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In the second plane, the children complete the foundation of their social selves. Through their reasoning minds and powers of imagination, they explore their universe, their community and their own place in social life. —Lillard, Montessori Today, p. 114. Before having the freedom to explore outside the immediate Montessori community, students must demonstrate responsibility within the Montessori environment. This freedom begins with choosing one’s own work during the day, working independently, and being a contributing member of the collective classroom community. Contributing members of any community help nurture and maintain the community. Within the Montessori environment, elementary students become responsible for the environment by learning to care for and maintain the classroom. Since the sensitive period for order occurs during the first stage of development, maintaining the classroom’s beauty and order no longer comes naturally. Instead, it must be modeled and practiced until ...

The Montessori teacher’s specific responsibility is to aid human development through awareness of the children’s needs at each stage of self-formation. Through this approach to their education, the children can pass onto each successive plane of development well prepared for the challenges ahead. —Lillard, p. 114 Work journals in the Montessori elementary classroom can be a hotly debated topic. What do they look like? Who is responsible for them? Who decides what work is included? Somewhere along the way, we have lost the meaning of the work journal and turned it into a work plan . Keeping a journal involves more than a student making a list of what he has accomplished during the day. It provides him with an opportunity to reflect on what he has learned. Written after the fact, a journal shows the reader where the student has been instead of dwelling on where he must go. As such, the work journal is an assessment tool rather than a planning tool. Studying Montessori Today, Chapter 7: ...