Page 7. Can you guess how we learned to dress ourselves? We kept our fingers busy working on the canvas frames, lacing and unlacing, fastening and unfasteningthe hooks and eyes, buttoning and unbuttoning, tying and untying knots.
Page 8. Then are ten blocks for this tower, all of different sizes. First I spread them around on this carpet. It is great fun to put them together again, taking one after the other and choosing the largest each time.
Page 9. I use the tower too in a balancing game. Just try to carry the tower around the room without letting it fall to pieces! Sometimes I succeed and then again I sometimes fail.
Page 10. I like the long rods, too! I must put the rods near each other according to their length. I must be careful to place the blue sections near the blue ones and the red ones near the red. Thus, I build some pretty stairs with red and blue steps.
Page 11. But to get a real stair case I use the brown prisms. These prisms are of different size, and I get some fine stairs with ten steps.
Page 12. I have also some solid insets of wood into which I fit little cylinders of different dimensions. They differ in length and breadth. The game is to put these cylinders in their places after looking at them and touching them carefully.
Page 13. We often make mistakes in working with the insets. When we put a cylinder where it doesn't belong, we find that at the end of the game we have one cylinder left over and it won't fit in anywhere. Then the exercise becomes very exciting. We look at the inset carefully; we find the mistake and begin all over again. The most skilful pupils work the insets with their eyes closed.
Page 14. These colors are called: red, black, green, yellow, blue, brown, pink and violet.
Page 15. I amuse myself by picking out and pulling together pieces of the same color from the collection spread out over my table. I get thus a long strip of different colors.
Page 16. We learn to arrange sixty-four different colors by graduations. We get eight beautiful blends of colors, each formed by eight tints of different tones. When we become skilful we can make a pretty rug with blending strips.
Page 17. We also have two little chests full of pieces of cloth. The cloths are of all kinds from the roughest and hardest to the smoothest and softest: canvas, cotton, linen, wool, flannel, velvet, etc. If we keep our hands clean, we can learn to recognize all sorts of things with the tips of our fingers!
Page 18. A child is blindfolded. He mixes the pieces of cloth with his little hands. He feels about among the pieces of cloth. At last he smiles and holds up his hands with two pieces of cloth, both alike. Though he could not see, the child has found out, just by using his fingers, that the two pieces were of the same cloth.
Page 19. These are my plane insets. Here are the blue tablets. I must fit them into the frames, which have just enough room for them. I run two fingers, the fore-finger and the middle-finger, around the edge of the tablet, and then around the edge of the frames. Next I fit the tablet into its proper place. After a little practise I can put the six tablets in their places even with my eyes blindfolded.
Page 20. With the plane insets I have learned to recognize many figures: the square, the circle, the rectangle, the ellipse, the triangle, the oval, the pentagon, the hexagon, the heptagon, the octagon, the enneagon, the decagon. I learned all these hard names very easily because the insets are so amusing!
Reading with the object of interpretation is conducted as in the first experiments of the "Children's House," with cards. From the graduated series we have prepared the child selects a card. He reads it mentally and thenexecutes the action indicated on the card. Our later experiments became very interesting when they were based upon a more rigorous method. When we gave a card describing two actions to a child of five years, he would execute only one of the actions. Take the following for example:
—She leaned over the back of a chair.—She covered her face with her hands and wept.
The child would act out either the first sentence (She leaned over the back of the chair) or the second (She covered her face with, her hands and wept). In spite of the fact that this child seemed extraordinarily eager to get the cards into his hands and to interpret them, those containing two sentences always aroused in him less enthusiasm than those containing a single sentence or indicating a single action (for instance,The boy ran away as fast as he could). In this latter case the enthusiasm of the little ones, their care in interpreting the action vividly, their eagerness to repeat it, their flushed faces and shining eyes, told us that at last we had the reading adapted to their psychology.
Ourfirst seriesof readings accordingly is entirely "tested" orexperimental. It is made up of simple sentences something like those analyzed in the lessons on grammar (Verb to Pronoun).
Series I
—She gazed slowly around the room.—He looked at them out of the corners of his eyes.—The boy ran away as fast as he could.—She threw herself on her knees before him.—The man paced slowly up and down the room.—The little girl stood with lowered head.—The teacher nodded her approval.—The little child sat with folded arms.—He started rapidly toward the door.—He began to walk to and fro about the room.—His mother tenderly stroked his head.—She motioned to him to keep away.—He whispered in her ear.—She placed her hand on his shoulder.—They knocked at the door.—The little girl frowned.
