Montessori: the Power of Attention

You may be familiar with passive listening, passive listening is where an is involved in a conversation however, multitasking by listening to several different conversations or events happening in the background (Bell & Smith, 2010; Jennings, 2012). There has been perhaps a number of times you have slipped into this passive state of attention it seems as if you are actively listening to a conversation but truly, there are other things happening that seem to be more worthy of your attention (Jennings, 2012; Scanlan, 2011).

“Attention Deficit Disorder” is a mental disorder which affects individuals’ movements, behavior, and focus. Thereby, it is characterized by a persistent pattern of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity such happens in academic, occupational or social settings.

Being able to pay attention is something that some people take for granted without appreciating it. Bereft of this luxury, we wouldn’t be able to properly communicate with others, focus on our goals, and most importantly, live as who we are

Attention is considered to be a core cognitive process, it refers to how people actively process specific information in the environment. Attention refers to how people select from information and stimuli in the environment, facilitating processing of some of the stimuli and inhibiting processing of others. "Everyone knows what attention is, it is the taking possession by the mind in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought...It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others, and is a condition which has a real opposite in the confused, dazed, scatterbrained state. “This definition of attention was proposed by psychologist William James (1890). This review will focus on literature that gives explanation to selective attention. Selective attention refers to the process where a person is able to select out of many stimuli and focus on the one they want and ignore other stimuli.

Throughout my entire life, I realized it was difficult for me to pay attention for more than 15 minutes, so I had to try different methods when paying attention to remain focus. Now that I have overcome that weakness, you can’t pay me to lose focus from anything. I have now learned which of my tasks have certain amounts of importance levels when it comes to getting things done. I agree with the fact that now days paying attention is important, silence is offered as a luxurious good and it also contributes to creativity and innovation.

Jean Piaget is known for his theories in cognitive development theory. His theory is based on the idea that children constantly construct knowledge as they explore and mold their environment. There are four stages in Piaget’s theory, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operations, the stages also corresponds with how old the child is. Not every child will be in the stage that matches the child’s age because some children are exceptional. Piaget’s theory is based on the cognitive development of how the average child shows their learned behavior through performed tasks. As I went through the first interview, I realized that how the children came to develop their answers was what’s important about the assignment. each child with the Piagetian Task Kit, I started to realize The Piagetian Task Kit helped me examine and see where each child was at in their cognitive development level.

Attention is defined as “the action of dealing with or taking special care of someone or something.” (Unknown). I define attention as the action of carefully observing, analyzing and interpreting a given act by someone or something. Attention is something that all children need especially from their parents. Parents need to give attention to their children to know what is going on with them, in order not to lose sight of who they are becoming.

The development and discipline of focus extend into adulthood. Staving off distractions in school, at work, even at home proves important to learning and goal achievement. After all, even children need to focus on a task and stick with it long enough to see it accomplished.

I have been affected by the concept of concentration a great deal more than others, starting from the early age of 8 when I was diagnosed with ADHD. At such a young age, I did not know what to think of it, especially when my doctor said that I had a ‘disorder’ I expected that I was going to die. I was prescribed medication to help defeat some of the symptoms that came along with ADHD; nonetheless the one thing I noticed was that I was able to concentrate for once in my life. With this newfound concentration I had developed over the medicine, my grades rose, my athletics approved and in general my life

Maria Montessori founded an education system which is called Montessori and still bares her name, her system is based on belief in the child’s creative potential, (Douglas, n.d.). Her first Casa Dei Bambini (Children’s house), where Maria was using her approach of teaching was opened in 1907 in Rome. She was great educator who believed that children are learning through their personal experience at their right time and their own pace. (Ridgway, 2007). Children rather than learning largely from what the teachers and the textbooks say, learn from “doing”,(Douglas, n.d.). To provide for children an effective, independent learning process, and that they become a competent and confident learner, Teacher had to provide for children a healthy, clean, well-prepared and well organised environment in which children could develop. Maria Montessori came up with idea that if children have to work and play independently, they have to be comfortable and need appropriately sized tools and items that fit their small hands (Mooney, 2000). Montessori believed that children learn through sensory experiences. Teacher has a responsibility to provide wonderful sights, textures, sounds, and smells for children. Sensory

According to Montessori, it is vitally important to support and facilitate these periods during the child's first stage of development. If the child is prevented from following the innate desire of any given sensitive period, a disturbing effect could result on both psychic development and maturity. The child must be assisted through the sensitive periods. The adult must assist the child by providing a suitable environment.

In reality, the children move about the classroom independently, choosing the order of their learning activities. There may be 15 or more activities, or ?jobs? as they are called in some Montessori classrooms, occurring at the same time with small groups or individual work, yet the classroom remains quiet, yet busy and productive, sometimes with the soft hush of classical music playing in the background. Many Montessori school classrooms place a card around the child?s neck with the day?s objectives written in the form of a checklist for the students to monitor themselves. This checklist encourages the students to take responsibility for their own learning, as well as discourages prompt-dependence, since the student need not wait for instruction. Some of the activities in a Montessori classroom include reading, pre-reading using phonics, math, discovery science and writing. Children learn skills in a way that he or she is not aware that learning is taking place. For example, a child playing in the sand box with a small rake is not aware that he or she is learning fine motor skills and how to hold and control a pencil. Another observation in a Montessori classroom is that most classrooms tend to span three grade levels. This practice allows to children to become mentors to younger students. Also, the large gap in developmental levels allows children to ?learn at their own pace? (Keller, 2001), which is another important Montessori

Watching a small child discover how to operate his or her favorite plaything is awe inspiring. The look of wonder at the item as it's carefully chosen from amongst their belongings and studied ever so carefully for each and every nuance. How that little face lights up with each new discovery no matter how large or small. The sounds of delight an even dismay at an unwanted result are beautiful. Consider an educational system that would continue to utilize a child’s natural curiosity, unyielding ingenuity and thirst for knowledge. Montessori education creates that environment for children by allowing them the freedom to not only gain knowledge in a natural progression, but also provide a basis on which to continue to grow no matter where

The education system back in her era focused on teaching the children to memorise word to word from books and posters and Children sat in rows at desks at the classroom learning from a blackboard and slates. This method of education wasn’t stimulating and exciting for children. Nevertheless through her experience Montessori discovered children want to learn, and they will do it in their own time frame and they shouldn’t be forced.

Dr. Maria Montessori was a keen observer of children. She used her observational and experimental proclivities from her medical background to develop, what we might today call, a Constructivist understanding of the process of learning. She studied them scientifically. If she saw some unusual behavior in a child, she would say,”I won’t believe it now, I shall if it happens again”. She studied the conditions in which the children would perform those actions.