Intrinsic Rewards

July 2011

Inside this Issue

Message from the President

Thoughts on Rewards

Intrinsic rewards-what does it mean?

Musical Activities

Reggio Emilia Approach

Intrinsic Rewards thoughts

Regional Meetings

CEO on training

Marketing

Vacancies

SAMA Products

SAMA Contacts

SAMA OFFICE:

Tel: 041-367 4936

Fax: 086 561 8774

Postal Address: PO Box 5338,

Walmer, Port Elizabeth, 6065

Cell number: 072 609 5979

e-mail: admin@samontessori.org.za

South African Montessori Association

Message from the President:

Greetings Montessori Friends. I hope that those of you that

had a winter holiday had the time to relax with loved ones. For

those of you that are following the private school holidays,

hang in there, it is almost holiday.

In this issue we look at intrinsic learning: The child‟s need to

do things for himself, and not for the adult or rewards. (Even

though older children will do it for peer affirmation or positive

words from the directress.) It is important to know that children

have intrinsic and extrinsic factors that influence learning. It

becomes our duty to help children learn how to learn and to

recognize the imagination, creativity and intelligence of each

child.

As challenging as it can be, we as the Montessori Adults must

try to keep the spark of human intelligence and curiosity alive

by creating captivating lessons and fascinating materials so

that learning is not forced. We prepare the environment for

learning, help children to choose their work wisely, focus their

attention, and give them the time to reflect and play with ideas

and thoughts until they figure out how things fit together in the

cosmic education. Children are encouraged to do research,

analyze their findings and to come to their own conclusion. In

this we teach them to think and not to simply just memorize,

feedback and forget. Because the work is relevant to each

individual, intrinsic motivation helps the child to focus, gives

them an interrelated and a love for learning. This emphasis

on inspiration and intrinsic motivation instils much greater self-

discipline and a love of learning.

May we remember that we work with children who want to

work, not because we force them to, or because we are so

great, but because they have an inherent need to work.

Charl du Toit

SAMA President

"Our children are very motivated. We get fantastic feedback from schools because they've got the independence to get on with something else when they've finished a piece of work - they don't just sit there, because they're active learners having had the responsibility for their learning handed over to them at a young age.”

1

1 BBC News, Sunday, 2 June, 2002: Learning the Montessori Way by Katherine Sellgren

Website:

www.samontessori.org.za

Intrinsic Rewards

Thoughts on rewards

Every day of our adult lives are riddled with rewards

and punishments: expired parking meter, get a ticket

or overdue library book, pay a fine; bake a delicious

cake, get a compliment or do your job well, get a

salary and maybe even a bonus! No wonder we

sometimes unconsciously fall into the trap of rewards

and punishments in our Montessori environments.

How can it be that we as Montessorians, despite

extensive research showing that external praise and

rewards are harmful to spontaneous activity, despite a

clear philosophy from Dr Montessori, still fall victim to

this bad habit. No, I‟m not referring to obvious material

rewards, like stars, sweeties, treats or overt

punishment like the non-Montessori naughty chair.

There is no place in a Montessori school for these

evils. No, it goes much deeper, more covert than this.

Praise can be seen as a form of rewarding a child. A

simple example: “Look how nicely Joe is packing

away his tray.” We are drawing attention to good

conduct, we are singling out an individual, we are

encouraging others to behave in the same way as Joe

and we might even think that Joe is a role model to the

rest. After some thought, I realized that this kind of

praise is nothing more than a reward. The reward?

The attention of the group, the attention of the

directress which becomes negative when it creates a

competitive element among the other children who

now also want to get the same praise … This kind of

praise should not be used to manage your class.

We need to look closely how we praise. Praise must

be specific, we need to emphasize the child‟s effort

and it has to become more of a way of giving feedback

to the child. I would prefer the Montessori “praise” to

rather be called encouragement and

acknowledgement.

Sam has just completed the pink tower for the fifth

time this morning. What do you say? Firstly do you

really need to say anything? Sam did it because he

was intrinsically motivated, he did it for himself, he

perfected it by repetition because he chose to, he was

guided by a sensitive period and you basically

provided the prepared environment for Sam and

directed him towards the activity. If you still have the

need to say something, what and how would you say

it?

“Well done, Sam!” or “You did it!” or “I like the way

you‟ve centred the blocks,” “You enjoyed that, didn‟t

you?” or “Good work!” If I were to say anything, I

would make sure that it is sincere and specific and that

it acknowledges the effort, I think I would go for the

third comment.

