Image by Jan den Ouden from Pixabay
October–classroom routines are falling into place, and our understanding and welcoming of each child and the social dynamics of the community are taking shape. We begin to see joyful, purposeful work supporting children’s engagement and independence. All the work we have done to ensure that each child feels seen and has a sense of belonging begins to bear fruit. We begin to see the developmental transformation that Dr. Montessori called normalization.
Recognizing Normalization
Normalization may be the most misunderstood and underutilized concept in Montessori philosophy.
The term can be problematic in contemporary culture, simply because of the root word: normal – conforming to a norm. It can lead parents and others to the mistaken belief that we make children conform to a predetermined standard of acceptable behavior. When we speak of a child who is “not yet normalized”, they hear “atypical”, or “abnormal”, or “noncompliant”.
This is almost the opposite of what Dr. Montessori intended. She was describing the emergence of characteristics she believed belonged to the child's natural developmental potential when obstacles were removed and appropriate conditions provided. She believed that normalization was accessible to all children, regardless of socioeconomic status (a progressive belief in her time). A child does not need to look or behave like other children to be developing toward greater independence, concentration, purposeful activity, and social responsibility.
The term normalization can be equally problematic in Montessori circles. Surprised? Consider this: if/when we talk about normalization, the conversation most often centers on observed behaviors that indicate that our children are not normalized – what is not going well in the classroom. We speak longingly of the time when the class will normalize – a time when all our struggles will be wiped away.
What if we had a clear understanding of what normalization is and how to foster it in our children?
Normalization Isn’t…
It is surprisingly easy to get some funny implicit ideas about normalization. If you start listening, you will hear them everywhere! They can actually impede our efforts. Normalization isn’t:
children complying with classroom expectations.
children being work-centric, socializing only at snack, lunch, and recess.
children letting the guide do their “real job” – giving lessons
If we are chasing these conditions, it is a classic case of the tail wagging the dog. Normalization has a much more profound meaning – a transformation that takes place within the child, allowing them to find their true nature and flourish.
Normalization is…
Normalization is a developmental process that unfolds under the right conditions. Dr. Montessori listed 4 characteristics of the normalized child:
Love of work: an intrinsic love of the act of learning, “geeking out” over things they find particularly novel or intriguing
Concentration: sustained, purposeful activity along with resilience and perseverance with challenging tasks
Self-discipline: Internal monitoring of behavior and impulses
Sociability: the ability to have empathy for the group and individuals, becoming a contributing member of the classroom community
These four characteristics are like filaments in a spider web. It is impossible to touch one without affecting all of the others. Normalized children show an intrinsic love for learning, not because of external rewards or pressures, but because they are genuinely interested in what they are doing. They find satisfaction in the process of work itself, which gives them a sense of accomplishment, purpose, and inner fulfillment. When combined with genuine empathy for others in the community, concentration and self-discipline come more easily.
Normalization is not rigid conformity, but a reflection of the child’s inner peace and connection to the work and to others in the community, the result of the child’s natural developmental process.
Here’s the Rub
Most of Dr. Montessori’s descriptions of normalized children and deviations from that path focus on Early Childhood-age children (3 to 6-year-olds). This is the source of part of our confusion about normalization. The four characteristics of normalization manifest quite differently in a first-plane child than in an elementary child.
If our vision of the normalized elementary child at work is them being deeply engrossed in individual experimentation, repeating until they have achieved a sense of self-satisfaction with the material, we will be sorely disappointed. Second-plane children have an increasingly strong drive for collaboration, intellectual exploration, reasoning, and social connection.
We must tailor our expectations to the Plane of Development of the child.
Purposeful engagement may look like a spirited debate, sustained collaboration interspersed with social conversations, or the classic focused, quiet, independent work. We must always question if an activity reflects personal engagement and contributes to the child’s development in ways that are respectful to the community.
Click here for a free downloadable chart comparing normalization across the first two Planes of Development How Normalization Develops
Normalization is a developmental unfolding of the child’s innate abilities and characteristics. As such, the path is gradual. Through repeated experiences with purposeful engagement, concentration, and satisfaction, the child moves along the path towards normalization. Completing a challenging task can inspire the desire to “do it again”. Modern cognitive neuroscience helps explain why.
