Out

PERFORM ANCE CREATIVITY: THE RO LE OF SELF,
M EANING AND CULTURAL SIG N IFICA N CE
IN A M ONTESSORI EN V IRON M EN T
A Dissertation
Presented to
the College o f Education
U niversity o f D enver
In Partial Fulfillment
o f the Requirements for the D egree
D octor o f Philosophy
by
Pam ela Bridget Thom pson
June 2006
Advisor: Dr. Nicholas J. Cutforth
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
UMI Number: 3218968
INFORMATION TO USERS
The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy
submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and
photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper
alignment can adversely affect reproduction.
In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript
and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized
copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion.
UMI
UMI Microform 3218968
Copyright 2006 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company.
All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against
unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code.
ProQuest Information and Learning Company

300 North Zeeb Road
P.O. Box 1346
Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346
GRADUATE STUDIES
AT
THE U NIV ERSITY OF DEN VER
Upon the recom m endation o f the Dean o f the College o f Education this
dissertation is hereby accepted in partial fulfillment o f the requirements
for the degree o f
D octor o f Philosophy
1./1Cc iu i J Cl i t L i
Professor in cl^rge o f cpssertation
x Provost for Graduate Studies
u fV
Date
TABLE OF CONTENTS
D edication and Acknowledgem ent
Perform ing Research: An Introduction 1
Forew ord 9
A N ew W ay o f Looking at Creativity 15
The How and Why o f C reativity 18
An Invitation 20
Perform ance Creativity 21
A n Operational Definition 24
Perform ance Ethnography 25
The Content and Design o f Chapters 26
The Performance Com m ences 27
Chapter One: Constructing a Culture 28
Scene I 28
Scene II 29
The Living Act o f Perform ance 37
Performance is Com m unicative 38
Scene III 39
Perform ance is Sensorial 40
Scene IV 40
Scene V 43
ii
Linking the Sensorial to M eaning 48
Scene VI 49
Scene VII 52
Scene VIII 54
The Culture o f the C hild 56
Constructing a Culture 57
The Idea o f Perform ance 57
Chapter Two: Creativity: A n Em erging W orld View 60
Scene IX 61
An Eastern Perspective 66
Scene X 68
A N ative A m erican Perspective 72
Scene XI 74
An African Perspective 77
Chapter Three: Part One: Creating Self 82
Scene X II 82
Scene XIII 88
C hapter Three: Part Two 103
Scene XIV 103
iii
Self-Expression and M eaning 115
Introducing Cultural Significance 119
Culture: Dynamics and Dialogue 119
Scene X V 122
Scene XVI 129
Scene XVII 132
Chapter Four: Analysis and Interpretation 13 8
Data Collection 140
Participation Observation 140
Representational Artifacts 142
Dialogical Interviews 143
Data Analysis 145
Three Tenets o f Ethnographic A nalysis 147
The Ethnographic Imagination 148
Coding 149
Content Analysis 150
Triangulation 151
Purpose o f Study 152
Findings: Chapter One 152
Self 155
iv
Self-Expression 155
Meaning 156
Cultural Significance 159
Findings: Chapter Two 160
Findings: Chapter Three 163
A Possible Theory 163
Chapter Five: Perform ing E thnography 165
Revising the Role o f the T eacher 167
A Revision o f Qualitative R esearch 169
Chapter Six: Perform ing M ontessori 173
Authentic A dequacy and V alidity 173
Learning from Lunch 176
A Few Words over Coffee 184
Limitations o f the Study 188
Time 188
Place 188
Parental Concerns 190
M ethodological Confinem ents 191
Academic Contribution 192
Implications 192
Suggestions for Future Research 195
Chapter Seven: Look, Listen, Work, Speak: 197

The Voices o f Creativity
Look, Listen, Work, Speak 198
In Closing 203
Bibliography 207
vi
Dedication and Acknowledgement
This work is dedicated to the women in my family who endured
hardship and bias, some as immigrants in a new land, yet endured to thrive
and sustain the desire o f the next generation to challenge the status quo.
I dedicate this work to my past and present students who continue to
teach me more than they will ever know.
I dedicate this work to my father and mother who always encouraged
me to work hard and not be afraid to ask, why?
Finally, I dedicate this work to my beloved who supported this
journey and to my sons who inspired it.
Special acknowledgements go to Cathy and all the teachers and
students at the Montessori school. This study could not have been done
without them. Also, I thank Louise, for the wonderful encouragement,
Marilyn for the technical support, and Andrea, Doris, Salwa, Marilyn,
Mary, Daniel, and Hilary for caring, listening, and for your friendship.
A special and heartfelt thank you goes to the members o f my
committee and advisor who have shared their expertise, their support an4
their counsel.
Performing Research: An Introduction
Ethnographic research can be described as “m e-search” and it is
often understood that the researcher acts as instrument (G oodall, 2000).
The experience o f qualitative inquiry is intermingled w ith who the
researcher is as much as it results in a significant product reflecting what
and who is being researched. This study is no different. T he search for
creativity as a plastic, global and self-making labor in a Montessori
cultural environm ent has been, in a sense, a personal discovery as much as
a professional one. To that end, I have tried to weave this story with
threads from my time in the field, from lunch conversations shared with
M ontessori teachers and students, and from cultural observations from
places that I have traveled to or studied about during the course o f my
field work. This was illustrated in my search for a fitting nam e for the
school w here I conducted my research. For the past year, I have continued
to consult various forms o f sources for global perspectives describing
creativity. One o f those cultures was the Zulu nation o f Southern Africa.
A self-expressive creative work o f Zulu w om en is their design o f intricate
beadw ork jew elry which acts as a highly structured system of
com m unication coupled with symbolic m eaning (M orris, 1994).
The spoken language o f the Zulu is also distinctive because vowels
are placed next to consonants and not beside any other vow els. As my
fieldwork progressed, I continued to study m ore about the syntax o f the
Zulu language. One day I read a w ord that inspired me to select it for the
school site. The w ord is ethemba. Translated, it m eans, to believe with
hope.
According to Standing (1998), M aria M ontessori once said,
“Children are beautiful individual bein g s...w h o can reveal to us our own
nature... [they] are ones who hold possibilities...therefore w e are drawn
towards the ch ild ...fo r the good o f the hum an race as a w h o le.” (p. 157).
The word, ethemba is an appropriate nam e for a school espousing a
cultural philosophy and atmosphere that considers the creativity o f
children not ju st as an educational com m odity but as an inspiring hope for
the future o f humanity. Ethemba M ontessori A cadem y is a private, non
sectarian, accredited Montessori school that enrolls children from the ages
o f two to 12. The school has an enrollment o f approxim ately 120 children
and they are placed in multi aged classrooms, w hich is standard
practice for M ontessori classrooms.
The age groups I observed and that are included in this study are
Prim ary (ages 3-5), Low er Elementary (ages 5-8), and U pper Elem entary
(ages 8-12). Speaking in demographic terms, the majority o f children who
attend are residents o f the local community, which is, by in large, w ithin
a m iddle to upper socio-economic bracket; how ever there is a small
num ber o f children who live on the surrounding m ilitary bases in the area.
O f the approxim ate 120 children who attend, 5% o f the children are from
countries other than the U nited States. Some o f the countries represented
w ere Russia, Vietnam , China, Japan, India, and England. An approxim ate
enrollm ent num ber is necessary due to the som ewhat transient nature o f
the Prim ary students. Ethem ba Montessori is located in a small, semi-
rural town in Colorado. The school is in the residential area o f the
com munity, situated between a new upscale housing developm ent and a
large cluster o f m ature Ponderosa Pines.
Ethem ba M ontessori has been in operation for ten years and
during the tim e o f my research experienced a creative transform ation
o f its own. O riginally a non-profit M ontessori, it was sold to a for-profit
organization that is currently investing in M ontessori schools throughout
the m id-w est and western regions o f the United States
As part o f the purchase, plans were im m ediately put in place to build
a new school building, playgrounds, soccer field, sw im m ing pool and
expanded parking lot. The driveway to the school w as com pletely
reconfigured and moved to the opposite end o f the original parking lot,
forming a long, curving, and graded ramp onto the school’s property.
For the first year under new ownership, the original buildings w ere
still being used thus my study chronicles, in part, the story o f the
construction o f creativity, w ithin the reality o f a construction site. I
therefore, draw upon the m etaphor o f construction in the first series o f
vignettes presented in Chapter One. I also present the M ontessori term s o f
self-construction and inner-constructive force. Each term is related to the
development o f the self and I expand upon these term s in the descriptions
o f the s e lf throughout the study. It is important to keep in m ind, the m ulti
dimensionality o f what was being constructed during the course o f this
study, the children and teachers whom I observed, the school itself, and
m yself as a continuing qualitative researcher. All had a role to play in
creative labor o f this work.
This study began as an inquiry into the big ideas o f self, self-
expression, m eaning, and cultural significance as contributing elements to
m y proposed idea for a re-conceptualization o f creativity. I chose to
situate this study o f creativity in the cultural environm ent o f a M ontessori
school, because a global perspective pervades M ontessori philosophy and
curricular practices. The only w ay to truly re-conceptualize creativity is to
view the phenom enon through a m ulticultural lens and not ju st a Euro
centric one. One could ask the question. Is creativity found in only
W estern cultures? I f not, then we must begin to seriously study how other
cultures describe and express it.
In the following chapters, I offer several descriptors o f self, self
expression, m eaning and cultural significance. I connect each o f these
elements to evidence from neuroscience research and M ontessori
philosophy. I also present guiding definitions in this study related to self,
expression, meaning, and cultural significance here and will expand upon
them throughout the study.
The definition o f s e l f for this study is referenced from the work o f
Freeman (2000). He describes the self as the form ation that results as an
interactive perform ance betw een the individual and his world.
The definition o f self-expression used in this study is from W illis (1990).
He defines self-expression as com m unication. A ccording to W illis,
communication is active performance.
The definition o f m eaning cited in this study is from U hrm acher
(2002). He notes the distinction betw een cognitive m eaning and cultural
meaning. Cognitive meaning grows out o f individual inquiry into the nature
o f things and leads to understanding. Cultural meanings are relational and
shared within groups o f individuals (p.70).
The definition o f cultural significance is from the w ork o f critical
ethnographer, Paul Willis (1990). C ultural significance refers to the effort
o f an individual to find meaning, through com municative effort, w ithin a
culture. I have incorporated W illis’s idea o f cultural significance, because
I see a re-conceptualization o f creativity as an opportunity to begin a
dialogue w ithin the educational com m unity regarding the recognition o f
the creative voice o f all learners. In this study, creative voice is a w ay o f
defining the unique forms o f com m unication that each child expresses in
the classroom. For some children, creative expression may be a w atercolor
painting, for another the solving o f a m athem atical problem or it m ay
simply be illustrated through an expressive conversation w ith a friend.
Creativity is the expression o f self, in all its forms (Miller, 2000).
I have selected to adhere to a neurologically based description o f
self, expression, and m eaning in this study. Few would argue that each
human being has a brain. N euroscience research shows us that the brain is
biologically designed to create (C zem er, 2001). Neurons, the basic
building block o f the brain, continually form and re-form connections that
form meaning and influence w ho w e are and what we m ight become
(Freeman, 2000; W illis, 1990). Thus, by approaching these concepts
from a biological viewpoint I accom plish two things. First, I dem ocratize
the descriptions o f these com plex ideas and second, I can begin to offer
ideas that could broaden the term creativity. In this way, our
understanding can cross cultural barriers and not rely solely upon
philosophies that are prim arily from a W estern perspective. M y utilization
o f the word dem ocratize how ever does emerge from a W estern
philosophical tradition, connecting D ew ey’s (1916) reference to
democracy as free and associative behavior to a broader acceptance for
what is considered to be creative.
Exploring creativity from this perspective does not assume that there
will be one singular definition o f creativity, but many and varied
descriptors o f creative endeavor; therefore, my work can begin to build
bridges across cultural ideas concerning creativity and can contribute to a
more global understanding o f the phenom enon.
It would be nearly impossible and foolish to completely dismiss the
ideas from the dominant Western canon. I accept that cultural factors
influence neurological development but by in large, physiological neuro
systems are common to human beings (C zem er, 2001). By lim iting the
Western philosophical citations and putting in their place, neurological
evidence and literature from Asia, A frica and Native American
traditions, I begin to lay the foundation for a scientifically sound,
culturally sensitive conceptualization o f creativity.
These ideas encom pass intricate and finely integrated colors in the
painting o f human self-hood and form ation o f meaning. Individuals
have been grappling w ith the ideas o f self, m eaning and creativity for
centuries (Sternberg & Lubart, 1999). It w ould be an arrogant enterprise
to assume that with this study I could claim anything more than
qualitative associations between what I observed and the phenom ena
that I seek to describe. To that end, I present a glimpse into a cultural
environment that provides the possible seeds from which the idea o f
performance creativity m ight grow.
As a final comment, before the reader m oves on, the style o f this
dissertation is one that reflects the dialogic nature o f perform ance
ethnography. Each o f the seventeen vignettes that appear throughout the
study represents the authentic text o f the spoken word.
This is a vital com ponent o f perform ance ethnography. The power
o f the spoken word is ultim ately respected. W ords, phrases, and
statem ents reflect the culture, the attitude, the cultivated meaning o f the
participant(s). They are, in short, the essence o f self-expression.
We express ourselves by the w ords we choose (Denzin, 2003);
therefore, I would urge the reader to jo in m e in realizing the layers o f
m eaning to be discovered in the dialogue rich scenes that follow. I urge
the reader, to listen to the creative voices presented in this dissertation.
Foreword
“We may assert that it would be possible, by the renewing

o f education, to produce a better...person. ’’-Maria
Montessori
I am looking at a single red rose in a slender cobalt blue vase.
Beside the vase is a small globe o f the world. A table top flag displays the
view o f earth from outer space placed on a field o f dark blue. The shelf
below is slotted with wooden, rem ovable, inset geographic m aps o f the
world. Each o f the land masses, set in robin’s egg blue oceans, is multi
colored. There is a map o f the seven continents and m aps o f the
individual continents, each with the separated countries that form our
socio- political world. N ext to this shelf is a topographical globe and
assorted boxes with smaller maps and representative items: a doll from
Japan, chopsticks, a map o f London, currency from Canada, a collection
o f carved wooden Kiwi birds from N ew Zealand, m olded zebras, cheetahs,
giraffes, and elephants who would m ake their home on the Serengeti, sea-
shells from the coast o f Africa, and a striking batik cloth from India.
All o f these objects are located on white lam inated low shelves in the
center o f this particular M ontessori prim ary (ages 3-5) classroom . They
are part o f cultural work.
10
Cultural w ork is a specific area in M ontessori classroom s that
comprise o f varying materials, which include cultural artifacts, geo
political/natural/physical maps, social-cultural references, geographic
items, and objects o f study from the life and earth sciences.
I concentrate upon the rose, because it has significance for the
deeper im plications o f this study. The peace rose found in M ontessori
classrooms is a vehicle for creating peace in the w orld, one child at a time.
In a 1932 address delivered to the International Office o f Education in
Geneva, Switzerland, M aria M ontessori stated:
A ch ild ],. .subjected to the usual education has had not only
to withdraw within h im self but to dissim ulate his powers
in order to adapt h im self to the judgm ent o f the a d u lt.. .and
so the child performs the first task o f hiding his real self,
and then forgetting it or burying a w ealth o f expanding
life ... If the whole o f m ankind is to be u n ite d .. .all over the
surface o f the g lo b e... laws and treaties are not en o ugh... if
we wish for peace ...we m ust go back to the child (p. 3)
The purpose o f this study is to describe and interpret the elements
o f creativity as an ongoing process o f self-m aking as observed in a
Montessori learning environment, and I have been im pressed w ith the
‘peace rose’ as a continuing example o f how children construct
themselves through their interactions with others.
11
The use o f the ‘peace rose’ is borrowed and altered from the ‘talking
stick’ tradition o f some Native Am erican nations (Locust, 2005). The
‘talking stick ’ was commonly used in council circles to designate who had
the right to speak. W hen matters o f great concern came before the council,
the leading elder would hold the talking stick and begin the discussion.
W hen he finished w hat he had to say he w ould hold out the talking stick,
and w hoever w ished to speak after him w ould take it. In this m anner the
stick was passed from one individual to another until all who w ished to
speak had done so. The ‘talking stick’ tradition carries respect for free
speech and assures the speaker he has the freedom and pow er to say what
is in his heart w ithout fear o f reprisal or hum iliation (Locust, 2005). In
much the same way, I have observed small children use the ‘peace ro se’ in
matters o f misunderstanding, personal conflict, or hurt feelings.
Today, I am sitting in a child sized blue plastic chair at a sand
colored lam inate table awaiting two M ontessori teachers who have agreed
to share a few minutes with me to talk about creativity and M ontessori
philosophy at the end o f their teaching day. I gaze at the red rose and
consider the headlines o f the day.
12
Across many continents wars are being w aged, children are starving,
women and men are being denied basic human rights; some are being
bought and sold into slavery. There are numerous incidents o f civil unrest,
bombings, disease, racism , sexism, and ethnic genocide. H ow then, I ask
myself, as M ontessori did almost a century ago, do we, as educators,
create a more ju st and caring world? (M ontessori, 1932) W e m ight
begin by asking the question, who are our children?
M y thoughts in this regard are interrupted w hen Cindy and Diana
enter the room. Cindy, the assistant for this classroom , has a w arm and
vivacious personality. She immediately begins to spray the tables with
cleaner and wipes them down with paper towels. She and I have had an
ongoing joke about her pseudonym ; she chose her nam e, C indy, short for
Cinderella, because as an assistant teacher, she cleans, sw eeps, prepares
snacks, plans work with the lead teacher, presents lessons, helps w ith rest
time, lunches, along w ith a myriad o f other chores during the school day.
I am interested in getting her observations on the M ontessori perspective
as well as the lead teacher’s.
Diana sits down across from me at the table. She has been a prim ary
teacher at Ethemba M ontessori Academy for over eight years and calls
herself a practical life [pragmatic] M ontessori teacher.
13
“O f course, I ’ve read all o f M ontessori’s theories and books,” she
points out, “but I am m ore o f a hands-on, everyday, ‘what does the child
need at this m om ent’ M ontessori teacher.”
She is soft-spoken and has a smile that brightens her entire face
w hen she is talking about her children. I have been observing in her
classroom for a few days this week, so I begin our conversation by
inquiring,
“Do you have any questions for m e?”
She does have one.
“W hat did you see?” she asks.
I reply with enthusiasm ,
“I saw life, m ovem ent, activity, construction. I found m yself
moving around a lot in the classroom to catch it all. There is so much
energy in this room .”
She laughs softly,
“Y ou saw creativity.”
Cindy adds, as she is sweeping,
“C reativity is a celebration o f life activity.”
14
D iana continues
“The M ontessori classroom nurtures a child’s creativity.
It provides the foundation to assist in the construction o f w ho they are.
This is w hat we mean when we use the term, norm alization; it is reaching
an independent place where they can create themselves through interaction
with the environment.”
“So, w ould you say M ontessori practices listen to the creative voice o f
the child?” I ask
Diana thinks for a moment and replies,
“Yes, you are on the right track. Creativity in M ontessori term s is
reaching a place where the spirit, body and mind are w orking to becom e or
stated another way to construct one self. A child’s creative voice, as you
say, is the fullness of that expression.”
A New Way o f Looking at Creativity
The preceding vignette sets a stage for this dissertation that exam ines
the concept o f creativity as a m eaningful self construction w ithin a
M ontessori cultural environment. This is different from W estern
viewpoints o f creativity that are consistently related to the fashioning o f
unique observable product(s) or o f a certain kind o f p rocess (Feldm an,
1999; Hughes & Drew, 1984; V ygotsky, 1987).
15
G ardner (1993) and Csikszentm ihalyi (1997) have view ed creativity
as part o f culturally influenced systems models or as trait specific. Alfred.
W hitehead refers to creativity as self-making and as the actualization of
potentialities; however, his am biguity (Cloots, 2000) and focus upon an
abstract metaphysical philosophy o f creativity does not allude to a
practical biologically based theory related to education. W hitehead links
creativity to the Latin verb creare which translates ‘to p roduce’ but this
specifically, does not apply itself to the practical understanding o f creative
labor as defined by M ontessori or W illis. Both o f whom influence my
study and; therefore, present a challenge to prevailing W estern
perspectives o f creativity by encouraging an approach which em braces a
multi-dimensional and m ulti-cultural platform. This perspective includes
both the nature o f neuroscience and learning.
It should be noted that w hen I refer to Western, I am directly
referring to the traditional paradigm s o f thought related to W estern Europe
and the U nited States in regard to creativity research. To com pare and
contrast the nature o f these concepts, I will offer the following example.
Consider the ‘creative’ lives o f the scientist and educator G eorge
W ashington Carver, the popular, contemporary author Amy Tan and the
inventor Thom as Edison.
16
W hen I state ‘the creative lives’ I am attem pting to address the heart
o f this study, namely that it is the total o f life experiences that contributes
to creative potentiality and achievement. Carver could clearly be a
representative o f product-driven creativity. He was the inventor o f the
American favorite, peanut butter and over 324 other products derived from
peanuts. His w ork also led to 108 products from the sweet potato and 75
products from the pecan. Tan illustrates process-driven creativity related
to the act o f writing in her book, The Opposite o f Fate (2003) by stating,
“The muse is really the personal process by which you synthesize your life
with the w ork before you.” (p. 250) Finally, Edison’s trait o f incredible
scientific persistence (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996) is evident in the fact that
he and his associates w orked on at least 3000 different m aterials before
developing an efficient incandescent lamp, the electric light bulb (Pollard,
1995).
