In Episode 9, we jump into the who, what, where, when, and why behind Montessori Observation! In this episode, we touch on...
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Xoxo,
Bianca A. Solorzano, M.Ed.
Baby Development & Montessori Consultant
And Your Baby Tour Guide
In Episode 9, we jump into the who, what, where, when, and why behind Montessori Observation! In this episode, we touch on...
👉 [FREE PARENTING WORKSHOP] Fostering Independence from Infancy to Toddlerhood - Join here!
👉 BLOG https://www.babytourguide.com/
👉 INSTA https://www.instagram.com/babytourguide/
Xoxo,
Bianca A. Solorzano, M.Ed.
Baby Development & Montessori Consultant
And Your Baby Tour Guide
[00:00:07] Welcome to Baby Tour Guides, Montessori Babies podcast! I'm your host and Baby Tour Guide, Bianca Solorzano. And for the last decade, I have dedicated myself to helping parents, educators and caregivers optimize baby development through a Montessori lens. This podcast is all about evolving our Montessori practice to make our time with our sweet babies easier, relaxed and so much fun. Let's jump into it.
[00:00:39] Welcome to another episode of the Montessori Babies podcast. We are in Episode nine, which is crazy. I feel like we just started, we're doing a biweekly every other Thursday type thing, and it's just flying by. So I'm really, really super grateful.
[00:00:56] I just kind of want to start here. I'm so grateful for our growing and expanding community of wonderful parents and caregivers and educators. It's really been so heartwarming to just connect with everyone and yeah, get to share in that baby lovin' Montessori joy. In this episode, I want to talk about the who, the what, where, when, why and how behind Montessori observation. And really the reason I want to start here is because I feel like Montessori observation is super life changing for your Montessori practice, whether it's your own child or whether you're a caregiver, an educator working with a group of children or in the home with, a sibling group of kids. Observation is such an amazing tool to just have in your back pocket. And so throughout this podcast will be touching on why it's important how we can use it, the types of things we can discover, that kind of thing. If you've heard about Montessori or, you know, done your research within months or even lightly Googled it, you've probably heard this term. And if this is your introduction to Montessori, I'm honored to be the one to tell you all about the glories of Montessori observation.
[00:02:28] But it is very, very prevalent and really lies at the heart of the practice. And that's actually at all age groups within Montessori, not just infancy and toddlerhood, but all age groups. And to start this episode, I want to tell you a story. So back when I first started working in a school setting, so just before that, the actually the reason I got into it is my mom. She is an interior design and product management and development, and she worked in the head offices for a group of Montessori schools. And that's pretty much all I knew about her job. I knew more about her specific line of work just with interiors and that kind of thing. But not necessarily who she was working for at that time, and at that time I was in my first year of college, I was nannying. I was a barista. I was, you know, working those multiple jobs and going to school and really just trying to get my general education done at that point. But I had already been working with kids for two two years, and far longer within my family. So, yeah, I already knew that, you know, working with kids was in my future. I just didn't know how. And at one point my mom arranged for me to come in and see the school just to kind of see it, because she thought I would really be interested in it.
[00:03:59] And I ended up getting to have a Montessori observation with all of the age levels that this school offered. And they had an infant program. They had a toddler program. They had a primary program, which is that three to six classroom. And yeah. So I was able to go and sit and observe. And I didn't really know anything about observation at the time. But what was cool is they you know, they I sat in a chair in the corner and pretty much I guess pretended like I didn't exist. So the classroom could function as normal so the kids could just kind of be in their spaces and in their environments. And I know more about, you know, why we do it like that now. And it's for that reason. But at the time, I was just kind of like, OK, so sit here quietly and don't, you know, interact with them unless they come to you, then, of course, you know, but otherwise I don't seek it out, that kind of thing. And I didn't know why. And then things just started to happen within the space. And I was just watching these, you know, just three children be in their space. And I remember the the thing that got me kind of really interested in exploring Montessori further was there was a moment with I was observing a toddler classroom and there is a moment when I was observing four children sit at a communal table and they were having a snack.
[00:05:30] And one of the toddlers and, you know, it's a toddler, it's a little baby. One of the toddlers is going around the table serving his friends water from a pitcher. And then a different toddler went around the table with the basket and the tongs and was serving their friend snacks. And, you know, they were really graceful in their interactions. They were using their manners. And it was just the most beautiful, I guess, introduction to what, you know, a Montessori environment can be and can provide for children like these kids who are just so settled. And you could see the empowerment in their faces just within having that opportunity to do, you know, what they observe their parents doing, what they observe, their teachers doing, you know, so I was blessed to have had the introduction into Montessori within an observational experience. And yeah. So I wanted to tell that story just because I feel like. You know, my intro to Montessori was through observation, and so I, you know, I hold it super close. I used it. Pretty consistently while I was in the classroom, just because, you know, that's one of the tools that you use to better understand your children and but I use it to this day and honestly, I use it with everything even outside of Montessori.
