Premium Essay

Help Me to Help Myself

In:

Submitted By banukerk
Words 2194
Pages 9
My first experience of how much a child craves independence was through my daughter. Contrary to my belief that a child would need much dependence on his/her parents, she showed me otherwise. Her burning curiosity towards activities which we as adults perform as second nature, and her desire to try them out on her own was so prevalent - she would exclaim ‘I want to do it all by myself’ - then exuberate tremendous joy over her accomplishment, boasting ‘I did it all by myself!’ - this unfolded a learning process for me - her desire to discover her environment on her own was so natural, that no matter how much I tried to help her, her desperation to do it on her own would prevail.

Maria Montessori (1988, p83) described a child’s first natural instinct to be “ … to carry out his actions by himself, without anyone helping him, and his first conscious bid for independence is made when he defends himself against those who try do the action for him”. I firmly believe in Montessori’s principles, which respect and liberate the child - have utmost faith the child will reach his/her own potential if given the freedom to do so. Her methods enable the child to reach self-worth through success and self-mastery by teaching him/herself, and to achieve internal discipline through self-control. The child is prepared for life and equipped as a self-reliant, motivated individual.

Montessori designed the ‘favorable environment’ (MCI, 2013) to meet the child’s individual needs, with the aim of developing his/her true potential. In this essay I will seek to describe Montessori’s model of the favorable environment, including the role of the adult, and explain how it supports children’s developing independence.

Psychological research shows that autonomy is a basic need in people - the ability to have choice and control are optimal for learning and wellbeing (Ryan & Deci 2000 in

Similar Documents

Free Essay

On Ma Own

...need for feat exist? Just like everyone else, I have a dream for success. For my future I want to see myself fruitful in pursuing what I desire to do – dermatology. However, being successful to me isn’t about fulfilling selfish desires, it also entails helping others. As a future doctor, I yearn to be adept of sharing my knowledge with people that need it. In order for me to get to that level, I must endure strong adversity from a superior educational environment and achieve outstanding grades. I must also be able to stand up on my own feet and be independent, which has been a struggle for me ever since I was young. Growing up, I always had to fight for everything I wanted or believed in. I felt in any situation that I was the odd one out. I felt different, and that everyone else was a team that was out to get me. Since I was young I have always been a very timid, quiet child. However, I was very compassionate towards others and was that one friend who was always there to help. My parents and friends would often tell me to “have a spine” and to stand up for myself. I had never really felt the need to do so, as I thought that it was easier just to ignore and move on, and to just go with whatever people say. I had been a very intelligent child, making my parents proud in every way I could. As I grew older, I started losing myself into peer pressure and I largely based myself on the influence of others. I gradually lost my own...

Words: 1266 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Percieving Me

...Perceiving Me Com/200 Charisse Morvant Instructor Brooks September 28, 2015 Perceiving Me When starting this assignment I had to sit down think about who I would give the survey to because I knew it needed to be honest. After thinking about it for a long time, I decided to go with my dad, cousin, and my best friend. The reason I chose these three people is because each of them has always provided me with very honest answers and have never let me down. Upon giving the survey, I found that I need to change my perception of how I am seen dependent on other people. Survey Summary When handing out the survey, I knew that some perceptions would be different from mine or the same. My dad, best friend, and cousin either perceived me to be the same or one was different than the rest. For example, my father and cousin perceive me to be a procrastinator as do I, but my best friend perceives me to be diligent. Another example would be my dad perceiving me as a dependent person and my cousin and best friend perceive me as independent. Then there were a lot that were the same as me being organized, interesting, accepting, outgoing, etc. Each of these perceptions is the ones I see in myself all the time so seeing the same answers makes know the way I perceive myself is true. Analysis Perceptions All my life I have perceived myself to be helpful and very friendly to everyone. After receiving the survey from each of them, I found out that they all perceive me to be the same....