It w ould be difficult and unnecessary to assert that Carver, Tan or
Edison were not creative and it is certainly not my intention to do so.
However, I challenge the idea that creativity can be limited to specific
determinants. The creative expressions o f these three people represent
only three elements o f a highly complex and mutually shared ability, that
all human beings possess.
17
It would be equal folly to dism iss the cultural influences upon who
and what is considered creative (C sikszentm ihalyi, 1996). In this study, I
begin to present a m ulti-dim ensional perspective o f creativity which
supports a global description, thereby recognizing that not every culture
defines creativity in the same way. M y proposal for a re
conceptualization o f creativity disputes the idea that creativity can be
determined by a specific quantification or modality. A larger contextual
question extending beyond the scope o f this study, but nonetheless related
to it, might consider w hy some individuals and their expressions are
considered creative, while others are ignored?
T he H o w and W hy o f Creativity
Influenced by W illis (1990) and M ontessori (1964, 1966) I make
the distinction that creativity should not be isolated from the actuality o f
life itself. Thus, I am draw ing upon the biological fact that each o f us has
the basic building blocks o f creativity housed in our brains. One o f the
most powerful creative potentialities that individuals have is in their
constructive neurons. The average hum an being has over 100 billion
neurons.
18
N eurons are specialized cells, found in the brain, that exchange
m olecular information by way o f neurotransm itters (chemicals) that
form ulate cerebral connections that allow for us to experience learning,
think, speak, love, laugh, cry or visualize the w orld (Ratey, 2001). These
neural networks are continually changing patterns as we interact w ith the
w orld around us, thus creativity is as much o f a physiological event as it is
a cultural one.
This biological element is reflected in how s e lf is defined for this
study. S e lf is a form ation that results as an interactive perform ance
between the individual and his w orld (Freeman, 2000). Rather like
driving on a long and circuitous highway, creative activity and
achievem ent is a journey o f self.
So, while we may often ask the question: W hat is creative? I am
encouraging us to ask the question: How and why we are creative? Willis
(1990) describes creativity as a forward m om entum o f self; it is
recognizing who we are and who we could become. Exam ining creativity
from its external elements (product or process) will allow us to classify its
expression from only two dimensions.
19
I studied creativity from the vantage o f its internal construction which
included self-construction and the formation o f m eaning; therefore, this
study is a reflection o f another dimension. I am less concerned with what
it is we produce that is creative and m ore concerned w ith how and why we
are creative. In order to answer these questions, it is necessary to look at
creativity in a new way.
An Invitation
I am inviting educators to get below the surface o f creativity and look
deeper at the reasons for the w hy and how individuals are creative. There
are physical, biological, em otional, and cognitive aspects that influence
the creative self-making o f the learner (M ontessori, 1964). I offer
A rm strong (1998) as another educator cham pioning this way o f thinking:
Creativity has not been the subject o f intense focus, extensive

research, or high levels o f funding in A m erican education.
Typically, educators have relegated the topic o f creativity to
gifted education and research in creativity has been used to
identify children for adm ittance into gifted program s. By
limiting creativity to gifted education, educators have effectively
isolated it from the m ainstream o f A m erican education where it
could do the most good. Creativity is a p art o f every student’s
birthright, and by recognizing it as s u c h .. .a good start can be
m ade in bringing it to the fore o f every classroom , (p.98)
20
In order to study creativity in a re-conceptualized m anner, I have
interw oven threads from several disciplinary fields and consulted various
cultural perspectives regarding creativity. I will expand upon these in the
following chapters. My study is illustrating creativity as a living, inner
constructive w ork and this has led to an initiation o f a new term ,
perform ance creativity. I have not discovered anywhere in the current
literature a term that is able to encapsulate this integrated and enlarged
view o f creativity; therefore, I am introducing this new term into the
literature.
Performance Creativity
The term perform ance is defined, as active work or the carrying out o f
a purpose. For this study, the construction o f self is the active work and
the cultural m eaning one is able to draw from the environm ent through
self-expression is the purpose. In regard to education, classroom
environm ents are performance spaces (Denzin, 2003; W oods, 1996;
W orley, 1998), thus, my research is an effort to examine the re
conceptualized, performable nature o f creativity within the cultural
classroom spaces o f a Montessori school.
21
A re-conceptualization o f creativity includes four m ajor ideas: (1) self
construction as the art o f living, (2) sensorial im pressions as the conduit
for cultural m eaning, (3) self-expression as m anifested in rich and diverse
modes o f com m unication, and (4) creative identity as an indicator o f
cultural significance. These concepts resem ble the sym bolic creativity put
forth in Common Culture by Paul Willis (1990). W illis describes
symbolic creativity as the transforming art o f living in relation to the self,
and one’s identity within time and place.
For W illis, cultural significance is achieved when an individual or
group is able to establish their presence and find m eaning w ithin a culture.
I have expanded upon these concepts in this dissertation. In m y study, I
looked at four m ajor dimensions o f creativity, those o f self, self-
expression, meaning, and cultural significance. These dim ensions are the
elements o f perform ance creativity and are reflected in the questions that
guided my qualitative inquiry:
1. How do the practice(s) of a Montessori environment influence
creativity described as a performance? W ith this question, I was
looking at how the pervading curricular philosophy and living activity o f
the classroom culture either encourages or discourages the perform ance o f
creativity.
22
2. In what ways does the Montessori emphasis on individual
development contribute to the formation of self and self-expression?
With this question, I was in search o f the connections between what the
neurological literature states regarding the formation o f self and self-
expression and w hat I observed in a M ontessori classroom?
3. How does the Montessori environment affect the creation of
meaning and cultural significance for learners? W ith this question, I
was attending to the interactive event o f how the self derives meaning
from creative perform ance and is able to achieve significance within the
culture o f the classroom. In order to achieve cultural significance, one
needs to com m unicate their creative self; be recognized in a positive w ay
within the m ainstream culture; be able to draw m eaning from that culture,
and to have the pow er to influence the culture in a significant way.
4. How could the findings of this study serve to inform educational
theory and/or practice? This question addresses the ultimate goal that I
have for this study which is to influence educational theory and practice
by opening a dialogue for a re-conceptualization o f creativity and to begin
to think about how we, as educators, m ight possibly begin to reshape
curriculum in order to listen more attentively to the creative voices o f our
learners
23
An Operational Definition
The operational description o f creativity that guided this study is stated
here. Creativity is a perform ance. It is a m ulti-faceted hum an
phenom enon that m ay lead to a tangible and/ or sym bolic expression o f
self, meaning, and/or cultural significance. Creativity is living,
developmental, transform ative activity which is characterized by
concentrated immersion in self-construction and grounded aesthetics.
Creative activity involves qualitative m eaning m aking w ithin a culture,
and is shaped by an individual’s subjective experiences or qualia, and
perceived cultural significance.
Over the next few chapters, I will endeavor to de-construct as well as
synthesize and support this definition by offering several vignettes and
quotations from M ontessori children, teachers, and parents w hile m aking
connections to related literature. It should be pointed out that for the
majority o f my time in the field I was a participant observer. I interacted
with the students, parents and teachers on a daily basis and often assisted
the teachers by working w ith the children with the M ontessori m aterials. I
was engaged in field work for over 160 hours and was present in the
school from February through June, the latter h a lf o f the school year.
24
All o f the quotations were collected from the participants during the
course o f a school day. I also was careful to capture direct quotes during a
conversational dialogue, like the one presented in the vignette at the
beginning o f this foreword.
Performance Ethnography
A b rief w ord should be included here concerning the qualitative
method o f research that I employed. I will elaborate further on this m ethod
in Chapter 5. To m y present knowledge this is the first dissertation o f its
kind to incorporate perform ance ethnography within a M ontessori
educational environm ent in the study o f creativity.
Perform ance ethnography is an integration o f perform ance art,
anthropology, social scientific inquiry, and ethnography. Performance
ethnography is an attem pt to get close to the face o f hum anity
(Conquergood, 1985). Perform ance ethnographic data collection involves
dialogue with participants and the idea that participants are co-performers
in the research project. A t all times, during my field work, I concentrated
on the grounded aesthetics o f daily life or put another way, the ability to
look at the art inherent in the act o f living (W illis, 1990). I was
continually aware o f w hat participants were actually saying. Direct quotes
are the essential ingredients to the performance ethnographic script.
25
The Content and Design o f Chapters
As a guide to the reader and because this dissertation is arranged in a
non-traditional way, I am providing an outline for the follow ing chapters.
Chapter One presents eight vignettes which serve tw o purposes.
First, the vignettes, also referred to as scenes, introduce and help to situate
the reader within the cultural environm ent o f Ethem ba M ontessori
Academy. Second, they contextualize the four dim ensions o f perform ance
creativity w ithin this study. C hapter One also introduces the question:
H ow do the practices o f a M ontessori environment influence creativity
described as perform ance?
Chapter Two develops the conceptual framework for perform ance
creativity and connects multi-cultural viewpoints from global literature
with observations and conversational dialogues w hile in the field.
Chapter Three presents a series o f six scenes that address two o f
the research questions: In w hat ways does the M ontessori em phasis on
individual development contribute to the form ation o f s e lf and self-
expression? H ow does the M ontessori environm ent affect the creation o f
meaning and cultural significance fo r learners?
Chapter Four offers the interpretive findings from the study and
clearly defines how the data were analyzed.
26
Chapter Five provides a b rie f sketch o f the roots o f perform ance
ethnography and the rationale for w hy I selected a perform able
ethnographic approach for this study.
Chapter Six presents some narrative examples o f perform ance
ethnography pieces and addresses the question. How could the fin d in g s o f
this study serve to inform educational theory and/or practice? This
chapter also states the study’s lim itations, and implications, and provides
suggestions for future research.
Chapter Seven presents the perform ance ethnography (text only) that
will be presented at the doctoral defense.
The Performance Commences
As one begins to read this dissertation, I would encourage a
reflection upon the following quotation, from the 1963 children’s book by
Virginia Burton, L ife Story: In F ive Acts. It is an idea that com es close to
capturing the essence o f perform ance creativity.
A nd now it is your life story and it is you who play the

leading role. The stage is set; the time is now and the place is
w herever you are. Each passing second is a new link in the
endless chain o f time. The dram a o f life is a continuous
story, ever new ever changing and wondrous, (p .l)
27
CHAPTER ONE
Constructing a Culture
“ The playground is smaller now, but they are making a
better world fo r us. ”-Nathaniel (age 5)
The road leading to Ethemba M ontessori A cadem y is under
construction. They are widening the road and re-grading the incline. The
four way intersection has witnessed a num ber o f car accidents and
tragically some have included fatalities. The m ost recent was a fatal crash
involving young teenagers. Orange cones block the school’s entrance, so
cars are routed through a wooded cluster o f quarter to half m illion dollar
homes. As I approach the newly paved im pressively curvaceous school
driveway, I see a crest o f snow frosting Pikes Peak through the tops o f the
Ponderosa Pines.
“What room are you in today?” my youngest son inquires from the
backseat.
“Yellow” I answer.
“O h ... I really miss M iss Elizabeth in the yellow room .”
28
“W hy?” I ask, curious about his response in light o f his usual desire to
distinguish him self from the younger Prim ary children now that he is in
the Lower Elementary classroom.
“Because, he pauses, Ms. Elizabeth knows who I am .”
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"The goal o f M ontessori education is to guide the child
toward an initial exam ination o f the question: Who am I? ”
Children o f the Universe (2002)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
II
I hear the crunch o f gravel under m y tires as I pull into a tem porary
parking space, outlined w ith m ore orange cones. To my right, I see steel
girders framing the outline o f the new building. They stand in a strange
contrast to the living shade o f the tow ering Ponderosa Pines that surround
us. The construction w orkers have already begun to gather. They carry
steaming thermoses o f coffee and are speaking to each other in a blend o f
Spanish and English.
A grey BMW, followed by a red H yundai m inivan, then a forest
green Saturn wagon, and finally, a black Lincoln N avigator edge behind
me forming a line for the carpool drop-off. I rem ind my sons to take their
lunch boxes and backpacks, as they open the car doors.
29
I pull my field note folder out from my briefcase on the passenger side
floor. As we wind our way around the cars, w e are greeted by Cindy,
Diana, and Elizabeth. They are guiding children down over the painted
green wooden bridge and through the playground gate as two other
classroom assistants are releasing children from car seats along the line o f
cars.
The playground fence has been moved further in this m orning and it
looks like three trees have been marked to be cut dow n to m ake the
eventual parking lot larger. The metal swing sets have been removed and
the lower field, which has been used by the older children to play recess
soccer and flag football, is now blocked with construction materials. The
log cabin playhouse seems crow ded now, as it sits on crushed stone and
overshadows the nearby sandbox. The picnic tables have been moved
closer to the sand colored school building.
A multi-colored rainbow shaped ‘W elcom e’ sign painted along the
wall is partially hidden by the moveable basketball hoops that have been
m igrated closer to the door. The half-buried giant sized black tires (big
enough, so a three year old can hide inside the rim) now form the border
against the encroaching playground fence
30
As we enter the door, m y sons already several steps ahead of me,
give me a w ave and weave their w ay down the hallw ay to their
classrooms. The hallways are narrow , lined w ith hooks and shelving.
Large window s punctuate the hallw ay and on the opposite side, classroom
doors are painted in purple, yellow, blue, red, pink green and gold. The
color o f the door signifies the nam e o f the room . Some o f the colors
represent a color used on the counting/num ber beads, a M ontessori
mathematics material. These beads are the concrete exam ple o f units (1-
2-3-4 etc.). In other words, the num ber one is one red bead; tw o beads are
green; three are pink, four are yellow , five is blue, six is purple (lavender);
and so on. This is an example o f how the physical environm ent becomes
the curriculum (Montessori, 1966).
There are parents, in a hurry to join the com m ute to work, some
visiting casually with teachers, some with babies in carriers and others
assisting their children with the rem oval o f coats and backpacks who
cluster outside the classroom doors. C hildren’s voices and laughter are
intermixed with good-bye hugs and parents greeting each other, friends
and acquaintances. At each door, a teacher or classroom assistant meets
and warmly greets each child that enters the room .
31
As I enter the Yellow Room, I am consciously thinking about how
each o f my senses will be needed in order to write this story. The air is
filled w ith the citrus o f freshly sliced oranges. Five large w indow s, along
the back wall provide ample light for the room. A Christm as cactus,
spider plant and Queen Pathos plants have been placed on the long and
w ide w indow shelf. Fresh yellow chrysanthemums in a clear glass vase
and a CD player with a number o f CDs set on the shelf as well.
Two three- year-old girls are working with natural w ood blocks on
the carpeted h a lf o f the classroom. The rem aining fourteen children are
busily engaged in drawing with m arkers at the tables in the front o f the
room , or doing dry transfer work, which includes taking ladles o f differing
sizes and m oving objects (in this case polished glass pieces) into various
sized bowls. Some o f the children are pouring water through a funnel into
different sized m iniature glass bottles. Two boys are placing pieces in a
wooden puzzle o f the world.
Each prim ary classroom at Ethem ba M ontessori, including the
Y ellow Room , has tile flooring on the front h a lf where practical life
activities (pouring, simple classifying, polishing, cleaning, art work,
easels, sand tables, and water work) are done.
32
The snack table and chairs are also located here. The further h a lf o f
the room is carpeted and has an area for a circle or gathering together and
open spaces for floor w ork which include language, cultural, mathem atics
and sensorial m aterials and com puter activities. The m aterials are
arranged in sequential order from simplest to the m ore advanced and
placed on low white laminated shelves.
Along the north wall o f this room, there are bold photographs o f
animals whose first letter in their names m atch the alphabet letters below,
one animal for each letter. In the yellow room , a num ber o f French
Impressionist prints hang on the wall over the practical life m aterials and
on the opposite wall, children’s art work is displayed. T oday, there are
green shamrocks, gold glittered rainbows, and m ulti-colored Japanese
lanterns made out o f paper.
The children made the lanterns as part o f a unit on Japan. For the
past few weeks, the cultural area and activities during circle tim e have
featured posters, maps, representative anim als, plants traditional/historic
clothing, and images o f cities, rural areas and geographic features o f
Japan. A parent, who is from Japan, visited the classroom one day and
taught the children phrases in Japanese and brought in Japanese food,
music, and art work.
33
Each prim ary room is designed so that the sinks, tables, shelves,
chairs, and objects displayed on the wall are placed to comfortably fit the
physical size and perspective o f a young child. I find a space on the carpet
beside two girls building a house with the w ooden blocks and sit down
w ith folder in hand. The children in the room continue to talk among
themselves as they w ork and the noise level rises and falls like a wave. I
hear small rivulets o f conversation.
“Can I play here?”
“I w ant to play with som ebody”
“You d o n ’t have to take an orange slice, if you don’t want to.”
“W hy are you draw ing pictures o f houses?”
“Because we love each other”
“There aren ’t any leprechauns here, but there are tigers.”
The tw o girls building with the w ooden construction blocks do not
give me a second look. These M ontessori learners are familiar with me. I
have been observing and assisting with lessons for a couple o f weeks now.
This has afforded me the freedom to ‘eavesdrop’ as it were, on the
conversations that accom pany the work o f these small learners without
engaging their curiosity.
34
They are each placing blocks in separate com ers o f a ‘h o u se’. It
does not appear at first, that they are working together, how ever, it
becomes clear as they continue to work.
“W here should we put the stairs?”
“Do we want the stairs to go to the treasure?”
“W here is the treasure?”
“I haven’t put it in the special room yet?”
“Is the room on the second floor or near the dog?”
“Is it a mean dog?”
“N o.”
“I have a dog.”
“W ill he live in our house?”
“The treasure should be next to the dog.”
“W hy?’
“In case bad guys w ant to take our treasure.”
“L et’s put the treasure in here.”
They place a rectangular shaped block into a ziggurat shaped
structure that is located in w hat m ight be construed as a courtyard. They
begin to build towers around the ziggurat, three or four inches taller than
the house.
35
They do not speak to each other. This appears to be a simultaneous
and spontaneous thought. O ne o f the towers, however, is not placed
carefully and topples down over the house, which sustains considerable
damage. They stop their work, assessing the disarrayed blocks.
“It’s okay, one o f them says, “W e’ll just start over.”
M iss Elizabeth returns from the playground gate handing a small
brass bell to a little girl who is placing a book entitled Jet B e d (an
emergent reader story about a child who dreams that his bed turns into a
jet and takes him to an exciting new land to explore.) back on the reading
shelf. The girl rings the bell tw ice and the other children respond by
silence. She says in a clear, confident voice.
“Tim e to put your w ork aw ay and come to circle.”
The children pick up their w ork and proceed to the shelves where
they place the work, and then find their nam e on the blue tape circle on the
carpet. The girls working with the blocks, do not speak to one another,
instead they seem to enjoy the clatter that the w ooden blocks make as the
toss them casually into the plastic container. Chattering conversations
continue until Miss Elizabeth jo in s the circle and says,
“Good morning. I w ould like you to close your eyes and take three
deep b re a th s...o n e ....tw o ...th re e ...N o w , I want you to im agine that you
are on a p la n e.. .traveling to A sia .. .what would you see?”
36
The prepared environment acts as a window to reality and
allows the child to discover this reality through organized
activity. Within the p rep a red environment o f the M ontessori
classroom children are allow ed to engage in spontaneous
purposeful activities under the guidance o f the teacher
(Montessori, 1964)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Living A ct o f Performance
Perform ance is alive and perform ances have a vital energy (Paget,
2000). The same can be said o f the child in the M ontessori classroom ,
who by playing the role o f a learner endeavors to actualize his/her w ork in
tangible ways. The child is involved in working upon the environm ent to
change him self. As demonstrated by my son’s com ment about his form er
teacher, “ She knows who I am .” This statement illustrates the intent o f
M ontessori curriculum and culture because it em phasizes the personal
reality o f self formation. To a M ontessori educator it im plies creative self
construction (M ontessori, 1966).
37
Another exam ple o f the living aspect o f performance can be found
in the second vignette, in which I describe one o f the prim ary M ontessori
classrooms. Children, ranging in age from three to four are actively
engaged in work. To be able to m ake the distinction between w ork and
p la y is important for anyone looking at the Montessori environment.
Montessori materials are designed to provide a concretion o f tasks;
through work w ith the materials a child constructs him self (M ontessori,
1964). W hen the two girls were w orking with the wooden blocks, they
were attempting a task, nam ely to construct a house in which they could
place a treasure. A lthough to som e, this may have been interpreted as
play, if we look closely at their conversation, we see that it has a directed
purpose and according to the definition, can be recognized as w ork and
thus a living creative perform ance.
Performance is Communicative
M ontessori classroom s are spaces w here teachers and learners
become engaged in m ultitudinous form s o f human communication.
While observing in the Y ellow R oom I saw students speaking, being
silent, moving, sitting, working, follow ing directions, and engaging in
extemporaneous dialogue.