[00:07:01] It's just really helpful with understanding people in general, but starting with our children, because especially with babies, that they're not yet talking, verbalizing things, observations, really what we use to understand them. Yeah. So so to get started with what Montessori observation is, I figured we would start with the definition. So Montessori observation is a tool and a resource that a guide or parent can use to gain a deeper understanding of what the child needs or is driven to within their workspace and interactions. So it's essentially something that you have in your back pocket to take a step back and look, literally look but look at at things as a whole. So you're not just looking at this child is hitting, for example, you're looking at everything, you're looking at every interaction, every movement to try and understand the child better and to talk about why it's beneficial to infancy. So kind of like I already mentioned, babies don't yet speak with words. And so observation is key to understanding. And you likely already do a lot of the observation techniques that we teach in in Montessori and in basic development as well. It's just labeled something different. But, you know, the way that we understand our baby's cries, that's when that's through observation. That's through assessing and looking and really just trying to figure out what's going on the way that we, you know, understand why our children react in certain, you know, environments if they're meeting someone new, that kind of thing.
[00:08:51] Like you're already doing a lot of the observation that we suggest. And so we just kind of formalize it a little bit and then give you some tips and tricks and ideas on how to, I guess, take a step back within your observation. Another reason it's beneficial to infancy is that infancy moves so quickly, so much is happening. You know, within a year, their brain doubles in size. They go from completely non, you know, blurred vision, reflex type movements, you know, to walking, child communicating, you know, within a year. It's it's it's crazy how quickly it happens. And so, you know, the way that we can understand are our babies is through this tool is through observation and. And another thing is every child grows at a different pace, you know, there's a there's a general timeline is how children grow, but every child grows differently and evolves differently. And so, you know, we know that they're constantly changing and evolving and learning about their world. And so the way that we can best understand this child, the specific child is through that is through observation. So to give you an example of some of the types of things that we can observe, for example, say you have a cruising child to see. Your child likes to crawl over into the kitchen and pull up to your cabinet doors and say, for example, they have one of the slip child locks on it and they just shake and they shake and they shake and they shake and they're shaking those doors and their whole body is rocking back and forth, you know, why are they doing that? It could be that the child likes to hear the sound that the shaking is making and they're, you know, excited that they're the one making that sound.
[00:10:50] It could be that their body needs to move in a really big way. And, you know, maybe you see their body moving back and forth and they're, you know, kind of pulling and throwing their body as they're doing it. Like there could be a whole bunch of different reasons why a child is doing something as simple as shaking cabinet doors. And you can also use this within, you know, the Montessori material progression. You know, say you're observing a child is really drawn to something or a specific material. There's likely something within that material that they're drawn to. And you might be able to help kind of foster that innate will and love of learning if you find out what that is and then offer other materials within that same type of or that offers the same type of thing. And the same goes for, you know, when they don't use materials, if they are misusing materials, you know, why are they doing that? You know, these are all things that we can find out through the art of observation.
[00:11:55] So observation is also amazing to use for behaviors. So things like hitting, biting, hair, pulling, pushing, etc.. So, for example, you may know a child or have a child who say has a tendency to hit. And, you know, while we definitely want to nip that behavior in the bud, we also want to get to the root of that behavior. You know, we want to find out why this child is, you know, has a tendency to hit or is hitting what scenarios they're hitting in. You know, the why? Because that's in reality, you know, we could sit on the other end of it in them. That hurts your friends look see their face like we need to do that because they need to understand what that does. But there's also a reason why this child is doing that. So it's. In their benefit, if we figure out what that is, so we help them be more settled, you know, so we may ask ourselves something like, why is this happening? When does this happen? Are there triggers that make this happen? Is it situational? Can it be prevented? And if so, how do you know? So you take to the books and you observe, you get out your journal or your notepad or your sticky notes that you have in your pocket and you write stuff down.
