I want to make a case for woodworking and why it deserves a prominent place in Montessori style education.
Let me preface this post with a disclaimer: I am extremely biased towards craft and its potential benefit for children. So don’t believe me just because I make a claim, but rather make objective judgements based on whether the ideas resonate with you – as a parent, a teacher, a woodworker, or a graduated child (…adult).
Here are some reasons I don’t feel I’m qualified to talk about this:
- I have never personally taught or had a child in a Montessori style curriculum.
- I have no experience teaching children woodworking.
But… here are some reasons I do feel qualified to talk about this:
- - I have been woodworking consistently for over 10 years
- - I previously taught children in martial arts for 10 years
- - I have a modest understanding of the Montessori system and objectives
- - I have a 2-year-old who’s full of ambition, curiosity, and toddler rebellion
First off, what is the Montessori method?
What is the Montessori Method?
The Montessori system, developed by Maria Montessori in the early 1900’s, is a child-centered education approach that focuses on self-directed activity, hands-on learning, and collaborative play in specially prepared, multi-age environments.
This format is said to support a child’s innate curiosity, making education more effective, more enjoyable, and better catered to a child’s developmental stages.
The core characteristics of the Montessori method are in stark contrast to that of traditional education systems in just about every way. After becoming familiar with this education style, I’ve realized that woodworking has potential to facilitate skill development in a child much the same way as the Montessori system does.
In the following paragraphs, I’ll touch on some of the major tenets of the Montessori method, why they’re valuable, and how a well-designed woodworking program can achieve similar objectives.
Child-led Learning (Teacher as a Guide)
The Montessori method posits that the child should have freedom to lead their own education. The teacher serves as a guide to provide guard rails and to step in providing lessons as necessary but never to interfere.
Try to think of a time when you were forced to learn something. What was your motivation and interest level? How enjoyable was the experience? How successful were you? Do you remember shit?
Now think of the opposite. Imagine times when you chose independently to learn something that interested you. Was your motivation higher? Were you more successful?
Woodworking shares this characteristic as the student of craft must have the freedom to choose what they want to create, and how they want to create it. A thoughtfully designed woodworking program that emulates this Montessori principle would let the student choose their project, their materials, and to some degree their methods. This sets a foundation of intrinsic motivation in the child.
The teacher in this environment would have a couple primary responsibilities. They would need to step in and assist with methods and techniques and provide lessons on why those techniques work. By explaining the why, the student can gain a deeper understanding of the process. They would also need to ensure the safety of the students, making sure students are using developmentally appropriate tools, and using the tools in correct and safe ways.
As children develop skill and the level of difficulty in the work increases, the teacher will also be called upon to demonstrate proper technique so that students can visualize what proficiency looks like. But remember, the child chooses to undertake their own project which means they will have a vested interest in paying close attention to the teacher so they can improve their skills and accomplish the goal.
Prepared Environment
Montessori learning environments are intentionally designed with order, functionality, and independence in mind. Tools, materials, and workspaces are carefully organized so kids can freely explore without constant adult help. When everything is accessible to kids, they can build habits of self-reliance and independence.
For woodworking to fulfill the same objective of fostering independence and structure, the typical “workshop” environment that adult woodworkers are used to would need a major re-design. It’s not that adult workspaces are designed wrong, just that they need to be scaled down in several ways. Let me explain.
My Definition of a Great Workshop
- Everything is accessible
- Everything has a place
- Tools are maximized for workflow
- Plenty of natural light
- The layout and design inspire creativity
- Everything serves a purpose
I believe that every one of these features is relevant to a child-focused environment. The difference simply lies in how these goals are achieved. Accessibility, appropriateness of tools, workflow, sources of inspiration – they may assume a different form to support the body and brain of a child, but they’re no less important.
The teacher’s job in preparing an environment for woodworking becomes vital as there are many skills a child does not yet possess or tools they cannot yet safely use.
The teacher shall consider the developmental stages of the students by preparing materials, maintaining tools, and setting up workspaces when those tasks are beyond the capabilities of the child.