38
Student and teacher interactions, student conversations, signals the
teacher used to gain the attention o f the class, by the ringing o f a small
bell, visual text (the animal alphabet), the artw ork hanging on the wall,
and the purposeful work being done by the students expressed multiple
forms o f communication.
Ill
The windows are open in the Pink Room , letting in a crisp breeze on
this sunny M arch day. Outside I can hear the sound o f heavy m achinery
moving mounds o f gravel. The bulldozer is grading the space in front o f
the playground for the new parking lot. Inside eighteen three year olds sit
in a carpeted circle. Their active little bodies are still. They are in
M ontessori, terms, making silence. Each m orning, they come together in
a circle, breathe deeply and make silent their m ovem ent and their voices.
They are focusing their minds and senses on the silence within.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“The silence is to open yo u r heart to loving a n d caring...open your m ind
to the w orld...to refine yo u r senses...listen to the world around
you...really listen... ’’
—Gaya, M ontessori Primary Teacher
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
39
Performance is Sensorial
Performance is sensorial (Denzin, 2003). M ontessori placed
param ount emphasis upon the education o f the senses (M ontessori, 1966).
M ontessori activities, in addition to m aterials, are designed for learners to
refine the differential perception o f stim uli by m eans o f repeated exercises
(M ontessori, 1964). There is also an underlying motive o f the M ontessori
experience to create a more diverse appreciation o f who we are as human
beings; therefore, the vignette on children m aking silence is an illustration
o f how developing a silence within, allow s for us to pay closer attention to
those around us within the classroom com m unity (M ontessori, 1966).
IV
As I enter the school drivew ay this m orning, it is snowing. Large
fluffy flakes settle on the green picnic tables w here ju st yesterday, I sat
and had lunch with a couple o f upper elem entary students, two boys,
Charlie and Harry. As we ate potato chips, I asked them w hat was
important to them about school.
“We are here to learn about things, like m ath, but we are also here to
know about what we like to do.” replies ten year old Charlie with a grin.
His eyes are partially hidden by a ball cap.
40
“W hat do you like to do?” I asked.
“Right now we are studying about the solar system and the
constellations. That’s pretty interesting. We are designing
the constellations on the ceiling o f our classroom. You should
com e and see it.”
“I will. Thank you. Tell me, why do you like learning about the
constellations?” I inquired further.
“I sometimes go cam ping in the mountains and w hen I look up at
night, all I can see is the stars. I did not know they all had names. It’s like
each one o f them is im portant.”
“How about you? W hat is important to you about school?” I ask
our other lunch companion, eleven year old, Harry.
“I think the most im portant thing about com ing to this school is that
my teachers listen to what I say.”
I was curious to know w hat these boys thought about creativity. So,
I asked them.
“I ’m wondering w hat you think creativity is, I m ean w hat does it
mean when you are creative?’
H arry answers quickly, “Creativity is a lot o f w ork.”
“T hat’s interesting,” I reply, “Can you tell me m ore about the kind o f
work that is creative?”
41
“It’s kind o f like when I am writing in m y jo u rn al.”
“Or, w hen we are working on the map o f C hina.” interjects Charlie
“Oh, ya, we are painting a really large piece o f w ood and it is a map
of China. W e are using little pebbles for the G reat W all and pieces o f rice
for the agricultural areas. I think we are going to use gold glitter for the
mountains.”
“So, w hen you are working, you are being creative?”
I asked.
“I think being creative is working really hard to m ake something that
you like.” said Charlie.
I walk through the gate, as the w et flakes continue to fall on the
picnic tables, and enter the school to begin my second day o f observations.
“We know how to fin d pearls in the shells o f oysters, g o ld in the
mountains... but we are unaware o f the creative nebulae that each child
hides inside h im self when he enters the w orld to renew
mankind. "(Montessori, 1964)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
42
In the preceding scene, the two upper elementary students, Harry
and Charlie pointed out plainly that they w ere able to make connections to
their own experiences and interests, to com m unicate their creativity
though their w ork and to be heard by their teachers.
Self-expression is clearly a form o f com m unication (W illis 1990).
H arry’s com m ent about journal writing and C harlie’s description o f the
map o f China as being creative lends itself to the idea that o n e’s self
expression is an attempt to communicate or put another way, an
opportunity to perform.
The Pink Room has a life sized flam ingo painted on the door and I
enter carefully today, so as not to disturb the class. The children are sitting
at circle and I am w elcom ed immediately by the teacher to jo in the circle.
“Today is Friday. On Fridays, we play our musical instrum ents.”
She rem inds the children. “Will and Jasm ine will you bring the musical
instrum ent baskets to the middle o f the circle? She requests.
A three year old brunette girl in a pink jogging suit and W ill, who is
almost four, in jeans and a Spiderman t-shirt, go to the cultural area and
pick up two bowl shaped baskets brim ming with percussion instruments,
tambourines, bells, triangles and small drums. The baskets are passed to
each child and each selects their own instrument.
43
Gaya, the lead teacher for the Pink Room asks a little boy sitting
next to her to begin to set the rhythm with his drum. He starts with a slow
‘turn, turn, ta-tum ’
Each o f the children enter in, when they choose, w ith their
instrument. The result is a wonderful blend o f percussion and bells. Gaya
pulls a number o f lam inated cards from behind her. She holds one up. It
says “Faster” . There is an immediate excitem ent to the beat. Then, she
holds up another card w hich reads “Softer” . The music softens. A nother
says, “Louder” and again, the excitement ripples through the circle. She
points to the “Louder”. Giggles are heard ju st below the clim bing decibels
o f percussion and bells. Then she holds up a card that says, “ Silence” .
The music suspends and the children place their instrum ents in front o f
them.
A few m inutes later, I am sitting on the floor near the language area.
M ontessori language m aterials in the prim ary room s focus on:
Oral Expression and Storytelling (Listening/Circle Tim e)
Reading (Books and Classroom Library)
Grammar (Small items to letter association)
For example: A m iniature basket, bear, band-aid, and boat for the letter B.
Learners would place the items beside the appropriate letter.
44
L inking sounds and sym bols (The M oveable Alphabet)
These are loose letters, consonants are pink and vowels are blue. Learners
use them to build words.
Writing (M etal Insets) (Stencils)
M etal insets are cut out shapes that both the interior and exterior space can
be traced. M ontessori designed the original insets by concentrating on the
shapes that are obvious in the immediate physical environment. She
simply observed the spatial frameworks that occur in man-made and
natural structures: triangles, rectangles, circles, squares, trefoils, and
octagons are some exam ples (M ontessori, 1964).
Sandpaper letters
(Individual w ooden tablets with single letters cut out o f sandpaper applied
to them)
A three year old boy, Joshua, walks over to me carrying the sandpaper
letters which sit on a covered shallow tray o f white sand. Consonants are
affixed to pink tablets and vowels to blue. He places the letters and tray
next to me and goes to get a rug. He returns and rolls a burnt orange rug
out from left to right. The rug is about two feet by four feet. He puts the
tray and letters on the rug in front o f us. He looks at me with deep
chestnut colored eyes.
45
“Will you give me a lesson with the sand letters?”
I put down my field note folder, smile at him and say, “W ould you
like to choose the letters or should I?”
“You can choose.” He replies.
I choose B, L and R and the vowel E.
We open the lid from the sand tray. I place the letter E in front o f him.
“W hat sound is this?”
“E h”
“M ay I show you how to trace the sound “eh” in the sand?” I
inquire.
I trace the letter in the sand with my finger. Then, I ask him.
“M ay 1 show you with you, with your finger?”
He gives me his hand and we trace the letter in the sand.
“N ow would you like to trace the letter “eh” in the sand by
yourself?”
He shakes his head, intense on his work. He traces the letter.
I take the tablet with the letter E and place it closer in front o f him.
“W ould you like to trace the letter ‘eh ’?”
He takes his finger and traces the sandpaper.
46
“This is w hat ‘e h ’fe e ls like.” I say to him.
He traces it twice. I p ick up the tablet and place it next to me.
“W here is ‘eh ’? I ask.
“N ext to you” H e answers.
I place the tablet on the top o f my head.
“W here is ‘eh ’?”
He laughs. “On top o f your head”
“W here can you put ‘e h ’?” I ask, handing it to him.
He places it on his head. We laugh together.
“W here is ‘eh ’?” he asks, still giggling.
“On top o f your head” I reply.
He places it behind him.
“W here is ‘eh’, now ?” he asks.
“Behind you” 1 answer.
Joshua places the tablet to the right side o f the rug and picks up the letter
B. “L et’s do this one next.” He says.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Imagination can only have a sensorial basis. By observation, things
present them selves to our senses, and we collect fro m the external world
the m aterial f o r the im agination (Montessori, 1995).
47
Linking the Sensorial to Meaning
A ccording to M ontessori philosophy, the more opportunity a child
receives to unite reason to her interactions with the environm ent in an
active, sensorial, communicative way, the more qualitative her sense o f
reality will become. In Montessori thinking, the child’s im agination is
what educates (Lillard, 1996). In term s o f instructional practice,
M ontessori writes:
W e are helpless without the im agination.. .when w e propose

to introduce the universe to the child, what but the
im agination can be o f use to us [as teachers]? I consider it a
crime to present subjects to an imaginative faculty [the
sensorial brain] in such a m anner that m ight deny its use and
on the other hand to require children to m em orize w hat they
have not been able to visualize, (p. 53)
In the fifth vignette, I offer the scene o f im provisational music
making in the Pink Room as an exam ple o f how sensorial refinem ent
(Louder, Softer, Faster, and Slower) supports the developm ent o f the
imagination. By guiding the children in the discrimination o f m usical
tempo and timbre, the teacher provides an opportunity for children to
actively experience the lived reality o f m usic making. If as E isner (1994)
states sensorial refinem ent transforms the consciousness, then the meaning
that a learner derives from refining the senses most likely will influence
their memories, actions, desires, and ability to discriminate reality
(Freeman, 2000).
48
The second section o f the fifth vignette presents a scene where I am
asked to give a sandpaper letter lesson. A gain, by concentrating on the
senses o f listening, touch, and sight, this lesson dem onstrated the
M ontessori emphasis on the sensorial as a conduit to meaning, which the
learner creates by activity and experience. A ccording to M ontessori,
children have confluent tendencies in m eaning m aking which include
exploration, order, imagination, m anipulation, repetition, and precision
(Lillard, 1996). The lesson provided Joshua with the chance to hear the
sound o f the letter. It is M ontessori practice to present the sound o f the
letter, not the name. N otice that I did not say, “This is the letter E”
instead, I said ‘eh ’. As a result, it is interesting to listen to M ontessori
children reciting the English alphabet. It sounds like ah, bb, ck, dd, eh,
and so forth.
As Joshua traced the letter in the sand, he was able to touch ‘E ’ and
experience what ‘E 'fe e ls like. B y tracing the sandpaper, touch again
registers through the senses with m ore precision and offers another avenue
for neural construction (Czem er, 2001)
VI
The Pink Room has a large rectangular aquarium with several
colorful tropical fish. They swim silently with graceful flourishes of
bright blue, yellow, orange and black.
49
The gentle hum o f the filter is a part o f the classroom ’s atmosphere. At
the door, there is a prospective parent, a mother w ho is considering
sending her young daughter to Ethemba M ontessori. The little girl walks
confidently over to the aquarium and watches the fish intently, standing on
her toes to see the fish better.
“Do you grade the students on their w ork?” asks the parent.
She is glancing around the room and observing eighteen three-year
olds working with materials designed to teach concepts in m athematics,
language, cultural awareness and practical life.
“M ontessori philosophy and curriculum are m ore concerned with
the developmental process o f a child’s ability. “Replies Gaya. “Grades are
not considered important, neither are they given according to M ontessori
practice Instead, we look at w hat the child is actually able to do. W e do
this by developmental checklists.” She pulls a folder out from plastic file
box. The developmental checklist resembles an Excel data sheet. For
each cell a specific task is stated. For example one o f the tasks under
language is ‘recognizes letter sounds’ beside this statem ent are boxes
‘needs w ork’; ‘working on’, ‘showing progress’, and ‘m astered’.
The little girl steps away from the aquarium and walks over to the
pink tower. She begins to remove the graduated pink blocks from the
M ontessori pink tower.
50
The tow er consists o f ten graduated pink cubes that arranged from
the largest base to the smallest cube. Its purpose, pedagogically speaking,
is to teach the concept o f incremental size increase/decrease by cubic inch.
The blocks are wooden and they are painted pink. The tow er stands about
three feet tall and the girl is carefully placing the cubes in a semi-circular
arrangem ent around her on the carpet.
The prospective parent and Gaya w alk tow ards the little girl, who is
now beginning to re-construct the tower.
“I have a feeling she w ould be into everything, here. It seems
really very free. The children appear to be able to choose w hat work they
want to do.” states the parent.
“Yes, this is the children’s space. It w ould be her room. In a
M ontessori prim ary classroom, children w ork to construct themselves with
freedom and guidance.” Answers Gaya.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“Each ch ild has an inner constructive fo rce. The ch ild 's creative spirit
constructs his mind step by step until he becom es p o ssessed o f memory,
the p o w er to understand and ability to think. ” (M ontessori, 1967)
H—I—^—I— I—I— !—I—I—I— I—)—)—)—(—I—I—(—I—I—I—I—I—I—I—1— I—I—1—I—I—I—f—I— I— I— I—)—I— I—I—I—I—I— I— i— I-
51
VII
In the Orange Room today, I am assisting five year olds writing in
their journals. Journal writing is an important part o f the w riting
experience for older Montessori learners. Journals provide the
opportunity for children to express themselves through w riting, as well as
practice their writing. The topic today is “your favorite insect” . This is a
topic that was decided during circle time this morning by the children.
Som e o f the top contenders for topics had been to write about jellyfish,
sharks, or poisonous frogs; how ever, after suggestions w ere offered,
Sharon, the lead teacher pointed out that they had been talking about
insects this m onth as part o f cultural work. The topic o f ‘favorite insect’
had been provided by the general open conversation that ensued.
“Can we write about any insect, M iss Sharon?”
“W hat insect do you think we ought to write about?”
“I like bees because they sting.”
“I like bees because they buzz.”
“I like butterflies.”
“W hy?”
52
“Because sometimes they sit on your shoulder and they are all
different colors.”
“I like ladybugs because they have spots.”
“I like praying mantis, because they blend in w ell.”
For the past few moments, I have been w atching A m elia as she
writes the w ord F-A-V-O-R-I-T-E. She has long w ispy platinum blonde
hair and is w earing a lavender shirtdress w ith a D isney princess on the
front. She picks up a purple marker and then a pink one. She has written
in all capital letters: M Y FAVORITE INSECT IS A B U TTE R FL Y .
THEY ARE PIN K AND PURPLE.
She is draw ing pink and purple butterflies hanging ov er a green
meadow by a red house with a chimney and a yellow sun.
I ask her, “Did you ever see a pink and purple butterfly ?”
“N o,” she says confidently, “but I know they are out th ere.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The construction o f the s e lf is reached by efforts o f ones own
experiences. We m ust await its developm ent with respect. ”
(Hainstock, 1986)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
53
VIII
The tem perature today is 75 degrees and the warm sun is filtered
down through the Ponderosa needles. The coats o f twenty six four and
five year olds are heaped in little piles on the green picnic tables. The
children are running, laughing, skipping, swinging on swings, kicking
balls, playing in the log cabin, shooting basketballs toward a sm aller child-
size hoop, draw ing with chalk on the concrete pathway, and digging and
sifting sand w ith yellow Tonka construction trucks, backhoes, bulldozers,
and front end loaders. The air is filled with the sounds o f ham m ers against
the ro o f o f the new building. Each ham mer tap is accom panied by a squeal
o f laughter or a boisterous yell.
I am balancing my steps along the edge o f a railroad tie shaped
piece o f w ood and holding five year old N athaniel’s hand, who is walking
next to m e four inches below on the gravel. He has asked me to ‘p lay’
with him.
“O kay,” he says, “You are on the side o f the mountain and you
better be careful or you will fall off.”
“W ill you be there to catch m e?” I ask.
“Sure, but you m ight want to pretend that you are a giraffe.”
54
“W hy?”
“Because giraffes d o n ’t fall off m ountains.” He answ ers assuredly.
We are joined by Cheryl. She has sandy hair that is w orn in a long braid.
She is wearing blue jeans and a white turtleneck w ith em broidered pink
and yellow flowers at the collar. She smiles up at me, grabs ho ld o f my
hand, and says,
“Are you glad you cam e to school today?”
“Yes, I am. I like school.” I reply, returning her smile.
“I am glad that I cam e to school.” She states em phatically. W e have
reached the end o f the piece o f wood. I step dow n onto the gravel
playground.
“W hy?” I inquire.
“Because, I can w ork.” She says
“Do you like your w ork?”
“Yes, it is what I do.” She answers.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“We see the child, but we can not say this is all w e see. We have to look
at the potential o f what she can become. She is a hum an being, constantly
changing, constantly moving. Elizabeth, M ontessori Prim ary’ Teacher
55
The Culture o f the Child
The final three vignettes in this chapter portray elem ents o f cultural
significance (W illis, 1990) that are present in the M ontessori environment.
Cultural significance refers to the communicative effort or performance o f
individuals and/or groups to find meaning within the culture. Dimensions
o f cultural significance include the ability to influence the culture, to be
recognized by the culture and to express oneself.
In the sixth vignette, the lead teacher o f the Pink Room , Gaya
explains to an interested parent that in Ethemba M ontessori’s primary
classrooms, children are allow ed to freely explore and interact with the
m aterials and w ith each other. As a result, the children are recognized as
unique individuals, each at their own level o f developm ent, and having the
freedom to exercise influence upon their space.
In the seventh vignette, the lead teacher o f the five y ear old room,
Sharon, guides the students in a writing activity for their journals;
however, she provides the freedom o f choice and expression for the
learners to select the topic and as we can see with A m elia, im aginative
self-expression takes the form o f pink and purple butterflies.
56
Finally, in the eighth vignette, w e hear how Cheryl defines herself
by her work, by what she does and thus is able to express herself through
performance. Taken as a composite whole these three scenes dem onstrate
a consistent atmosphere for cultural significance w ithin this particular
M ontessori environment, which will be explored in m ore depth in C hapter
Three.
Constructing a Culture
The purpose o f this chapter is to introduce the reader, through a
series o f b rief vignettes, to the culture o f a M ontessori learning
environment. Specifically, the vignettes have been chosen to
contextualize the four major elements o f perform ance creativity: self, self
expression, m eaning and cultural significance and to address the question.
How do the practices o f a M ontessori environm ent influence creativity
described as performance?
The Idea o f Performance
There is a directive purpose, w hether implied or obvious, extrinsic or
intrinsic to the act o f performance. Put another way, perform ance is a
concretion rather than an abstraction o f experience (W oods, 1996).
57
Performance, as I described previously, can also be defined as active
work, the execution o f a task, the carrying out o f a purpose.
It may be helpful for the reader to know that the definition o f practice
encompasses the M ontessori curriculum and philosophy. Classroom
practice is reflected in what the teacher does, the principles that guide this
action, the lessons, the activities, the w ork and the attitudes towards
teaching and learning. P erform ance, as I have described earlier in this
chapter, is w ork or activity and because this is a study about creative
performance, the emphasis is upon the performable dim ensions o f self
construction, self-expression, the form ation o f meaning and the effort o f
cultural significance.
This study is hybrid betw een a traditional ethnography and a
performance ethnography, so it relies upon dialogue and spoken text to
‘tell the research story.’ (D enzin, 2003) I would encourage readers to
consider this chapter and the follow ing two chapters as a collection o f
scenes in a dram a related to perform ance creativity as it can be observed
in a M ontessori environm ent. C hapter Four will offer further interpretation
and analysis o f this question and each o f the research questions.
58
In Chapter Two, I will present a fram ework for a m ulti-dim ensional
and emergent multi-cultural view o f creativity. This view is supported by
M ontessori philosophy and practice.
59
CHAPTER TWO
Creativity: An Emerging World View
“When you are talking about creativity, it’s like this poster. [ a photo
graph o f zebras] A ll zebras are black and white, but they all have their
own special stripes. ”
Diana-Montessori Primary Teacher
One o f the m ajor purposes o f this study is to begin to explore a
possible re-conceptualization o f creativity. I am proposing a globally
diverse perspective o f creative perform ance, w hich I would encourage
educators, in particular, to em brace. The first chapter introduced living
examples o f the four dim ensions o f perform ance creativity, so to expand
and support this concept this chapter will present literature that builds a
framework for an em erging m ulti-cultural approach to describing
creativity. This chapter will also offer three vignettes which include
quotes taken from a conversational dialogue w ith a M ontessori teacher
and classroom observations. Each scene supports a wider, w orld view o f
creativity drawn from selected Eastern, N ative American and African
literature.
60
IX
I can hear the sound o f ocean water, gently breaking in w aves on the CD
player. The room is dimly lit and twelve three and four year olds are
napping on little cushioned m ats in the Pink Room this afternoon. The
lead teacher, Gaya, is sipping herbal tea from a slender therm os. She
offers some to me. It has a slight licorice taste. G aya’s teaching
philosophy embodies the gentle patience and caring for the spiritual
em bryo o f the child (M ontessori, 1995). I have been w atching her interact
w ith the learners. W hen w orking with them, she is genuinely enthusiastic
and filled with a sense o f w onder and purpose as she presents a lesson. It
is not a fake excitement, but real sense o f openness to the possibility that
one might always learn something, an abiding curiosity.
