Grateful for “The Genius of Montessori”
Grateful for “The Genius of Montessori”
I was reading an article today called “The Genius of Montessori” by Judith Cunningham1 and it put me in such a grateful place. Grateful for this wonderful school and its devoted and dedicated teachers, assistants, and support staff, who are committed to making your child’s experience a rewarding one. In the article, Ms. Cunningham touches on the genius of Maria Montessori’s work in its focus to “prepare the mind and the emotional heart.” This is done by purposefully preparing the environment that stimulates the child’s intellectual curiosity and at the same time providing flexibility that encourages experimentation and creativity, without punishment. Carrying a dish and breaking it, then becomes a lesson in how to hold a dish properly or that gravity is a force that pulls objects toward the earth versus a punishment. The emotional heart is strengthened by this approach of flexibility, respect and understanding.
When children are learning in this kind of environment, their genius flourishes. Ms. Cunningham notes that emotional intelligence quotient or EQ can identify genius. EQ is defined as the measurement of one’s Emotional Intelligence (EI), which describes an ability, capacity, or skill to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of one’s self, of others, and of groups.2 As it develops, “it helps open the mind to a greater complexity of thinking, a more holistic form of thinking, and an ability to weigh multiple perspectives.” She gives Newton as an example. He watched a natural occurrence that millions before him had seen, an apple falling from a tree, but with his high EQ he was able to observe it from a different perspective and develop a law of physics to explain this phenomenon.
I’ve witnessed high EQs in our children at Summit. Just walking by the playground I have seen 1st grade girls respect and acknowledge the distress of a friend, and peacefully work toward a resolution together. In a preschool classroom I observed a 3 yr old engrossed in balancing a pencil on a block and upon his success stated, “this is a lesson.” As a parent, I have enjoyed my daughter’s thorough investigation of how civilization developed after the dinosaurs, why paperwork is not considered art and how to help organize classmates into a full fairy tale play (including princesses, knights, dragons and babies). These children think outside the box and come up with ways of doing things that are creative, inventive and very fulfilling.
It is through these small beginnings- a broken plate, a problem solved, a creative game, Ms.Cunningham states “that minds are opened to allow free-flowing thoughts and new experiences…As a Montessori child, he will exhibit genius by a lifelong love of learning and how he live his life.”
Dr. Susan
Susan Mike, MD
Vice Head of School
Summit Private School
References:
1The Genius of Montessori, M: The Magazine for Montessori Families, March/April 2006.
2Wikipedia, Emotional Intelligence.
Posted on Academic Enrichment's Bulletin Board