Bearing in mind that most of the Montessori materials

have a built-in control of error, which enables the child

to know when an activity has been completed

successfully, an external source of approval is not

necessary.

I have had parents in the past who kept on praising

their children with comments such as: “Clever boy”,

“You are so smart!”, and “You are the best”. The praise

was gushing, even when an action was not so

praiseworthy. Result? Some of these children showed

a fear of failure, they were scared to tackle new

activities and their self-esteem was low. The parents

achieved the exact opposite of what they were trying to

achieve!

Let us remind ourselves that in the Montessori

environment it is about intrinsic rewards, not extrinsic

awards. Research has also shown that extrinsic

rewards can be described as a short term solution, a

quick fix, but it is not effective as far as long term

behaviour is concerned and it does not address the

underlying problems. In the Montessori environment it

is about the child‟s inner pleasure, inner discipline and

freedom and the independence of being able to do

something for one‟s self.

Marianna van Niekerk

Sources and good reads on the subject of rewards,

punishment and praise:

The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s

Praise and Other Bribes by Alfie Kohn.

Nurture Shock: New Thinking about Children by Po

Bronson and Ashley Merryman

A Montessori Approach to Praise by Deb Chitwood

http://livingmontessorinow.com/2011/06/27/a-

montessori-appraoch-to-praise

Intrinsic Rewards

Intrinsic rewards – What does it

really mean?

After researching this topic extensively, it became

very clear to me that as Montessorians we need

to be looking at the topic in greater detail and

asking ourselves on a daily basis whether this is

being applied in our environments.

It is a loaded topic that touches on many other

topics. But let‟s get to basics, what does intrinsic

mean? It refers to „the motivation that comes

from inside an individual rather than from any

external or outside rewards.‟

Mark Berger, a Montessorian of about 23 years in

America has lectured on this topic and he

explains it in the following way.

All living organisms, including human beings have

a natural desire to learn, grow and thrive. The

only way of learning is by doing; you don‟t learn

what you don‟t do!

The Montessori prepared environment prides

itself on allowing the child to become less

dependent on the adult, to freely choose material

that interests them and fulfils a need and

developmental stage and be corrected by the

material and not the adult. These are just a few

of the aspects that allow the child to be

independent and perform well for themselves and

not for others. The feeling of mastering their work

is an achievement they have reached on their

own. The child has not achieved it to gain the

acknowledgment of the adult or to gain a reward.

Our mantras are to enable our children to be

resourceful, creative thinkers, self-starters, and

independent. Children can only become this if

they are allowed to learn by doing. Intrinsic

motivation does not come from prizes, stickers,

star-charts etc. These are all extrinsic motivators.

The high performance will not come from within

the child; the high performance will come from

knowing they will be rewarded with a prize. Does

this create a person that will have a life of working

for the love of it, a person that will seek a passion

for learning or set high goals for themselves? Or

will it rather create a person that simply seeks

acknowledgment from others i.e. lives for

bonuses, praise etc and has no idea what

motivates their inner being?

Thinker of the year was awarded to Mr.

Csikszentmihlyi. He is chiefly renowned as the

architect of the notion of flow in creativity. He is a

professor and former chairman of the Department

of Psychology at the University of Chicago. He

states that people enter the flow state when they

are fully absorbed in an activity during which they

lose their sense of time and having feelings of

great satisfaction.

He describes flow as „being completely involved

in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away,

time flies, every action, movement and thought

follows inevitably from the previous one, like

playing jazz. Your whole being is involved and

you‟re using your skills to the utmost.

Doesn‟t this sound familiar? Isn‟t this at the point

where our children begin concentrating, where

learning is happening from the very core of their

being? Do we need to motivate them with any

other type of external reward when their greatest

reward is personal achievement and the passion

to continue learning?

By removing external rewards i.e. rewards and

punishment in any form we are aiming to cultivate

intrinsic motivation. The foundation for this is

freedom; the spiritually prepared directress and

prepared environment are the external guides for

reinforcing the child‟s intrinsic motivation.

Perhaps as directress‟s we should also be asking

ourselves on a daily basis what is intrinsically

motivating us?

Xanthe Bester

Intrinsic Rewards

Musical Activities

Easy music activities for somebody who is not so musical – that has always been my personal quest when

attending music workshops for three-to-six-year-olds. During the June holidays I attended a workshop that

was presented by Bronwyn Evans at Headstart Montessori in Mowbray. With her kind permission, I would

like to share it with fellow Montessorians.

