Why Do We Go to School?
As Montessori says in the second plane of development, it is the age of socialization and also the time when children ask “WHY”. If you are a teacher or a parent of children this age, you know that is definitely true. Children want to know why this or why that. So many whys.
One of the biggest “whys” I hear is “Why do I have to go to school?”
I was just having a conversation with my students about this. It made me realize a few things.
Why do we go to school?
TO LEARN
I tell my students this is broken down into two categories.
Category 1: To Learn Knowledge
Category 2: To Learn How to be a Human
Let’s talk about about category 1: To Learn Knowledge
This is everything we need to learn in first, second, and third grade. This is math, language, and cultural subjects. That breaks down even further to math: numeration, time/money/measurement, geometry, and word problems/graphs/extra concepts. For language, that is grammar, writing, reading, and word study. For cultural subjects, that is history, botany/zoology, geography, and science.
If you are interested in a scope and sequence with maps to show EXACTLY what to present next in all these topics, read about that here.
So, for the most part, students understand that they need to learn these skills to get the knowledge they need for the next grade and beyond.
For the most part the students in the Montessori environment have a strong love for learning and are pretty strong in their “learning knowledge” reason for coming to school.
Category 2: To Learn How to be a Human
I talk the students through a journey of their growing so far, I say:
“You do not crawl anymore, but when you were a baby you were learning how to be a human by crawling and exploring the places around you. You know how to use your words now, but when you were a baby you would cry to communicate. You know how to hold a pencil now, but when you were a toddler, you were learning how to hold things. You know how to write all your letters and numbers in the early childhood class, but now you can write those letters and numbers to write words and solve math equations. So if you are learning to be human with all those things? What are we learning to be a human now with?”
My answer to that is learning how to be peaceful and respectful humans.
This conversation usually comes about because in the 6 to 9 classroom emotions run high and since it is the age of socialization, everyone wants to be everyone’s friend, but it is very hard to manage emotions when things start to hurt others’ feelings.
So, just like we say they have “mastered” a certain math topic, we can say that there are different things to “master” at each age to learn how to be a peaceful and respectful human.
Our goal with all this is to end up being a leader by the age of 9. They should have been a leader at the age of 6 in their early childhood classroom, but it is a different type of leader for each class.
Here is how I break things down:
Age 6/7:
raising hand: when in a presentation group, you must raise your hand in order to say something
listening the first time: if an adult in the room asks you to do something, you must listen the first time and complete the task
paying attention: when in group, pay attention only to what is being presented (do not be distracted by others)
focus on their work or task: During work time, you should be working. If someone distracts you, you should say “I am working.” (In place of saying “You are distracting me” – keep your words focused on yourself)
keep your hands to yourself
Age 8/9:
all the items listed for ages 6/7
leadership: start working to be leader
helping other students with their work
walk, talk, and act with respect and be a good model
keeping area tidy
notice when things are out of place or out of sorts and fix them
Don’t need any reminders to do the things listed
How do we get students to follow these check points?
As teachers, we remind and remind and remind. This could be with our words or with hand signals, for example, raising a hand when a hand needs to be raised instead of verbally saying it.
You could also have students practice them in groups where the focus is just on those topics.
For example:
pull out all the chairs and try to walk around them and not trip (skill: pushing in your chair).
sit in a group and everyone talks over each other (skill: raising your hand)
have the students present something and have other students talk over them (skill: sitting quietly in group)
“work” but have students distract each other and the working student tells the other student “I am working”
Those examples could go on and on forever. This helps the students truly see how these actions could annoy others.
Overall, we go to school because we have to learn knowledge and learn how to be nice, peaceful, and respectful humans.
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