The children carry out the indicated action after they have read mentally, but they put what amounts to artistic expression into their interpretations, which are never executed listlessly. For them it becomes a real "interpretation." They often "study" the action, trying it over and over again, as though rehearsing for a play. Their aptitude for this is something remarkable. Furthermore the words have, for the most part, already been studied in the grammatical exercises, so that the meaning of each word is becoming more and more clear. This helps in the interpretation. For example, the sentenceThe little girl stood with lowered headdoes not mean simply "she lowered her head." If the child has understood he will stand for some time with lowered head in an attitude more or less expressive according to the vividness of his feeling of the situation. In the sentenceShe threw herself on her knees before himthere will not be a simple act of kneeling, but something more dramatic. The child will assume the kneeling posture with some indication of emotion. The children take no end of interest in each other's interpretations.
In asecond seriesof readings we have two coordinated clauses, the children executing two consecutive actions instead of one.
Series II
—He opened the door and came in.—He left the room and locked the door behind him.—He went on tiptoe to the door and carefully opened it.—She covered her face with her hands and began to sob violently.—She gave a cry of joy and ran to the door.—She burst into a laugh and clapped her hands.—He took off his cap and made a low bow.—She shook her head sadly and smiled.—He threw the window wide open and looked into the garden.—He hurried to the table and rang the bell.—With a sigh of relief he stretched himself out on the sofa, and lay there looking at the ceiling with his mouth open.—He shut his eyes and fell asleep.
In thethird series, there are sentences with one or more coordinate clauses.
Series III
—She opened the door, smoothed her hair slowly and came in.
—He went to the window, opened it a little and peered into the street.
—He closed the window, went back to his desk and then began to walk hurriedly up and down the room.
—The doctor bent over the sick man, felt his pulse with one hand and placed the other on his forehead.
—He took a key out of his pocket, opened the door and came in.
—She uttered a cry of joy, ran to her mother and sank on her knees before her.
—He put his left elbow on his knee, rested his forehead in his left hand and began to stroke his beard with his right.
—She leaned over the back of the chair, covered her face with her hands and wept.
—He went to the table, found the picture and joyfully took it in his hands.
—She took her handkerchief out of her pocket, unfolded it and wiped the tears from her eyes.
—The child was sleepy. He rested his head on his arms on the table and went to sleep.
—He looked toward the door fixedly, with an expression of terror on his face and waited for the man to come in.
Series IV(Complex sentences with one subordinate clause)
—While he was making the drawing, he kept examining the flower very carefully.
—She covered her eyes with her hands, as if she were trying to collect her thoughts.
—She closed her eyes so that she could feel more intensely the softness of the piece of velvet.
—She looked tenderly after the little boy, till he disappeared through the door.
—When he had succeeded in turning the knob without making any noise, he stealthily opened the door and peered into the room.
—George held the book before his face so that no one could see him laughing.
—She walked slowly across the room and with bowed head, as though she were in great sorrow.
—The old man stroked the little boy's head as though he were much amused.
—After she had motioned to the child to be silent, the lady smilingly approached and took him by the hand.
—They stopped suddenly and listened, as though wondering what it could be.
—When Mary opened the door, George went to meet her with a cheery smile of welcome.
Series V
(Sentences somewhat more involved; descriptions more complex; an exact interpretation sometimes requires the pronunciation of words aloud)
—The child rose from her seat, and with her face buried in her handkerchief, walked slowly, sadly, toward the window.
—He lay back in his chair, his head sunk between his shoulders, while his arms were pressed tightly across his breast, as though he were cold.
photographInterpreted reading: "Whisper to him." (The Lenox School, Montessori Elementary Class, New York.)
—He dropped wearily into a chair and sat there looking at the floor, his right elbow on his knee and his chin resting on his hand.
—He stood at the open window, with figure erect, and his hands resting on the window-sill, while in deep breaths he took into his lungs the delicious fresh air that was coming into the room.
—The boy lowered his head, and rubbed his forehead with his hands as though he were trying to collect his thoughts.
—There she knelt, her face turned heavenward, her hands crossed in her lap, while her body drooped gently as though she were very, very tired.