Words: 1327 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Continuing Education

...it is also important for me to set goals, be aware of my learning style and utilize all of my educational resources and support systems. Learning the material in a way that I can apply it in real life is also key to considering myself educated. My writing style is doing or active experimentation. Active Experimentation is defined as; indicates your preference for applying ideas, using trial and error, and practicing what you learn, you probably enjoy hands-on activities that allow you to test out ideas to see what works. This helps me learn because when I understand how my brain works, I can teach myself the material in a way that I can remember it. For example, if I know that I learn best by hands on trial and error, I will be better equipped to practice this and learn better. This helps me improve my critical thinking skills as well because when I retain more details and understand concepts thoroughly, because I can analyze them in different ways. Some effective reading strategies that I use are reading in quiet areas, highlighting key points, and taking notes on the material. I use these strategies because each of them helps me remember the material in different ways. Reading in quiet areas helps me focus on the material and keeps me from getting distracted. Highlighting helps me refer to key points or difficult areas without having to go through the entire text over and over. Taking notes on the material is a good technique because it requires me to process the information...

Words: 1200 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Facing the Mountains

...this essay is to identify and discuss my personals strengths and weakness, I have discovered in myself and how they revealed themselves on the trip and how I can transfer the use of this personal strength in an outdoor survival setting, into a strength, which will help me in an academic setting. Also, to discuss what I can learn from my weakness in an outdoor survival setting, and identify ways to prevent this weakness from interfering with my academic success the use of this personal strength in an outdoor survival setting, into a strength, which will help me in an academic setting. To add more, to describe my vision of the meaning of success, at the college level. During this trip at Mont-Tremblant on the 18-20th of September , I have developed 1 main strength and weakness about myself and I experienced it even more on this trip. During this SOS challenge the strength that I discovered about myself is my ability to help others and my weakness is that I have a difficult time adapting myself to change. First, the strength that I developed in this course and trip was my ability to help others that are in trouble. This strength revealed itself effectively during the course and trip, my ability to help those in trouble brought a sense to myself to push myself even harder. Also by discovering that I am able to help others creates a positive and friendlier environment for me. The more I was helping my classmates when they were in trouble, the more I was able to have an impact...

Words: 1130 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Social Mirror

...I would hope that people have a good perception of me. As stated in our text book “all of us have a view of ourselves but that view is not always accurate. When it is not accurate we often get in the way of ourselves,” (DeJanasz, Dowd & Schneider, 2015, p6). I find this statement to be true since we see ourselves in one way while other may see us in a different way. I find it hard to self-evaluate myself since it don’t like to talk about myself and my feelings. 2. What “constructive suggestions” would others offer to help you improve or change? Some constructive suggestion will be to have patience and to be more selfish. What they are trying to say is that I need to put myself first for a change. I’m always putting others feelings first before my own feelings. According to my husband I need more patience. As defined in the Merriam-Webster Learner Dictionary patience is the “ability to wait for a long time without becoming annoyed or upset.” Patience is what I need as soon as possible, sometimes I cannot control my reaction which is a real problem. 3. What do you most like about yourself? What I like most about myself is that always make sure everyone around me is happy, no matter what, I always strive to make sure everyone around me is taken care off. I love that quality of myself because I feel it’s something that everyone will also say is a good quality I have. Sometime putting everyone else first put me last on the priority list. 4. What do you most dislike...

Words: 989 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Personal Responsibility

...responsibility when it comes to taking care of my home, my children, as well as myself. Personal responsibility affects many aspects of life and without personal responsibility my life would be chaos. Taking personal responsibility for my education is extremely important because failure is not an option for me. Even though it is sometimes difficult to take personal responsibility, accepting responsibility for my educational goals will help me to succeed in college. The definition of personal responsibility to me simply means that I am accountable for all my activities in my life such as my health, finances, my family, school, and my home. Personal responsibility, in my opinion, is also reflective of my personal ethics. Personal responsibility is extremely important because without taking that responsibility for things in my life that I need to take care of, they will not get done. As a stay at home mom, it is my responsibility to take care of my children and my home because no one else is going to do it. “When you’re willing to assume responsibility for the quality of your education, you can create the future of your dreams.” (Ellis, 2011, p. 10) According to Merriam-Webster (2012), personal means something is done without the interference of another person. “Responsibility is a moral, legal, and mental accountability.” (Responsibility, 2012) This definition describes what responsibility means to me because personality responsibility really has to do with a person’s accountability...

