and developed. At one moment they are throwing balls in the box the next moment they are flipping the pages of a story book. Then they start reading of their own choices story books. Different activities and games can enhance their intellectual development.

·         May blow bubbles in drinks

·         Know colors and different shapes

·         Use children’s scissors

·         Interested in playing with peers, understand rules and roles

·         Count objects and recognize them

·         Matches shapes, colors, alphabets and numbers

·         Solve puzzles

·         Hold pencil properly

·         Draw shape (circle etc), alphabets and features (head, face, legs, arms ) very brilliantly

·         Likes to paint and colors

·         Can build a high brick tower and bridges

·         Knows primary colours

Main discoveries made by Maria Montessori

Dr. Maria Montessori’s, educational approach based on observation and experimentation. She used a scientific approach. She worked tirelessly observing children, analyzing results and developing new materials. In start she worked with mentally disabled children and achieved astonishing results. After that she thought to work with normal children. She believed the ‘secret of childhood’ that every child have a potential and it’s the responsibility of adults to help them and flourish this potential. Montessori was the revolutionary who created her method from observation, not just from old theories.

Here are some of her observations that have the most importance for early learning activities:

·         She carefully observed the inclination of child’s interest and developed the materials/activities accordingly.

 

·         She observed that child whose concentration on graded wooden cylinders was so strong that efforts to distract him were useless. And when the child had finished he seemed rested and happy. The child’s ability for deep concentration and love towards the work was phenomenal.

·         She also observed the child’s need for repetition which fulfilled a child’s need. She then decided to give children the freedom to be able to accomplish their work.

·         Maria Montessori also observed that children had a great sense of order. Children put things back to where it belonged. She respected this and allowed them to do it by placing the materials in an open cupboard rather than locked cupboards as it was initially done. This cemented the way for the freedom of choice for the child to choose their work. She observed that real discipline comes through freedom.

·         When Montessori gave a lesson on blowing the nose she received great cheer from the children. Children are always being practised about keeping their nose clean but no one has calmly taught them how to do it. This made her realize that even small children had a sense on personal dignity. Montessori always emphasized the respect for even the youngest child.

·         She observed that her children have more interest in academic activities instead of toys. She noticed that children preferred work over play, especially in school timings.

·         She observed that young children are highly energetic activity powerhouses, always seeking out experiences that will help them grow and develop. She observed that children have the ability to select their own work/activity. They are not work for any incentives or rewards. Their inner motivation is fair enough to motivate them for a particular work.

·         She observed that a child can learn almost everything in early childhood, as it was previously thought, that many things are too complex for children.

·         She observed and believed that real obedience comes through love, respect and faith. Elders/ teachers should be polite and sharp enough to understand the child’s behavior.

·         She believed that the child’s behavior depends on the environment. A child can be disobedient, stubborn etc. or a child can be disciplined, happy and healthy. It depends on the environment. If proper, healthy and interactive environment provided to children and their rightful needs fulfilled, they behave normal otherwise not. The second condition is called deviation.

·         She noticed that children are willing to do their work by their own. They feel happy and satisfied while doing daily household activities. Like cleaning, washing etc. She concluded that children want to learn “Help me do it myself” strategy.

·         After continues research and observation she came to know the traffic patterns of the room arrangements for children. Room should not be congested and over loaded. Children love to sit on floor during many activities so there should be rugs or floor mats for them.

·         She noticed that children are more comfortable with their sized furniture and things. So whole building and rooms are designed according to children interest and comfort ability. The furniture, washrooms etc. are designed and sized for children. Windows low to the ground and low shelves used so that children can have the outside view and used things from shelves.

·         She discovered that for building child’s complete personality, they need to do activities regarding sensorial concepts, physical activities, languages, math, art, culture and many more.

After all these observation and changes first “Casa dei Bambini” (House of Children) came out. The fame of Maria Montessori, her House of Children and method quickly spread all over the world. 