M ontessori’s idea o f a spiritual embryo em braces a b elief that within
each child is an inner creativity. This inner constructive force, as she
called it, is nurtured within a cultural environm ent that recognizes
individual potentiality and m utual respect for one another. Development,
in Montessori philosophy, includes the holistic child, or put another way,
the biological, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and physical, the
wholeness o f self-hood. (M ontessori, 1964; 1995).
61
It should be understood that a child’s developm ent is not evaluated
in quantitative terms as test scores or letter grades w ould attem pt to
reflect, but in a qualitative w ay by the em ploying o f practical application
o f developed abilities, based on personal interest.
Gaya is also a student o f Eastern philosophy and I have asked her to
talk about creativity from the perspective o f M ontessori philosophy and
Eastern thought.
“It really begins with the G reat Silence.” G aya states. “D uring the
Second W orld War, Maria M ontessori lived in India. It is interesting that
she was under semi-house arrest because she w as an Italian national in a
country under British control, so authorities kept a close eye on her.
Funny isn ’t it? M aria M ontessori?”
As M ussolini was taking pow er and for the duration o f the w ar all
M ontessori schools were closed by order o f the Italian government,
because they encouraged children to exercise their intellectual freedom
and they espoused a global perspective that w as in direct opposition to
Fascism (Standing, 1998).
62
“It does speak to her influence though.” I point out.
“I get the im pression through reading some o f her biographies that she
was an eloquent speaker and many cite m any who attested to her
charism atic nature.” (Shephard, 1996; Standing, 1998)
Gaya responds thoughtfully, “ She had a strong intentionality to her
w ork in education. She saw the purpose o f education as being related to
hum ankind, as overlapping and integrating cultures, instead o f isolating
them.
“Talk a little bit about the Great Silence. Can you connect this for
m e?” I ask.
“Y o u ’ve observed our silence in the morning at circle.”
I shake my head in agreement.
“M ontessori introduced sensorial refinem ent by concentrating upon
each o f the senses in isolation with her original m aterials.”
“T h at’s right,” I interject “She describes these materials in her book The
M ontessori M ethod. M aterials like the sound cylinders.”
“Y es,” replies Gaya standing up, going over to the practical life
shelves and returning with a deep w ooden tray with wooden cylinders
have graduated sizes with red lids.
63
“If you shake each one,” she picks one up and shakes it close to our
ears. “You can hear the differences betw een each o f these cylinders.”
“So, M ontessori introduced m aterials like the sound cylinders to
assist children in discriminating the nuances in sensorial aw areness?” I ask
“Exactly" There is initial awareness, refinement, then the practice
and application.” Gaya answers, “Now, this is connected to your w ork in
creativity and the Great Silence. W hen M ontessori w as in India, she
studied the Hindu spiritual traditions. A fter W orld W ar II, her writing
reflects a concern for developing ways in w hich peace could be sustained,
so she introduced the silence making into the prepared environm ent. By
beginning to listen to the inner self, the internal, then a child will become
more aware o f the external, the outer aw areness o f listening.”
“How does this sustain peace, though?” I inquire.
As we have been talking in rather hushed tones, A m anda, a three year old
with silky black shoulder length hair has been peeking over her crisp
white blanket at us. I smile at her and two little eyes disappear under the
blanket in a playful gaze.
“You can see this in the use o f the peace rose. W hat is the most
important part o f using the peace rose?” she asks me, p ouring us m ore tea.
64
“To listen to each other’s concerns and to respect each p erso n ’s
perspective”
“Right, so by listening, we take an important step in dealing with
conflict. Ideally, as M ontessori teachers, it is our hope that eventually,
each child will be able to resolve conflicts w ithout teacher involvement. It
is im portant they take these skills beyond the classroom .”
“W ell, it w ould be a start.” I agree. “I ’m interested though, how do
you see the connection to my w ork?”
Gaya smiles and glances toward the napping children.
“You are interested in looking at the creative self?”
“Yes, that is true.”
Gaya pauses, “The creative self is, in M ontessori philosophy, the
inner construction that goes on, the internal voice, even. It is in the very
fiber o f who the children are and all their potentialities. M ontessori
silence is the connector between sensorial refinem ent which feeds the
im agination and in turn, constructs who we are and who we m ight
becom e.”
“ So, w ould you think that M ontessori w ould see creativity as a
multi-cultural concept?” I ask.
65
Amanda has folded her blanket and placed it w ith her fluffy stuffed
elephant at the end o f her mat. She is turning pages through a book that is
entitled Where am I? The other children lay still, eyes closed, sleeping to
the music o f the ocean waves.
“You probably know from your reading, “G aya replies, “M ontessori
schools are located on every populated continent, several thousand
actually, although I ’m not sure o f the exact number. M aria’s principles are
remarkably adaptable to m any rich and varied ethnic and religious
cultures. M ontessori schools encourage a world perspective and by doing
so recognize creativity as the w ork o f human life.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
An Eastern Perspective
In an extensive article titled, Asian Views on C reativity, C hu (1970)
writes:
One cannot do creative work without reflecting his

personality or spirituality. According to Hindu philosophy,
the source o f creativ ity .. .is the lum inosity o f the non-verbal
experience o f the G reat Silence. This m editation, involves
the whole being, physical, intellectual, em otional, m oral and
spiritual, (p.48)
Hindu tradition is not the only Eastern perspective that recognizes
the influence o f refining o n e’s sense o f silence.
66
Both Taoism and Zen extol quietude as a w ay o f developing the
rationality and intuitive insights o f the mind (Chu, 1970). O ne thing to
keep in mind w hile looking at creativity within some o f the Eastern
perceptions, like the ones m entioned, is that creativity is thought o f as an
ongoing process, a developing, an unfolding (Sinclair, 1971). The same
could be said for a child. The s e lf that is emerging is continually growing,
revealing its potential. The question for educators is how are w e attuned
to this revelation? In a biological way, we know that the brains o f
children are highly plastic and that there is strong, almost unbounded
possibility for change and adaptability (Restak, 2003). It w ould appear
that by accepting an Eastern perspective in regard to creativity, we would
be connecting a biological reality to a philosophical belief.
W hile W estern theories o f creativity research look at the creative
process w ith a finite beginning and end (Mason, 1988; W onder & Blake,
1992), Eastern traditional thought envisions creativity as a circle that is
configured in small disconnected arcs. W here the W estern view presents
a linear m ovem ent, subject to a beginning and end, Eastern views
encompass a continual em ergence.
67
The following analogy m ight help to clarify these contrasting them es
.In W estern terms, a dancer w ould seek to dance the dance as a tangible
choreographed piece o f work that has self-expressive elements. In Eastern
terms, the dancer would dance the dance throughout her life. Because the
unfolding o f the creative dance is ongoing, the dance will change and
evolve as each new step and m ovem ent is expressed. Illustrated in this
way, creativity is not a static or quantifiable entity. This m ight lead us, as
educators, to the question. Can w e ever really “test” for creative
potential?
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + +
The three and four year olds in the Pink Room have aw akened from
their nap. Some o f the children are spraw led among the beanbag chairs
paging through books in the classroom library, others are w orking with
lacing work, a practical life activity. Lacing w ork is com prised o f large
cards with circular holes that have been punched out in the shapes o f a car,
an airplane, a house, a train. The children use a colored shoelace to thread
the holes in order to outline the shape. The instructional purpose o f the
work is to develop fine motor skills
68
A nother group o f children are hovered around the computer,
cooperatively playing a reading game from the Public Broadcasting
program, Arthur. One child is painting large orange circles with a thick
brush on an easel. I have been sitting at one o f the tables in the practical
life area, observing Amanda. A m anda is three years old. H er m other
speaks Vietnam ese and her father, M andarin Chinese. She is fluent in
both languages, but her English is limited.
She is currently w orking on dry transfer work. This particular work
is with two bow ls o f uncooked rice. The porcelain bowls are cylindrical
and are placed on a small tray. A small ladle is placed in betw een the two
bowls. A m anda is transferring the rice from one bowl to another, being
careful not to spill any o f the grains. The purpose o f the work, sim ilar to
the lacing work is to develop fine m otor skills. She is intent upon her
work. Ignoring me, she continues her ladling, until all o f the rice is in the
one bowl. She places the ladle on the tray and returns the tray to the shelf.
She walks across the room to the art area and returns with a full zip lock
bag o f m odeling clay.
She pulls open the zip lock bag and pulls out a large piece o f blue
clay and offers it to me, sm iling ever so slightly.
69
I take it from her small hand and say,
“Thank you.”
She replies “Yes, teacher.”
“What should I make with my clay?” I ask her. The clay smells and
feels like play dough.
Amanda pats a small handful of clay into a pancake shape. “A bear”
She answers.
I work the clay into a shape that resem bles a two dimensional bear
w alking on all fours. She inspects my work. She begins to replicate w hat
I have done.
I begin to shape a group o f daisies, and then I make a butterfly
alighting slightly on the edge o f one o f the flowers. Satisfied with her
bear, she asks me,
“Can you make a butterfly for m e?”
“I will give you m ine.” I say. I lift it gingerly from the table and
place it in her hand.
She brings it to her lips, and whispers, “B utterfly.”
70
She then places it next to her bear. She picks up the bag and begins
to p u t the un-molded pieces o f clay into the bag. She points to my bear
and flowers, and I shake my head.
“Yes, you can take them .” I say.
A m anda picks them up and puts them into the bag. She places her bear in
the bag, but keeps the butterfly on the table. She re-zips the bag and
brings it back over to the art area. She com es back with two containers o f
Crayola watercolors and two brushes. A m anda places them on the table
next to me and goes to the sink to fill up tw o paper cups with water. She
carefully carries the cups full o f w ater back to our table.
M eanwhile, I have chosen tw o pieces o f paper for us to paint on.
She brushes the colors o f blue, yellow, and brow n across her page. They
are w et and the colors run into each other. The brush strokes are wide and
each has a non-linear pathway across the paper.
Pointing to her paper, I ask, “W hat is it?”
“Rain” She repeats. “R ain”
She points to my paper.
“W hat is it?”
“A sailboat” I answer.
71
“A sailboat” She repeats. She picks up the clay butterfly from the
table and hands it back to me.
“For you” She smiles brightly.
The w aves o f the ocean, set against the music o f reed pipes on the
CD player continue to play.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A Native American Perspective
In their research on N ative American perspectives o f creativity, Hill
and Hill (1994) state that over a broad range o f Native A m erican nations;
creativity is considered one o f the spiritual gifts o f the universe.
Creativity, in N ative American philosophical tradition, is believed to be an
elem ent o f the energy found w ithin the life force o f a person. The
individual creates through the act o f living. It is not the creative product
that is the main motivation, but the developing o f a com m unication with
o n e’s spirit o f creativity. These ideas are supported by the w ork o f Paul
W illis (1990) in his book, Common Culture where he presents his theory
o f symbolic creativity.
72
Willis describes the s e lf as a product o f creative labor, similar to
M ontessori’s concept o f the inner-constructive force (M ontessori, 1967).
The theory o f symbolic creativity states that through everyday life activity,
individuals com m unicate with their culture. This com m unication is
creative self-expression and it can take a num ber o f form s (P. Willis,
personal com munication, N ovem ber 18, 2004).
In regard to the M ontessori environm ent, A m an d a’s afternoon
work could be interpreted as an effort to com m unicate w ith the culture of
the classroom, both linguistically and artistically. M ontessori philosophy
would recognize that she was engaged in the act o f constructing herself
through each w ork that she selected. This concept connects the Native
American b elief that creativity is inherent in the life “constructive” force.
Like the w atercolors that A m anda painted across the paper, each
experience from the afternoon- working with the rice- m odeling the clay-
and painting w ith the colors- all flow in layers that continue to construct
who she is and how she com municates herself to the culture o f the
classroom.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
73
XI
The three and four year olds in the Y ellow Room are sitting in a
circle. This is the second circle o f the day, referred to by the children,
sim ply as, “second circle.” It occurs after the two hour w ork activity block
o f the morning and immediately before lunch. Earlier this m orning there
was an altercation among three children, so second circle is a tim e for
resolving a classroom com munity concern.
Two boys were working with the one hundred board. This
M ontessori m aterial from the M athematics sh elf area consists o f a large
square inlaid wooden board that holds 100 ceramic tiles. Each tile is one
inch by one inch and has a num ber, one through 100. The purpose o f the
work is for the child to place the numbers in sequential order along the
inlaid board.
“Com pletion o f the one hundred board is a rite o f passage in the
M ontessori prim ary classroom.” according to Elizabeth, the lead teacher in
the Yellow Room.
W hen the child completes the one hundred board, he or she is
accom panied by one o f the prim ary teachers in carrying the com pleted
work to the upper elementary and other prim ary classrooms.
74
The child will enter the classroom announcing his w ork and the
children in the visited room usually respond in verbal praise, by clapping,
or simple recognition by they gathering around the child and looking at
the completed tile board.
The problem this m orning occurred after the bell for m orning clean
up had been rung by four year old, Leah. The boys who had been w orking
on the one hundred board had left the work on the carpet. W hile they took
a break from their w ork at the snack table, Leah, the special classroom
helper for the day, had seen a material still out during classroom clean-up,
so she put the w ork away.
Each child is responsible for the cleanliness and organization o f a
specific material shelf in the classroom, as well as, the dusting and
sweeping o f the floor in and around their shelf, C onsequently, the m issing
work was not recognized by the boys until they com pleted th eir clean-up
w ork and returned to the carpet.
Presently, in second circle, Elizabeth is guiding the children through
the conflict by eliciting suggestions from individuals for how this can be
avoided in the future.
75
Some o f the suggestions include:
“N o one touch anyone else’s work.”
“You can ask out loud. IS THIS A N Y O N E’S W O R K ?!”
“H ow about you put your name on it?”
The third suggestion is m et with some agreement by the group.
“If we have nam e tags that we could place on our work,
when we are taking a break, would this solve the problem ?” asks
Elizabeth.
H er question is met with heads shaking in the affirmative.
“I like the w ay you have solved the problem today.” Elizabeth
praises. “Y ou have w orked together. W hat can we rem em ber about our
classroom ?”
The children respond in a familiar, yet staggered unison, “This is not
my classroom; this is not y o u r classroom; it is our classroom .”
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
76
An African Perspective
G hanaian writers, W iredu, Gyeke & Dzobo (1992), in their book,
Person and Community. Ghanaian Philosophical Studies point out that in
several A frican cultural traditions, creativity is view ed as the goal o f
hum an striving, a seeking to develop and achieve w holeness in o n e’s life
and in relationships with others. Creativity is not so m uch an individual
accomplishm ent as it is woven into the fabric o f the society w ith w hich
one interacts.
This interaction implies a freedom to participate; therefore, there is a
sense o f purposeful liberty and choice. An important facet o f G hanaian
views o f creativity includes the idea that creative activity is not only
performed to change oneself, but that its main utility it to transform
society. The Ewe ethnic group has a name for this transform ation, Ezu-
ame which translates into the term personhood, one w ho has been able to
cultivate a creative personality, a creative self (W iredu, G yeke & D zobo,
1992). M uch like the idea o f cultural significance (W illis, 1990) if one is
afforded the voice to com municate with the culture, a positive cultural
identity or Ezu-am e can be shaped.
77
The Y oruba people, who num ber over seventeen m illion, live in the
countries o f Nigeria, The Benin Republic and Togo. Their perspective of
creativity is coupled w ith the universal tension between the celebration of
life and the eventuality o f death. Creativity is expressed through the
performance o f com m unity engagement. At appointed ritual tim es o f the
year, com m unities gather to express the creative labor o f the com m unity
through masked perform ances, dances, poetry reading, group
conversations, music, and displays o f visual carvings and beadw ork (Mato
& Cooksey, 2004). W hile taking part in these community activities, the
Yoruba believe that the w holeness o f a person’s life experiences is
brought to the interaction o f the creative product, how one experiences the
dances, the music, the conversation, all will be affected by the previous
life that the self has lived and therefore will influence how each person’s
creativity is m anifested in the present and future life (O kediji, 2004).
N eurologically speaking, the Y oruba perspective o f creativity could
be connected to the idea o f qualia or the wholeness o f all sensorial
subjective experiences that each o f us bring to our daily experiences and
manifest throughout our lives (Freem an, 2000). The neurons in our brains
continue to form netw orks that influence our perceptions o f the world.
78
For example, the children in the Y ellow Room bring to circle their
subjective experiences o f how to deal w ith conflict from their hom e
environments and are able to compare, contrast and build upon their
ability to m anage and solve conflicts from classroom discussion, like the
one I presented earlier in this chapter.
Both the Ghanaian and Yoruba concepts o f creativity reflect the
spirit o f the M ontessori environment that invites and encourages the
learner to be free to influence and to interact with their spaces. Thus the
student works to construct herself. Freedom o f choice when coupled with
responsibility to the community group encourages self-making
(M ontessori, 1966).
+ ++++++++++++ + ++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + +
Taken as a composite, this chapter has presented three vignettes
related to the field work that I conducted at Ethem ba M ontessori. These
glimpses into creative activity have been interwoven w ith m ajor cultural
perspectives concerning creativity research. These philosophies are by no
means exhaustive o f the continents or cultural groups I have selected to
represent. They do however begin to construct a framework for a
discussion o f performance creativity and its dimensions o f self, self
expression, cultural meaning and significance.
79
In light o f the fact that creativity is a human activity, not just a
W esternized phenom enon o f innovative hum an behavior, an effort to
describe it in a broader m ulti-cultural w ay, invites a re-conceptualization
o f its description and defining characteristics.
In regard to the field o f education, there is good reason to consider a
re-conceptualization and expanded m ulti-cultural view o f creativity in
empirical research. There rem ains in the field a lack o f a consistent
operational definition o f creativity (Sternberg, 1999). Academic
discussions concerning creativity often center on the questions o f who is
creative (Csziksentmihalyi, 1996) or w hat procedural events take place
when one is engaged in creating a tangible object (W eisburg, 1986, 1993).
Recently, Gardner (1994) and C sziksentm ihalyi (1996) have begun to
explore the cultural com ponents o f creative expression; how ever in the
everyday world o f K-12 education, the reliance on testing for creativity
remains a reality (Armstrong, 1998).
The academic avenues leading to these tests have been the
development o f creativity evaluations w hich stem from the psychom etric
tradition. First Guilford (1950) and later, Torrance (1974) attem pted to
discover strong divergent thinkers with their paper and pencil tests with
the goal o f being able to identify ‘creativ e’ individuals more efficiently.
80
The weakness o f this approach in m easuring creativity is made
obvious when we begin to examine the w ay in which creativity is
described from a global perspective. By trivializing the hum an creative
spirit to a quantifiable num ber or assigning it to a hierarchy o f ‘ten easy
steps to be creative’, we lose the depth o f diversity found by looking at
creativity from the vista o f an expressive, com m unicative, interactive,
living, developmental and transformative, and sometimes, communal
performance (Montessori, 1995; Willis, 1990). In essence, we risk losing
the richly diverse and creative voice o f our children. This is concern
about which educators m ight take note.
In the next chapter, I will continue to present scenes from the
M ontessori cultural environm ent and address the follow ing two questions.
In what ways does the M ontessori emphasis on individual developm ent
contribute to the formation o f self and self-expression? H ow does the
M ontessori environment affect the creation o f m eaning and cultural
significance o f learners?
81
CHAPTER THREE
Part I: Creating Self: E c c o m i! I am Here!
“The story o f life is the heart and soul o f the M ontessori experience. ” —
Sharon, Lower Elementary Lead Teacher
XII
“How many ways can we say ‘G ood M orning F rien d s’? Asks
Summer, the lead teacher for the prim ary B lue Room .
Sixteen three and four year olds are sitting in m orning circle. One
child, a little girl with pigtails and w earing w hat looks like pajamas, is
sitting on Sum m er’s lap. Summer is a new M ontessori teacher. She
recently received her certification from the M ontessori Institute of
America, an accredited M ontessori training institution located in
W ashington.
“Buenos Dias!” says one voice.
“B onjour.” replies another.
“G uten Tag, That’s one my Dad taught m e.” announces another.
Summer places a small bell on the floor in front o f her. She strikes the
bell with a wooden mallet.
82
“ W e are learning so many ways to say Good M orning. You are working
very well. ” She says, smiling warmly at the children.
“Y ou m ay have noticed we have a visitor to our classroom , friends.”
She directs her hand to me. I am sitting ju st to her right in the circle. She
introduces m e and asks me to talk about w hat I am doing at Ethem ba
M ontessori.
“I am here to learn about M ontessori work.” I tell them. “I am trying
to leam about the materials that you use in your classroom and what it is
like to be in your classroom. W hat do you do in the Blue R oom ?” I ask.
“This is our classroom.” Replies Joel, who is a boy w earing a pair o f
basketball sneakers that flash little red lights when he m oves his feet, “and
we like it.”
“R est time is not good.” says Francie, folding her arm s across her
chest and scowling.
“W hy?” I inquire.
“Because we have to be quiet and I d o n ’t want to be quiet.” She
responds.
“We like every work because this is our classroom .” says Sean,
raising his arm s as if to emphasize the point.
83
“So, you enjoy working in your classroom everyday,” I ask. “all the
time?”
