Helping Each Other

Thoughts & Reflections

Our goals aren’t always academic in nature. As a matter of fact, and as many of you know, we have a phrase that we use at Baan Dek: social success leads to academic success. Basically, we want to create the conditions in which children are happy, and inspired on their own, to want to learn. With this focus, we desire nothing more than to see the natural manifestation of a sense of community.

With that in mind, we strongly believe that Montessori is one of those things that needs to be seen to be believed. This is one of the reasons that we take photos and videos on a regular basis: to lift the veil, so to speak, and make Montessori more transparent. There are so many wonderful things that happen each day, but so often we either become accustomed to their regularity, and overlook them, or we simply are unable to capture them because they happen so quickly.

Well, we captured one of these beautiful moments in Montessori. For weeks now, the student on the right has been practicing with the tying bow dressing frame activity in the classroom. He’s been so persistent and committed to wanting to learn. On almost a daily basis, he engages with the activity.

Yesterday, or maybe it was the day before, we were outside playing when one of his friends lost his shoe. His laces had come undone and he needed help tying them. What happened? Well, together, they tried to work on tying the laces. Of course, since the boy on the right had been practicing so diligently, he saw a real world opportunity to apply his efforts and jumped at it.

While ultimately they were unsuccessful in their attempts, this scenario tells us so much! Not only has this particular student taken it upon himself to try to help his peers, he’s also actively looking out for them. Additionally, the student who needed the help is able to recognize when he needs assistance, and graciously accept the offer. There are so many of these magical moments. Do you have some to share? We’d love to hear them.