—When he reached the door of his house, he hastily unlocked the door, opened it, went in, and carefully locked the door again behind him; and in his eagerness to confide his secret to some one he could trust, he went down the hall calling "Mother, Mother!"
—His eyes filled with tears as he went to the wall where the picture of his father hung, and there with his head resting on his arm against the wall, he sobbed bitterly.
—Rizpah spread the cloth on the ground at the foot of the tree, seated herself upon it, and with her arms resting limp upon her knees, her eyes set in unutterable woe, watched the birds and thought about her lost children.
—The man was lying, sprawling, on the couch, but he jumped up and ran to the door and angrily motioned to his servant to come to him.
—The old lady sat shivering near the stove, holding out her hands to get the warmth and nervously opening and closing them so that the tips of her fingers kept rubbing her palms.
—"I see," thought the boy as he stood with folded arms looking fixedly at the floor.
—He took the handkerchief, examined it a moment and said: "It doesn't belong to me!"
—He stooped over and picked up a pencil that was lying on the floor: "Pshaw," said he, "it is broken!"
—Pecopin, feeling that all was over, threw himself face downward on the ground, and moaned: "I shall never see her again!"
—On waking, Rip Van Winkle rubbed his eyes and looked around for his gun; as he rose to walk he found himself stiff in the joints and wanting in his usual agility.
—The clergyman folded his hands before his breast and, bending his head above them, prayed fervently.
—The girl knelt beside the fallen soldier, while with her right hand she waved her handkerchief to and fro in the air.
—As the door opened, Florence ran to meet him, crying, "Oh, dear, dear papa!" and she held out her arms to him; but, as he paid no attention to her, she put her handkerchief to her face and burst into tears.
—Beatrice came through the door holding her skirt with one beautiful arm, while with the other she held a candlestick above her head, so that the light shone upon her face.
—She advanced holding forward her head as if she would have him kiss her as he used to when she was a child; but then remembering herself, she made him a deep curtsy, sweeping down to the ground almost, looking up meanwhile with the sweetest smile.
—She closed the door very carefully behind her, and then leant back against it, her hands folded before her, looking at the boy who was kneeling beside his trunk to pack it.
—He took the paper and stepped to the window; then holding the sheet so that the light fell full upon it, he examined it carefully, folded it as though musing on its contents and put it into his vest pocket.
—My Lord was lifting the glass to his lips, when Esmond entered; but at the sight of the familiar face, the movement of his arm ceased when the glass was on a level with his chin; he held it there a moment in astonishment, then, suddenly setting it on the table he rushed toward Esmond with outstretched arms, and would almost have embraced him: "I thought you were in France," he exclaimed.
—The Prince was lying on the bed, but at the sound of the footsteps, he rose on his elbow in alarm, while he reached under the pillow for his pistols: "Who goes there?" he shouted sternly.
photograph (girl posing like praying statue)In a similar manner, the children set out or interpret poses and expressions in pictures. (A Montessori School in Italy.)
—The child playfully drew his cap down over his eyes as though he were a very fierce bandit, and rushed into the room holding out his arm and pointing his fore-finger like a pistol.
—As the ladies rode up, the old gentleman raised his hat and stood with bowed head till they had passed.
—The young man picked up the glove from the floor, pressed it fervently to his lips and clasped it tenderly against his bosom, as though it were a priceless treasure.
Series VI(More difficult interpretations with occasional speaking)
—Dunsey threw himself into a chair by the window, drew another chair before him, threw one leg over it, and began to beat on the window sill with the points of his fingers.
—Godfrey stood with his back to the fire, moving his fingers uneasily among the contents of his side-pockets and looking at the floor.
—Aaron replied by rubbing his head against his mother's skirt, passing the backs of his hands over his eyes and peeping through his fingers at Master Marner.
—Mr. Macey screwed up his mouth, leaned his head further on one side and twirled his thumbs rapidly, with his two hands resting on his lap and touching at the finger-tips.
—Silas sat with his elbows on his knees, his forehead pressed rigidly into his two palms, his eyes closed, deep sighs that were almost groans shaking his slender frame.
—The little tot squatted on the coat and spread out her hands to the fire; but the little eyes refused to stay open, and finally the golden head sank down upon the floor fast asleep.
—Presently the child slipped from his knee and began to walk about; but suddenly she fell into a sitting posture and began to pull at her little boots, as though she were trying to get at her toes.
