Page 1 of 4 Dear Parents, Thank you to all those who shared their thoughts and provided constructive ideas on how to better meet your needs and understanding. This month’s newsletter will focus on the second of six principles that all SAMA member schools are required to follow, which is that Montessori schools accommodate an extended period of uninterrupted self-chosen activity – a period during which children can choose their own activity and work undisturbed for a minimum of three hours. A well-functioning Montessori community requires the following to ensure the children attending receive the full benefit of the programme: - An appropriately trained and prepared adult to teach at the relevant age level they engage with; - A prepared environment that has been specifically furnished and equipped to cater for the developmental needs of the children in it; - An uninterrupted three-hour work period where the children can freely choose stimulating tasks that are developmentally appropriate. Flow Theory Modern research has affirmed the importance of long, uninterrupted blocks of time for optimal learning and development. In 2007, Rathunde and Csikszentmihalyi, authors of The Developing Person: An Experiential Perspective delve into how episodes of deep engagement facilitate learning and development. A person may experience one of eight mental states during the learning process. When learning, one experiences a combination of skill and challenge levels of a task (Figure 1). In non-optimal combinations, an experience of mental states including anxiety, apathy, arousal, boredom, control, relaxation, and worry is negative and therefore not supportive of optimal learning. Flow is the most optimal mental state to experience for learning. This is where this skill level and challenge level of a task are both at their highest, which creates an opportunity for learning and intense focus. Those learning in this state become so immersed in a task that they feel as though they lose track of time. Est. 2003 www.samontessori.org.za September 2016 016 The Montessori Messenger Montessori 101 Principle 2: The uninterrupted three-hour work cycle. Figure 1: SOURCE: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
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Montessori 101 · Montessori guides today are able replicate through their own note taking, is that given a consistent uninterrupted three-hour work period, young children will choose
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Page 1 of 4
Dear Parents,
Thank you to all those who shared their thoughts and
provided constructive ideas on how to better meet your needs
and understanding.
This month’s newsletter will focus on the second of six
principles that all SAMA member schools are required to
follow, which is that Montessori schools accommodate an
extended period of uninterrupted self-chosen activity – a
period during which children can choose their own activity and
work undisturbed for a minimum of three hours.
A well-functioning Montessori community requires the
following to ensure the children attending receive the full
benefit of the programme:
- An appropriately trained and prepared adult to teach at
the relevant age level they engage with;
- A prepared environment that has been specifically
furnished and equipped to cater for the developmental
needs of the children in it;
- An uninterrupted three-hour work period where the
children can freely choose stimulating tasks that are
developmentally appropriate.
Flow Theory
Modern research has affirmed the importance of long,
uninterrupted blocks of time for optimal learning and
development.
In 2007, Rathunde and Csikszentmihalyi, authors of The
Developing Person: An Experiential Perspective delve into
how episodes of deep engagement facilitate learning and
development.
A person may experience one of eight mental states during
the learning process. When learning, one experiences a
combination of skill and challenge levels of a task (Figure 1).
In non-optimal combinations, an experience of mental states
including anxiety, apathy, arousal, boredom, control,
relaxation, and worry is negative and therefore not
supportive of optimal learning.
Flow is the most optimal mental state to experience for
learning. This is where this skill level and challenge level of
a task are both at their highest, which creates an opportunity
for learning and intense focus. Those learning in this state
become so immersed in a task that they feel as though they
lose track of time.
Est. 2003 www.samontessori.org.za September 2016 2016
The Montessori Messenger
Montessori 101 Principle 2: The uninterrupted three-hour work cycle.
Figure 1: SOURCE: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Page 2 of 4
One can experience relaxation in completing a task when
the skill level is very high and the task challenge is very low.
Conversely, one can experience anxiety when the skill level
is very low and the task challenge is very high. Neither of
these states is supportive of optimal learning.
This pattern of healthy self-regulation, which is also referred
to as psychological complexity, instigates development by
allowing the person to actively respond to aversive
experiential states (e.g. boredom and anxiety – Figure 2) in
ways that enhance their inspiration (intrinsic motivation) and
therefore full engagement.
The flow theory examines how the capacity to regulate
experience, and the likelihood of finding flow, are affected by
socialization and the levels of support and challenge
children receive in family and school contexts.
Flow can be experienced in any task in any field of activity.
Three-Hour Work-Cycle
The ideal in a Montessori classroom is that each child
receives opportunity to create their own personal three-hour
work cycle. Prominent Montessorian, Maren Schmidt,
describes a work cycle consisting of choosing an activity,
doing it, achieving some internal satisfaction, returning the
activity to original order, followed by the selection of the next
activity.
She elaborates further in saying that the Montessori
classroom is a vibrant and dynamic learning environment,
with each child selecting his or her activity, doing it, and
returning the activity to the shelf. After successful completion
of a task, there is a period of self-satisfaction and reflection,
after which the child chooses the next activity. This creates
an endless rhythm for the child which is free of interruptions,
thereby supporting optimal learning as skill and challenge
are matched by the child. The adult in the environment
keeps a close eye on the children, offering support when
required or presenting activities that slightly increase the
challenge experienced.
Upward Spiral of Growth
In his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,
Steven Covey refers to this phenomenon as a vital
ingredient of the upward spiral of growth and change (figure
3).
He describes this growth in the following way: “Moving along
the upward spiral requires us to learn, commit, and do on
increasingly higher planes. We deceive ourselves if we think
that any one of these is sufficient. To keep progressing, we
must learn, commit, and do - learn, commit, and do - and
learn, commit, and do again”.
Montessori saw the three-hour work cycle as a critical
vehicle for aiding normal development in the human being, a
way to foster this dynamic process, described by Covey, as