About IMS Motivated Learning

Freedom means being able to choose what is good for oneself. All people want what is good for themselves, yet freedom also comes with responsibility. Children need the guidance and patience of the adults around them to develop self-discipline. Discipline is the inner awareness and control over one’s reconciliation between one’s own needs and the environment’s needs. Without discipline, a person is ultimately unable to do what he wants. As such, freedom and discipline are considered two sides of the same coin. Without one, you cannot genuinely have the other.

At IMS, Montessori children experience freedom within a structure in a carefully prepared environment. He is free to ask for or reject help. He is free to use materials. He is free to choose companions. He is free to sit where he wants. He is free to move. He is free to eat snack. He is free to use the toilet. Like all spaces, the child is also shown the limits; he is not allowed to hurt himself or others, to disturb his peers, or to misuse the materials. Gradually, with daily practice and experience, the children learn to make proper decisions for themselves. At every interaction, the environment builds this confidence that the child is capable of making good choices for himself because his decisions are respected and valued. Children also experience the logical and natural consequences of their own choices. Once the child makes a decision, he is allowed to experience the real outcomes of that choice on his own. The teacher’s role is to help the child understand the consequences of his action. The child begins to develop accountability for himself because he has to accept with the result of his choices. This is how the child develops genuine responsibility. The child knows what he needs and can focus on that. When his behaviour requires the teacher’s attention, the child is redirected with positive and affirmative words.

Ultimately, the goal is for the young child to become a disciple of himself, an individual in tune with his inner core, and a person who can balance his needs with those around him, rather than one who follows others. This security develops when it is allowed to expand from within the child internally. Just as every infant is driven by an internal developmental plan; each and every child will develop according to his inner guide on his own time. All we can do is prepare him for the journey. The child, in fact, once secure, no longer seeks the approval of authority for every step. This is the way Montessori environments prepare the child for the path ahead, and not the path for the child.

Freedom of choice allows children to choose work that they desire.Children learn more and invest themselves more deeply in their work when they are able to make choices. This desire leads them to complete work to the best of their abilities resulting in a deep synthesis of larger quantities of knowledge, not because they were told to learn, but because they wanted to. This concept is integral to every aspect of the Montessori environment: not only do children choose materials, but they also can choose where to work and with whom to work. Children discover their identity and develop an unwavering belief in themselves. This freedom to choose for themselves, which is guided by the teachers within appropriate limits, allows children to discover their own needs, interests and abilities. This paves the way for purposeful learning, where choices bring value and meaning to life. The children also learn that their choices really matter and can affect changes in their environment. This is a critically important life lesson for the maturing child to make a difference in their future world.

Researchers at the Harvard Center on the Developing Child have reinforced that the development of executive functioning involves “individualized teaching in the context of situations that require making choices.” Later, this leads to higher mental flexibility, where children can direct and redirect their attention to make deliberate decisions. Strong soft skills, or executive function, which can be developed and influenced through education, has recently been shown to be of greater importance to school performance and success in later life than intelligence, or family influence.

At the Foundation level, a child might initiate squeezing a lemon, looking at photographs of mammals, or finishing a puzzle. Each day, his teacher will present him with lessons and soon he has a larger range of choice. Eventually at the Casa level, these choices will include writing and reading, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with concrete materials. Gradually as the child transitions to Primary, these choices of study open up to the universe and its infinite possibilities. With every choice, the child exercises his free will. Each choice made for himself is constructive, developmentally appropriate, and interesting. We recognise in life that not every child reaches those goals in the same way or at the same time.

The successful, creative adult is constructed – one thoughtful choice at a time.

Through years of observation around the world, Dr. Montessori found that when longer stretches of time were available for children to pursue activities according to their interests and work independently, the more work happened. When teachers interrupted or assigned tasks, the children became less engaged. Children, as young as three years old, are able to choose productive and challenging work, focus on the task at hand, finish a cycle of work, rest without interrupting those who are working, and repeat this sequence. Once the child’s concentration is broken, it is very difficult to try to engage them to the environment once again. She also found that these blocks of time displayed a distinct work cycle, lasting approximately three hours. In Montessori schools, children are given three hours of open, uninterrupted time to choose independent work, become truly immersed, and repeat to their own satisfaction.

Externally imposed interruptions are most disruptive to a child’s development of concentration when he is highly engrossed in activity. Often the child will become understandably emotional when such a disruption occurs. Parents sometimes question whether their child needs to take short breaks throughout the work cycle. It is important however to remember that although we use the term “work” to describe the child’s activity, the child himself does not find this experience taxing. In fact, in a child’s eyes, work is about energy; learning, engaging, strengthening, solving problems, overcoming challenges, and becoming independent. A child’s work is all about creating himself. Montessori teachers find that when children need to pause to use the toilet, have a snack, or help a friend, they will make these choices freely for themselves and then return to their chosen activity on their own volition. They love their work because it is an active choice they have made for themselves and their choices often fulfill an inner developmental need: “The one means by which exhaustion can be eliminated is to make work pleasant and interesting, to give joy in work rather than pain” (Montessori, Spontaneous Activity in Education).

Given uninterrupted work periods, children are able to go deep into their learning and continue at their own pace. When they emerge after these cycles of work, Dr. Montessori discovered that the children are not only refreshed, but full of satisfaction of their concentrated efforts: “Each time a polarization of attention took place, the child began to be completely transformed, to become calmer, more intelligent, and more expansive” (Montessori, The Advanced Montessori Method). In other words, children are able to develop better concentration skills and focus through undisturbed work of their choosing.

Try to imagine what the world will look like 20 years from now. What sorts of jobs are going to be available? What skills will be needed? That is the world that we are preparing our children for today.

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