D
DELIVERY
Adults in a Montessori environment do not teach in the traditional sense. Rather, they show the child - at his or her request - how to use the various development materials. The child is then free to continue working, exploring and experimenting. This act of showing helps the child to make an informed choice and is called performance. To achieve effective performance, it must be done slowly and precisely, step by step.
DISCIPLINE
This refers to self-discipline. Discipline in a well-run Montessori educational centre is not the result of teacher control or rewards or punishments. Its source comes from each individual child who can control their own actions and make positive choices about their personal behaviour. Self-discipline is directly related to the development of the will. Montessori described freedom and discipline as two sides of the same coin, as well as the individual and the community.
DEVELOPMENTAL PHASES
A child's development does not take place linearly in an ascending line, but in different phases. On the basis of her observations, Maria Montessori categorised this development into four phases and made drawings in the 1930s. She compared the different developmental phases of the child on its path to adulthood with the metamorphosis of the butterfly, as described by the Dutch biologist Hugo de Vries (1848-1935).
In the middle of the 20th century, Montessori drew two charts: ‘Constructive Rhythm of Life’ (Perugia 1950) and ‘The Bulb’ (Rome 1951). In these, she also visualised the difference between her development plan and the educational concepts of traditional systems. In both charts, Montessori illustrates the child's developmental path from birth to adulthood. This path takes place in four phases:
- Infancy: 0-6 years
- Childhood: 6-12 years
- Adolescence: 12-18 years
- Maturity: 18-24 years
The most important thing about Montessori's concept of developmental phases is that the individual stages of life are to be seen as independent of each other. Each stage of development has its own needs and requires its own environment to fulfil these needs.
