MONTESSORI METHOD 



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MONTESSORI METHOD 



showing the children some simple steps which 

 may gradually be made more elaborate. 



The older children take interest in a double 

 series of bells, mounted upon wooden stands. 

 These are all similar in appearance, but on 

 being struck, emit the notes of the musical 

 scale. One series is placed in order upon a 

 board, and the others stood in a mixed group 

 upon the table. The child strikes the first bell, 

 "do," of the fixed series, and then searches for 

 its match in the mixed group, striking the bells 

 upon the table in turn. On finding the similar 

 note, he places it opposite the first bell struck 

 upon the board. He then proceeds to the next, 

 finding its pair and placing it opposite its fel- 

 low, and so on, until every tone in the scale 

 has been matched up. 



This is primarily a sensory exercise, but it 

 leads naturally to learning the names of the 

 notes, and associating these with the signs of 

 written music. The latter are introduced by 

 means of wooden boards bearing the staff 

 painted in black, upon which a child places 

 disks bearing the names of the notes; this is 

 done (a) with mechanical control, and (b) by 

 memory. These boards also serve for teaching 

 the treble and bass cleff, and for "composing" 

 simple musical phrases. The child, having 

 placed disks upon them representing the air of 

 one of the tunes to which he is accustomed in 

 his marching, may then be led to mark the 

 bars, laying little sticks across the staff; in his 

 marching he has already learned to perceive the 

 beat of each bar. 



Liberty and Discipline 



The processes which have, been described, by 

 which the children "educate themselves," may 

 be considered the crux of the Montessori 

 method. It is the obtaining of auto-education 

 which renders the liberty of the child a prac- 

 tical possibility in the school, and it is to this 

 that may be ascribed Dr. Montessori's success 

 where other attempts have failed. 



In fact, the discipline in these schools is one 

 of the most striking results of the method. 

 A visitor entering the room will be struck by 

 the harmonious and ordered activity of the 

 children. Here a child is wrestling with an 

 obstinate button on one of the frames for but- 

 toning, another is composing words with the 

 movable alphabet upon a prettily-tinted car- 

 pet upon the floor. Another is building the 

 "tower," while others are writing upon large 

 slates, or upon the blackboards hung upon the 

 walls. Children pass lightly to and fro, fetch- 

 ing from the cupboards what material they 

 need, or returning it after use; exchanging re- 

 marks with their companions or stopping to 

 admire another's work. The whole atmosphere, 

 in fact, is one of busy and contented activity, 

 each child happily concentrated on the work 

 in hand. Little notice is taken of the teacher, 

 who moves softly from one child to another, 

 giving here a simple demonstration, there a 

 lesson or word of encouragement, or joining 

 enthusiastically in the joy of a child who has 

 made a discovery or succeeded in performing 

 some new feat by himself. The children's ac- 

 tivity does not emanate from the teacher, but 

 is the spontaneous self-activity of the children 

 themselves, having origin in the sources of their 



life. Before this, the teacher is a humble and 

 retiring observer," seeking to help and serve, 

 rather than shape or evoke, the phenomena of 

 life which unfold. 



Evidently the idea of discipline which we 

 must hold in regard to a school of this type is 

 very different from that inherent in the old 

 school, in which discipline meant immobility 

 and obedience to the commands of a teacher. 

 In a school in which the children are free, dis- 

 cipline takes on a significance in relation to 

 their activity. It is on this, in fact, that the 

 harmonious collective life of the members of 

 the little community rests. An undisciplined 

 child is one whose actions disturb this harmony, 

 or who acts contrary to the generally-accepted 

 standard of good breeding. He is not one who 

 moves, but one who moves improperly. Such 

 actions must be checked by the teacher, and 

 little by little eliminated. But every other 

 manifestation, every action having a good or 

 useful purpose, must not only be permitted, 

 but observed by her. 



Such discipline more closely resembles that 

 of 'adult civilized society, in which liberty is 

 certainly not synonymous with lawlessness and 

 license. Throughout nature, harmony is the 

 result of implicit obedience to law, and the 

 liberty of man does not lie in a license which is 

 antagonistic to life, but in freedom to develop 

 in accordance with the laws which govern his 

 life, and permit of its infinite expansion. 



The discipline of the school becomes more 

 nearly perfect with time. Often the first days 

 are ones of great disorder. But, little by little, 

 as the children's interest in work increases, this 