Requirements to be considered to start a House of Children

The main requirements to be considered to start a House of Children are:

§  In adult’s world (Home) child feel himself like an alien.

§  Our Homes are designed according to adults. Children cannot access anything freely and comfortably.

§  Children used to listened word “No” many times in a day. “Prohibition is prohibition, either sweet or bitter.”

§  Adults try to teach children by their orders or by their words, they usually not practice themselves.

§  Adults are sometime so busy that they have no proper time for children

§  Children can’t find proper work/activity to spend their time.

§  Providing over and extra help to children, ignoring that they want many of work done by their own selves.

§  Children are usually not allowed to “Let me do it myself” strategy.

These are some basic problems which every child faced in their homes. So children need a proper place where they can learn, play and get experienced.

How Do I implement:

I am a mother of two kids.  I am already trying and practicing few activities from Montessori Method of learning, achieving an astonishing results and development in my kids. As kids start learning very after from their birth and for their better growth, development and education it’s our responsibility as a parent/elder to provide them healthy, effective and fruitful environment. When environment meets all of the needs of children, they become, without any guidance by the adult, physically healthy, mentally and psychologically fulfilled, extremely well-educated, and filled over with joy and kindness towards each other. Children who have better experiences at proper time develop more effectively as compared to other who has less opportunities and experience.

In House of Children I will prefer to implement following thing:

1.      Respect for the child

2.      Everything should be child sized

3.      The absorbent mind

4.      Sensitive periods

5.      The prepared environment

6.      Focus on individual child

7.      Polite and reasonable behavior of teachers

8.      Parents – Teachers meeting

RESPECT FOR THE CHILD:

  Respect for the child is the keystone on which all other Montessori principles based. As Montessori said, “As a rule, however, we do not respect children. We try to force them to follow us without regard to their special needs. We are overbearing with them, and above all, rude; and then we expect them to be submissive and well-behaved, knowing all the time how strong is their instinct of imitation and how touching their faith in and admiration of us.”

Teachers show respect for children when they help them do things and learn for themselves. When children have choices, they are able to develop the skills and abilities necessary for effective learning independence, and positive self-esteem.

EVERYTHING SHOULD BE CHILD SIZED:

            Furniture, equipment, and supplies that children could access/used should be child sized so that they can work all by themselves, they were self-motivated to explore, experiment, and reach new understandings.

THE ABSORBENT MIND:

            Children are born to learn, and they have remarkable learning systems. Children learn because they are thinking beings. But what they learn depends greatly on their teachers, experiences, and environments. We need to understand that children can’t help learning, simply by living, children learn from their environment.

SENSITIVE PERIODS:

            Sensitive periods vary from children to children some children are more susceptible to certain behaviors and can learn specific skills more easily others may not. Although all children experience the same sensitive periods (e.g., a sensitive period for reading), the sequence and timing vary for each child. One role of the teacher is to use observation to detect times of sensitivity and provide the setting for best result.

THE PREPARED ENVIRONMENT:

            Environment is extremely important at any level of the development of child. Children learn best in a prepared environment, a place in which children can do things for themselves. It makes learning materials and experiences available to children in an orderly format and they can easily access them. Freedom is the essential characteristic of the prepared environment. Since children within the environment are free to explore materials of their own choosing, they absorb what they find there.

FOCUS ON INDIVIDUAL CHILD:

                Teachers should focus on individual child as each child is a unique entity. Each child’s learning progress, growth, understanding, achieving a mastery of particular skill and requirements are different.

POLITE AND REASONABLE BEHAVIOR OF TEACHERS:

                Children learn a lot firstly from their mother’s then from their teachers. The behavior and attitude of the teacher should be polite, reasonable and helpful towards children.

PARENTS – TEACHER MEETINGS:

                There should be a close interaction between parents and teachers. Parents should know the progress, work and activities of a child so that they can practice same in homes as well if they want.