Saturday, September 27, 2008
Architects in the Montessori Classroom
The pink tower is an architectural achievement based on the decimal system. It is built with ten cubes and is self presenting in that it is displayed as it should be constructed. It is a constant representation of the numerical values 1-10. And, as I stated in my first sentence, it is an example of architecture. The children build it. It stands constructed. When placed horizontally alongside the brown stair it sings a duet of the power of ten and the beauty of their design.
It should be no surprise then that children want to merge materials into broader and higher constructions. I have witnessed over the past few weeks children standing on their tippy toes attempting to place one final prism or cube. Their entire beings were focused on this task. They were silent and they strove for perfection. They achieved it. Using both Montessori materials and architectural blocks that included columns and arches, these children built cathedrals, palaces and designed cities. A child who often travels referred to a structure she built with another student as the Eiffel Tower and a second as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I keep on display models of famous examples of architecture in the geography area. They have often been used by children to compare and assess their own designs.
(Note: In the last photograph of the above four you can see the childrens' drawings of their constructions in the far right hand corner)
I must confess that I find the photograph below to be one of my favorites. In the foreground is an amazing piece of architecture constructed early in the day. In the background, sitting besides a ray of sunlight, is another child quietly and independently doing the hundred-board. She worked most of the morning on it and finished placing all of the pieces correctly. There is a spiritual element to the photographed scene.
It answers the question regarding whether or not stillness can be maintain in the midst of movement. It reminds me of a famous line in one of t.s.eliot’s poems,
"The detail of the pattern is movement,
As in the figure of the ten stairs."