—"At last," he said, stretching back in the arm chair, crossinghis legs and joining his hands behind his head: "I can now have a minute to myself!"
—"Ssshh," said the boy, frowning, and waving his right arm with hand outspread towards his companion.
Series VII(Interpretation requiring more than one person)
—As Rip Van Winkle approached the town, the people all stared at him with marks of surprise and invariably stroked their chins, so that Rip was induced involuntarily to do likewise: his beard was a foot long.
—A self-important old gentleman pushed through the crowd, shoving the people to the right and left with his elbows as he passed; and planting himself before Van Winkle, with one hand on his side, the other resting on his cane, he demanded with an austere tone: "What are you doing here?"
—As Rip Van Winkle told his story, the bystanders began to look at each other, nod, and wink significantly and tap their fingers against their foreheads.
—An old woman came tottering forward, put her hand to her brow and peering under it into his face for a moment, exclaimed: "Sure enough, it is Rip Van Winkle!"
—As the Emperor stepped into the court-yard, the ladies were all so busy crowding about the young prince, holding his hands and counting the kisses, that they did not see the old gentleman: "What's all this, what's all this?" he shouted in rage; and they all scampered off in every direction.
—Trotty sat down in his chair and beat his knees and laughed; he sat down in his chair and beat his knees and cried; he got out of his chair and hugged Med; he got out of his chair and hugged Richard; he got out of his chair and hugged them both at once. He was constantly getting up and sitting down, never stopping in his chair a single minute, being beside himself with joy.
—"Here, little girl, can you tell us the way to town?" "That's not the way. The town is over in this direction!" Butas the little girl was turning to point out the road, one of the men seized her by the waist and lifted her from the ground. Lucia looked back over her shoulder terrified and gave a shriek. (Manzoni.)
(The children were delighted with this little action and rehearsed it over and over again.)
(The children were delighted with this little action and rehearsed it over and over again.)
—With a start, Evangeline looked wildly about her: "Where is Gabriel?" she asked dazedly. "Where is Gabriel? Where is Gabriel?" "He is on that ship that is just sailing out of the harbor!" some one answered. For a few moments Evangeline stood shading her eyes with her palm, gazing after the vessel, fast disappearing into the horizon. At last she spoke half aloud: "I will follow you and find you wherever they may take you, Gabriel," she said, as though taking a vow. Then she turned to the soldier and said: "Lead on to the boat, I am coming. I am coming."
—"Give me the bow," said Tell. Tell chose two arrows: one he fitted to the bow-string, the other he thrust into his girdle. Then for a moment he stood, a little bowed of shoulder, with his eyes downward: he was praying. You might have heard a leaf fall, so still was the place. Then Tell raised his head; his eyes were steady, his hands had become still; his face was like iron; he brought the cross bow to his shoulder and laid his eye to the feather of the shaft: "Twang," the apple fell. A cheer arose from the crowd. Tell laid his hand upon the arrow in his girdle. "If the first had hurt my child," he said, "this one by now would have been through your heart, O Gessler!"
The children by no means restrict themselves to acting out these little scenes and poses. In a second stage they read aloud all these slips which they have interpreted, and in view of the preparation they have had, their reading shows considerable power of expression. They tend to read the slips over and over again, many times, and not infrequently commit them to memory. To take advantageof this new activity we got together a number of poems, making up a little book of children's verse. The pupils read them both mentally and aloud, ultimately committing them to memory and reciting them. Here are some specimens of our Italian collection:
IL BACIOTHE KISSDormiva nella cuna un bel bambino,"A pretty child was sleepingE la mamma lo stava a rimirare;in his cradle; its mother wasVoleva dargli il bacio del mattino,looking at it. She wanted toMa il bacio lo poteva risvegliare;give it the morning kiss; but theSvegliarlo non voleva, e con la manokiss might awaken it. To avoidGli buttò cento baci da lontano.this, she threw it a thousandkisses with her hand."UN SOGNOA DREAMVidi una fata un giornoI saw a fairy one day, withChe avea le trecce d'orogolden hair and a dress of pearls,E un abito di perlericher than a treasure.Più ricco d'un tesoro"Vieni con me," mi disse,"Come with me," the fairy"Che ti farò regina."said, "and I'll make you a"Non vengo, bella fata;queen." "I cannot, pretty fairy,"Io sto con la mammina."I replied, "I must stay with mother."LA NEVETHE SNOWLenta la neve fiocca, fiocca, fiocca,The flakes of snow are falling,Senti, una culla dondola pian piano.falling, falling. Listen, a