“Y es,” answers Jacob, “except when it is dark.”
“A nd on stay-at-home-days.” interjects Francie.
“M ay I share a good morning greeting with you that I know ?” I ask
the class.
They shake their heads in agreement.
“I have been trying to learn some w ords in the Z ulu language spoken
by a group o f people who live in Southern A frica.”
Summer has pulled out the Montessori w ooden inset m ap o f the A frican
continent and she hands it to me across the circle. I p oint out the region
on the map.
“Sanibonani.” I say it twice
Some o f the children repeat it.
A few choose to listen, before saying it.
“Oh wait, “says four year old Susan, raising her hand as an after thought,
“I can write my name. That is why I like to come to school.”
84
“Every brain is different...it gives us a unique way o f
seeing the world. ” (Ratey, 2001)
Part one o f this chapter explores the question: In what ways does the
M ontessori em phasis on individual developm ent contribute to the
fo rm ation o f s e l f and self-expression? The reader m ay recall that I define
self as the form ation that results as an interactive performance betw een the
individual and his w orld (Freeman, 2000).
The preceding scene is a glimpse into how some o f the children in
the prim ary classroom describe their interactions with their leaning
environm ent. I find it particularly im portant to stress the neurological
im plications o f self-construction that can be interpreted from this
observation.
In his book, H ow Brains M ake Up Their M inds, W alter Freem an
(2000) points out that the construction o f se lf is both unitary and
purposeful. This means that each child brings personal perceptions to
each learning experience. When the children are expressing their good
m orning greetings in different languages, they are sharing a personal
perspective.
85
Each child has been learning different phrases. They choose the
phrases that they would like to learn through choosing different language
work on the shelves in the Blue Room. They have w eekly Spanish lessons
and Summer continues to present greetings every w eek during circle time.
The child’s interactions with the learning environm ent shape the
qualia, or subjective awareness that will influence their future neural
construction. These neural networks are connected to biological,
emotional, and cognitive processes. Freeman (2000) posits th e idea that
purpose or intentionality in self-construction must have a biological
element because o f the way neurons behave. W hen neural activity occurs,
molecules move purposefully. They perform their function b y changing
shape or transforming them selves in very specific w ays and in response to
particular sensorial and chem ical cues (Czem er, 2001). This is reflected
in the way individuals organize their impressions, feelings and attitudes.
The children who chose to respond to my question about their classroom
expressed their attitudes tow ards their classroom in this first scene and
although, I am not interpreting this as a unique event, I am offering it as a
finite example o f how the self, as it is biologically explained can be
illustrated.
86
M ontessori did not have the benefit o f scientific advances that allow for
the m odem study o f the brain as neuro-scientists can today; how ever her
curricular practices have neurological implications nonetheless (Lillard,
1996). I f creativity can be viewed as a neurological event from a
multitude o f cultural perspectives then the lens though w hich we explore
creative dim ensions w ill offer a richer opportunity for educators to nurture
it in all o f its forms.
B efore m oving on to the next scene, I will make one m ore point.
When Freem an (2000) states that the construction o f se lf has an over
riding biological com ponent, supported by neuro-dynam ics, he makes
stronger through neurological evidence the philosophical statement
expressed in M ontessori’s book, The Secret o f Childhood (1966). She
writes:
The child is a splendid being in search o f his ow n proper fo rm .. .The

im portance o f biological activity in psychic developm ent should be
em phasized The art o f the educator lies in know ing how to gauge
the action by w hich to assist the child in his developm ent o f self.
(p.64)
The following scene is a conversational dialogue with a M ontessori teacher
which elaborates on this statem ent in greater depth.
87
X III
As Summer dismisses each child from circle, she calls them by
name.
“Susan, you may go find some w ork.”
“Jacob, you may choose a w ork.”
“Eli you may find some work. Could you choose som e language
work today?” she guides gently.
Each child stands up from circle and walks to an area o f their
selection, sensorial/practical life, cultural, language, m athem atics, or the
arts area. This morning most o f the children seem eager to go to the
practical life and sensorial area. A ctually, this is a behavior that I have
noticed consistently in the prim ary classrooms during the first work block
or cycle o f activity, as M ontessori (1964) referred to it. M ost o f the
children will begin their cycle o f activity in the art or sensorial/practical
life area. A bout h alf way through the tw o and a half hour block, the
majority o f children will move to the carpeted area w here w ork that is
considered m ore academic is located. I make a mental note to ask
Summer about this observation over lunch.
88
Eli lingers at the cultural area and pulls out a draw er from a small
chest o f drawers. He takes out a lam inated map o f A frica and a basket
of animals native to the continent. H e sets the map and the carved
animals on the carpet and goes to get a small rug. Later on during the
morning w ork time, I see that he is w orking on letter sound and object
association from the language area, as requested earlier by his teacher.
The Blue Room is unique in its decor because Sum m er has
introduced a particular geographic em phasis into the room . There are
maps o f the Pacific O cean and a num ber o f world maps including a
topographical map o f the w orld and a political one. There is a large
poster describing the m ajor N ative A m erican nations and w here they had
lived historically in the present day U nited States. A nother poster has
pictures o f children who represent each o f the continents and the
greeting: “W ELCOM E TO O U R W O R L D !”
In the front o f the classroom , there is a multidim ensional model o f
the world, shaped with w ire, sim ilar to a gyroscope and w ithin it are
several pieces o f colored crepe paper that gives it a m ulti-colored texture
and appearance.
89
Hanging on the w all over the art area are w atercolor paintings that are
abstract forms o f the w orld in an inviting and calm ing mixture o f browns,
greens, and blues. Each is an expression o f how a child had viewed the
globe thinking two-dim ensionally as they applied their im pressions though
watercolors.
At the close o f the first cycle of the activity, Sum m er hands the small
wooden mallet and the bell to Francie, who rings the bell, inform ing the
children that it is time to put work away and com e to circle. Sum m er turns
on the CD player, selecting a song from South Africa. The artist sings
“W e’re going south. W e’re going west. W e’re going north. W e’re going
east. Come on a j o um ey. . . ”
The children join the circle each in their own tim e and following
Summer’s lead, they face the direction that the lyrics state. A t each
location in the classroom there are large strips o f lam inated white
cardstock that say North, East, South, W est. The children physically face
the direction, actively listening to the song.
90
A t the end o f the song, Sum m er invites the children to listen to a
story. She has chosen Our P eaceful Classroom, a book written by
M ontessori children from around the w orld and edited by Aline Wolf.
“I know we have read this one before, but we have a new friend
today and I think she w ould like to h ear the story.” She announces to the
children.
The new friend is the little girl in pigtails. She wore pajamas to
school because her older brother, w ho attends another school, had Pajama
Day at his school so she w anted to be able to w ear her pajamas for the day
as well. Her name is M ichele and it is only her second day at Ethemba
During work time today, she has been busy w orking with the hundred-
board with Francie.
As Summer begins the story, M ichele sets h erself on my lap, w ithout
question, with the matter o f fact trust o f a small child and begins to count
the colored beads on my bracelet, w hispering to herself. “ 1-2-3-4...”
A parent volunteer appears at the classroom door. Sum m er’s classroom
assistant has been called out o f tow n w ith a fam ily emergency, so a
classroom parent has volunteered to com e in to cover Sum m er’s lunch.
91
She comes over to me and whispers.
“How are your observations going?”
“They are going w ell.” I respond. “W ould you be interested in
participating in an interview?”
“Oh, no.” she says. “I d o n ’t think that / am very creative.”
“Well, I ’m looking at creativity in a very different way. Perhaps we
could talk about some new thoughts. We could go for a coffee after school
som etim e.”
“Okay.” she answers. ’’B ut don’t expect much.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Summer and I enter the G reen Room for lunch and w e greet Gaya
w ho is heating her tea in the microwave. The Green R oom serves as a
m ulti-purpose room for teachers. It is a place to heat food and have lunch.
There is also limited space for storing kitchen utensils, pitchers, plates and
cups for the children’s m orning and afternoon snacks. There are shelves
for construction paper, extra scissors, various craft m aterials, string, yam ,
tem pera paint, paint brushes, sponges, soap, and paper towels. Two
refrigerators, teacher mail boxes and a copying m achine line the walls
opposite to the microwave area.
92
This afternoon there is an assortm ent o f m uffins sitting in a tray on
the circular table that we sit dow n at to have lunch. Parents often bring in
fresh baked pastries, fruits and finger foods for the teachers during the
week.
There are no windows in this room, so there is always a particularly
stuffy feeling to the space and because it is rather cram ped for room, there
is a sense that you are in som eone’s else’s w ay as they m aneuver to the
sink, m icrowave or around the cabinets.
I explain to Summer that the study that I am conducting is a
performance ethnography, w hich means that w hat people say, the spoken
text is an im portant element o f the data I am collecting, so the nature o f
our lunch discussion is not a form al interview. Perform able narrative
inquiries are m eant to be more like an inform ative conversation, allowing
for natural flow. They are them atic in nature, rather than having specific
protocol questions (Denzin, 2004).
“I ’m really interested in finding out w hat you observed today about
our classroom .” Summer inquires, “C reativity is so m uch a part o f the
M ontessori classroom, but not m any people w ould translate in that way,
would they?”
93
“M ontessori has a global sense o f the word, and I think this is lost in the
m ainstream drive to find and mine creativity as a resource, rather than as a
natural developm ental process that can be nurtured, when it is recognized
in all its form s.” I answer.
“ So, are you trying to find out how M ontessori children are
creative?” asks Summer, offering me a selection o f sliced cucumbers,
carrots, celery, and cherry tom atoes in a large plastic bowl
“Well, yes, but I am also interested in how the M ontessori
environm ent m ight be influencing why they are creative. I am looking at
how the environm ental influences o f M ontessori philosophy contribute to
a child’s ability to express who they are, the self, and how they are
recognized for their creative perform ance.”
Sum m er points out. “This idea o f perform ance that you keep on
com ing back to is right in line with M ontessori, because rem em ber, she
wrote that each child works to construct him self.”
“Let me make sure that I understand M ontessori’s definition o f
creativity, “I say, offering Summer some apple slices from my lunch. “
Creativity is the construction o f self. R ight?”
Sum m er nods her head.
94
“Self is influenced though sensorial refinem ent; therefore, the more
opportunity the child has to interact with the environm ent in m eaningful
w ays,” I continue, “to develop and train his perception o f the w orld
around him, than the more his im agination w ill be stim ulated.”
“Exactly,” replies Summer, “The im agination, the sense o f wonder,
the ability to create something, in the generic sense o f the word, is the
expression o f self.”
“Okay, so as I look at other cultures, those in A frica, A sia and even
Native American philosophies I am discovering that they perceive
creativity in sim ilar ways to w hat M ontessori states. The plastic, ever-
changing self and the interactive social events that occur often influence
how creativity is expressed. M ore em phasis seems to be placed upon the
construction o f the self rather than the creative product in som e o f these
cultures.”
“I ’m not surprised,” answers Summer, “M ontessori alw ays
encouraged a global view o f education, as you said, and she traveled
extensively. She was so focused on developing a philosophy o f education
that would encourage children to become adults who w ould see in a m ulti
cultural way.
95
Let m e tell you a story about M ontessori and creativity. I think it
comes from h er biography, M aria M ontessori: H er Life and W o rk”
“B y E. M. Standing (1998)?” I interject.
“Yes. I think this story gets to the heart o f w hat we are trying to say
about the self as a creative construction. You are fam iliar with the
M ontessori practice o f teaching writing before reading? “
“Y es,” I answ er.” Because children naturally scribble before they are
able to translate the sym bolic.” (M ontessori, 1964)
“C o rrect.. . ” Sum m er pauses to get an iced tea out o f the refrigerator.
“M ontessori recognized this event repeatedly. Children would write first
and then they w ould concentrate their creative energies upon reading. She
tested this further. Upon entering the classroom, she w ould write a b rief
sentence on the chalkboard: “If you can read this, com e to m e.” She did
this each day in a classroom o f three to five year old children, who w ere
em ergent w riters. On the fourth day, a little girl came up to her and said
“E ccom i! ” w hich translates from Italian, ‘I am h ere!’ To M ontessori this
dem onstrated the creative labor o f the child.”
96
“By recognizing that com m unication could occur in a new way,
through reading, this little girl was m aking a statem ent o f her creative self
construction. Her ability to read and therefore, her interaction w ith the
printed w ord was a new creative achievem ent.” Sum m er continued.
“I think this is a great exam ple, but I also think it is a difficult
concept for mainstream educators to grasp. They w ill continue to ask the
question. Well, are you saying that all work is creative?” I reply.
“I f you are thinking in M ontessori terms, any w ork that invites a
child to interact with the w orld and influences his perception o f it is
creative w ork.” emphasizes Summer.
“or creative perform ance” I ask.
“or ju st performance” repeats Summer, smiling.
We are running short on time, so I change the flow o f the conversation.
“Y ou asked about w hat I observed this m orning.”
“W hat did you see or hear?” Summer inquires w ith interest.
“I have noticed in each o f the prim ary classrooms that during the
morning w ork time, the children initially move to the practical
life/sensorial areas then later on move to the math, language, or cultural
areas. W hy do you think that is about?”
97
Summer considers this for a mom ent
. “H ow interesting, I d o n ’t know, really. W hat do you think?”
“I t’s ju st an observation,” I say, “but I think that it means that the
children appear to direct them selves in a sensorial w arm -up before they
begin the m ore challenging w ork for the day. I w ould not say it was
intentional by the children, but I find it related to m y study o f creativity.
The children appear to be draw n to the sensorial, the practical, and the
artistic m aterials, first. These are the materials that assist them in refining
their senses, in discovering who they are, their search for self.”
Summer responds. “I t’s possible. I ’ll have to w atch for that this
week.”
I have tim e to ask Sum m er one m ore question.
“Y our classroom has a real focus on geography. Is there any
particular reason?”
She smiles broadly, “The geographic approach is a reflection o f who
I am. One o f the main instructional themes that I learned from my
M ontessori training was that as a teacher you are a model. O ur instructors
tell us that w e will be displaying who we are to our students, so in turn,
our students can follow our lead and freely express who they are.
98
“As a M ontessori teacher, you share what you lo v e .. .you share it
with the children. That is teaching. W e are also taught that an important
part o f M ontessori curriculum is to guide the children in finding who they
are and I think in order to do this, you have to know where you are.
Finding their special place in the w orld, that is what we help students to
do.” Summer concludes.
“So, as a M ontessori teacher, do you really see yourself as helping to
shape the w orld?” I ask.
“The M ontessori teacher loves the spirit o f the child. B y adding the
geographic approach to my teaching, I am trying to guide the children in
discovering the many cultures o f the w o rld .. .it is after all the w orld we
give them. They will make it theirs.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“Every child has his own creative spirit that makes him a w ork o f art. But
there is much toil and labor. Before any effects are outw ardly apparent,
an inner w ork must be perform ed. ” (Montessori, 1966)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
99
Nobel Prize w inner and neuro-physicist, Gerald Edelm an (2004)
observes that the se lf is shaped by a unity o f perception, time and place.
He writes, “A ny [self-m aking] experience includes sensory input, the
consequences o f m otor activity, imagery, emotions, m em ories and a
periphery, or place.” (p.61) To better understand Edelm an’s definition,
consider the contrast betw een view ing a movie as a series o f separate
frames or as a running, connected whole. A movie seen as a series o f
disconnected frames will tend to appear choppy and will not achieve the
integrative coalescence o f an uninterrupted film. The shaping o f self, by
Edelm an’s description is dem onstrative o f a smoothly running film. The
previous vignette reflects E d elm an ’s description o f self.
At the beginning o f the vignette, it was my intention to show the
freedom o f m ovem ent [m otor activity] and independence that the children
were able to exercise in choosing their work. The reader will most likely
recall that the choice o f purposeful w ork allowed to M ontessori learners is
also illustrated in previous scenes from the Yellow, Pink, and Orange
Rooms. Independence in choosing w ork is a vital com ponent to self
construction according to M ontessori philosophy (Hainstock, 1986).
100
Eli, given the directive guidance to work on language, (w hich as
Summer told me later is the materials he chooses to work the least with)
chose the time when he would work with the language m aterials. I would
like to draw a broader interpretation, however. H e may have been making
a distinctive, more sophisticated connection from the brief geographic
presentation that I made related to South A frica, the Zulu good morning
greeting, and his first choice o f work, which was placing animals
associated with climates on the continent o f A frica.
Sum m er’s choice o f playing a song that guided children in becoming
familiar with the directions o f North, South, E ast and W est and her
concentration on exposing children to a variety o f cultural and geographic
perspectives is congruent with M ontessori’s statem ent that “the goal o f
education is the developm ent o f the complete se lf [human being] oriented
to the environm ent and adapted to his time, place and culture (M ontessori,
1964). There are also connections that can be draw n between the
descriptors o f self related to Edelm an’s work w hich highlights the
importance o f sensory input and periphery (place).
101
In the conversational dialogue, S um m er’s com ments related self
construction to active perform ance. She also coupled her focus on
geography and an understanding o f cultural spaces to a nexus with
M ontessori curriculum and the overarching philosophical tradition o f
M ontessori education for peace. In other w ords, the preceding classroom
observation and conversational dialogue w ith Sum m er that followed could
be interpreted as a merging o f the M ontessori concepts o f self at both a
practical and theoretical level.
A b rief note should be m ade here in regard to the parent volunteer
and her reticence to engage in an interview concerning creativity.
A lthough, I introduce her in this scene, I w ill w ait until Chapter Six to
present what transpired further, as it is m ore applicable to that portion o f
the study that addresses the final research question. As I transition from
part one to the second part o f this chapter, I w ould like to offer one more
vignette related to self, particularly to self expression. It is my intention
that this transitional scene will form a bridge from my discussion o f self to
m eaning and cultural significance. I rem ind the reader that as I stated at
the close o f Chapter One, I will draw further interpretations related to each
o f the research questions and to this study as a w hole in Chapter 4.
102
The second part o f this chapter is designed to address the question: In
w hat ways does the M ontessori environment affect the creation o f
m eaning and cultural significance fo r learners? In the follow ing sections
I will bridge two related definitions o f meaning, explain the concept o f
culture that guided this study and discuss the concept o f cultural
significance (W illis, 1990) as it applies to the M ontessori experience.
Part Two:
Meaning and Cultural Significance “We are all friends
here!”
XIV
The children from the Y ellow and Orange Rooms are outside at
recess, and Elizabeth, lead teacher for the Yellow Room and Sharon, lead
teacher for the Orange Room and I are sharing a large nachos plate for
lunch. W e are sitting at the green picnic tables. It is a chilly afternoon, but
the A pril sun is breaking through the clouds and stream ing down over the
playground. Three, four, and five year olds laugh and run, jum p and skip
across the gravel. There are playing games o f catch, shoveling sand,
swinging on the metal swing sets, and kicking soccer balls.
103
Construction on the new school building has been m oved inside.
The electrical contractors are on site today. T heir vans are parked in an
area where there used to be trees. A front end loader is m oving gravel
from one end o f the new parking lot to an area behind the new building
where the new playground is being constructed.
Three year old, Sophia comes over to the table and asks Elizabeth to zip-
up her jacket. Sophia is a new M ontessori child. She has recently come to
the United States from England. Elizabeth asks her if she has tried to zip
up her jacket by herself.
Sophia shakes her head, “No.”
“Try it.”
Sophia pulls the two pieces together, connecting them , but w hen she pulls
the zipper, is unsuccessful. She sighs in exasperation.
“Okay, may I show you?” Elizabeth asks.
Sophia looks at her with a quizzical stare.
“Would you like to do it yourself?”
Sophia shakes her head in the affirm ative, w ith pursed lips.
104
Elizabeth takes the two pieces o f the zipper, holding them carefully
she connects them. She slowly zips them together. Sophia is watching.
Elizabeth then unzips the jacket releasing the two pieces.
“W ould you like to try?”
Sophia responds by taking the two pieces together, connecting
them and tugging on the zipper. Still, she is not successful.
“Try it one more time.” Says Elizabeth patiently.
“I ’ll do the first part. Then you do the second part.” Sophia
responds.
“All rig h t” replies Elizabeth.
Sophia connects the two pieces and Elizabeth zips only h a lf way.
1
“N ow you finish zipping.” She says to Sophia.
Sophia looks intently at the zipper and pulls on it. H er jack et is
zipped.
“Good w ork.” Elizabeth says, smiling.
Sophia returns a shy smile. Francie joins us m om entarily and asks
Sophia if she w ould like to collect dinosaur eggs. Sophia’s eyes widen.
105
“The eggs are hidden under the trees. “ Francie announces. “W e
have saved them from the Tyrannosaurus Rex. W ant to com e help m e?”
They both run in the direction o f the trees.
I ’m interested in the way, Elizabeth took the opportunity to give a
lesson on zippers from a sim ple playground request. So, I ask the question,
“I notice that each o f you when you approach a child fo r a lesson
you ask, May I show you? or W ould you like me to give you a lesson?
Like you just did here, E lizabeth... Is this a specific M ontessori approach
to teaching? “
“As a M ontessori teacher, we are guides in the process o f discovery,
so we approach the giving o f a lesson as an interactive event.” begins
Elizabeth.
