Observations across the Globe:

London, England
—Susan Mayclin Stephenson, 1987 (update 2019)

What is the greatest sign of success for a teacher…?

It is to be able to say, “The children are now working as if
I did not exist."
—The Absorbent Mind, Dr. Maria Montessori

One of Maria Montessori’s most important contributions

to our world was her discovery that mankind has a divine urge,
an inner guide which, if protected and nurtured in the child,
can lead to the development of each person’s full potential, the
evolution of our species and peace on Earth.
She gives us a practical method of providing such a main group. This is a gradual process determined by the needs
prepared and nurturing environment and setting the child free to of each child. The main room is made of two rooms, one a few
flower within it. A child who is in touch with this Inner Guide, steps higher than the other, made into one large room in the
a “normalized child” knows how and when and for how long to ground floor of the training center. The upper part opens into the
sleep, eat, move, talk, work, or think quietly. This child is always garden. In warm weather the class is both inside and out. Today
enthusiastic, always happy. it is snowing! The floor is of polished wood, the only carpeted
To watch a prepared environment filled with 30-40 area being the small reading corner which also contains a rocking
children functioning on this level, a “normalized class”, is one of chair and a few pillows. The lower area, next to the reception
the most thrilling experiences in life. I would like to share with class, contains fifteen tables, a nature corner, book corner,
you, as much as is possible through the written word, a personal practical life tables and shelves, math language, drying rack for
experience of such a class in February 1987. I had returned to paintings, physic experiments and a shelf of toys similar to those
the Maria Montessori Training Organization in London, England in the reception class.
– where my daughter, Narda, was working for her diploma, and The higher room contains a snack table, piano, sensorial
where I had received mine fifteen years earlier. I returned with material, geography, history, music, globe and maps, a stack of
wonderful memories of classes of up to 40 children of ages 2-7, floor mats and a box of rolled larger floor mats.
where one could sit down in the middle of the morning and have A corner shelf holds the record keeping charts readily
tea with the directress while the class went on, a beehive of available throughout the day.
happy, calm, quiet activity – one non-teaching assistant dusting There is no directress’ table or desk.
a shelf while the children helped and taught each other and An ‘ellipse’ for walking-on-the-line is in the higher
accomplished an amazing amount of joyful work, uninterrupted room. It is used throughout the day for walking and balancing
by adult intervention. I was made welcome and invited, even objects, just as any other child-chosen activity. As there are no
though this was the last day before vacation to observe the compulsory large groups, it is not used for sitting upon, musical
children’s class at the training center. The following are notes movement, or anything else but walking.
from this observation on February
19, 1987: The Schedule:
8:30
Class Composition: Directresses arrive and prepare the environment
Thirty children age 2 to 7 with
one directress and an assistant. In 8:45
this case, since it is at the training Children begin arriving, one adult keeping an
center, the assistant is also a trained eye on the coatroom (entrance hall) as children
Montessori Directress. change from coats and outdoor shoes to indoor
shoes (adults wear indoor shoes too) which are kept
in colorful cloth bags hung on each child’s coat
Physical Environment:
hook. Children enter the classroom, greet their
A small room adjoins the main
teachers, shake hands, and start the day as they
room. This is the “reception
wish, working or helping prepare the environment.
class” for under-two’s, led by a

Montessori Directress for two
9:10
hours each afternoon, until they
Door is locked. Late arrivals ring the bell and
feel ready to join completely the
wait for the door to be opened.