[00:13:19] You write what you're seeing, what you have discovered through interactions, personal interactions with them, watching their interactions with others, that kind of thing. And perhaps this child is hitting only one around other children. Perhaps it's his way of protecting his toys or materials from other interested hints. Perhaps, you know, this child began hitting his parents and the child got a really big reaction, maybe something like, oh, honey, you know, that really hurts Mommy and then, you know, talk to your partner. Honey, you just hit me. Can you believe that? You know, and so maybe he's seeking the same type of reaction after having had one from, you know, the hit, the initial one because, you know, babies and toddlers. And this is kind of a slight interjection. We'll talk about behaviors at another point. But it's never an intentional, you know, like hit to hurt kind of thing, never like that. There's always some sort of observational reason why this child is doing said behavior. Perhaps this child is impulsively hitting other kids because the child is used to roughhousing at home with mom or dad. You know, maybe they pretend rough play or that kind of thing in this child goes to school and rough plays with his friends. And, you know, the child's playmates and friends are not used to that, you know, so maybe that's what this child knows. And, you know, these are all things that we can learn from observation.
[00:14:55] And it is truly amazing what we'll discover if we take the time to just kind of sit and be and watch what's happening in their day to day experiences. Now, one of the biggest tips that I have for you that has been the biggest driver in my observation taking is trying to understand my own bias and removing it as much as possible within my observations. And I think, you know, as parents and educators and caregivers, we're kind of always on this journey of, you know, trying to continue to evolve and learn about ourselves. So we are as in tune and connected as possible. So we can offer that within our practice and to the child and. I think knowing your biases is one of them, you know, but within just observation in general, it is so helpful to remove bias. And I'll give you examples, as in hopes that this makes sense. So, for example, maybe you newly introduced solids to your baby and you started with peas and your sweet little baby makes, you know, a squinty, funny face and spits it out. If we were watching that, it would be super easy to observe and say he tried the food and he didn't like it, you know, because what we know as adults is when we don't like something, we make a scrunchy face or spit it out and push it away and, you know, that kind of thing.
[00:16:29] But babies don't know of those social norms as to what is normal to do when you don't like something. And so there are actually a lot of reasons why that baby could have made that face and said, no, you know, maybe they shook their head, maybe they pushed it away, maybe they spread it out. There could be a lot of reasons why they did that. So, for example, babies have a tongue reflex that pushes their tongue out as they're initially starting to eat. I've seen it with all the babies I've worked with who started their weaning journeys and their time sticks out and it kind of pushes out the food and it's easily mistaken for this child is spitting this out and therefore they don't like it. They also may not have been settled enough in that moment to want to try solid foods. At that point, it could have been that, you know, they're not settled because they just made a poop. You know, it could be anything, could be that it's a temperature that they've never had. And so they're making this face like, what is this? Or maybe they actually didn't like it. But because there are so many reasons why this child could be making that face and spitting it out, it's really helpful to take out the they don't like it and just observe what is happening. The child spit it out. The child pushed it out with their tongue and made a squinty face because the reason behind it could be really anything.
[00:18:00] And that's something that you will learn more of when you continue to reintroduce those peas. You try it again, you try it again, maybe it was a, you know, a different time of day and the child was more settled and they loved them. You know, maybe, you know, you put it at a different temperature and the child was really responsive to that. It could be anything. And so just kind of giving the time and space to figure out what it is, why there was that reaction is a huge part of observation. So if we remove that bias from our observations, we open a world of possibility available to the child. And then when we follow the child, we discover the truth behind it. So we end up really learning about each individual child and, you know, the beauties within their uniqueness. So observation is amazing because one of Monastery's main concepts is that the child is different every day. This is actually one of the most beautiful ideas that I hold super close to my heart within my Montessori practice. And let me explain what this means. So yesterday. The child or children that you are with today. Learned a bunch of things yesterday, the child experienced new things, learned more about their world and who they are to it. So today this child is an evolved child and.
[00:19:31] Yesterday, different things were affecting him, could have been anything, could have been that the child experienced their first rainy day and couldn't go outside or the child had their first swim lesson and they experienced water. So today, this child now knows water. This child now knows, you know, rain and snow since. And, you know, these examples are just very small examples of some of the things that happen throughout the day. But my point is, is that yesterday the child learned so many different things through their interactions with their environment, with their parents, with everyone you know, who is around them and with their world, they're learning about themselves. And so the idea is to come in as the parent or the educator, the caregiver, to come in with a fresh perspective, because this child has just taken, you know, a giant step in their learning process. You know, and I guess I mean, that can be applied to adults as well. You know, we evolve, we learn, but in a very different way than kids, because kids, especially infants and toddlers, are just absorbing their learning in such a grand way and in an unconscious way that it's just so evident how much they're learning and how quickly they're learning. And so. We want to try our best to take everything from yesterday. And our experiences like, say, for example, you know, our child expressed behavior with us in a moment yesterday as an adult, you can say, hey, you know, like this child hit me yesterday, I'm going to, like, be aware of that.
