Not long ago, I was asked to speak with someone starting midyear in the role of coordinating CGS in a community which serves L1 and L2 children in both the school and parish. This woman expressed uncertainty as to how to support the children in her area, particularly the children in the school community, as well as the catechists, who had concerns over how the children utilized the Atrium space. In listening to her experience, it seemed clear to me that while the catechists were attempting to provide freedom to do what was right and good in the Atrium, the children, whose school days were structured in a traditional way, saw the Atrium as a place of freedom to do whatever they wanted. The children were having difficulty transitioning into the Atrium as a sacred space, a place of prayer. This interaction has really stuck with me because over the course of the next six days similar concerns, and thus similar conversations, occurred six more times. Seven times in seven days I spoke with seven different CGS catechists who were struggling to find the balance between freedom and responsibility or, in other words, were seeking to offer true freedom to the children who were entering their Atria. This delicate balance is one of the most difficult components to implement well in a Montessori environment, and, in the desire to offer freedom, which Maria Montessori speaks of repeatedly, it is often forgotten that true freedom comes only when a child has attained the ability to choose well. This ability can take a long time to develop and it is best supported by very clear limits and boundaries. Only once these have been set, respected, and internalized can the child handle, and thus be given, more freedom. Because the conversations I am referring to happened recently, I was able to offer the thought that Lent is coming! This change of season is the perfect time to step back and reset with the children, focusing on the purpose of the atrium as a place of listening and speaking with God. If your atrium is more chaos than order and more conversation than silence you might consider resetting your space during Lent as well. What a beautiful time to set aside certain behaviors which may be hindering our ability to listen and speak with God who desires to listen and speak with us.
Practical Steps:
Montessori freedoms are typically listed as freedom of movement, freedom of work choice (what, where, with whom), and freedom to repeat. If these freedoms are not being used well, please consider giving stronger limits. How could you help reestablish that the Atrium is a place of work? Are there some children who need an assigned place to do their work? Are there some children who need help choosing which material they will begin with when they enter the Atrium or perhaps they need help in choosing a work mid-way through their Atrium time? Do the children need a reminder that our work in the Atrium is individual so that we can each listen and speak with God (and is the physical environment set with individual workspaces to facilitate this)? Would it be of help to assist the children in going back and repeating work they have been shown? Perhaps consider taking a day off of presenting in order to focus on the joy of going back to previously shown work and going deeper into it instead of focusing on receiving “something new.” We all need help to use these freedoms well! How can you provide the assistance your children need to act with true freedom in the the Atrium?
Additional Quotes from Maria Montessori:
While we frequently hear that Maria Montessori held that the child's freedom is essential, I have found that we seem to focus on a limited picture of her thought. Here are a few quotes (ok, more than a few!) which may be of help in offering a more authentic view of Montessori's approach to freedom:
- “To let the child do as he likes when he has not yet developed any powers of control is to betray the idea of freedom” (The Absorbent Mind).
- “If freedom is understood as letting the children do as they like, using, or more likely misusing the things that are available it is clear that only their ‘deviations’ are free to develop; their abnormalities will increase” (The Absorbent Mind).
- “Free choice is one of the highest of all mental processes. Only the child, deeply aware of his need for practice and for the development of his spiritual life, can really be said to choose freely” (The Absorbent Mind).
- “To give a child liberty is not to abandon him to himself” (The Child in the Family).
- “At the base of all these activities there must be going on a gradual conquest, a gradual gaining of independence. This does not mean that one is to do just what one pleases at the moment, or that one is allowed to play about with anything, using it as an accompaniment to one’s fancy. It implies to acquire a sense of the power to act alone; the possibility of carrying out some useful and important action without the help of others; being about to solve one’s problems for oneself, to reach a difficult goal by one’s own efforts” (“Principles and Practices,” AMI Communications, 1979).
- “Do not apply the rule of non-interference when the children are still the prey of all their different naughtiness… You must interfere at this stage. At this stage, the guide must be a policeman. The policeman has to defend the honest citizens from the disturbers…” (The Child, Society, and the World).
- “Do not fear to destroy evil. It is only the good that we must fear to destroy. As we must call a child by its name before it can answer, so it is necessary to call vigorously to awaken the soul” (“On Discipline – Reflections & Advice,” The Call of Education, 1924).