Explain How the Role of the Teacher Changes in the Process of the Child’s Growing Normalisation (socialisation)
Explain How the Role of the Teacher Changes in the Process of the Child’s Growing Normalisation (socialisation)
In this essay, I will define the term normalisation linking it with the concept of deviations. I will also outline the environmental aspects that support normalization, explain the maturational nature of normalisation, describe the teachers initial approach with new children, explain the change in the teachers role as each child begins to concentrate and focus on activities, and finally I will give reasons why a child might regress.
There are four characteristics that appear in every child that is developing normally. These are; love of work, concentration, self-discipline and sociability. Therefore normalisation is the process, through which the child obtains these characteristics, by repeatedly concentrating all of her/his attention on an activity. If a child is not normalised s/he develops deviations. A deviation is a defense created when development cannot proceed in a normal way. All children have some deviation, some worse than others. If these deviations are not corrected, they will become progressively worse and eventually permanent.
Maria Montessori has proven through many years of experience that normalisation causes the disappearance of many childish traits, not only those which are considered to be deviations but also others which are generally thought to be virtues. Among the traits that disappear are not only untidiness, disobedience, sloth, greed, egoism, quarrelsomeness, instability, imitation and wavering attention, but also the so-called “creative imagination”, delight in stories, attachment to individuals, play, submissiveness and curiosity.
The environment, like the teacher, is very important for the childs normalisation. The smallest mistakes can distract a child and impede his development. To support nomalisation, the environment or school, should be made for the children, for example, the tables and chairs should all be child size. There should be a range of activities for the children, from sorting objects to table setting. It is very important that these activities be related to real life, so that the children have that connection and not have to create a world in their minds, which would be productive. The children need to learn things like pouring, so there should be jugs and water for them to practice pouring, they need to learn to set a table so they should be provided with the things they need to do it. It is very important though that the objects they use are real and not fake plastic toys. They need these real objects because they cannot learn to pour properly unless they can spill the water and they cannot learn to trust themselves if the adults do not trust them with things that can be broken.
It is imperative that the children are given the tools to learn, but the environment must not be to busy. If there are too many activities for the children to use they will most likely become distracted and over stimulated and not put all their energy and concentration into a single activity. So the environment is crucial to a childs development, so the teacher or other adult must ensure that it has the perfect balance of interesting activities, while at the same time not be over stimulating.
As the child becomes more normalised her/his mind matures and becomes more like an adults. As this happens this older more normalised becomes a link to the adult world for the younger children, they become a guide, a teacher to the younger children. This exchange of knowledge helps the development of both children. So the more children interact with children of other ages the better they will develop, the younger children get the knowledge the older ones have to offer, the older children get to use this passing on of knowledge as a way to analyse and understand better that he has learned. They both get the experience to interact with other people in a socially acceptable way. This connection between normalization and social development is the reason why Montessori schools believe in allowing the children of different ages to mix if they wish.
When a child of three first comes to school, s/he has already developed many deviations which will only get worse if allowed. Luckily s/he is not completely fixed in her/his deviations that the teachers efforts to correct them are in vain. The childs inner discipline and concentration are hidden just below the surface and need only the right activity to bring them out of hiding.
The teacher, when approaching the child, must be calm, firm and patient. Neither kindness nor severity will help the child to concentrate. The teacher must offer the child interesting activities that use her/his psychic energy in a productive way. When the child has found an activity that interests her/him, the teacher has to show the child how to do the activity, and then the teacher may step back and allow the child to perform the activity. The teacher must ensure that the