What you need:

A good piece of music on CD

A flip file with stick men performing different movements.

Children stand and spread their arms to make sure there is enough space for them to move. Nobody is

allowed to touch anybody else. While the music is played, the directress shows a picture of a stick man and

the children have to make the same movement. That’s it! As the children become more familiar with the

exercise, the stick men can perform more intricate movements.

Examples:

Marianna van Niekerk

“Praise, help, or even a look, may be enough to interrupt him, or

destroy the activity. It seems a strange thing to say, but this can happen

even if the child merely becomes aware of being watched...The great

principle which brings success to the teacher is this: as soon as

concentration has begun, act as if the child does not exist.”

The Absorbent Mind

Intrinsic Rewards

Reggio Emilia Approach

I attended the Reggio Emilia conference earlier this month,

and was amazed by the similarities in the approach to

Montessori. There are of course stark differences as well –

probably the most notable being the reality-fantasy issue,

and of course the Montessori materials, but so much of what

was shared with us resonated with me, and strengthened my

understanding Montessori philosophy. I would urge you to

research this approach – it will be a worthwhile exercise!

Heidi van Staden

Loris Malaguzzi, the founder of the approach wrote the

following:

NO WAY.

THE HUNDRED

IS THERE

The child

is made of one hundred.

The child has

a hundred languages

a hundred hands

a hundred thoughts

a hundred ways of thinking

of playing, of speaking.

A hundred always a hundred

ways of listening

of marvelling of loving

a hundred joys

for singing and understanding

a hundred worlds

to discover

a hundred worlds

to invent

a hundred worlds

to dream.

The child has

a hundred languages

(and a hundred hundred hundred more)

but they steal ninety-nine.

The school and the culture

separate the head from the body.

They tell the child:

to think without hands

to do without head

to listen and not to speak

to understand without joy

to love and to marvel

only at Easter and at Christmas.

They tell the child:

to discover the world already there

and of the hundred

they steal ninety-nine.

They tell the child:

that work and play

reality and fantasy

science and imagination

sky and earth

reason and dream

are things

that do not belong together.

And thus they tell the child

that the hundred is not there.

The child says:

No way. The hundred is there.

Intrinsic Rewards

Intrinsic Rewards thoughts.

The theme „intrinsic rewards‟ made me think of these three stories.

When I was teaching a 6-9 year old class, I was walking around, checking on how children were doing with their work, redirecting certain children back to their work, spending time with behaviourally challenging children, talking to them and helping them. Suddenly a child, who I never had to worry about, burst into tears. When I asked what the matter was, she said, “You never tell me when I‟m being good!”

It was so true! I was always spending more time with the more boisterous, challenging children that I tended to ignore the ones that just got on with it!

In Montessori, I had learnt not to disturb children working, but this incident made me realise that children maybe want just a hand on their shoulder, and a „well done‟, or some kind of acknowledgment at the appropriate time, just like we adults want when we‟ve done something good.

It also made me think about the psychologist who helped me in my class one day, with a challenging child, by saying, “Catch him being good!” Even if it‟s just for that one minute that he‟s sitting in group, not pinching or hitting anyone, catch him being good, and praise him!

Working with learners with autism years later, I learnt that when a child did something correctly, one had to praise the behaviour or action they had done, rather than just saying an abstract “good boy”, which didn‟t mean anything to them. One rather said, “Good listening”, “good sitting”.

I then used this with typical children: “good coming to group so quickly”, “good putting away your work”. When a child‟s behaviour or action was praised, other children quickly followed suit, in order to also be praised. So my focus was on the „good‟ behaviour, which had a ripple effect in the class.

I used to dismiss the children from group with games like: if you came to school on a bus, camel, etc, you can leave group. If you brushed your teeth this morning, etc.

I would sometimes say, “If you‟ve done something nice for somebody today”. The next day, my most challenging child would make sure that he helped someone or told someone their drawing was good, just in case!

Cané Lake

New faces on the SAMA Committee

My name is Xanthe

Bester I currently run

and own my own

school called

Monaghan Montessori

in Lanseria, Gauteng.

I am very lucky to be

able to live and work

on this beautiful farm

estate where

Montessori can truly

come alive!

I have 2 young children

under 6 so the Montessori philosophy is alive for me at

school and at home. I have been fascinated by the ‘whole’

child from a very young age and it was when I was pregnant

with my first child that Montessori ‘took hold of me’!