When we work through a challenge and experience success, the brain's reward and learning systems, including dopamine pathways, reinforce the behaviors that led to that success. Dopamine plays an important role in motivation and learning, helping us recognize experiences worth pursuing again.
The satisfaction of overcoming a meaningful challenge can strengthen our sense of competence and our willingness to tackle the next one.
Just as normalization looks different in different Planes of Development, so do normalizing events. In the elementary years, not all work is freely chosen. This means that we must inject as much choice as possible into required work and encourage children to follow their own interests and passions through inspired work.
Of course, Montessori elementary children typically choose when they will complete a work and who to work with. There is also a choice of where to work (table, individual desk, floor, bean-bag chair…). While that offers a great deal more choice than children in traditional pedagogies, to foster normalization, we must find additional ways to infuse work with authentic choice.
Leading From Behind
We do not normalize children. We only provide the conditions where normalization is possible. We can be most effective when we funnel our energy into optimizing conditions that lead to normalization. Here are a few ways in which a guide’s choices can be particularly productive:
Prioritize normalizing events over the number of works completed.
Help children understand the brain’s reward system, including the importance of choosing work with an appropriate level of challenge.
Encourage children to pursue personal choice (personal interest) work where the options of what to learn and how to learn are infinite.
Foster Love of Work
Foster intrinsic motivation through choice, collaboration, challenge, and interesting content.
Use children’s passions to hook them. For example, design follow-ups for writing assignments that apply the new writing skill to whatever each child is most passionate about rather than to a teacher-provided prompt.
Nurture Sociability (empathy and citizenship in the classroom community)
Give Grace and Courtesy lessons on basic respect and cultural sensitivity. Frequently, and throughout the year. Do not presume that children are aware!
Create empathy for characters in fictional literature during book groups and read-alouds. This builds empathy skills for real-world encounters.
Create empathy for others through conflict resolution and current events.
Verbalize appreciation for consideration given to others and encourage the children to do the same.
Foster self-reflection through discussions and journaling
Observe the effect that fostering love of work and sociability has on concentration and self-discipline, which are more difficult to directly influence.
Low-Hanging Fruit: Infusing Choice into Children’s Days
It is well accepted that having choice promotes intrinsic motivation. As such, it is worth spending an extra moment on easy ways to increase children’s choice.
The act of choosing well is a skill to be learned. Some find choice unwelcome at first, fearing an implicit wrong choice with an associated penalty. Some, particularly those who have become accustomed to having adults make all the learning decisions, have never learned to choose. And so, we offer support.
We might begin with a cultural lesson, offering a choice of 2 or 3 adult-designed follow-up activities. Over time, we gradually diversify the options that we offer: make a booklet, poster or 3-D model; create cards for a Concentration game; write an imaginative story, interview, skit, or informational paragraph; etc. When children have experience with choosing from among a variety of different follow-up activities, we will be able to say, “Today’s lesson introduced terms for the parts of a volcano. How would you like to work with these terms to show that you understand their meaning?”
Of course, if the lesson is on a particular skill (especially in math), there is less latitude. The follow-up must practice the isolated difficulty taught in the lesson. But even there, we can offer some choice if we suggest a particular number of problems and then ask children to assess their understanding to see if they would benefit from more practice or a conversation with someone about the process.
Increasing choice in various aspects of the child’s day is a powerful step towards building the child’s agency and independence.
“Normalization is the most important single result of our whole work.”
— Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind, 1949
Journal Reflection for Guides:
With your “scientist” hat on, choose one aspect of normalization to observe in your classroom. Mindful of our human tendency to see what is going wrong more easily than what is going well, actively watch for the presence of love of work, sociability, concentration, or self-control.
Note: It is often easier to find evidence of the presence of love of work and sociability. We are more attuned to lapses in concentration and self-control than the internal work that goes on to make a child successful in these areas. For example, we notice a child disrupting others’ work, but may overlook the numerous occasions during the day when they exercised great self-control and concentration.
Did you observe more or fewer instances of the characteristic than you expected?
What one thing can you do to foster development of that trait in the coming week? How will you know if your chosen plan is working?
Journal Reflection for Children:
Describe a time when you were completely absorbed by something that you found meaningful. What was the activity, and how did it feel to be lost in the moment?
Is that feeling something that is easy for you to find or is it difficult?