[Syneva Barrett]

Hi Kyle,

I saw your question for Andrea and thought I would respond too.  Katie Ibes and I have been doing work on Montessori Renewal Courses.  As a part of those courses, we introduce a variety of mindfulness exercises and reflective activities.  Some of those we do as a whole group, some as a small group and some as an individual.  I think all are important.  You are right that the whole group can sometimes be more difficult to manage, but it’s also important to provide direction and opportunity for students who wouldn’t otherwise choose it on their own.  I was a complete failure at yoga the first few times I tried it.  If I was alone I would dissolve into giggles as some of the poses seemed so ridiculous.  It was actually in doing a ceremony that involved 108 sun salutations that I finally connected.  So, I would encourage you to keep trying and offering a variety of things. 

One idea is a self-reflective journal.  We had daily prompts, but only required students to do 3 throughout the week (as opposed to 5).  Some students did choose to do 5.  Others did 3.  One did less than 3.  Sometimes it’s also what  you name things.  I go to a class called Breathing, Listening and Discovery.  It struck me what an approachable name that is (I can breathe, I can listen, I can discover!) as compared to meditation which is a loaded term that many feel they’ve already failed at in past attempts.  I’ve also found students very responsive to open art invitations creating a piece in response to a topic is often very self-reflective.  Last summer in class I put out a variety of art materials and had a slide show from Hubble going.  The students were pondering Montessori’s cosmic questions of Who am I?  Why am I here?  Where do I come from? and reveling in the awe and wonder of our connection to the Universe.  The works of art they created were awesome.  In summary, don’t give up and offer a variety of activities in small group, whole group and individual formats.   

[Syneva Barrett]

I agree that Montessori’s Cosmic Education is developed across the ages. Last year I spoke with a great Montessorian, Larry Schaeffer about the advanced courses I was developing for Montessori teachers interested in deepening their knowledge of the 5 Great Lessons. Larry said, “Every three year old looks at the world with reverence. Go on a walk with a three year old and you will see they have reverence for the dandelion, the grasshopper, the sunshine… Our job as Montessorians is to help the children extend that reverence throughout their whole childhood and, hopefully their whole life.” Larry’s way of explaining it really struck me. Of course, to truly help extend that reverence in children, the teacher must have it in herself/himself. This is part of the spiritual preparation of the adult that happens in training. Once you start looking at the  world and the Universe through that lens, it changes the way you look at everything!

Jonathan, reading your thoughts about the “ancient” young child reminded me of my conversation with Larry. It’s true that young children can be very wise (such as feeling reverence for all living things, natural interest in and care for the Earth etc.) The elementary children certainly do start the work of thinking about the cosmic questions – Who am I? Where do I come from? Why am I here? That they will continue to explore in secondary – and hopefully their whole lives!  I think where Montessori differed is she felt the young child needs a firm grounding in their own reality before they were ready to use imagination.  Of course exploring the Universe, evolution etc… requires a lot of imagination so that was reserved for elementary.  In my own experience as a child, I remember being very confused about whether unicorns were real or not.  In my defense, a horse with a horn seems a lot more plausible as reality than a dinosaur.  

The other challenge with young children is that they have no concept of time that is why in Montessori schools history is a subject that starts in elementary.    We start by exploring clocks, calendars etc.  Then go to the impressionist materials like the long black line which represents the whole history of the Earth and shows the very tiny portion of the Earth’s history that humans have been present.  Our history curriculum continues from there in order of time.

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