Concentration

"The first essential for the child's development is concentration. It lays the whole basis for his character and social behaviour. He must find out how to concentrate, and for this he needs things to concentrate upon. This shows the importance of his surroundings, for no one acting on the child from outside can cause him to concentrate. Only he can organize his psychic life."
The Absorbent Mind p 202, Chap 22

Montessori did not expect concentration to be a natural characteristic of childhood development. She was well read in the psychological manuals of her day in which it was said that young children were incapable of concentration.

It was her observation of the activities of one child working with the cylinder blocks that led her to question this point and to test it out in other children - That was the seed "After this, whenever I saw a child concentrate on a piece of work I left him undisturbed." (The Child, Society and the World p. 14, Chap II).

This observation led her to see that concentration was, in fact, the key to the natural development of the child. It became the focus of her subsequent work with teachers trained to recognize the importance of its occurrence and the degree to which it released the children to work independently and yet in harmony with each other.

She saw that concentration was not something that could be taught or enforced, but that it was, instead, a vital characteristic of human growth and a demonstration that innate psychic needs were being satisfied.

The moment that a child demonstrated concentration was the moment that led to all the other characteristics that were then associated with 'normalisation' (Montessori's word for the child becoming balanced in mind, body and spirit).

"Concentration is the key that opens up to the child the latent treasures within him. As the scattered elements of his personality come together, order begins to take the place of disorder, and the work of self-construction, which had been interrupted, is now taken up again, as nature had intended all along."
Standing, E.M. (1998 edition) Maria Montessori. Her Life and Work p.174, Chap X.

Quotations

"Concentration is a part of life. It is not the consequence of a method of education."
The Child, Society and the World p. 12, Chap II

"When a child concentrates his character is changed. It is as though he had taken off a mask."
Ibid p. 13, Chap II

"...a teacher does not interfere when a child is destroying a piece of material, because she thinks that this may be a moment of concentration."
Ibid p.13, Chap II

"We must not interfere with a concentrating child, because something is happening inside that child."
Ibid p.14, Chap II

"Gradually the children begin to concentrate. One day one child, another day two or three children. After they have concentrated the children are different. They become detached and work for themselves. The disorderly children begin to love order. They all become so orderly that disorder is an extraordinary thing."
Ibid p 14, Chap II

"The teacher must recognize the first moment of concentration and must not disturb it. The whole future comes from this moment and so the teacher must be ready for non-interference when it occurs. This is very difficult because the teacher has to interfere at every moment before the children are normalized."
Ibid p.15, Chap II

"...never interfere when a child is working by himself. Don't be preoccupied about whether he is making mistakes, you must not correct him at this moment. The important thing is not that the child should handle the material well, but that this material has attracted the attention of the child."
Ibid p.15, Chap II

"A child does not need praise; praise breaks the enchantment."
Ibid p.16, Chap II

"The teacher must be very attentive and be ready to recognize the phenomenon of concentration as soon as it occurs. She must be ready not to interfere or correct. If correction is necessary she must give it indirectly at another time, never at the moment of real concentration."
Ibid p.16, Chap II

"Mental order and the co-ordination of movement guided by scientific standards are what prepare for concentration, and this, once it has occurred, 'frees the actions of the child', and leads him to the cure of his defects."
The Absorbent Mind p.188, Chap 19

"The essential task is for the task to arouse such an interest that it engages the child's whole personality."
Ibid p.188, Chap 19

"An interesting piece of work, freely chosen, which has the virtue of inducing concentration rather than fatigue, adds to the child's energies and mental capacities, and leads him to self-mastery."
Ibid p.188, Chap 19

"Without concentration it is the objects about him which possess the child. He feels the call of each, and goes from one to another. But once his attention has been focused, he becomes his own master and can exert control over his world."
Ibid p 198, Chap 21

"So the concentration shown by our little ones brings to light something new in child psychology. It shows how nature proceeds to bring about the formation of character. Her method is to give the child special interests, interests of exceptional intensity for doing that special creative work necessary for each part of his developing personality."
Ibid p 198, Chap 21

"After concentration will come perseverance. This repetition, which begins after the first concentration, produces a kind of consolidation. It marks the beginning of yet another stage in human character formation."
Ibid p 198, Chap 21

"Concentration is the key that opens up to the child the latent treasures within him."
Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, p 174, Chap X

"...suffice to point out that those two separated streams of energy - physical and mental - have been brought together again."
Ibid p 174, Chap X

"The 'point of contact' having been established at the 'periphery', down in the 'centre' of the child's personality a mysterious but beneficient change is taking place. As the scattered elements of his personality come together, order begins to take the place of disorder,and the work of self-construction, which had been interrupted, is now taken up again, as nature had intended all along."
Ibid p 174, Chap X

"This concentration, which is so complete that it often 'isolates the child from his environment' is a biological phenomenon. We might call it the attention of life, i.e., of the species, acting through the individual. Or if we put it another way, we can say that it is a phenomenon of growth. Or again we may compare it to the selective attention, to certain objects in the environment, seen in the instinctive reactions of animals. This is however something on a different and higher plane, for it is the child's intelligence which is concentrating here; constructing itself through commerce with the outside world."
Ibid p 175, Chap X

Study guide

The Absorbent Mind - Chapter 19

The Child, Society and the World - Chapter II

Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work - Chapter X

Journal articles

Chattin-McNicholas, John (1981) 'The Effects of Montessori School Experience', Young Children, v36, n5, p49-66, July

Futrell, Kathleen (1997) 'The Normalized Child', NAMTA Journal, v22, n2, p138-156, Spring

Strong, M (1996) 'Socratic Practice: Intellectual Engagement as the Goal of Classroom Conversation', NAMTA Journal, v21, n3, p140-151, Summer

Zener, Rita Schaefer (1995) Nurturing the Creative Personality, NAMTA Journal, v20, n1, p12-29, Winter

Archive resources

Boyd, W (1917) From Locke to Montessori, George Harrap & Co London.

Culverwell, E (1913) The Montessori Principles and Practice, G.Bell & Sons, London.

Kilpatrick, W (1915) Montessori Examined, Constable, London.