essence of Montessori: Those adolescent years, The

Montessori Life, Summer 2003 by Loeffler, Margaret Howard

SECONDARY STORIES

The four basic characteristics that Montessori described as appearing first in the years from 3 to 6 are still a part of the basic human personality from 12 to 18. The ability to concentrate, enjoyment of work, self-discipline/selfregulation, and the desire to be an accepted member of a social group still are essential elements if they have been supported and nurtured during the preceding years. However, if impediments have been placed in the way of the child's natural and positive development, negative behaviors, rooted in a sense of inadequacy and frustration, will have appeared.

Montessori (1948) reminds us that at each stage of normal development the child is different and yet the same-the same in the sense that the universals found in the early years are still present, but different in the ways that the characteristics are manifested at each new age. If the child's development has not been nurtured and respected, the characteristics may be stunted and deformed, hiding the possibilities and potential that may still exist for the adolescent child.

To understand what is normal and possible for this age, we must remind ourselves of the natural transformations that ideally should have occurred.

Change from 6 to 12

An earlier article dealing with the elementary years described the transformation of the child at age 6, when entering the new plane of development from 6 to 12 years (Loeffler, 2002). It is important to remind ourselves of these important changes in orderto increase our understanding of the adolescent who is also entering anew phase. During this earlier transformation, the child was experiencing both physical and psychological transformations: a sudden growth spurt with a change in body proportions, longer legs and a slimming down for most children; the loss of baby teeth; and a coarsening of hair and features replacing the attractive innocence and clarity of the younger child's persona.

The 6-year-old, in addition to these physical changes, was experiencing psychological and emotional changes, as well. A growing imagination allowed an expansion of the perceived world. No longer was the child satisfied with the confinement of the classroom. The larger world of nature and adventure beckoned, and imagination provided an opportunity for mental journeys even within classroom walls through stories and projects about the larger world and universe. Longer periods in the school, away from the familiarity of the home, also were experienced for the first time by some children. This marked the beginning of a separation between parents and children reaching its climax in early adulthood and often painful for both parties involved.

At this age of 6, children, too, began to deal in a new way with the issues of good and evil, right and wrong. Rules assumed a new importance, although the child may have applied them, in this early moral stage, primarily to the behaviors of others, not to himself or herself. It was a time of upheaval and change for the child, sometimes a trying time for parents and other adults in their relationships with these often rude and boisterous changelings.

Introducing the early elementary child to the world that lies beyond the classroom through the Montessori "Great Stories" will have provided fascinating material both for the child's growing perspective of the surrounding world and for a growing understanding of his or her place within it. The story of creation, the story of earth's plants and animals, the story of the coming of humans with their needs and cultures, and finally the stories of the invention of language and number, all these and the ideas and work that flow from them have helped center the child and provide direction and purpose for the age's natural restlessness.

As the child has come to understand his or her own unique place and role in the world and the interrelationships with earth's other inhabitants, a growing sense of community and purpose has begun to develop. If the classroom has been designed to encourage students to find ways of resolving difficulties and issues that arise, a sense of responsibility to the group will have developed and a sense of fairness and morality appears.

It is important to remind ourselves of these positive social and emotional constructs which have been forming during the years from 6 to 12, in order to understand more completely as the child moves into the adolescent period. If impediments have occurred during this developmental period, additional care must be taken to find ways to construct these necessary foundations for individual children. It is never too late to mend these flaws, and positive mentoring by more mature peers will be especially helpful if encouraged in an accepting atmosphere.

Transition in the Third Plane

It is often surprising to adults to see some of the same dissonance in the changing child during the transition into the third plane of development from 12 to 18 that was noted in the earlier transition at age 6. In early puberty, again there are sudden and noticeable physical changes taking place: rapid growth, a loss of the last vestiges of childish facial features, and, most importantly, the emergence of new sexual characteristics that make the youngster's body sometimes seem strange and uncomfortable to its owner.