Gonzalez-Cortez 1

Celina Gonzalez-Cortez

October 3, 2016

Art 130

Professor Ward

Observing the Child

Children are unpredictable and spontaneous. Children have been observed countless

times before. Several Individuals have created theories that have been applied to childrens

artistic development. Montessori is one of those theorist whose theory I plan to use in the

classroom one day. She caters to the childs learning capabilities. Of course they were some

flaws to her theory that involved the child to work in dependably and the materials were similar

throughout the Montessori schools. I used her theory while I observed two children draw and to

analyzed their drawings.

Montessoris Theory involved the child, the favorable environment and the teacher

( (Riley, 2016). She developed stages after observing children at the Casa dei Bambini. The

main stage she focused on was that of an absorbent mind; which was from birth to six years old.

She implemented her teaching method for children in the absorbent mind stage. What she wanted

was that the teacher to become a facilitator (Riley, 2016). The facilitator is there so that children

can learn through, exploration, imitation, repetition, and trial, and error (Group, 2016). She

wanted the child to learn at their own pace and that they choose what they wanted to learn. To

develop their physical, social, emotional, and cognitive growth (Group, 2016). They were not

scored or put through tests. The environment was created to help the children engage in learning

and thus facilitate their development.

The first time I went to the Childrens Center I was assigned a child. The teacher looked

for a well behaved child and asked him Do you want to help Celina with her homework? and
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he answered yes. The child was of African American decent. His name was Ron and he was

four years old; a fairly calm child. The teacher said we could go to the next room, and the door

had a see through fabric so she could still see us. It was also early in the morning, about eight

oclock, so the overall feel of the classroom was calm. I brought a piece of paper and one packet

of 16 crayons for the child to choose from. I handed him the paper and crayons and asked him to

draw for me. I told him he could draw whatever he wished. He said okay, and proceeded to get

a crayon. One thing I noticed was that he would take one crayon at a time. He would use one

color and when he was done he would put it back. It seemed that he took a long time on his

drawing since he was very calm and patient.

While Ron drew I would ask him what he was drawing. He said Thats my brother. His

drawing of his brother was small, abstract, and purple. At his age he was not capable of drawing

realistically. He also drew his brothers school. Which was bigger than his brothers drawing.

This demonstrated that Ron was paying attention to the size of the school compared to his

brother size. He drew something else that I couldnt tell what it was and I asked him whats

this I pointed to it and he said its a sun flower. He said it was his favorite flower and

favorite thing about my drawing. He then began using the color brown to give a setting to his

flower. Keeping in mind Montessoris Theory I could see that Ron was in the absorbent mind

stage. Where he was picking up things like where his brother went to school and where a flower

grew. He was very aware of his surroundings and seemed ready to learn.

From observing the classroom that Ron was in I could see some of Montessoris

Teaching. They had tables with materials that kids could use; they could choose from different

stations to work in. The thing I did not see was older kids helping the younger ones to learn. That

is where the approach was irrelevant. There were several teachers in the classroom which
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probably was best in case a child needs to be attended there is someone else looking over other

children. The classroom was set up traditionally. Overall the it wasnt completely a Montessori

class.

I went to the Children Center a second time but did not like how we were exposed to the

outside and to a lot of children sitting next to me and the girl I was observing. I decided to go for

a third time. Since I couldnt choose the child that I received I ended up with a child of the same

age as the first time. On my third time there the teacher asked a couple of children if they wanted

to draw for me. One of the boys said he would do it. The boys name was Jason and he was four

years old. I noticed he had so much energy, and was just happy. Since this time it was a different

teacher we just sat down in the middle of the class room where everyone was at. I gave him the

colored crayons and a white sheet of paper, exactly the same I gave Ron. He took the crayons all

out of the box. He had them spread out and would grab even two at a time; he would use both

hands when drawing. He showed excitement when he found the crayon he wanted. He would

stop and start playing with the crayons and pretended that they were fighting. I was trying to get

his attention back to the drawing. I asked him Are you done with your drawing?, he then drew

some more. There were other children around and some even started drawing too because they

saw Jason doing it. When he finished he wasnt too interested In what he had drawn and it

seemed that he was just drawing for fun.

When Analyzing Jasons drawing I can see that he is also in the absorbent child stage.

This is very accurate to the ages Montessori proclaims for that stage. When looking at his

drawing I can see its very linear, abstract, and all over the place. He drew a body and added arms

and head. I then asked him who that was and he said Mr. Pants. He also added a mustache and

ears. He then went on to draw a mountain. I asked him about the airplane and he said Look like
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robot arm. He was very energetic and maybe it had to do with the fact that we were around

noise and people. Moving forward he proceeded to draw a butterfly. That is where Montessoris

Theory comes in, he drew the butterfly because he looked around the classroom and saw it. He

colored the butterfly green and yellow like the example on the wall. I then asked him what

everything on his paper was. He clearly remembered what he drew, and was very descriptive.

He would fit well with the Montessori Theory because if a teacher observed him they

would notice that he is a hands on learning that needs to continuously be moving around and

have open space. In Montessoris theory she explains that the classroom is catered for learning.

For someone like Jason that might work if what he is learning is really interesting to him. I feel

that he might get a bit distracted but then will come back to what it is he is learning.

On my second observation while Jason drew, another boy approached me and spoke to

me in Spanish. He asked what are you doing?. I Explained to him that we were drawing. I

asked him his name and he said it was Enrique. He seemed very comfortable speaking to me and

wanted to join us. One of the teachers approached us and asked Enrique if he wanted to go to the

next room for breakfast. The way Enrique didnt look directly at the teacher made me wonder if

he could understand her. He just nodded and went to the next classroom. What was interesting to

me was that he sought me out. That he intentionally approached and spoke to me in Spanish. I

want to say that he was comfortable with me because we were both Hispanic.

After engaging with Enrique I wondered how Montessoris theory would work on him.

The fact the communication and speaking would be factored in. In Montessoris Theory she

never mentions anything about language. The part of working and learning from the classroom

might benefit Enrique the most in his development because he would still develop cognitively

and artistically.
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Based on the Artistic Development Analysis of the two drawings and the overall

experience of observing the children there is no different conclusion between knowing whether

Montessoris theory works on the children. Bits and pieces are present but everything she claims

cannot be proven. It is most definite that children in the absorbent stage, birth to 6 years old learn

by hands but they also enjoy to play. In my opinion and based on my experience the teachers

should be facilitators and teachers for younger students that way there is some control of the

learning. That way they are both free to explore and at the same time are taught would work. All

students learn differently and some might learn by listening and others by a hands on approach.

All in all, the observation brought upon a first hands insight on what is going on with the child in

the classroom.
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References
Group, B. (2016). introduction to Monterssori Method. Retrieved from American
Montersorri Society : http://amshq.org/Montessori-Education/Introduction-to-
Montessori/Benefits-of-Montessori

Riley, K. A. (2016). Understanding & Using Educational Theories . Thousand Oaks :

SAGE publication inc.