1 © 2008, Susan Stephenson, Trinidad, CA

 9:30 tables. The directress stands and they all say a prayer together.
Activities in progress: mirror polishing, braiding, four Because there are no large collective or group lessons this is the
cylinder blocks done blindfolded, silver polishing, number only time during the whole day that the children and adults are
rods, drawing, puzzle map of Africa, classified picture naming acting collectively—everyone doing the same thing at the same
(two groups containing two or three children, each led by a time with an adult leading.
child), identical picture matching, decimal system introduction, To begin lunch, the directress quietly calls three or four
pegboard (from toy, link-with-the-home materials shelf for children at a time to begin serving themselves. The two teachers
new children), binomial cube, pouring rice, metal insets, and then sit down at one of the tables and eat with the children. For
geometric cabinet with third set of cards. the next hour the serving, eating, talking, cleaning up, serving
dessert, cleaning and dressing to go home (for those few children
10:10 who go home after lunch) is carried out solely by the children,
“False Fatigue,” a common occurrence early in the while the directresses eat and talk together with the children
school year, occurs right on time. After about an hour of sitting nearest.
relatively simple work, the class is experiencing a period of It is obvious that every detail has been thought out,
restlessness as the children look about for the “great work of every “point of consciousness” taught with practical life lessons.
the morning” after which most children will settle down to There is no feeling of confusion, tension, control by adults and
concentrate well for an hour or more, emerging quite refreshed. the children exhibit, even during lunch, the traits of normalized
Rather than interfering, the directress steps back to wait for children – joy, dignity, independence, unselfishness, initiative,
the class to settle back down. Today the children have divided self-discipline, love of order, work, the environment, and each
themselves into two groups, the younger children working in the other. Some of the practical life activities that are noticeable are:
lower room and the older in the upper room. “False Fatigue” is walking without bumping anything, tucking in chairs, holding
occurring only in the upper room. The momentary noise attracts chairs for another child, carrying a bowl of soup down two steps
the attention of the younger children look up from their work for to a table on the lower level of the classroom, offering the last
a moment then go back to work. piece of food to another, checking to see if the bowls are empty
before stacking them, looking in a mirror to see if one’s face is
10:50 clean, and not interrupting someone else who is talking.
The assistant is leading a charming game with a few During lunch the children are free to get up and down
children, singing, choosing partners, dancing and bowing. Other from the table, get more food, offer food to others, go to the
children are continuing their work, unaffected by this circle bathroom, take as much food as they like (as at the snack table
game. A few children are helping the directress set up three during the day). Again the feeling of home.
tables, which will hold the hot lunch, which is being prepared After the main course, each child has cleared his place
in the kitchen. In England the noon meal is the main meal of the leaving his or her placemat. A child pushes the cart back to the
day, even at home, and the children eat together. kitchen and the dessert is brought out. Again the children set out
stacks of small bowls and spoons and two large bowls of pudding
Lunch Preparation: and berries. The rest of the class is talking among themselves at
Two colorful, quilted hot plate mats are placed on a table, with a their tables. Again the directress calls a few children to begin the
large spoon for soup. One child wheels the food in on a cart from serving, then sits down to chat while the children eat, converse,
the kitchen, then two other children who have offered to help set and clean up.
out stacks of soup bowls, a large tureen of soup, stacks of lunch
plates, a plate of buttered bread, a plate of cheese slices, and a 12:40
bowl of greens. The directress and a child are checking the order As they finish, those children who are going home (5-6
and cleanliness of the environment. It has been kept very ordered very young new children) take a chair to a spot near the dressing
and clean throughout the morning by the children and the adults, area. Then each gets his or her outside shoes, boots, etc., dresses,
so this is a quick task. and sits on his chair to talk to friends. The parents wait till the
door is opened by the directress at 1:00. The children shake
11:55 hands, say good-bye, and go home.
The assistant is asking a small group of children if they The rest of the class is still cleaning up, washing tables,
would like to hear a story or a tape – the rest of the class is still putting chairs on tables for sweeping the floor, returned to their
working. They vote and listen to a tape. A few children are work, or are sitting and talking.
signing a birthday card with the directress (for the cook). There
is, as always, a feeling of a home, a “children’s house” rather than 1:00
a school where children wait for an adult to tell them what to do Except for rainy days, the children who want to, go
next. The self-respect of the children is noticeable on their faces outside and play. The others stay inside and work.
and in every action.
1:30
Lunch: The work which was on-going is being continued by
12:00 children (work can also be left out overnight in some cases—
After more than three hours of work children have there is a wide range of work going on, some of which takes
quietly been invited or have come on their own and are seated at hours or days). There is no feeling that the afternoon is any

