[The child] passes little by little from the unconscious to the conscious, treading always in the paths of joy and love. (Montessori, 1967, p. 26)

It is a delight to walk into a Montessori classroom to the hum of children engaged in a variety of activities.

Especially when there is an accompanying feeling of joy and happiness. I have also had the experience of coming into a classroom where children were busy and engaged, yet something felt “off.” The little girl who breaks into song while slicing a banana is quickly shushed.

The little boy who skips across the room to return the broom to its spot is reminded to use his walking feet. The pair who have been exploring various combinations with the sensorial materials are told they are not using the work correctly. The little girl who finally completes the 1000 chain lets out a triumphant shout, and is told to put her work away — quietly.

Sometimes in working to maintain the peaceful calm of the classroom, we may inadvertently hinder the joy, enthusiasm, and imagination that are not only a part of childhood, but something we as adults would benefit from cultivating within ourselves.

Of course, having a peaceful classroom certainly does not exclude joy and imagination. But sometimes there are moments that can shake the calm. These moments aren’t always embraced. In fact, we often work to prevent them. Yet we may find as much to be gained in those moments as with the child’s work with the materials.

Before you think I’m suggesting allowing the children to run amok and disrespect the genius of the method and materials of Montessori, take a moment to step into the sparkly light up sneakers of a 3 year old. What a fascinating place the world is! It’s hard not to be excited! Unless of course it’s frustrating — which it often is! Such big emotions in that little body. And so often those people in the bigger bodies just don’t understand. Step back for a moment to consider the perspective of the child — to consider allowing joy, enthusiasm and imagination to be spontaneously expressed, while still maintaining the peace of the classroom.

Many of us as teachers worry that if we aren’t careful, we will lose control — especially new teachers learning to manage the ever-changing dynamics of the classroom. The children may go wild. We may fail in our attempt to create the perfectly normalized classroom. 

Well, for starter’s, it’s a myth. The perfectly normalized classroom that we work so hard to create doesn’t exist. Oh, if you do your job right, you’ll see flashes of it. There will be those remarkable moments where the children are all working and the classroom hums! There will be days, maybe months, that you dreamed of and worked hard for. Then, the holiday season arrives, a new student joins the classroom, your assistant gets the flu, that loveable father arrives late with his child and suddenly has a line up of kids he’s swinging up in the air. Although we may quickly usher that father out, it is really all okay. It’s life! It is what we are really here for. To live life with the children! It’s how we handle these seemingly non-normalized moments that help us to maintain the joy in life –and then we gently work with the children to bring the classroom back to the peaceful calm. This is true normalization. And, in so doing, we help the children learn to do this within themselves. We enable their inner discipline.

We will each find ourselves balancing in different places on this line of constructive freedom and joy, afraid of falling into the abyss of chaos. To have a constructive classroom we do need to use quiet voices and walking feet, and to use the materials with respect. But how do we maintain this control?  By letting go of our need to control. By empowering the children. By giving them opportunities to find solutions and develop their ideas. It is by letting go of our control that we enable the children to find it within themselves. The easiest way out of the chaos is not to fight it but to go with the flow. Gently, with joy, imagination and creativity, as well as a large dose of humor,we embrace whatever life is delivering into the classroom and use it to flow right back into peace. In so doing, we create a classroom where children and adults work together to maintain harmony and peacefulness.

So the holidays approach, the energy builds. Direct that energy into creative expression. The most obvious is through art, music and practical life food preparation activities. But this is also a great time to help the children direct that energy outside themselves and toward what they can do for others. Creating and giving gifts is always wonderful, along with acts of kindness, is always a marvelous experience. Children come up with amazing ideas on how they can help others, many of which can be implemented through powerful learning experiences. It’s a joyous time. It’s also a crazy, chaotic time. By embracing and accepting this part of life, as opposed to trying to force the continuance of “normal,” we can meet the energy, help the children direct it within themselves, and not only give them the gift of maintaining joy and peacefulness, but also the knowledge they can (and do) make a difference in the world.

So how about the day you come in to find your assistant is out with the flu?  And to make matters worse, the sub in your room is new and “doesn’t have a clue.” The rhythm and routine is off from the start. Everyone feels it, and now there are two kids crying, not wanting their parents to leave. You’re trying to direct the larger group, who all seem to have forgotten how to sit in the gathering, while your sub tries to pry the crying children from their parents. You’re ready to burst out in tears yourself. Take a deep breath. Maybe two. Invite the children to join you. Meet the energy with an exclamation of how the classroom feels. Or perhaps start with an energetic song. Bring it to the children. This is what is happening in our classroom today. What can we do? How can you help? The wisdom of the children to find solutions in these moments never ceases to amaze me. By bringing it to the children you are empowering them to find solutions and together peace is regained. Perhaps going on a hike or to the playground is just what’s needed to soothe the souls and provide the opportunity to regroup. It may even result in some unanticipated new discovery that wouldn’t have come about otherwise.

As we let go of the expectation to always have a perfectly running, normalized classroom, it allows us to truly embrace real life within our classrooms. It provides opportunities to empower the children to share with us in maintaining a balanced and harmonious classroom. Of course we are absolutely going to prepare the classroom and create parameters so that too much “life” doesn’t seep in all at once. The children are always eager to join in that preparation. But we can’t prevent it entirely. Nor should we want to. When we try to do so, we get frustrated, set ourselves up for failure, and often stifle the children’s joy: the joy of living and learning. When we embrace these moments, learning is created beyond what we could have ever imagined. It allows for real life moments. Then we celebrate together the completion of a big work, embrace the joy that comes in a spontaneous song, be thankful for the skip in the step of the child who just cleaned up a big mess, or admire the creativity of the carefully laid out sensorial extension. And, in those real moments, children learn how to take care of themselves and work together to take care of each other and their world — even when everything isn’t perfect, which makes it all the more likely they’ll be able to take that outside the classroom and into the bigger world. After all, as Montessori said, “One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child.” (1989/1995, p. 50)