I have a huge desire to grow the Montessori movement as I

truly believe it can change the face of education and I have a

huge amount to learn but I look forward to every step and

every challenge.

It is a wonderful opportunity to serve on SAMA Exco and I

look forward to the year ahead!

“Long experience only confirmed our first

intuition. The teacher even reached a state

where she felt ashamed to reward or punish

children who seemed indifferent to either

treatment. What was even more surprising

was their frequent refusal of a reward. This

marked an awakening in the conscience of a

sense of

dignity that had

not previously

existed … We

eventually gave

up either

punishing or

rewarding the

children.”

The Secret of

Childhood p123

Intrinsic Rewards

Regional Meetings

Feedback on Gauteng South regional meeting 4/6/2011 Topic: Open discussion on Discipline and Punishment

from a Montessori Perspective

On a crisp and cold Saturday morning, Johannesburg Montessorians came out in numbers to attend the 2nd SIG

meeting for the year. The subject was very topical with lots of input from attendees. Much insight was gained from the sharing of ideas and experiences and we were honoured to have the President of SAMA, Charl du Toit and Sharon

Caldwell in attendance to share their wealth of experience with us.

At the next meeting, 30th July 2011, we will host Larne Neuland as our guest speaker; she was an inspirational speaker

at the management training in Durban and will surely inject positivity into all who attend the meeting. Guaranteed that

it will be an inspiring morning, she will also have her books available to purchase on the day, a must have for any school!

Western Cape next meeting: August 6, the topic is the ‘development of the reading brain.’

“There is in the soul of a child an impenetrable secret that is gradually revealed as it develops”

Prefix-ation During a discussion at snack one of the English speaking boys told his friend that they went to Hermanus

over the weekend.

The friend responded indignantly: “No, not Hermanus, Hismanus!”

The first speaker responded: “No, not Hismanus, Mymanus!”

They are both clearly aware of prefixes! Marianna – Somerset Montessori

Intrinsic Rewards

POSITION REGARDING TRAINING OF

MONTESSORI STAFF IN SOUTH AFRICA

There is currently a degree of confusion regarding the requirements

for teachers working in Montessori Schools. SAMA is working at

achieving clarity on an issue that is in a state of flux.

The most important thing to bear in mind is that the issue of

qualifications is not yet finalized although there are a number of

policies, and even within conventional education the requirements

for Grade R teachers is not yet finalized.

This is what we can say with clarity at this point:

1) Anyone teaching in Montessori 6 9 class (and above) needs the

same qualifications as you would need to teach conventional Grade

1 and above. If you are teaching in a Montessori High School you

will need the same qualification as a regular high school teacher.

2) Montessori Pre-schools (3 6 classes) are classified as "partial

care" and fall under the Children¹s Act. Currently the legal

requirement for that is a Level 4 qualification. Most Montessori

pre-school training appears to be at Levels 4 or 5.

3) The confusion appears to be around the issue of Grade R.

Government wants Grade R to be part of formal schooling and it is

part of the Foundation Phase. This means that the goal is to have

Grade R teachers at the same level of qualification as other

Foundation Phase teachers. As there is much opposition to this

proposal from the ECD sector, and as there is currently no capacity

for such training, this issue is still in the discussion phase. SAMA

members are being represented at meetings being held to discuss

this and to ensure that the needs of Montessori schools are tabled.

4) The Education Department formally recognizes the unique

nature of Montessori which gives us a strong position to negotiate a

separate category for Montessori training which recognised the

unique nature and needs of Montessori schools.

5) While the desirability of a higher than Level 4 training is

undisputed, the rights of people currently in the field must be

recognised and protected, especially given the shortage of training

and limited capacity of training institutions to accommodate the

current demand for training, re-training and in-service support.

SAMA is committed to ensuring that no-one’s rights are ignored.

In order to meet the needs of individuals, school and training

institutions, it is imperative that we gain complete clarity regarding

legislative requirements and the needs of all stakeholders.

I will be putting together a full statement and summary of all the

relevant legislation and regulations. Should you have any questions

in the interim, please do not hesitate to contact me. As there are

some variations between the different provinces it will be a great

help if you can forward to me any provincial regulations or

discussion documents of which you may be aware.

Sharon Caldwell

Each week we baked, and each week two-year-

old Sadie's ingredients were apt to be non-

existent by the time everyone else was ready for

the baking trays.