“It shows respect for the child. We are asking, are you ready? W e
recognize that the child’s sense o f curiosity is what leads learning. ”
Sharon adds
The sun has gone behind a cloud. There is a breeze blow ing through
the tall pines. Sharon looks at her watch.
“I think a few more minutes will be good for them to play. W e’ve
only had a few days this w eek when it was w arm enough to let them go
outside. Their little bodies need the exercise.”
106
“There is a flexible and patient attitude here. It’s refreshing. Not
hurried and over paced.” I say to the both o f them, reaching for another
chip.
“As a M ontessori teacher, you must always be w illing to adapt, to
change, to grow .” com m ents Elizabeth. “You have to be extremely,
patient.” She laughs.
“We need to keep in mind, that it is not our role to im pose ourselves
upon the child, but to help her grow, to allow her to express who she is.”
says Sharon.
As the children are returning to their classroom from recess, I walk
in with Sharon. She has invited me to come to the Orange Room this
afternoon for a M ontessori birthday celebration I have participated in
several for m y sons, but I am interested in observing this one with the eyes
o f a researcher.
“Who has left the watercolors out on the table? I also see markers left
out without caps and loose paper.” announces Sharon to the children as we
enter the classroom .
107
Sharon is a seasoned M ontessori teacher, who has taught in urban
H ead Start and Montessori schools on the East Coast. She has been the
Low er Elementary teacher at Ethem ba for two years. The reader will
recall that the Lower Elem entary room is the O range R oom at Ethem ba
M ontessori. The Orange Room is also a m ulti-aged classroom . Children
range from four and a half to seven years o f age.
Primary children move to the Lower Elem entary classroom , when
they have demonstrated the ability to work independently for extended
periods o f time, mastered the M ontessori prim ary m aterials, and have
dem onstrated an emotional m aturity consistent with the behavior o f older
children. M ost children are close or just past their fifth birthday w hen they
come to the Orange Room.
The decision to move a child from the Prim ary classroom to the
Lower Elem entary is a joint decision between the child’s teacher and
parent(s). D uring the parent-teacher conferences, usually held in A pril, the
teacher and parents will discuss the child’s progress in the M ontessori
work areas, the child’s emotional maturity, and physical age. They will
consider if the child would benefit from a m ove or if it w ould be better for
the child if they allow for more time in the prim ary classroom
108
Sharon rings a small brass bell with a wooden handle. “I f we can’t
keep our classroom clean, then w e may have to put our art m aterials away
for a few days.” She says in an assertive tone. “Please com e to circle.”
Five year old, C hristopher w ho is wearing a Chicago Cubs t-shirt,
shouts out,
“I TH IN K it was M E.”
He gathers up the w atercolors and the brush and places them back on
the appropriate shelf. He asks the class,
“Who had the m arkers?”
No one responds. The children are socializing. There is a feeling o f
excited energy to their conversations.
He asks again, a bit loudly,
“Who had the markers o u t?”
Nathaniel, the little boy w hom I played with at recess in Chapter
One, replies, “W hy don’t you ju s t put them away. I can’t rem em ber who
had them ?”
Christopher shrugs his shoulders, picks up the markers, replaces the
caps and sets them on a small tray, returning them to the proper shelf.
109
Sharon recognizes their independent problem -solving and says,
“Thank you Christopher and N athaniel.”
The children are gathering for the third circle o f the day. First circle
occurs in the morning shortly after the children arrive. Second circle
forms after the first morning w ork time. Third circle com es together
immediately after lunch recess and fourth circle occurs about twenty
minutes before the children are dism issed for the school day.
As I have described in Chapter One and Two, circle is a tim e for
children to ‘make silence.” but it is also used by teachers or classroom
visitors to give large group lessons or presentations, to share or read
stories to the children or to move and/ or dance to music. R ight now, we
have come together in circle for a M ontessori birthday celebration.
It is N athaniel’s birthday. He is five years old. His father, w ho is a M ajor
in the United States Air Force has come directly from w ork, still in
uniform and has been standing by the door, watching the children prepare
for circle. He is carrying a bakery box o f frosted sugar cookies and a large
white envelope. As he walks toward the children, N athaniel jum ps up and
pulls his father’s hand eager for him to jo in the circle.
110
Sharon welcomes N athaniel’s Dad, to the classroom. The children
sitting near Nathaniel move to allow m ore room for his father to join and
sit with them in the circle. Sharon announces to the class in an almost
whisper.
“We have a special event to celebrate today. Nathaniel, what is
today?” she asks.
Nathaniel, pleased with the total attention o f the class, “M y b-i-r-t-h-
day.” He exaggerates.
“That’s right,” replies Sharon, “W hen was Nathaniel bom , Mr.
Shepherd? (N athaniel’s Father)
“April 20, 2000.” He answers.
Nathaniel nods his head in agreem ent, several times, in short
dramatic movements.
Sharon reaches behind her on a low sh elf and places a small candle
in a terra cotta holder in the center o f the circle. She lights the candle with
a camp lighter. The children rem ain still. She smiles at Nathaniel, w ho is
already standing.
“You may go and get the globe.” She tells him.
Ill
He walks gingerly over to the cultural sh elf and takes the volleyball
sized colored world globe in his arms and steps back into the circle. He
m oves once around the candle.
Sharon begins the story, “Nathaniel, you w ere bom on April 20,
2000 and the earth traveled around the sun one full year. You were a year
old on April 20, 2001.” She looks at the M ajor, “Tell us about Nathaniel
w hen he was a year old.”
N athaniel’s Dad, takes some photographs from the white envelope.
H ere is a picture o f Nathaniel when he was a year, passing the picture to
the children sitting next to him. “We were living in M ontana when
Nathaniel was bom , but we m oved to California, when he was a year.”

*
Nathaniel walks another circle around the ‘sun’. “A nother full year
around the sun, April 20, 2002, what happened when N athaniel was two
years old?”
N athaniel’s Dad again takes more photographs out and passes them
to the children, who are looking at each o f the photos with intense interest.
They speak in hushed whispers. There is a low series o f giggles.
“Nathaniel became a big brother. His sister Ariel was bom .” His
Dad says.
112
Nathaniel walks around the candle for a third time, w ith the globe
still held in his arms.
“On April 20, 2003, N athaniel was three years old. Tell us about
year three.” continues Sharon.
M ore pictures are passed around and his father says,” W ell, when
N athaniel was three, we m oved to Colorado and he came to Ethemba
M ontessori. He was in the Y ellow Room w ith M iss Elizabeth.”
“I was in the Yellow Room too.” States C heryl, raising her hand and
speaking at the same time.
“Thank you, Cheryl.” Sharon answers.
N athaniel walks one m ore time around the candle.
“On April 20, 2004, N athaniel was four years old. Sharon addresses
N athaniel this time, “W hat can you tell us about last year?”
The last few pictures com e out o f the envelope and are handed to the
children.
“Last year, “Nathaniel begins, “I got a dog. She is a G olden
R etriever puppy.”
113
N athaniel walks around the candle one final time.
“Friends, what day is it today?” Sharon asks the class.
The children answer “April 20, 2005”
“H ow old is Nathaniel today?”
“ 5” I hear one voice that says “6”
“W hat can you tell us today, N athaniel?”
“I got a new lunch box. I know when it is a school day w hen my
lunch box is on the counter, but I know I stay at home when m y lunch box
is on the shelf.”
“Thank you, Nathaniel. Shall we sing Happy Birthday, Friends?”
The children sing the song, enthusiastically. Sharon asks N athaniel to
blow out the candle. He returns the globe to the shelf and Sharon invites
the class to enjoy the cookies that N athaniel and his father have brought to
share.
C hristopher walks over to Nathaniel and gives him a hug around the
shoulders.
“You did a good jo b .”
“W ell, I am a little bad, but I ’m m ostly good.” announces Nathaniel.
114
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“Children need to develop a philosophy which w ill teach them
about the unity o f the universe. This is the very thing to organize
their intelligence and to give them a better insight into their own
p lace and task in the world, at the sam e tim e p resen tin g a chance
fo r the developm ent o f creative energy. ” (Standing, 1998)
S e lf Expression and the Aesthetics o f M eaning
S elf expression as defined by Freem an (2000) is the desire to
make our private perceptions public. N euro-biology offers insight
into connections between the desire to express o n eself and the
experience one draws from that aw areness o f m eaning. In other
words, by expression we are able to make sense o f the w orld
around us. According to Freeman (2000), the m ost obvious fact is
that the construction and dynam ics o f our brains grow and adapt
through our communicative experiences, our attem pts to express
ourselves.
115
These com m unicative experiences are grounded in very ordinary
daily events, like a birthday celebration. Freem an (2000) uses the
examples o f sharing a meal or having a friendly conversation with
someone. Paul W illis (1990) in his book Common Culture extends
Freem an’s idea further by using the term grounded aesthetics in relation to
how individuals form meaning. Grounded aesthetics, by W illis’s
description, is the quality o f living activity or social performance from
which we draw meaning.
The concept o f grounded aesthetics, unlike a traditional view o f
aesthetics, w hich concentrates on the quality or principles o f beauty,
examines instead the transformative events o f everyday life (W illis, 1990)
The behavior o f neurons could be described as grounded aesthetics and
this is why I draw the connections between F reem an’s and W illis’s work.
If as Freem an (2000) states, our brains and neural networks are
constructed through social interactive experiences and these experiences
are w rapped in our everyday life (W illis, 1990), then it is also possible to
draw the conclusion that the daily act o f living and working results in a
transform ation o f self or as I would term, a creative performance.
116
It is not within the scope o f this study to explore all o f the
dimensions of meaning; however, I have selected to m erge neurological
evidence related to meaning with the more philosophical definitions
provided by M ontessori (1966) and U hrm acher (2002). A ccording to
M ontessori (1966) meaning is generated by activity, the activity o f living.
Paula Polk Lillard (1996) the author o f M ontessori Today, paraphrases
M ontessori’s thoughts on meaning. “Essentially, to w ork is not to live,
but to experience life is what is most necessary to w ork and thus m eaning
is constructed. “ (p. 173)
A nother philosophical interpretation is expressed by U hrm acher
(2002), who makes the distinction between cognitive m eaning and cultural
meaning.
Cognitive meaning grows out o f individual inquiry into the

nature o f things and leads to un d erstan d in g .. .Cultural
meaning is relational. It is shared. C u ltu res.. .prom ote as well
as inhibit the kinds o f m eanings their m em bers m ay apprehend
through language, rituals, myths, non-discursive form s and
collective memories, (p. 70-72)
So, how does this all join together with my observation in the previous
vignette? Well first, Sophia was able to express a private reality, her
inability to zip her jacket, into a public expression. It m anifested itself in
a simple request for help.
117
Secondly, the com m unicative experience o f E lizabeth’s lesson on
zipping provided for Sophia a learning experience that transform ed her
brain construction in a biological way.
Thirdly, the interactive communication o f the lesson resulted in a
construction o f new neural networks for Sophia and as W illis (1990)
w ould point out, a new highlighted meaning.
This all occurred in a very ordinary context, on a playground at a
M ontessori school, and supports W illis’s idea o f grounded aesthetics.
Sophia’s new ability to zip her jack et generates w hat U hrm acher (2002)
would refer to as cognitive meaning, because her new skill w as drawn
from a personal inquiry and resulted in a different understanding o f how a
zipper works.
In the second part o f the vignette, I describe a M ontessori birthday
celebration. This cultural ritual is an example o f how M ontessori
environm ents recognize the transform ative nature o f self construction. By
nam ing each year and recalling influential experiences in N athaniel’s life,
Sharon offers him the opportunity to express him self w ithin a broad
context o f time and place. The possible creation o f m eaning reflected for
Nathaniel is o f a social nature, w hich reflects the cultural m eaning that
Nathaniel could form w ithin this M ontessori environment.
118
Introducing Cultural Significance
The fourth element o f perform ance creativity is cultural
significance. By definition, cultural significance refers to the effort o f an
individual to find meaning, by com munication, within a culture (Willis,
1990).The next three vignettes will exemplify the idea o f cultural
significance further; however, the section immediately follow ing will
explain the concept o f culture that guided this study. I place the section
here so that the reader can be clear on how culture was defined in this
study and how this is associated w ith the concept o f cultural significance.
Culture: Dynamic Construction and Dialogue
The role and description o f culture is im portant for this study,
because it is an ethnographic inquiry. There are many interpretations o f
what an ethnographic study can look like (Denzin, 2003; G oodall, 2000;
Willis, 2000; Woods, 1986); how ever, one consistent thread is woven
though most ethnographic inquiries and that is a focus on how people
behave and interact with one another (Woods, 1986). Ethnographers often
seek to discover the underlying beliefs, values, perspectives and
motivations inherent within a culture.
119
Spradley (1980) points out that every hum an society is culturally
constituted and is the “organization o f meaning given by people to objects,
places and activities” (p. 86). T he cultural “organization” that I studied
was a M ontessori learning environm ent and m y fieldwork was guided by
two overarching definitions o f culture
(1) Culture is a m ulti-layered dynamic form consisting o f modes o f
interaction, behavior, and attitudes w hich are a part o f a sociological entity
(Willis, personal com m unication, 2004).
(2) Culture is a dialogue. C ultures are not static, but relational,
dynamic and com municative. C ulture is a dramatic dialogic discourse
(Matusov, personal com m unication, April 13, 2005). In order to
understand this idea o f culture as dialogue, one has to understand the term
dialogue. A dialogue is defined as an interchange, a collaborative
conversation. H ere is an exam ple. Think o f walking down a city street in
America. You see text on billboards, road signs, highway signs, signage
advertising businesses, restaurants, schools, paw n shops, libraries,
employment agencies, hotels, upscale shops, consignm ent stores, and
liquor stores.
120
As you w alk down the sidewalk, you hear snippets o f conversations,
a pleasant greeting, a piece o f an argument, a laugh, a smile, a scowl, a
request for money from a hom eless person. N ow , ask yourself, a simple
question: What is this culture telling you? The brief walk I ju s t took you
on should communicate a great deal to you. It is dialogic.
H ow you interpret w hat you experienced will mold the cultural
meaning you create for yourself. The success that you have in being able
to communicate how you derive meaning and to what extent that has on
the culture is the determ ining agent in w hether or not you w ill be able to
achieve what Paul W illis (1990) refers to as cultural significance. One
derivation o f m eaning may lead you to write an editorial on conditions in
the inner city, another m ight lead you to volunteer at a hom eless shelter.
You might also choose to ignore the entire experience. In term s o f self
construction, each o f these outcomes would be considered creative.
The challenge then, is to design cultural learning environm ents
where children are able to create themselves in a way that influences them
to enter the cultural dialogue in constructive and not apathetic ways.
M ontessori’s description o f culture serves as an intersection betw een
W illis’s modes o f social interaction and M atusov’s dialogic discourse.
Culture, defined by M ontessori, (1998) is the entire human experience.
121
The idea o f cultural significance connects to these definitions o f
culture in very specific ways. In order to achieve cultural significance, one
needs to:
(1) Communicate the creative self. This is clearly a vehicle for
culture as dialogue described by M atusov.
(2) Be recognized and have the ability to influence the culture. This
is related to the social entity according to W illis.
(3) Be able to draw m eaning fro m the cultural environment.
Experiences, as we have established create m eaning, according to
M ontessori.In the following three scenes, I will illustrate how these three
intersections o f cultural significance can be observed in the M ontessori
learning environment.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + +
XV
I am sitting on a rectangular rug that is crim son and gold with the
children o f the Brown Room. There are eleven children in the Brown
Room and they range in age from seven to tw elve. Candace, the lead
teacher for the Brown Room is sitting in a w ooden slatted back rocking
chair with a red blanket and she is reading to us. The book is titled, The
Universe Tells Our Cosmic Story.
122
Candace reads, “ I learned., .that even giant things start out
s m a ll.. .that to build things, I need building b lo c k s.. .that I love to
ex p erim en t.. ..that there are special times for doing things .. .that my life
is uncertain therefore, a great adventure.
The children are holding clipboards and pencils. W hen Candace
finishes the book, she asks
“What do you think the main idea o f the book is?
They write down their responses on the clipboards.
The Brown Room is a m odular classroom that sits immediately
adjacent to the parking lot. It is a square room with large windows on both
the N orth and South wall.
Hanging on the east wall there are the guiding w ords o f a
M ontessori learning environm ent hanging in a collage.
“The words represent the culture o f the Elem entary Montessori
classroom ” Candace tells me during my first day o f observation in her
classroom The words are Effort, Flexibility, Organized, Curiosity,
Caring, Problem-Solving, Sense o f Humor, Cooperation, Courage,
Common Sense.
123
B eside the window, on the north wall there are four clocks and a
map o f the U nited States. The map is divided into the four time zones,
Eastern, Central, Western and Pacific. The clock faces reflect the time in
each zone. A lso on the walls are small w hiteboards w hich the children
and teacher use to work and com m unicate messages. The one in the front
says Research Groups this afternoon fo r C ultural Project.
The whiteboard in the language area shows a hum an stick figure and
the words, The body o f a sentence. The figures two hands are labeled
noun and an adjective and the feet are labeled verb and adverb.
The w hiteboard in the cultural area is a w eather board that is used to
record the daily temperature, w eather conditions, barom etric pressure, and
wind speed. The cultural area also has a hand painted tim eline that follows
the age o f the dinosaur up to our present time. There is a large bookshelf
and several leafy tropical plants in a reading and com puter area at the rear
o f the classroom. A medical school skeleton hangs on a m etal coat stand.
It has a Stetson hat on its head. The skeleton was a donation by one o f the
parents who is a physician. His skull peaks over the life science section o f
the cultural area.
124
M iniature flags that represent over fifty countries world w ide have
been placed on top o f the cultural shelves. There are several atlases and
reference m aterials pertaining to world geography also on the shelves.
The front o f the classroom has a couple bird cages with finches in
them. Their singing fills the air to the edges o f the room. Two small fish
aquarium s w ith Beta fish and three circular work tables and chairs are in the
center o f the room Each o f the walls are lined with low white shelves which
contain the M ontessori materials.
The M ontessori materials for Low er Elementary are constructed
upon the same principles o f the prim ary materials. In the language area,
instead o f singular letters, the students w ork with formed words and build
sentences, then paragraphs. The em phasis is on writing paragraphs and
b rief essays. The materials also include association work for punctuation,
gram m ar and spelling. As in the prim ary room , the work always has a
concrete element, so the child is able to interact with a learning m aterial in a
m ulti-sensory way, either by touch, sight, or sound. The m athem atics area
includes tactile m aterials that show the conceptual operations o f
m ultiplication and division, fractions, geom etry, and introductory algebra.
125
For example, the multiplication board is painted like a checker board
and is designed so that m ulti-colored beads can be placed on the specific
digit square to dem onstrate how a m ultiplication problem is visually
solved. W hen doing multiplication work, a child is able to actually see
what 3 times 4 looks like.
The sensorial/practical life area in this Low er E lem entary classroom
is more like an art area, with paints, clay, construction paper, watercolors,
markers and some materials for collage making. It also contains two
electric hand held brooms, dusters and a small upright vacuum .
“Main idea,” says Candace “Is really about the m eaning o f the
story.”
Candace has taught for several years in M ontessori schools in the
Southeast. She speaks in low tones and her classroom dem eanor
encourages the children to speak respectfully and quietly to one another.
Unlike the energetic and louder voices that I have heard in the prim ary
classrooms, the Brown Room children speak to each other in gentle
conversations.
126
“I think is means that w e are always different.” says one girl.
“Is it about the history, stuff like where we came from?” asks
another.
The discussion continues.
“It’s about tim e.”
“I ’m really not sure w hat it is about.”
“The author asks a lot o f questions.”
“I think the author is saying that we are on a road.”
“A ro ad ?” someone asks incredulously.
“You know , like an adventure.”
“Oh.”
“I think she means things are always going to change?”
“Hey, you stole my idea!”
At this point, Candace interjects, “W e are sharing ideas here. Each
person has their own ideas, but you may have sim ilar ideas. Now w hat do
you think that m ight m ean.”
“That w e are right?”
“N o,” replies a young girl “It means that all o f us got a chance to tell
you what w e thought.”
127
+ + + -H -+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
The first element o f cultural significance that W illis (1990) refers to
is the ability to communicate the creative self. To W illis, the creative self
is continually developing. Because, according to W illis, com m unication
is a performance, then an individual literally creates h im self as he
communicates. This idea is best linked to M atusov’s concept o f culture as
dialogue. M atsuov (2005) cites Dewey (1925):
If we do not talk to others and they with us, then we will n o t....
communicate. Through speaking a person dram atically
identifies with p o tentiality.. .he plays many roles in a
contemporaneously created drama. Thus, the m ind em erges.
(p. 170)
The preceding scene displays an active culture o f open dialogue.
The Brown Room learners w ere able to express their em erging
understanding o f the main idea. Also, note that Candace was careful to
guide the discussion in a w ay that would encourage students to think about
the collaboration o f their ideas which leads into the second elem ent o f
cultural significance, the ability to influence the culture. This w ill be
highlighted in the next vignette.
128
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + -+ -+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
XVI
“Hey, do you think we could start this today” asks Ray, a ten year
boy, who is spraw ling over a chair at one o f the circular tables with two
other Brow n Room students.
“W hat are we supposed to be doing in this research group?” asks
Cara. She is holding a sm all pink highlighter and a stack o f stapled papers
that include geographic m aps and inform ation about the A frican nation o f
Kenya.