Words: 1716 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

25 Ways to Get the Most Out of Now

...Excellence 25 Ways to Get the Most Out of Now There are several time management techniques to help a person get the most out of now. The following ten methods are what I feel to be most beneficial: 1. Be aware of your best time of day. Being aware of the best time of day to study is especially beneficial to me because throughout the years, I have learned that no matter how hard I try I cannot study late at night – least wise not effectively. I know I am simply a morning student. Knowing when you are most productive helps to schedule your day and also reduces the guilty feeling of “slow” periods because you have planned for them. 2. Learn to say no. In the beginning of my studies, learning to say no was an easy task for me. I was excited about class and I wanted to succeed. As school continued, I found it harder to say no because I was nervous friends and family would begin to think I was “giving them excuses.” I learned an effective way to communicate my needs with them, and soon “saying no” was a perfectly acceptable and efficient response for both parties. 3. Avoid noise distractions. Avoiding noise distractions is an area that requires the most focus for me. I cannot study or work when I have background noise. Knowing this helps to plan my activities throughout the day so I can be the most productive and not back track my efforts constantly. 4. Ask: Would I pay myself for what I’m doing right now? Asking if you would pay yourself for the activity and efforts...

Words: 790 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

My New Journey

...My New Journey I realized that my journey from high school to college would not be so easy for me. When it come to high school I didn't do as well as I wanted to. My grades were not something i was so happy about. I was the kid that my friends wouldn't see everyday in class and I didn't really care too much when it was time to study. Now as I start my new journey into the college life I know it’s going to be a challenge and I'm going to have to change in some ways to prepare myself for success such as not missing class, being able to make the time to try understand what the teacher is teaching, and most important complete any assignments that may be assigned for homework or class work. The first way I'm going to prepare myself for college is to keep good attendance. When I think back to my high school days the one thing I remember was skipping class or not being able to wake up early enough in the morning to make it to school. In order to break out this habit I would have to do a few things. One reason why I didn’t go to class in high school was because it was boring and after awhile going became pointless. So to begin with, I would have to tell myself over that school might be boring at times but going is important for my future and to my parents. In addition to reminding myself about the importance I would also have to fight through any sickness that may occur because missing one day of class, is one class too many. With the speed that college moves there...

Words: 1006 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Procrastination

...wish to change something about ourselves. Something I have noticed about myself that I would like to change is my habit of procrastinating. Procrastinating is waiting until the last minute to do anything, especially things I do not want to do. There are certain things that trigger my procrastination such as, homework in classes that I do not like or understand, harder projects, and sometimes even the simplest projects. Knowing that I have time to do a certain assignment makes me think, “Okay I have all week to do this, I’ll just do it later.” Well later turns into the night before it is due, which causes me to stress. I believe that it is important for me to change and stray away from procrastinating because procrastinating causes unnecessary stress and I do not need anymore stress in my life. I am already stressed as it is due to being a student athlete and procrastinating is only adding more stress on me. The stress builds up and eventually I cannot take it anymore, which leads to an emotional break down. If I were to change my ways and not procrastinate, I believe that I would be a lot less stressed and would have a well-balanced week of homework and maybe even have sometime for myself. Procrastination is something that it very hard to change, but I am willing to do whatever it take to change it. In order to change my procrastination behavior, I need to have reinforcements for myself and hold myself accountable for them. Positive and negative reinforcements are the two types...

Words: 838 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Growth Mindset Analysis

...two ideas of mindset can help us understand how much it shapes our lives. Dwerk input on our two ways of thinking are fixed mindset and a growth mindset. The terminologies for these words applied in their nature of the behavior of psychology word, a fixed mindset is someone who thinks people are born with the skill, don't take challenges and pessimistic. The other growth mindset is someone who believes there can always be an improvement, they work hard, take challenges, put in effort and optimistic....