2 © 2008, Susan Stephenson, Trinidad, CA

different than the morning. The children seem to need no special Errors and Their Corrections:
projects or adult-centered activities – even though this is the This is a normalized class, but I do not mean to give
last day before vacation! Child-chosen work, by oneself or the impression that every action and intent was perfect! There
with one’s friends, seems to be the most favorite activity of the were errors to be corrected. The beautiful thing is the method of
children. The directress could easily say, “The children are now their correction. I watched the directresses carefully watching
working as if I did not exist.” a child in each case to judge the intention. Then, unless it was
something that needed to be interrupted at once (I saw this
2:00 happen only once), a mental or written note was made so that the
The children are well into their work. The class seems error could be corrected by teaching the correct activity later at a
the same size even though some have gone home because the "neutral moment", rather than risk invalidating or embarrassing
children from the infant community that opens on to this room the child by reminding or correcting. “Teach by teaching not by
have come in and some are working in this room. Activities correcting”.
which I can see in progress right now are: sensorial square of
Pythagoras (a 3-year old doing it very well), binomial cube, Record Keeping:
Africa puzzle map, thermic bottles, one child walking on the line, Several experienced Montessori directresses have told
sandpaper letters and numbers, movable alphabet, polishing a me that they reached a point in their careers where they thought
classroom window, and table washing. they could “do it on automatic.” Then they realized that their
There is no difference in the kind of work done in the classes were no longer normalized and teaching was a lot more
morning and in the afternoon, a child is always able to rest or work! One of the important tools seems to be record keeping. The
sleep if he wants to. The directress tells me that children over 1 directresses of this class keep the following records:
½ seldom nap in England (except for the convenience of the adult
of course as in many schools) but tend to go to sleep earlier than 1. A daily record of the suggested presentations and the work
American children. The children are allowed to find their own of each child, transferred to charts later, for each area of work.
balance between activity and rest.
The directress is working with a few children on a 2. A running history of each child, general adjustment and
decimal system game. The assistant is going over the work progress, about twice a term (four times a year) or whenever
records and observations. As in the morning children are free anything significant occurs. This is very subjective so it is
to work alone or with another, but only after asking because important that the various adults who deal with the child take
children learn to respect and not interrupt someone who is turns making these notes on . They are valuable for written
concentrating. There is the rule “One can only work with a reports and conferences.
piece of material whose purpose she understands” but the
“understanding” can come in different ways. She might have 3. Concentrations Graphs or Work Curves for at least a couple
had a presentation one-to-one by the directress, by another child, of the children each week, or one a day. “We receive enormous
or perhaps by watching another child’s lesson or work. So the help from the resulting graphs and follow up.” —Directress
directress keeps track not just of the presentations she has made,
but of all activities the child masters. 4. Forecasts for each term, including a number of topics from
each of the cultural areas relevant to the time of year, interests of
2:50 the children, and so forth.
The directress leaves the room for a parent conference.
The children are working. As one child begins to walk on the 5. Parallel summaries for the same areas, to compare the
line, the assistant helps him put on soft music and goes back to forecasts with what was actually done.
her work. Two other children join and walk on the line, balancing
objects in their hands while they walk and return to their work. 6. Weekly plan—based on what is or is not happening in the
class in these areas. The areas are: Math, Language, Sensorial,
3:10 Basic Training, Practical Life, small group lessons, songs, games,
The assistant sits down with a book near the door. This finger plays, and all cultural areas (art, music, history, geography,
seems to be a signal to the children that the day is coming to physics, botany, and zoology). This is laid out in such a way as to
an end. The children, for the most part, do not seem in a hurry allow a space for comments at the end of the week next to each
to stop working. Over the next fifteen minutes they finish their item. “A valuable tool for self-evaluation.” —Directress
work, put it away (or neaten it to leave out for the next day), go
into the hall and dress for going home, dressing by themselves NOTE: This observation was done in the children's class at the AMI
and helping each other. As they are ready they come and sit with Montessori training center, Maria Montessori Institute, in London in
the assistant and listen to her read. 1987. I earned my 3-6 diploma here in 1971 and my daughter, Narda
Sherman, was studying for her diploma when I observed. My latest
3:30 book, "The Red Corolla, Montessori Cosmic Education" is based on the
The outside door is opened. The children shake hands work done at this training center and in this class. Others of my books
with the directress, say good-bye, and meet with their parents have been inspired here and by later 0-3 and 6-12 training and teaching
experience. They can be found at www.michaelolaf.net or on Amazon in
outside to go home. The directress' attention, at the beginning and
several countries of the world. My website is www.susanart.net
end of the day is on the children, not talking to parents.

3 © 2008, Susan Stephenson, Trinidad, CA