The Paths of Joy

“He learns everything without knowing he is learning it…treading always in the paths of joy and love.”

(Maria Montessori, Absorbent mind, pg. 26)

 As I reflected on what I wanted to write, what seemed like random images kept popping into my head: a young boy beaming with pride as he exclaimed for the first time, “I went down the pole all by myself!”; two best friends, amazed that they had filled a total of six mats with words from their moveable alphabets; a girl spontaneously hugging me for showing her how to create the chromatic scale by combining the diatonic and pentatonic scales, shouting, “I’m going to do this every day!”; and a very young child, who during his lesson on how to use tongs, laughed each time he saw the object plop from the tongs into a dish.

Each of the images bombarding my mind told a story of joy.  Joyous moments fill each day, and, as a teacher, it is hard to find a greater joy than to share your child’s joy with you. The following are several highlights from one day in my class:

• An older girl spent forty minutes working diligently on seven metal insets. She did her absolute best work, and upon finishing, smiled slightly as she shared with me, “I think I’m ready to turn them into a book.”
• The two girls who filled six mats with their writing giggled at the idea of what would happen if they used all of the mats in the classroom. “Then there would be no space to walk! The children could only walk on tables and chairs!” (I think the prospect of this motivated them to continue writing.)
• The faces of three children lit up as they decided to serve their bread, hot out of the oven, to the office staff. (The faces of all the other children lit up as they too enjoyed the bread.)
• In the afternoon, we had our first tasting of the peas from our garden. We decided we should wait for most of the peas to continue growing, but there were enough for each child to have one pea. Was there any complaining about only getting one pea? Not at all. On the contrary, they were each delighted to be able to eat one single pea.
• Today we brought the four chrysalises into our classroom. Fortunately, the children were able to see one of the Monarch caterpillars last week before it formed its chrysalis. Today, they stared in awe and wonder at the mystery in front of them. I can only imagine the joy they will have the moment the butterflies emerge.
• Several children kept asking one of the oldest children if she could help tie their shoes. Each and every time, she dropped whatever she was doing, and with eagerness, pride, and love, tied and retied shoes.
• A young child was preparing his snack, attempting to grasp the food with tongs. After countless failed attempts, he finally succeeded. A slight smile emerged, and he proceeded to eat.  

Often, there are no witnesses to the joy your children experience. I am blessed to be able to catch what I can, and hope to never take it for granted. Before too long, you will have the opportunity to observe in your child’s classroom. You could focus your observation on a variety of topics, but whatever you choose to observe during your thirty minutes, take time to catch your children “treading in the paths of joy and love.”

Carly Donohue