One day three-year-old Alexandra was watching

Sadie stirring her mixture. "If Sadie doesn't eat

that,” said Alexandra, "I'll give her a big kiss and

a hug."

"This is the trinomial cube."

"Because you have to try, hey?"

Kate Tolson

The Children’s Montessori

Workshop School Trust

An Education Trust to promote, facilitate and

expand the Montessori education system in

the Western Cape.

Financial grants are available for Montessori

▪Students ▪Pupils ▪Schools ▪Training Centres

For Enquiries and application forms, please

email

jenni@steppingstones.org.za or

kerin.goosen@gmail,com

We manufacture high quality Montessori equipment

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As an introduction promotion, we offer a 20% discount

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Contact: Bernard Noëth

082 4677 048

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E-mail: mailto:grace.educational@iburst.co.za

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Intrinsic Rewards

Marketing

Childrens House

Official Distributors of Nienhuis Montessori

Materials

Tel: (021)788 3160

Fax: (086) 619 5182

Email: info@childrenshouse.co.za

Puo Educational Products

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Montessori Supplier

Supplier of Imported Montessori Equipment

Janinne Morrison

Tel: 011 805 3449 Cell: 082 644 69 65

Email: janinne@morrison.co.za

Vacancies

Blue Moon Montessori School in Heathfield, Western

Cape requires experienced and dedicated Directress

with a good sense of humour for preschool classroom

to start either now or next term.

Please send C.V. to

bluemoonmontessori@telkomsa.net

Montessori @ Home Pre-School in Durbanville

Western Cape is looking for a qualified 3 - 6

Montessori Directress from January 2012. Please

email your CV to Nici Lubbe at

nici@montessoriathome.co.za should you be

interested in applying for the position.

Urgent position available immediately at Centurion

Montessori School in Gauteng for a Directress in our

0 - 3 year and 3 - 6 year environment. Please contact

Zinita/Cheryl on (012) 653-4177 or E-mail:

school@centurionmontessori.co.za. Send a short C.V.

Focus for August Issue: Understanding the uninterrupted work cycle

Deadline for contributions: 20 July

All articles are contributed by SAMA members. We would love to hear from our readers.

Please send interesting snippets, valuable insights and amusing anecdotes to share with

others and help make this newsletter an exciting and interesting one. If you feel you would

like to contribute, please send to Irmgard via: admin@samontessori.org.za

If you would like to advertise in the SAMA Newsletter,

please send the relevant information through to

admin@samontessori.org.za

Grace Educational Equipment

Manufacturer & re-furbisher of Montessori

Equipment

Cell: 082 467 7048 Fax: 086 751 9830

Email: grace.educational@iburst.co.za

African Cream Music CC

The Pride of African Music

Tel: 011 025 3434

Cell: 073 351 8974

Email: gary@africancreammusic.co.za

Intrinsic Rewards

Available SAMA Products:

The SAMA Recommended Curriculum – an integration of A Montessori Recommended Curriculum with the

Revised National Curriculum Statement. For queries and to order, contact the SAMA office. The curriculum is printed and bound, and is available to paid up SAMA Institutional Members for R250.00 and to all other categories of membership for R1000.

SAMA Policies and Procedures CDs – a comprehensive compilation of government laws, acts, and policies on CD 1 and examples from various Montessori schools and resources to use in school management on CD 2, at R50.00 each. These prices are for school members only. All other categories of membership may purchase the CDs for R500 per set.

SAMA Parents Handbook – a full colour, beautiful publication, useful to parents as an introduction to Montessori Education. This booklet covers basic Montessori philosophy and is the ideal starting point for parent education. These handbooks are available to SAMA School Members only at R25 per copy. For orders of 30 or more, additional postage will be added.

For more details contact: admin@samontessori.org.za

NATIONAL OFFICE: Eastern Cape admin@samontessori.org.za

Telephone 041 367 4936, Fax 086 561 8774, Cell number 072 609 5979

General and Membership

Administrator admin@samontessori.org.za

Charl du Toit President president@samontessori.org.za

VACANT POSITION General Secretary

Susanne van Niekerk Acting Treasurer admin@samontessori.org.za

Sharon Caldwell NAISA Representative samaceo@samontessori.org.za

Sharon Caldwell CEO admin@samontessori.org.za

Jennilee Petersen Ordinary Member admin@samontessori.org.za

Xanthe Bester Ordinary Member admin@samontessori.org.za

Katinka Steyn Ordinary Member admin@samontessori.org.za