As children grow both in age and in competence, they can start to have more agency in preparing their own environment to best suit their desired work. This skill might not seem that important, but the ability to design an environment that fosters a desired behavior becomes paramount in adulthood. To build good habits and break bad ones, environment plays a huge role.
Hands-on Learning (Concrete before Abstract)
This is so intuitive, we’ve all felt it as children and as adults. Abstract concepts are difficult to comprehend without concrete application. Who retained the concepts from calculus?
When we make something concrete, we turn it into something we can perceive with our senses. It’s something we can see and manipulate. Through this process of physical interaction with the material, we grasp a concept quicker, and we retain it for longer. Seems like a win-win.
The need for concrete, hand-on learning is amplified for a child, and that’s why the Montessori method focuses on concrete first, abstract later.
It goes without saying that woodworking checks all the boxes here. It’s all about practice and rarely about theory. Working with your hands requires extreme focus and that all your senses be highly attuned to receive feedback on your action.
Everything in woodworking is feedback. The eyes scan for grain direction, the ears listen for change in pitch of a saw blade, the nose detects burning in the wood during a cut, the hands feel the resistance of tool and the associated density of a wood. None of this could be learned in the abstract.
Montessori emphasizes learning materials with built-in error correction (i.e. a puzzle piece that only fits one orientation). While I don’t think this feature is built into woodworking, making errors is surely a built-in feature (speaking for a friend). As a result, the ability to identify errors and solve problems becomes an immensely valuable skill for a child.
The difference between a new woodworker and one who’s mastered their craft is not the elimination of errors. The difference lies in the ability to fix the inevitable errors with creative and elegant solutions.
With abstract concepts, the student and the teacher do all the work. With concrete learning, the material steps in to teach too.
Long, Uninterrupted Work Periods
This idea of extended, uninterrupted work periods flies in the face of traditional school formats where students frequently jump from topic to topic and spend less time on each.
So why is the Montessori way better?
Well, if we had the ability, both as children and adults, to immediately switch tasks while maintaining a constant level of intensity in our focus, there wouldn’t be much of a problem. But that’s not the case.
There is a ramp-up period to focus. We’ve all felt it. Getting into any kind of cognitively demanding task takes a period of wading through mental “mud” before the prefrontal cortex can really come online.
When you give a task ample time, and the task is engaging and challenging, something magical happens. You become less aware of time, and your surroundings, and are completely immersed in the task. This state of immense focus, perceived effortless, and productivity was termed “flow state” in the 1970’s by the Hungarian-American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihali.
In a short, segmented work period, you spend most of the time ramping up (getting focused) and ramping down (anticipating the start of the next task). There’s not much left in the middle for real focus and learning.
Woodworking is a practice that you cannot rush. Each step of the process requires time and focus to execute well. You still must get through the ramp-up period, but once you’re locked in, you want to ride that wave as long as you can. Your mind dialed, all your senses online and ready to receive any feedback that comes from the material, the tool, or how the project is taking shape.
A time crunch is the antitheses to focus, problem solving, and quality work. A rushed mind is a sloppy mind. If a child is constrained to a timeline to learn or complete a task, chances are they will build habits of incomplete, and anxiety induced thinking. Not a good recipe for emotional control or learning.
Kids train their ability to focus when they devote time to work on one thing, without distraction. Modern society is full of distractions, task switching, and shallow attention. It behooves us to stop perpetuating this with hectic class schedules.
Conclusion
This post made many speculations. Once again, I don’t have experience working with kids specifically in the Montessori learning environment.
But I have taught children. I know the power of focus when kids do what interests them. I know the power of concrete learning materials for retention. I know the power of environment on adaptive behaviors, and I know the power of not getting in a kid’s way when they are immersed in a task, making real progress, and doing it on their own.
There are plenty of considerations necessary to make a woodworking program developmentally appropriate, safe, and continuously engaging for children – but it absolutely can be done and has been done before.
I’d love to hear thoughts from educators, parents, and other woodworkers on this topic. Do you think woodworking would be a valuable addition to a Montessori program? What are the potential challenges and how would you overcome them?
Thanks all.