“W hat is supposed to be on our poster?” asks Ray.
“W ell, who has the project sheet?” asks Myra.
“I do, says Cara. She hands out the papers to M yra and Ray.
“Should w e all read to our selves or should one person ju st read it out
loud?” asks Cara.
“H ow about I read the first page and you and M yra can read the next
ones.” offers Ray.
There seems to be a general consensus for each o f them to read
silently. There is silence for awhile as they read. Cara uses her
highlighter on page one. R ay uses his pencil to circle a w ord and Myra
studies the map.
129
“Are we supposed to have a map on our poster?” inquires Myra,
taking her pencil and tracing an outline o f K enya’s boundaries.”
Alan, the classroom assistant for the Brown Room, w alks over to the
table and asks,
“Are you ready to begin your w ork?”
Alan is presently studying to becom e a M ontessori certified
teacher at a local Montessori training program. He com es to a M ontessori
classroom from the business field. W hen I asked him w hy he chose to
become a M ontessori teacher, he told me that it was because he w anted to
do something that made a difference in the future.
Ray asks Alan, “What are we supposed to write on the p oster?’
“O kay,” replies Alan sitting down at the table with the group.
“Where is your project sheet?”
M yra stands up and looks under the table, “Oh, here it is.” She picks
up the slightly crumpled sheet.
“All right,” M yra announces. We need to know the physical features
o f K en y a.. .okay we need a map and a flag a n d .. .what are the m ountains
and the rivers and the cities?”
130
“ So, who w ants to do the m ap ?’ asks Cara.
“I think I want to draw a m ountain on the poster. We can draw Mt.
K en y a...” says M yra
“Can we draw a picture o f the m ountain on our poster?” R ay asks
Alan.
“I think so. W hy?” asks Alan.
“Because then w e’ll rem em ber the nam e o f the mountain and the
country.” Replies Myra.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The second elem ent o f cultural significance includes the opportunity
to be recognized and influence the culture. In this scene, we see Ray, Cara
and M yra working in a collaborative research group. Each child expresses
a different perspective upon the project. The culture o f the small group
appears to be purposeful and each voice is recognized (W illis, 1990).
Each voice is valued as contributing to the project’s process.
Even though it is a small influence, the group is able to shape the
project in a way that is able to create cognitive m eaning (Uhrmacher, 2002)
for its members. In the next scene, I offer an exam ple o f the third elem ent
o f cultural significance, the ability to draw m eaning from the culture.
131
+ + + + + -F + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
XVII
It is the last day o f the school year and the U pper Elementary
students from the Gold Room are working with Lego blocks. They are
designing catapults. The room is virtually empty, except for cardboard
boxes brimming with M ontessori materials, reference books, paper,
notebooks, pencils, markers, art supplies and library books. The three
tables that students are using for work are arranged in a horseshoe shape.
As they build their catapults, they move their designs to the carpeted floor
where a tape measure is stretched across the floor. They launch small
grey plastic balls across the measure from the catapults that they have
constructed.
Large potted plants are sitting on the shelves that have been
moved close together, facing each other. The room has been packed up in
anticipation o f the move across the parking lot into the new school
building. Tomorrow, the old will merge with the new. The Gold R oom ’s
furnishings and materials will be cleared first because the room is located
in the front o f the building, directly in front o f the m ain entrance.
Ethemba Montessori has expanded by two classroom s in less than three
years.
132
Harry and Charlie are working together, building a catapult. They
stretch a thin rubber band across the lower portion o f the fulcrum. Their
catapult is red with a yellow base and black plastic wheels.
“Do you think it will w ork now ?” asks Charlie
“W ell, let’s try it.” answers Harry, pushing his glasses back higher
on his nose.
Harry carries the Lego catapult to the tape m easure and places it on
the floor. He asks Charlie,
“W here’s the ball?”
Charlie answers, “Oh,” he reaches into his p a n t’s pocket.
“Here it is.”
When they release the band, the ball travels airborne about five feet.
The other children in the room pause for a m om ent to watch.
“How far did it go?” asks Angela, an eleven year old girl, who has
been attending Ethemba since she was tw o years old.
“About five feet” Answ ers Charlie.
“Oh, ours went about six.” adds A ngela
133
Harry shakes his head, picks up the catapult and carries it back to the
table. He is disappointed that the ball did not go further
“D o n ’t put so many bricks on the top. Piling it on to m ake it
stronger doesn’t work.” A ngela advises. She is w orking w ith green and
black blocks, building a sleeker catapult.
“H ow about if we make the band shorter?” H arry asks Charlie.
“Do you think it will give it more power?” answers Charlie
I can hear the sound o f plastic Legos being m oved and the
conversations o f the U pper Elementary students as they w ork to
construct their machines.
“L et’s change this.”
“Can we make this wheel higher?”
“W here is the flat piece?”
“I think ours can get to seven feet.”
“Here, let’s put the lever on this piece.”
“No, le t’s try is this w ay.”
“I ’m getting this to w ork in the best way I can.”
134
Angela sets her catapult on the floor and calls over to her w ork partner,
Liam.
“I ’m setting it off.”
She releases the fulcrum. The ball travels eight feet.
“W ow ” Liam shouts.
“Hey, did you guys live in the 14th century?” asks Harry.
Laughter is shared. Later on, as the students are clearing aw ay the
Legos, I ask A ngela a question.
“Can you tell me what it is like to be a part o f this class? W hat does it
feel like?
Angela looks at me for a moment. She pauses from placing Legos in a
multi-compartm ent plastic holder.
“Well, it feels pretty good.”
“W hy.”
She replies, “Because we are all friends here.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The third element o f cultural significance, the ability to create
meaning within- the culture is highlighted in the preceding scene. In this
particular vignette, I present M ontessori children at w ork constructing
Lego machines, levers, pulleys and catapults.
135
Their dialogue reflects curiosity and inquiry into the w orkings o f a
fulcrum, a rubber band, and a b all’s possible and actual distance.
In other w ords, they are seeking meaning, trying to discover the inner
w orkings o f the machine. The experiences o f touch, sight, and sound,
contribute to their understanding o f the process o f constructing an
effective catapult. This can be bridged to M ontessori’s view that sensorial
experience results in the construction o f self and o f human cultures at
large. M ontessori’s (1964) concept o f culture enfolds the entirety o f
human experience which may seem overwhelm ing for qualitative
researchers, w hose interest it is to study culture, but it also offers an
opportunity to consider the many possible creative ‘voices’ there are
present in a wide array o f cultural contexts.
H ow ard G ardner (1991) points out in his book The U nschooled
M ind that all children everywhere will becom e skilled in those pursuits
that engage their interests and their efforts and that are valued by their
environm ent. Skill develops in the simple activities o f living (p. 106). In
short, G ardner is directly referring to an elemental idea o f cultural
significance, the grounded aesthetic o f the cultural dialogue.
136
In summary, this chapter has addressed two m ajor research
questions:
In what ways does the M ontessori emphasis on individual
development contribute to the form ation o f s e lf and self-expression?
H ow does the M ontessori environment affect the creation o f m eaning
and cultural significance f o r learners? In Chapter 4 , 1 w ill describe how
the data was collected and analyzed for this study and p resen t its m ajor
findings.
137
CHAPTER FOUR
Analysis and Interpretation
“Cultural experiences are creative practices which the ethnographic

imagination recognizes as social messages written on the surfaces o f
everyday form s. ” (Willis, 2000)
Traditional ethnographers attempt to write and inscribe culture for
the purpose o f increasing know ledge and social awareness. Performance
ethnographers represent and perform rituals from everyday life, using the
actual perform ance as a method o f illustration and a m ethod o f
understanding (D enzin, 2003, p .33). Because this study is a hybrid
between a traditional text bound ethnography and a perform ance
ethnography, I approached data collection and analysis with the eye o f an
impressionist, im m ersed as a participant observer, engaged in the rituals o f
everyday life o f a M ontessori culture.
Artistic Im pressionism is characterized by its attem pt to capture the
visual reality o f space in time that is in constant flux, in regard to light and
atmosphere. Im pressionist painters looked to com m onplace, everyday
objects and individuals for their subjects.
138
Like W illis (1990, 2000) they realized the art present in the
mundane. As a performance ethnographer, my focus was to as far as
possible allow the readers o f the study to see, hear, and feel the culture
represented in a way that illuminates the creative activity o f everyday life
(V anM aanen, 1988).
Van M aanen (1988) describes the ethnographic story:
The impressionists o f ethnography [use] the m aterials o f

words, metaphors, phrasings, imagery and the expansive
recall o f fieldw ork.. .what makes the story w orth telling is its
out o f the ordinary or unique character.. .reconstructing those
moments in dramatic form that the author regards as
no tab le.. .Im pressionist writing tries to keep both subject and
object in constant v ie w .. .the epistem ological aim being to
then braid the know er and the known, (p. 102)
Following Van M aanen’s description, I included a num ber o f
illustrative vignettes and I encourage the reader to consider them as a
series o f scenes in a dramatic play. I intentionally w ove the related
literature throughout the dramatic and highly dialogic text because a
performance ethnography seeks to authorize itself from both scholarly
w ork and the shared, communicative story that forms a socio-em otional
connection between the perform er and the audience (Denzin, 2003).
139
Data Collection
In ethnographic work, the researcher ‘acts as instrum ent’
(Fetterman, 1998; Goodall, 2000).so an important approach to my work
included using a m ulti-sensorial technique to collecting data. I made an
intentional effort to take note o f w hat I was seeing, hearing, and touching,
even the senses o f smell and taste contributed to experiencing the field.
There are how ever, specific tools related to form al qualitative
inquiry that I em ployed w hile in the field. They w ere (1) participant
observation, (2) representational artifacts, and (3) dialogic interviews.
Participant Observation
Participant observation involves the immersion in a culture. The
ethnographer lives and w orks in the community (Fetterm an, 1998). As a
participant observer, I w as able to becom e a part o f the environm ental
landscape o f the classroom , not only a researcher taking notes but as a
participant in the events o f the classroom. The teachers at Ethem ba were
familiar with me, because I am a M ontessori parent and the form er Upper
Elementary A rt teacher. In each o f the classrooms, I w as afforded the
opportunity to teach lessons, create materials, and to w ork and play with
the students.
140
I was allowed by the director o f the school to choose, in cooperation
with the classroom teachers, the length o f time that I would spend in the
classroom. 1 spent approximately tw o weeks in each prim ary room,
(Yellow, Blue, and Pink) except for one prim ary room (Purple) in w hich I
spent two days, due to a parental request that I not observe their child. I
spent two weeks in each o f the Low er Elem entary rooms. (O range and
Brown) I spent one day in the Upper Elem entary room (Gold), again, due
to a request by a parent that I not observe their child. I spent a little over
160 hours total in the field and a little over 15 hours in conversational
dialogues w ith teachers and parents.
There are two reasons for the w ay I planned my tim e in the field.
The first reason is related to professional travel that occurred over the
course o f my fieldwork. I was selected to present at three
international/national conferences during the four months that I was in the
field; therefore, I needed to be judicious about my time. Secondly, my
days in the Gold and Purple rooms w ere lim ited due to parental requests
that their child not be a part o f my study.
While in the field, I participated in the activity o f the classroom by
assisting teachers in classroom preparation, teaching lessons, w orking
with children, assisting in lunch set up, and playground supervision.
141
I recorded data longhand in an enclosed paper tablet folder. Because my
work as a participant observer required me to write when I could get a
moment many times, I spent time re-constructing field observations at
specified times during the day, from 12:00-1:00 p.m. and from 4:00-5:30
p.m. I usually wrote at the green picnic tables outside, when the w eather
was nice or when it was colder, o ff site at a local coffee shop about five
minutes from the school site. At the close o f each day, 1 would transpose
my written notes into typed notes on m y laptop computer.
Representational Artifacts
Representational artifacts are those docum ents that provide further
insight into the dynam ics o f the culture. D uring my time in the field, I
was able to have access to student w ork and journals. I was not allowed,
nor did I ask to see any evaluative docum ents or personal records. I did
take photographs (with parental consent) o f the children working with the
M ontessori materials, the construction o f the new building and a selection
o f student artwork. The photographs will be displayed during the
performance ethnography, which I explain in detail in Chapter Five.
142
Dialogical Interviews
Dialogic interviews sometimes referred to as conversational
interviews (Denzin, 2003) are the m ajor instrum ent for gathering the
essential text o f performance ethnography; therefore, this tool o f
ethnographic inquiry played a m ajor role in my data collection
Dialogic interviews, as the term im plies are more conversational,
rather than formal. They are considered to be interactions that may be
interpreted as the participant’s struggle to create and share meaning
(M ienczakowski, 2001).
In a dialogic interview, the lines are blurred betw een the
interview er and interviewee. W hat results is a conversational intonation
and both researcher and participant emerge as a storyteller. As an active
listener, the researcher treats the interview as a process o f discovery and a
co-constructor o f meaning in this relationship (Bourdieu, 1996).
This method o f interviewing acts as a vehicle for producing
theatre. The conversation o f each interview may becom e a part o f the
final performance text. The personal voice is thus made public (Denzin,
2003).
143
I conducted seven conversational dialogues. All were conducted
with M ontessori teachers. The dialogues w ere free-flowing, thematic
communicative sessions, which usually occurred over lunch or at the close
o f the school day. I held brief discussions w ith parents, usually occurring
in the hallways o f the school or over a cup o f coffee at the local coffee
shop. I engaged in im provisatory conversations w ith children in the
classroom and on the playground.
D uring the dialogic interviews, I used only pen and paper. There
were no tape recorders used during the data collection o f this study. I
would w rite down key phrases under the them es that I had thought o f
before m eeting with the teachers. O ftentim es them es related to subjects
other than my research emerged during the dialogue, but I respected the
nature o f the dialogue as a co-perform ance (D enzin, 2003).
M ost o f the time the themes w ere directly related to my research
questions. They included: M ontessori’s definition o f creativity, o f self,
the spiritual embryo, M ontessori curriculum , M ontessori teaching and the
nexus o f Eastern perspectives o f creativity and M ontessori’s view o f
creativity. At the close o f the interview s, I w ould type the transcripts on
my laptop computer.
144
A fter an informal discussion with a parent, I w ould w rite the key
quotes in m y field notes for the day. I included the quotes from children
in the field notes as well. Chapter Six describes an extended dialogue
w ith M ontessori parents, presented as a narrative poem.
Data Analysis
B rew er (2000) defines data analysis as the process o f bringing order
to the data by organizing what there is into patterns, categories, and
descriptive units. This also includes looking for relationships between the
units. Interpretation involves attaching m eaning and significance to the
analysis using the techniques o f coding (indexing the data into categories
or them es), qualitative description and content analysis from extracts o f
natural language.
B ecause performance ethnography is recognized as a n ew er field of
qualitative inquiry, it has been on the academic forefront for only about
thirty years (Mienczakowski, 2001). Questions o f validity rem ain, placing
perform ance ethnography in a crisis o f legitim ization (D enzin, 2003).
145
To the limited extent that I am w illing to use the term o f validity as a
qualitative researcher, I do think it is important to define the term . Denzin
(2003) states that performance ethnography validates itself by the fact that
it is a collaboration between participant and researcher. He dism isses the
actual term validity though, “as from the days o f naive realism .” (p. 109)
For this study, I w ould describe validity as W illis (2000) does; validity
refers to how accurately the w ork represents the p articip an t’s realities.
Richardson (1994) uses the m etaphor o f a crystal as a descriptor for
validity. She writes, “Crystals are a prism that reflect the externalities and
refract within themselves .. .what we see depends on our angle o f repose
(p. 522). Richardson encourages the researcher to engage in se lf
disclosure.
To that end, I admitted early on in this study that I am a M ontessori
parent; however, I am not an apologist for M ontessori philosophy,
curriculum or practice. I consciously made the distinction throughout my
field work to approach each observation, dialogue and the resultant data
analysis and interpretation as a qualitative researcher in the field, not as a
Montessori parent. I have made every attem pt to present an accurate,
authentic and aesthetic view o f a M ontessori culture through the voices o f
my participants.
146
Three Tenets o f Ethnographic Analysis
The three tenets o f ethnographic analysis practiced by Brewer
(2000), D enzin, (2003) and Willis (2000), which I will describe
m om entarily, are supported by H am m ersley’s (2001) observation that the
social w orld is not reproducible to that which can be externally observed,
but that it is som ething to be created or perceived and interpreted by
personal voice, w hich is best revealed in the natural settings o f the
everyday.
In regard to this study, I consciously focused upon the voice o f the
participants and state early on in the Forew ord that the construction o f this
work, placed in the everyday environment o f a M ontessori school,
continued to em erge with each new day in the field, as both an internal
and external self- creative construction. To that end, I conducted data
analysis everyday, both reflectively and physically, in a research journal,
which sim ply com prised o f my thoughts, m usings, plans for how a
perform ance piece m ight look, and a continual stream o f em ergent
questions.
147
The Ethnographic Imagination
Brewer (2000), D enzin (2003), and W illis (2000) state that an
ethnographic imagination is important when presenting research, because
an ethnographic im aginative approach respects and m ore accurately
reflects the social world. W illis (2000) describes the role o f the
im aginative ethnographer as the work o f “telling m y story about their
story [the participant] by collecting data in the eye o f an ethnographic
needle through which the threads o f the im agination m ust p ass.” (p.7)
Three tenets that guide the woven data analysis from the philosophical
perspective o f the ethnographic imagination are (1) the b e lie f that
fragments o f recorded talk, extracts from field notes, and reports o f
observed actions reliably represent the social w orld (2) the b e lie f that
small scale, micro- events in everyday life feature broader social
processes, and (3) the b elief that people make sense o f their everyday lives
and offer descriptions that reflect o f the art o f life. These w ere the guiding
philosophical principles that I employed in analyzing the data for this
study I used three practical techniques o f data analysis, coding, content
analysis, and triangulation.
148
Coding
I used a four-color system for coding my data. A fter typing the field
notes and transcripts from the conversational dialogues from each day, I
highlighted in specific colors the four major categories that I was
studying, orange w as for observations related to self; pink for self-
expression; green for m eaning and blue for cultural significance. I then,
placed the colored text in a separate document under the m ajor themes o f
S e lf Self-Expression, M eaning, and Cultural Significance.
From these, I m ade the selection as to what scenes or vignettes best
described the them e that they represented. The criteria that I used to make
these decisions w ere driven by m atching the elements o f w hat I observed
to the definitions o f each o f the headings. For example, in the first
vignette, my so n ’s com m ent relating, his former teacher and her
knowledge o f ‘w ho he is ’ was placed under Se//"because it referred to the
neurological definition stating that, the self is formed by interactions with
the environm ent, o f w hich, his teacher was a part.
149
Content Analysis
I used a similar approach to the content analysis o f the
conversational interviews that I conducted with teachers. I corresponded
colors and highlighted those statements in our dialogues that reflected the
themes o f M o n tesso ri’s View o f Creativity, in pink M o n tesso ri’s View o f
Self-construction in orange, M ontessori's Philosophy o f Teaching in
green, and The M ontessori Learning Environment in blue. W hen I could
recognize patterns between w hat I saw in the coded data from the field
notes and the analyzed transcripts, I initiated triangulation o f the data.
The criteria that I used for this determination is illustrated in the
following exam ple. (1) The definitions o f self from Freem an (2000) and
M ontessori (1964) formed a connection with my dialogue w ith Gaya, the
lead teacher in the Pink Room in Scene IX, in Chapter Tw o. (2) I could
also make a further connection from the philosophical perspective
regarding selected Eastern perspectives o f creativity to M ontessori (1964)
and Freeman (2000) (3) This data could also be further associated w ith
the observation that I conducted in the Pink Room that is also highlighted
in Scene IX and includes my w ork with Alicia. (4) O nce, I could
recognize these kinds o f patterns, I applied them further to a process o f
triangulation.
150
Triangulation
Denzin (1997) has suggested four m odes o f triangulation and I
employed these m odes in the analysis o f m y data. Although, D enzin does
not directly attach the significance o f the term validity to triangulation, he
does state that the incorporation o f these m odes can address the crisis o f
legitimization facing perform ance ethnography. D enzin’s m odes (1997)
are termed (1) sources, (2) methods, (3) investigator, and (4) theory.
A ccording to D enzin’s m odel, there should be multiple sources.
The sources that I used w ere w ritten observations, conversational
dialogues, student work, journals, and student art. The researcher should
use various data collection methods. I utilized participant observation and
conducted conversational interview s. D ue to the em ergent characteristics
o f qualitative inquiry, the researcher-as-instrum ent needs to be aware that
the interaction between investigator and participant is an active
occurrence, thus developing a respectful and collaborative relationship
with participants is a key elem ent. I approached each participant in my
study as a co-constructor o f the study. I w as interested in hearing each
voice. In choosing pseudonym s, I asked participants to choose their own,
when they opted not to, I selected one for them.
151
Finally, research findings may be confluent with a variety o f
theories. In other words, ambiguity or the need for further study is often
present and must be acknowledged. I realize that this study is a beginning
glimpse into an idea o f performance creativity and that the findings that I
offer are a reflection o f the subjectivities o f time, place, culture, and
perspective.
Purpose o f the Study
The purpose o f this study is to describe and interpret the role o f
performance creativity within the cultural space o f a M ontessori school. I
restate the purpose o f the study here, so that it may serve as a rem inder for
the reader.