cradleUn bimbo piange, il piccol dito in bocca,is gently, gently rocking; a babyCanta la vecchia, il mento in su la mano.cries, his finger in his mouth;the old nurse sings, her chin in her hand.LA GALLINATHE HENIo vi domando se si può trovareI leave it to you: is there aUn più bravo animal della gallina.nicer animal than the hen? IfSe non avesse il vizio di raspareonly she wouldn't scratch, Iwould like to have one with meNe vorrei sempre aver una vicina.all the time. Every day, at aTutti i giorni a quell'ora: "Coccodè!"certain hour: "Cut-cut-cut-cut-cadakut!"Corri a guardar nel covo e l'ovo c'è!Run and look in the nest, andan egg is there!LA POVERA BAMBINATHE POOR ORPHAN CHILDDisse: "Mia madre è morta!She said: "My mother isIo son digiunadead; I have nothing to eat; theE la stagion è cruda:weather is cold. There is no oneIn terra a me non pensa anima alcuna:left to think of me. I am a raggedSono orfanella e ignuda."orphan girl."IL PESCETHE FISHUn dì fuor della vasca del giardinoOne day a little fish jumpedGuizzò imprudentemente un pesciolino.imprudently out of the gardenGigi lo vide, e tutto disperatopool. Gigi saw it and all excitedlyGridò alla mamma: un pesce s'è annegato!cried out: "Mamma, mamma,a fish has drowned himself."QUEL CHE POSSIEDE UN BAMBINOA CHILD'S POSSESSIONSDue piedi lesti lesti per correre e saltare.Two little lively feet to run and jump with.Due mani sempre in moto per prendere e per fare.Two busy hands to take and do things.La bocca piccolina per tutto domandare.One little mouth to ask questions with.Due orecchie sempre all'erta intente ad ascoltare.Two ears always awake to hear everything with.Due occhioni spalancati per tutto investigare.Two bright eyes always open to see everything with.E un cuoricino buono per molto, molto amare.One little heart to love with.IL BUON ODORETHE FLOWER'S FRAGRANCE"Ma, bimbo mio, perchè"Why spoil that pretty flower,Sciupar questo bel fiore?"my child?""Cercavo il buon odore,"I was looking for the sweetNon so capir dov'è."smell and I haven't been able tofind it."Lina Schwarz.NINNA-NANNA DI NATALECHRISTMAS LULLABYNinna-nanna, gelato è il focolare;Lullaby, the fire is out, myfanciul, non ti svegliare.child, do not awaken. To keepPer coprirti dal freddo, o mioyou warm, my little child, Ibambino,must make you a little dressCucio in un vecchio scialle unfrom this old shawl.vestitino.Ma il lucignolo trema e l'occhioBut the lamp is dim and myè stanco,eyes are tired, O child of thebimbo dal viso bianco.white face. Who knows if evenChi sa se per domani avrò finitoby tomorrow I can have thisQuesto che aspetti povero vestito!poor dress for you.Ada Negri.
A corresponding book of English verse might include something like the following:
THE WHOLE DUTY OF A CHILDA child should always say what's true,And speak when he is spoken to,And behave mannerly at table—At least so far as he is able.Stevenson.THE RAINThe rain is raining all around,It falls on field and tree,It rains on the umbrella hereAnd on the ships at sea.Stevenson.THE COWThank you, pretty cow, that madePleasant milk to soak my bread,Every day and every nightWarm and fresh and sweet and white.Ann Taylor.THE RAINThe rain is raining all around,Kittens to shelter fly,But human folk wear over-shoesTo keep their hind-paws dry.O. Herford.FISHESHow very pleasant it must beFor little fishes in the sea!They never learn to swim at all:It came to them when they were small."Swim out like this," their mother cried,"Straight through the water, foam and tide."They waved their fins and writhed their scales,And steered their little rudder tails.Already they know what to do—I wish that I could do it too!Alice Farwell Brown.THE LITTLE COCK SPARROWA little cock-sparrow sat on a green tree,And he chirruped, he chirruped, so merry was he;A naughty boy came with his wee bow and arrow,Determined to shoot this little cock-sparrow."This little cock-sparrow shall make me a stew,And his giblets shall make me a little pie too.""Oh, no!" said the sparrow, "I won't make a stew";So he flapped his wings and away he flew.Book of Knowledge.THE TREEWhat do we do when we plant the tree?We plant the houses for you and me;We plant the rafters, the shingle, the floors,We plant the studding, the laths, the doors,The beams and siding—all parts that be!We plant the house when we plant the tree.Henry Abbey.THE LAMBLittle lamb, who made thee?Dost thou know who made thee,Gave thee life and bade thee feedBy the stream and o'er the mead;Gave thee clothing of delight,Softest clothing woolly bright;Gave thee such a tender voice,Making all the vales rejoice?Little lamb who made thee?Dost thou know who made thee?W. Blake.Let dogs delight to bark and bite,For God hath made them so;Let bears and lions growl and fight,For 'tis their nature too.But, children, you should never letSuch angry passions rise:Your little hands were never madeTo tear each others' eyes.Watts.The sunshine flickers through the laceOf leaves above my head,And kisses me upon the faceLike Mother before bed.The wind comes stealing o'er the grassTo whisper pretty things;And though I cannot see him passI feel his careful wings.Stevenson.
