Great Works

One of the hallmarks of Cosmic Education in the elementary Montessori continuum is the idea of Great Works.  Great Work is the elementary version of the repetition that the children do in the primary.  In primary, children may manipulate certain materials over and over again; it allows them to follow their inner urge to enjoy the unlimited scope of an activity. In elementary, children take a concept and expand it, sometimes physically and sometimes mentally.  It’s amazing to think of all the things going on when a child does Great Works: motivation to start and finish a work that extends for days or weeks; concentration to stay focused and engaged for long periods of time; organizational skills to keep track of materials used in the project.  Great Works are burnt into the fabric of the child’s mind, and will stay with them forever.  As elementary teachers, when we see great works, we know the children are moving in the right direction.

Right now, the classroom is bursting with Great Works.  They take up every nook and cranny of storage space in the classroom- to the extent that I even have to give lessons on how to roll up pieces of paper larger than you are!  Here are some of the works going on:

World Trade:  One student is writing out World Trade Fact cards for each country in the world.  They include imports, exports, and trading partners for each country, and she decided to draw each country’s flag on the back of the cards.  Another group is working on a giant map (drawn by hand and measuring 3’ by 5’) on which they’ll draw out and color code the trade partners of the countries of the world. 

Population Studies:  One group is almost finished with a giant map showing the population density of the countries of the world.  Another group’s map shows world fertility rates.  Yet another student is excited to work on a map of different types of governmental systems around the world.

History Projects:  Groups of children are working on using the History Question Charts to organize their research around different Native American tribes by covering the charts with colored post-its.  Other groups have already gone on goings-out to museums to further their research in American History.

Research Papers: The sixth graders are all writing research papers on the topic of their choice, from bear behavior and physiology to the Black Plague to Vikings or Alexander the Great.  They’ve learned to take notes, organize their notes into outlines and use those outlines to write their papers.  The next steps include peer editing and typing up final drafts for presentation.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream:  The children also decided they wanted to read a Shakespeare play this year. So, after suggesting A Midsummer Night’s Dream, they dove right in.  They’ve organized themselves read-alongs, dividing up the characters and reading the play out loud together so they all understand what’s going on.  It was delightful to overhear gales of giggling coming from the couch when the children would have to read a love scene or the drama between Pyramus and Thisbe, or the excitement generated when two of the boys turned the fairy song into a fairy rap (backwards hats and all)! We meet regularly for discussion, where it’s clear they understand what they read.  They have decided to put on their own play in the spring and have organized their own auditions.

It is amazing to look around the classroom and see the work the children have been doing.  The best thing about these Great Works is that none of them were my idea.  They came completely from the children, and my job is to show them how to take these ideas out of their head and translate them into work.  Their intrinsic desire to work is so strong that it pushes them to tackle these amazing tasks.  And once that external expectation for what work should look like is gone, the only limits the children have is their imagination, which - as all of us know - is limitless.

Mary Hanyok