Words: 948 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Personal Refection Paper

...others as indicated by another as per their class, race, sex, or religion. This is a negative practice to adapt to. I work daily trying to redirect my mind from comparing myself to others; it is human nature to have these thoughts. I have notice when I do compare myself to others I become sad because I have not reach the level of their success and the flip side to this is I never compare myself to anyone less fortunate than me. No one win at comparing themselves to others. The direction I have taken to stop invidious comparing myself to other are concentrating on my own beauty. I have created a habit in tell myself how beautiful I am every time I look in the mirror. I made a short and long term list to help me keep up with my progress. Watching my list advance keeps me center on and therefore, I can see my growth. These habits have helped me to appreciate who I am. I enjoy writing in my journal several days a week it helps to shift the atmosphere from comparing myself to other. A saying I like to quote is “doing unto others as you would have them do unto you”. To me, that quote is telling me to be kind to other people and help them. If this is done I won’t have time to compare myself to anyone. Last, I stay focus on the positive things I do in helping other and this help me to appreciate what is positive in me. The definition of vicarious traumatization is the second witnesses to traumatic events that happened almost every day. It’s where the professional listen to clients tell...

Words: 1062 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Personal Fitness Goal

...Short and long-term goals help me learn to push myself and have perseverance. By doing these exercises I improved many dimensions of wellness. I improved my physical wellness by giving my body exercise. This helps my body function properly by gaining muscle and maintaining a healthy balance between activity and caloric intake. My heart is also a muscle, and by exercising I kept a healthy heart. I improved my emotional wellness because I know that exercise releases endorphins and dopamine in the brain, which are chemicals that fight stress and improve your mood. By exercising more I released more of these chemicals which made me happier and improved my emotional health. I also improved my intellectual wellness because exercise gives your brain a break which allows it to focus better later. Studies show that exercising can help improve your memory, and endorphins you release when exercising can also help the brain become more alert and focused. This means that when I took a break from sitting around in school all day and doing my homework to exercise, I was able to focus better on my homework afterwards. This helped me in school and it helped my learning. I can use this information to be successful in the future because if I know the benefits of having a goal, plan, and positive mindset then I will be able to accomplish...

Words: 1940 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Who Am I

...social influences I have, what I see as my group dynamics, and how I feel about relationships. This is all about me and who I am inside as a person, my very own self- analysis. I have changed a lot over the last few years so if I had written this a few years ago I am sure it would have been answered differently. I am a survivor. I believe myself to be a survivor because I have brought myself to a place in my life that will keep me alive. I have battled with drugs and alcohol for most of my life and have been clean for 7 years now, all of my own doing. I have lived on the streets and fought battles with myself teaching myself to live independent of others to survive. I am independent. I can live on my own and take care of myself and my family without the help of others. I have been to the bottom of the worst places in life and that has taught me to not be carless with what I have, and know that I can lose it all again in the blink of an eye. I am happy. I enjoy life. I have lived my life in dark places for so long. I love life so much now. I enjoy family and friends and all of the time I have with them, knowing that every day I wake is another blessing to me. I have to say I believe myself to be both independent and interdependent. I think independent because of all that I have achieved in my life because of all of the heartaches I have endured. I have brought myself to this point in my life of my own free will. I also identify with interdependent because of who I have become...

Words: 1847 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Honor Code Research Paper

...youngest sister! Then another two years passed for me to learn that I got another sister. I went on with my life for another six years when I was given another sister! By then, I was a hardworking student who did her best in school with 4.0 GPAs. A score that I made sure I kept. While I am outside of school I do my best in my religious schoolwork. For example, I memorize the Quran, right now I have memorized about 94 out of 604 pages. At the moment, I am a student at River Islands Technology Academy who is doing her best. One word that I would use to describe myself would be unique. One of the reasons I would use this word to describe myself is because is the meaning of my name. I think that if I want to describe myself the word I use...

Words: 843 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Theories And Practices Of Counseling And Psychotherapy

...there are challenges that one must overcome. By recognizing those challenges, it will help with both my personal and professional life. In the book, Theories and Practices of counseling and Psychotherapy it addresses issues faced by beginning therapists. It gives the understanding of how to recognize the issues and how to handle them in a constructive manor, one that will help both my client and myself. When working with individuals no matter what the job, it can be very stressful in the beginning. Learning new things and the stresses of doing...

Words: 884 - Pages: 4