By Augusta Durham
When reading a recent about Japanese fans cleaning up the stadium after a World Cup match, I was reminded of the collective care and responsibility that the children at 黑料社区 show towards their classroom environments. From our youngest toddlers to our oldest elementary students, each person is expected to pitch in on the upkeep of our school. One way that this behavior is taught and reinforced is through a central tenet of the Montessori approach called Grace and Courtesy.聽
Grace and Courtesy helps to form the foundation of the classroom by teaching appropriate social norms. Grace and Courtesy lessons are collaborative and fun rather than corrective or disciplinary. Instead of using Grace and Courtesy in the moment to point out what a child has done wrong, we present the lesson at a later, neutral time when the children can practice without any sense of shame.
presenting grace & courtesy
The playful nature and role-playing elements of Grace and Courtesy lessons make them a classroom favorite. They can be presented to a couple of children, or to a larger group. To begin, the teacher usually invites an experienced child to come help them. One of my favorite lessons is 鈥淲hat to do when someone calls you a name.鈥 To model, the experienced child will call the teacher a silly name (to everyone鈥檚 great amusement), and the teacher will respond calmly with: 鈥淢y name is _____, and that is what you may call me.鈥 After this demonstration, everyone involved in the lesson gets a chance to participate a pair at a time, practicing as both the name caller and the misnamed.聽
The options for a Grace and Courtesy lesson are unlimited! As teachers, we observe our class to see what skills the group is working on to tailor our presentations. Some we practice at school include:
- Observing someone who鈥檚 working
- Pushing in your chair
- Comforting someone who鈥檚 feeling sad
- Inviting someone to play with you
- Asking a teacher for help
- Introducing yourself聽
- Blowing your nose
- Greeting a visitor聽
- Waiting patiently for someone鈥檚 attention
Some great options to practice at home, especially around the holidays are:
- Setting the table
- Offering a guest a beverage
- Chewing with your mouth closed
- How to politely disagree
- Making a purchase
- Ordering at a restaurant
- How to receive a gift
- Saying excuse me聽
- Writing a thank you note聽
- How to hold the door open for another person
- Offering your seat to someone who needs it
鈥淎 child who becomes a master of his acts through repeated exercises of grace and courtesy, and who has been encouraged by the pleasant and interesting activities in which he has been engaged, is a child filled with health and joy and remarkable for his calmness and discipline.鈥
鈥 Maria Montessori
How wonderful to think of our Montessori children, full of grace and kindness, taking their respect and love toward others out into the world!聽