After this preparation the children are able to "understand" what they read. All their difficulties in grasping the sentences and their most complicated constructions have been overcome. They have an insight into the grammatical form of language; and the construction of a sentence,as well as the meaning of the words in it, interests them. There has been created within them a fund of suppressed energy which will very soon break forth into intense activity. In fact, in our school, after these exercises the passion for reading began to show itself. The children wanted "reading, reading, more reading." We got together hastily a few books but never enough to satisfy the eagerness of the children. We found a surprising lack of reading for little children in Italian. The American system of opening special rooms in public libraries for the use of little readers seems to me an excellent thing.
But to take full advantage of this awakened enthusiasm for reading and to cultivate at the same time the art of reading aloud we must not neglect another element in reading: audition.
When the child has advanced to some extent in the exercises of interpretation, the teacher may begin reading aloud. This should be done as artistically as possible. We recommend for the training of teachers not only a considerable artistic education in general but special attention to the art of reading. One of the differences between the traditional teacher of the past and the teachers we should like to create is that the former used to speak of an "art of teaching," which consisted of various devices to make the child learn, in spite of itself, what the teacher wanted to teach. Our teachers, rather, should becultivatorsof the fine arts. For in our method art is considered ameans to life. It is beauty in all its forms which helps the inner man to grow. We have repeatedly emphasized that both in the environment at school and inthe materials used, everything should be carefully considered in its artistic bearings, to provide ample room for development for all the phenomena of attention and persistence in work which are the secret keys of self-education. The Montessori teacher should be a cultivator of music, drawing and elocution, responsive to the harmony of things; she must, that is, have sufficient "good taste" to be able to lay out the school plant and keep it in condition; and sufficient delicacy of manner—the product of a sensitive nature—to be alive to all the manifestations of the child spirit.
In the matter of reading aloud the teacher has an important task to accomplish. We found the drawing hour best adapted for this work. It was our experience that it is easier to gain a hearing when the children are busy with something which does not require great concentration and which is not sustained by any particular inspiration. During the drawing lesson, in the placid silence which comes from work, and while the children are intent on their designs, the teacher may begin her reading aloud. It sometimes happens that the substance of what she reads will be sufficient to engage the interest of the whole school. But this is not always an easy task. It is more often the musical quality of the teacher's execution which will attract the little ones with a sense for art and bring them to that motionless attention which is the evidence of eager enjoyment. Possibly a really perfect reader might be able so to hold the whole group of children with some absorbing selection.
The readings we used were numerous and of great variety: fairy tales, short stories, anecdotes, novels, historical episodes. Specifically there were the tales of Andersen, some of the short stories of Capuana, theCuoreof DeAmicis, episodes of the life of Jesus,Uncle Tom's Cabin,The Betrothed(I promessi sposiof Manzoni),Fabiola, stories from the Italian wars for independence (Nineteenth Century), Itard'sEducation of the Young Savage of Aveyron.
