Montessori and I

I remember growing up with the hopes of becoming a banker because my mum was one. I remember listening to my high school teachers make statements like "one day some of you sitting here will become teachers". I remember silently rejecting the teaching profession for my friends and I because at the time our teachers always appeared hungry and worn out and I definitely didn't want us ending up like them.

What changed?

Just after I graduated from the university I had some sort of "career talk" with an aunt, she mentioned Montessori as a field I could look into after I talked about my dreams of working with kids, according to her, I had the perfect personality for the profession.

When I first decided to go into Early Childhood Education, I did not want to teach because the thought of becoming a teacher made me feel little. I wasn't sure of gaining the respect I deserved from peers because most of them were looking into "professional jobs" like banking, telecommunication, engineering, advertising e.t.c. So whenever the discussion on jobs came up, I mentioned child related organisations like UNICEF, W.H.O e.t.c.

The process to becoming a Montessori teacher changed my life. From the physical to the spiritual preparations; from the lessons on child growth and development to the lessons on love and understanding of the universe... I am indeed, a woman becoming.

How do I begin moulding these young minds without in fact becoming transformed? How do I learn to love and respect the spirit of the child without first developing a deep sense of self appreciation for myself? How do I liberate the mind of the child without letting go of negativity and inhibitions?

"Its is not enough for the teacher to love the child. She must first love and understand the universe. She must prepare herself, and truly work at it."-- Maria Montessori

 I am challenged daily as I step into our world (the Montessori environment) to be one with a spirit of sacrifice and enthusiasm, a mind eager to observe only what is true and a heart ready to assist in unleashing the potentials in each child.

"It is my belief that the thing which we should cultivate in our teachers is more the spirit than the mechanical skill of the scientist; that is, the direction of the preparation should be toward the spirit rather than toward the mechanism."-- Maria Montessori

The challenge is also upon me as I serve the child, to be a good citizen of the world. To live selflessly without having unrealistic expectations of life and daily relationships. To develop an evenhanded perspective to life and the freedom to flourish in it.

"Whoever touches the life of the child touches the most sensitive point of a whole which has roots in the most distant past and climbs toward the infinite future."-- Maria Montessori