[00:21:27] But what you don't want to do is kind of bring that onto the child. You want to allow that child to just kind of reveal themselves to us within their experiences. And I guess when you take out the way that you are feeling about yesterday and you come in with a fresh mind every day, just observing the child for who he is in this moment, it's a lot easier to see the child for who he is in this moment. And so another way to understand that the child is different every day, especially with infants and toddlers. Another reason to understand this is that the progression along the developmental planes happens very quickly. So if you come in with an idea that, you know, the child is an evolved child, every day, the child has learned something different and something new and is a different child today, not necessarily a different child, but you know what I mean. Just as this child knows so much more just from their experiences yesterday, then we can also take into consideration that they're evolving along their developmental path. And so it's, I guess, an easier way to visualize that the child isn't who they were yesterday because they're learning. They're physically growing. They're mentally growing. They're socially growing, they're spiritually growing, they're growing and all of these different ways.
[00:22:57] And so, you know, in my opinion, the best gift that we can give them is to see them for who they are in the moment. And in my experience and in my experience with other educators and parents who have kind of taken this approach, it's really, you know, lifted a lot off of the entire experience and really made it as peaceful as possible. And it's just really, really wonderful. So I highly recommend it. It does take a lot of practice to take out the bias from anything into it starts with recognizing it and then taking out like what you think something is and just seeing something for what it is is very hard, especially when it's your child or a child that you're with all of the time. But it is a really amazing tool and gift that you can give to them, because if we're able to get down to the root of something by doing that, then why not? Because it's just going to help them, you know, so so I definitely recommend, you know, practicing and implementing as much as you can. And the way that I would suggest taking observations would be essentially the most practical way to you. So what I mean is you can have a formal journal where you sit and you observe. It's not always doable in all situations. You know, if you're working one on one with the child all day long, if it's your child, if you're at home, if you're a nanny, if you know you don't have somebody there with you that can work with the child, where you can sit and observe, it may be easier to do something like have, you know, sticky notes in your pocket that you pull out with a little pen, that you could just drop some stuff down the little trigger a memory from earlier in the day.
[00:24:41] And then you write it down later or you record a voice memo. You talk out loud sometimes. That helps a lot for me, whether I'm in conversation with someone or if I'm literally just talking out loud, just kind of like right now talking out loud and, you know, saying it almost helps things click together when you're trying to get to the bottom of something. And essentially, you know, as long as you have a way to track and record, you'll have the tools to gain deeper understandings of how to help the child or children that you're with. Yeah, and finally, I want to end on this note. It's a quote and one that I have found is really helpful to understanding why observation is so important. So it says "Adults move because there will direct them. The small child is urged by nature." That's it. That's the whole quote. So this is actually from Dr. Montessori in 1946 lectures.
[00:25:40] And I think it so beautifully embodies how children are guided. And if we think about it, you know, the main way that we know more about nature as a whole is through observation and through research. And so if we want to learn more about our sweet babies or students, give it a try. You're likely already doing some form of this. It's just kind of talking about it and evolving it. And, you know, I'm on that journey. I think we all are on that. Evolution of how can we best helping guide the children that we work with and this is just such an amazing tool to be able to do that, and I'm constantly amazed at what I discover through it. And I think that you will be, too. So I definitely recommend it. And that's pretty much it. I just want to say thank you again to everyone who's been tuning in this week. I am so grateful for all the support we've gotten over the last few months since you began. And so if you have friends or family who are looking to implement Montessori ideas and optimize the natural progression of their babies development, definitely give this a share. And as always, feel free to reach out my emails. Bianca at Babytourguide.com. I love connecting with our wonderful community of parents and educators and caregivers. So yeah, that's it. Take care friend. Have an amazing day and I will catch you in the next episode bye.
[00:27:11] Hey, it's Bianca, your baby tour guide here, hopping back in to say thank you again for listening to this episode of Montessori Babies. If you found this episode helpful and would like more information on over the babytourguide.com and download my free Montessori guide to join our community and receive the latest on optimizing development through a Montessori lens. You can also find me on Instagram and Facebook at Baby Tour Guide. Also, if you found this episode helpful to your Montessori practice, I would absolutely love it if you would leave a review to help other parents and educators find our show. Thanks again for listening and I will catch you in the next episode bye.