In general the child will listen to anything that is really interesting. But certainly some surprises will be occasioned by our discovery that the children liked above everything else the readings on Italian history and theEducation of the Savage of Aveyron. The phenomenon is sufficiently curious to merit further consideration. The history we used was not one commonly thought adapted to young readers. Quite the contrary: it was Pasquale de Luca'sI Liberatori(Makers of Freedom, Bergamo, 1909), written to arouse a feeling of patriotism among the Italian emigrants of Argentina. The special feature of this publication is its contemporary documents reprinted infac-simile. There are, for instance, telegrams, notices in cipher published on the walls of the towns on the eve of uprisings, commemorative medals, a receipt given by an executioner for whipping publicly an Italian patriot, etc. Patriotic songs are given with the music (these the children learned by heart, following the piano); there are also copious illustrations.
This documented history was so absorbing that the children became entirely possessed by the situations. They started animated discussions on various subjects, arguing and deciding. They were particularly outraged at an edict of the king of Naples which was intended to mislead the public. They raged at unjust persecutions, applauded heroic deeds, and ended by insisting on actingout some of the scenes. They formed little companies of three or four and "acted" the episodes with a most impressive dramatic sense. One little girl was moved to bring to school a collection of all the Italian patriotic songs. It fascinated many of the children, who learned several by heart and sang them in chorus. In a word, the Italian Risorgimento came to live in those little hearts with a freshness it has long since lost in the souls of their elders. Many of the children wrote down their impressions of their own accord, often giving surprisingly original judgments. Finally they began to "take notes." They asked the teacher to give an outline of the principal events, which they took down in their copy-books. This whole experience corrected many of my own ideas on the teaching of history. I had thought of preparing moving-picture films and giving historical representations. But that, naturally, being beyond my resources, I had been compelled to give up the plan. The reading of De Luca's book was a revelation. To teach history to children it is sufficient to give aliving documented truth. We need, not more cinematographs, but different school books. Children are much more sensible to the true and beautiful than we. They suggest fact and situation. De Luca, moved by affection for his distant brothers, tried to write a book flaming both with truth and with love, which would awaken them and bring them back to live among us as Italians. Our task is the same. We must be filled with a similarly intense human zeal: we must call back to us the distant souls of the children. They too are brothers living far away in a distant country. We must arouse them, bring them back to us as partners in our own life.
After our readings from Itard'sSavage, the parentsof the children kept coming to us with inquiries: "What have you been reading to our children? We should like to hear it ourselves." The little ones had told of hearing an extraordinary story about a child who had lived with the animals, beginning little by little to understand, to feel, to live like us. All the psychological details of his study, his attempts at education, seemed to have touched the children deeply. It occurred to us to take the older of such children to a "Children's House" and show them our educational method. They took the greatest interest in it, and some of them are now collaborators in the foundation of other "Children's Houses." Such children are able to follow the development of the child mind with extraordinary sympathy. However, if we reflect that the best teachers for children are children themselves, and that little tots like the company of another child much better than that of an adult, we need not be surprised at the downfall of another prejudice.
photographInterpreted reading: "She was sleepy; she leaned her arms on the table, her head on her arms, and went to sleep." Notice the slip of paper which the child has just read. (The Lenox School, Montessori Elementary Class, New York.)
We have conceived of children according to a fantastic idea of our own, making of them a sort of human species distinct from that to which adults belong. As a matter of fact, they are our children, more purely human than we ourselves. The beautiful and the true have for them an intense fascination, into which they plunge as into something actually necessary for their existence.
The results here witnessed led us to many a reflection. We succeeded in teaching history and even pedagogy by means of "reading." And, in truth, does not reading embrace everything? Travel stories teach geography; insect stories lead the child into natural science; and so on. The teacher, in short, can use reading to introduce her pupils to the most varied subjects; and the moment they have been thus started, they can go on to any limitguided by the single passion for reading. Our task is to offer the child the instruments of education, to keep pure within him the springs of his intellectual growth, of his life of feeling. The rest follows as a matter of course. As the ancients said: "Necessaryeducation is the three 'r's': reading, writing and arithmetic," for these are things which the child cannot discover by himself. We can only add that "method" must be scientifically determined only at the points where it becomes necessary to assist the "formation of man," that he may develop his activities by strengthening them and not by repressing them, that he may receive essential help without losing any pure freshness of his interior activities. But this does not mean that "a rigorous method must guide the child at all times and in every step that he takes." When he has become strong and is in possession of his tools for discovery, he will be able to uncover many of life's secrets by himself. We tied the child to the materials in his sensory exercises, but we left him free to explore his environment. This must be the method for all his later steps in advance: he must be given the instrument and the strength to use it, and then left free to find things out for himself.