Findings: Chapter One-Constructing a Culture
Chapter One presented eight vignettes that began to build a
conception o f a M ontessori culture. By focusing on the m etaphor o f
construction, it was my intention to give the reader an opportunity to see
that in the M ontessori environm ent construction o f self is ever present and
that this ongoing work is a live performance. I wanted the reader to see
that the who I am and the who I can becom e in regard to the child, guides
the philosophy o f M ontessori classroom practices and activities.
152
Taken as a com posite, the scenes (num bered as they appear in the
text) presented learners using M ontessori m aterials independently, (II),
constructing meaningful w ork by using building blocks, (II) making
silence, (III) talking about creativity as self-expressive work, (IV)
im provising music, (V) discovering the freedom o f choice present in the
learning environment, (V ) experiencing a sensorial sandpaper letter
lesson, (V) writing a self-expressive journal entry, (VII) and
communicating the connection between w ork and identity (VIII)
The sixth scene dem onstrated M ontessori’s idea o f the discovery o f
the child (Montessori, 1964). This discovery is two-fold; the discovery o f
the child by the teacher and the sensorial interactive discovery o f the
learning environment by the child. As G aya explained to the prospective
parent, recognition o f the unique in se lf developm ent is evident by how
M ontessori children are evaluated and how they are offered the freedom to
choose their work in their space.
153
QUESTION ONE: How do the practices of a Montessori environment
influence creativity described as a performance?
W ith this question I was looking at how the pervading curricular
philosophy (practice) and living activity (performance) o f the classroom
either encourages or discourages the four dimensions o f performance
creativity, self, self-expression, meaning, and cultural significance.
W hat I found was that there is strong em phasis on sensorial
refinem ent in the M ontessori learning environment, that the learner is
encouraged to develop independence and self-direction in his choice o f
work. The teacher acts as an informed guide in the learning process.
A lthough, in most cases teachers will initiate lessons, students are
encouraged to develop the self-awareness to request a lesson.
Teachers take great care in preparing aesthetic and well structured
classrooms which they consider the child’s space. In this space, children
are given the freedom to express themselves provided the action is
respectful o f others, when conflicts do arise, the peace rose is a visible
sign o f how conflict is resolved and how each voice is listened to and
respected.
154
The reader will recall that the second purpose for C hapter One was to
contextualize the four elements o f perform ance, self, self-expression,
meaning and cultural significance. In the following paragraphs, I apply
the findings stated above to their specific elem ent
Self
The self is defined as the as the form ation that results as an
interactive performance between the individual and his w orld (Freeman,
2000; M ontessori, 1995); therefore, the findings that support sensorial
refinement, independence, and the ch ild ’s space from the scenes in
Chapter O ne contribute to self-construction.
Self-Expression
Self-expression takes many com m unicative form s (W illis,
1990). Findings from Chapter One present sensorial refinem ent and self-
direction in learning as a part o f the M ontessori learning environm ent;
therefore, there is some support for se lf expression as being nurtured in the
Montessori classroom.
155
M eaning
Findings from Chapter One related to the formation o f meaning,
describe M ontessori teachers that encourage their students to construct
individual m eaning by acting as a guides, rather than always initiating
direct instruction. B y creating aesthetic well structured learning
environm ents, they encourage spaces w here meaningful interactions can
occur betw een the child and the environment.
Cultural Significance
Cultural significance is the com municative effort o f an individual to
find m eaning within a culture (Willis, 1990). Unlike the integrated
concepts o f self and meaning, that are complex, the idea o f cultural
significance should be easier to understand, because it relates to the
hum an need to com municate (Freeman, 2000). In order to sim plify the
idea o f cultural significance further, I will offer a personal experience.
Recently, I was in M ontreal, Quebec for an educational conference.
One afternoon I w alked the mile from my downtown hotel to the section
o f Old M ontreal, a neighborhood o f grey, stone buildings w hich in recent
years had been the banking district o f the city.
156
Today, the narrow brick cobbled avenues w elcom e tourists. Clothing
boutiques, im port stores, souvenir shops, art galleries and restaurants line
the sidewalks. Along most of the walls in alleyw ays how ever are
brilliantly colored graffiti and mural paintings. M ost have political
emblems and writing in both French and English.
As I continued my walk to the nearby Latin Q uarter, a diverse
community w ithin the city, where there are businesses ow ned and
operated by individuals from China, Korea, Ethiopia, G hana, Egypt, and
India, to name a few, I continued to see the bright and bold graffiti and
murals. An outdoor cafe, filled with couples and fam ilies w ith children
looked inviting, so I found a table in the w arm afternoon sun and ordered
some wine. D irectly across the street from the cafe w as a pain ted mural
on a brick wall which depicted four wom en, two w hite w om en and two
women of color. They were exchanging bread in a field o f com against an
azure sky.
157
I asked my waiter, pointing across the street,
“W ho painted that?”
I believe he spoke very little English, so I tried in French.
“Qui a p e in t cela?” [Who painted that?]
He looked across the street and answered non-chalantly,
“A dolescents.”
I asked him, “P ourquoiT ’ [Why?]
He shrugged his shoulders, brushing bread crumbs o ff m y table. He
answered, “L es adolescents veulent montrer la com m unaute qu ’ils sont
des artistes.” [The youth want to be considered artists.]
I also w anted to ask him about the graffiti. I pieced together a few
words from m y French phrase booklet and commented,
“J ’ai vu beaucoup le g r a f f i t i [I’ve seen a lot o f graffiti.]
He nodded his head in the affirmative.
“Nos enfants veulent etre entendus.” [Our children want to be heard.]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
158
This personal vignette is one that I believe provides a clear, real-life
exam ple for explaining cultural significance. The expressive m urals and
graffiti found throughout the city o f Montreal are considered a
com m unicative effort o f young people. In order to understand this
elem ent o f performance creativity, one needs to suspend lim iting views o f
how creativity is expressed and embrace a w ider conception o f creative
voice. The findings from my study that show that M ontessori classroom s
provide an atmosphere that encourages respectful self-expression offers
more support for the im portance o f including cultural significance in our
description o f creativity.
Findings: Chapter Two-An Emerging World View
One o f the major purposes o f this study is to explore a re
conceptualization o f creativity, constructed upon a m ulti-discipline, m ulti
cultural platform. Chapter Tw o presents three vignettes that support an
emergent global view o f creativity. It is not m eant to be a com prehensive
global perspective but it does present a convergence o f the dim ensions o f
performance creativity with philosophical perspectives discovered from
Asia, A frica and a selection o f Native American nations.
159
The findings from C hapter Two demonstrate that there are clear
connections to be seen am ong the neurological descriptions o f self, the
M ontessori concept o f self construction, and various Eastern perspectives
concerning creativity. (Found in Scene IX) There are also connections
observed am ong the dim ension o f self-expression, the M ontessori concept
o f the inner constructive force, and a number o f Native Am erican
perspectives in regard to creativity. (Found in Scene X) Finally, there
were further connections to be seen am ong the dim ension o f cultural
significance, the M ontessori concept o f classroom as com m unity, and two
African perspectives in regard to creativity. (Found in Scene XI)
F indings: C hapter Three
Q U E S T IO N T W O : In w h a t ways does the M ontessori em phasis on
individual developm ent contribute to th e fo rm a tio n o f s e lf a n d self-
expression? W ith this question, I was in search o f the connections
between w hat neurological evidence states regarding the form ation o f self
and self expression and w hat I could observe in the M ontessori classroom
culture. W hat I discovered was that there are opportunities in the
M ontessori environm ent for a nexus to occur among the elem ents of
personal perception (Freeman, 2000), self construction, (M ontessori,
1964), and influences on the developm ent o f neural netw orks (Freeman,
2000 ).
160
The M ontessori perspective o f creativity, and the neurological
evidence that states that time and place influence the form ation o f self are
also closely associated (Edelman, 2004). (Found in Scene X III),
More importantly, however this research question was able to explore the
bridges between neural plasticity (Restak, 2003; Schwartz & Begley,
2002); the ability o f the brain to alter and build its neural netw orking
configurations in a constructive/ re-constructive continuum, and the
teaching philosophy that pervades the M ontessori environm ent. (Found in
Scenes XIV) In other words, teachers consistently referred to the
potentialities o f the child, thus I observed in both observation and
interviews that teachers do not operate under a paradigm o f determ inism
(assuming that children had assessed limitations) but instead w ithin a
paradigm o f possibility (Tombari, personal communication, M ay, 2005)
which assumes that children developed in a neurologically plastic manner.
161
QUESTION THREE: How does the Montessori environment affect the
creation o f meaning and cultural significance fo r learners?
With this question, I was inquiring into the interactive event o f how
the self derives m eaning from creative perform ance within a M ontessori
culture. The definition o f cultural significance is the com municative
effort o f an individual to find m eaning within a culture (W illis, 1990).
The definition o f m eaning that guided this study was from three sources,
the neuro-biological, philosophical, and educational. Freeman (2000)
describes m eaning as the construction o f communicative forms;
Uhrmacher (2002) com pares personal inquiry as cognitive m eaning and
relational experiences as cultural m eaning. M ontessori (1966) describes
the activity o f living as generative o f meaning.
The concepts o f se lf and m eaning are relatively com plex, and it
was not within the scope o f this study to exam ine these concepts alone or
in any com prehensive depth, but instead to begin to formulate a theory o f
performance creativity, w hich encourages a global view creativity though
the shaping o f self and the construction o f m eaning within a specific
culture.
162
For this study, the culture was a M ontessori school. To that end, the
final three scenes in Chapter Three present findings that illustrate the idea
that there are opportunities within the M ontessori classroom to create
oneself and construct m eaning when culture is defined as dialogue. (Found
in Scene XV)
In scenes XVI and XVII, we observe learners working together to
build understanding to complete a geographic project and construct LEGO
machines. In both scenes we observe a cultural atmosphere o f mutual
respect and an attention to each individual voice within a social context.
Although the influence is not overstated, A ngela’s final comment, “We
are all friends here.’’’ reflects a cultural atm osphere that implies that the
M ontessori environment is one o f care and com munity.
A Possible Theory
Taken as a composite whole, there are elem ents o f each o f the four
dimensions o f performance creativity to be discovered within the
M ontessori cultural environment. This study only begins to offer
em ergent possibilities for a theory o f perform ance creativity.
163
It is accepted that a theory is a form ulation o f relationships
constructed upon principles. One study does not a form a theory;
how ever, one study can present a potentiality for further investigation and
perhaps the development o f a series o f principles regarding a re
conceptualization o f creativity. It is the role o f this study to initiate this
research and work
In this chapter, I have described how the data was collected,
analyzed and interpreted for this study. In the next chapter, I will explain
why I chose performance ethnography to tell this research story.
164
CHAPTER FIVE
Performing Ethnography
“The good news is that in recent decades there has been a remarkable
constellation o f thinking around performance. ” (Conquergood, 1998)
The purpose o f this chapter is to present a brief sketch o f the origins
o f perform ance ethnography, its philosophical underpinnings and two
reasons that I selected to employ it for my study.
The roots of performance ethnography grew out o f the fields o f
social work, medicine, qualitative inquiry, and critical theory. Ethno-
drama, originating from the w ork o f M ienczakowski (2001), narrative
ethnographic inquiry from the work o f R ichardson (1997), and
ethnography influenced by critical theory from the w ork o f D enzin (2003)
have all served to paint the multi-colored facets o f performance
ethnography.
M ienczakow ski’s (2001) ethno-dramas emanate from the fields o f
social w ork and medicine. The original ethno-dramas w ere research based
scripts which served as a tool for training counselors w orking with drug
addicts and nurses working with traum a patients in Britain.
165
R ichardson (2000) em ploys lyrical and narrative poetry in
ethnographic accounts. A ccording to Richardson, narrative ethnographers
are able to retell lived experiences that are m ore accessible to audiences.
The researcher as instrument becom es w riter as perform er w ith the ability
to reflexively consider the self as researcher and the s e lf s relationship
with his/her research participants, thus reflexive p erform ance can take the
form of short stories, creative non-fiction, photographic essays,
autobiographical ethnographies and perform ance texts.
D enzin (2003) author o f the book Perform ance E thnography invites
ethnographers to rethink performance in the field o f qualitative inquiry as
a way to contribute to a critical dialogue that confronts issues o f
democracy and racism in America. I w ould like to build upon this
dialogue, but to direct it to the field o f education and specifically, to
teacher education.
166
Revising the Role o f the Teacher through the Dialogic
At the heart o f performance ethnography is the im pression o f the
w orld as a performance, not a text. Performance ethnography is an
attem pt to get close to the face o f humanity. It respects the process and
flux o f everyday life; thus, culture can be framed as dialogic
(C onquergood, 1985; Denzin, 2003 & M atsuov, 2005).
I w ould remind the reader that I explained the idea o f culture as
dialogue in Chapter Three. As the fluidity o f human ongoing events tend
to shape tim e and place, performance ethnography attempts to capture this
living action. I f we consider M asuov’s definition o f culture as dialogue
again and we m arry this concept to performance ethnography then culture
is represented as a variety o f different forms o f com munication. O ne o f the
m ajor descriptors o f performance ethnography is its critical goal, both at a
philosophical level and a practical one, to listen to the unheard, to pay
attention to ideas that are often dismissed and to give voice to those who
do not have a voice. Performance ethnography offers an invitation to join
the cultural dialogue.
167
In terms o f my study, it is my intent to give a voice to the often
ignored creative voice o f the child. This voice is often dism issed, because
mainstream educative practices do not adhere, as M ontessori influenced
classrooms, to the b elief that children should direct their ow n learning and
the nuances o f expression tied to all that includes.
Some educators m ay feel uncom fortable with the idea o f children
directing their leaning. They might ask,
“ So, if the child is directing his own learning, the te a c h e r’s role is
non existent?”
Nothing could be further from the reality o f teaching, provided one
is able to accept the role o f teacher as a facilitator, an inform ed, attentive
and ever-observant guide in the learning process (M ontessori, 1964).
Montessori teaching coheres to the thought that if the teach er is freed from
a teach, learn, test, routine, they can be at liberty to build upon the
abilities and interests o f their students, thus the child reveals h im self
through his creative labor as he interacts with the curriculum (H ainstock,
1986; Willis, 1990).
168
A Revision o f Qualitative Research
Q ualitative approaches such as performance ethnography are a part
o f developing m ethodologies that are seeking to challenge and to question
boundaries betw een literature, art, aesthetics, and social science (Rorty,
1980). By its very nature, performance ethnography deconstructs the
scholarly article validating itself through its ability to evoke and invoke
emotional and intellectual understanding between the researcher,
performer, and audience (M ienczakowski, 2001). Perform ative
ethnography is vulnerable, open to dialogue, and can challenge cultural
attitudes and m odes o f behavior (Conquergood, 1985; D enzin, 2003). It
also can operate as a form o f cultural critique, a revealing agency
(Alexander, 2000).
I have revealed through performance ethnographic techniques, a
series o f vignettes that offer a close-up, intimate view o f the dialogic
nature o f a M ontessori culture.
There are two reasons why I selected to use performance
ethnography in this study. First, as I have articulated previously, I desire,
as does D enzin (2003), to initiate a dialogue within the com m unity o f
ethnographers and educators.
169
I also would like this study to represent a contribution to a
continuing process o f social criticism in regard to the sphere o f W estern
cultural elitism present in defining and recognizing creativity. It is m y
continual effort to advance a more democratic approach to the recognition
o f the creative voices o f all children and this has im plications for teacher
education.
This study incorporates the text o f a traditional ethnography
alongside o f a performable ethnographic narrative script. The result is a
text bound dissertation and an interactive ethnographic perform ance.
M uch like a stained glass window, with its varied colors, the w ritten text
serves as a way looking at the w indow from the outside w here there is a
specific delineated design. As a complement, the ethnographic
perform ance acts as a view from the inside w here one can see the
m ultiplicity o f colored shadows cast by the outside light onto the floor.
My second reason for choosing performance ethnography is guided
by an intentional purpose to broaden and explore the potentialities o f
academic research within the field o f education.
170
Like Eisner (1994), I recognize the multiple opportunities that can
manifest from creating alternate forms o f research based representations,
which include three possibilities.
(1) The establishm ent o f a more authentic sense o f em pathy towards
research participants. Perform ance ethnographers consider participants as
collaborators in the w riting o f the performable text (Denzin, 2003).
(2) The generation o f insight and attention to com plexity through a
multiplicity o f form s. Perform ance ethnographers look at the potentiality
o f telling their research stories through a variety o f expressive forms,
narrative poetry, auto-ethnography, and/or dramatic texts (Richardson,
2000).
(3) The w idening o f the audience fo r academic research. Because
authentic perform ance ethnography is presented to a w ider community,
outside the traditional academ ic environment, the kinds o f questions that
are generated from the perform ance spans a wider frame o f inquiry. In
other words, more representative voices are present to interpret the
performance.
171
Ultimately, performance based disciplines have the potential
contribute to significant and meaningful change within the fields they are
expressed (Denzin, 2003). I also concur with Madison (1998) w hen she
points out that performance ethnography can “through com m unicative
action break through unfair closures and rem ake the possibilities for new
openings. This performance o f possibilities gives voice to those on the
margin, moving th em ...to the political center.” (p.284) I encourage the
reader to imagine the possibilities available to us as a cultural society, if
we in education, were to look at the creative potentiality o f all children
through a m ulticultural global perspective.
In Chapter Six I will address the final research question o f this study,
How could the fin d in g s o f this study serve to inform educational theory
and practice? Through a presentation format, representative of
performance ethnography, Chapter Six offers an example o f a research
based performance script. Chapter Six will also present the limitations,
implications and possible future research related to this study.
172
CHAPTER SIX
Performing Montessori
Montessori is teaching o f connections through the actual performance

o f responsible cooperative behavior. That is the only way you learn,
through perform ance...” Csikszentmihalyi, NAMTA Journal, 1997
The fourth question o f this study, H ow could the fin d in g s o f this
study serve to inform educational th eo iy and practice; will be addressed
in this chapter. This question is directly related to my goal o f opening a
dialogue for a re-conceptualization o f creativity and to collaboratively
think about how we, as educators m ight possibly begin to reshape
curriculum in order to listen more attentively to the creative voices o f our
learners. In further sections o f this chapter, I state the limitations,
proposed implications o f this study and offer suggestions for future
research.
Authentic Adequacy and Validity fo r Performance Pieces
In Chapter 5 , 1 presented a b rie f introduction to the underlying
principles o f perform ance ethnography, as a m ethodological tool. The
first part o f this chapter is an exam ple o f w hat a performance script can
look like.
173
It is important to note that there is no standard mode for how a
perform able piece should appear. By advancing a standardization o f from,
the perform ed expression m ight become contrived (Denzin, 2003). That is
not say however, that performance ethnography cannot be critiqued. In
evaluating a performance piece, Christians (2000) calls for authentic
adequacy which refers to the validity o f the performance. Validity,
according to Christians (2000) is determined by evaluating the
representation o f multiple voices. The perform ance is less valid if it
marginalizes certain viewpoints while allowing for only majority voices to
be heard.
Richardson (2000) suggests that participative audiences and
perform ance ethnographers ask five questions in determ ining the validity
o f a performance text: (1) Does the piece contribute to our understanding
from a social science perspective? (2) Is the perform ance artistically
shaped? (3) Is the researcher held accountable for w hat she has presented?
(4) Does the performance generate inquiry?(5) D oes the text em body a
lived or realistic account?
174
The performance text in C hapter Seven contributes to the expression
o f a M ontessori culture and a developing theory o f perform ance creativity.
In response to Richardson’s second question and C hristians’ authentic
adequacy, the first and second scenes in this chapter are representative o f
what D enzin (2003) would call a co-perform ance text.
T he performable text in C hapter Seven is shaped through the artistic
form o f narrative collage (Dillard, 1982). The narrative collage is one o f
the possible vehicles for presenting the voices o f participants. Narrative
collages are an aesthetic blending o f direct quotations and imagery. In
regard to my accountability ( R ichardson’s question three) as a researcher,
my continuing dialogue with participants m ade them aware o f what I was
writing and what would a part o f the final perform ance piece.
R ichardson’s questions four and five can be addressed after the actual
performance.
175
Learning from Lunch: Scene One
Narrator: I walk into the Green Room. .Recall this is the m ulti
purpose room for teachers as I described in Scene XIV. Elizabeth, the lead
teacher for the prim ary Yellow Room is pouring some iced tea into a
plastic cup. Candace, the lead teacher for the lower elem entary Brown
R oom is sitting at the circular lunch table, eating crackers and cheese.
A lan, the assistant teacher for the low er elementary Brow n R oom is
heating b eef and vegetable soup in the microwave. I jo in Candace at the
table. She asks me,
Candace: How are your observations going?
[I begin slicing a peach from my lunch and reply.]
Pam ela: They are going very well.
[Elizabeth and A lan jo in us at the table.]
Elizabeth: I have something to tell you. I want to hear
w hat you think about this.
[Alan eats a spoonful o f his soup.]
Alan: W hat is it?
176
Elizabeth: I was talking to my neighbors this w eekend. They are
elementary teachers and they said something that really concerned me.
I ’m not sure if they know that I am a M ontessori teacher, or m ay b e... .they
said it because [they know] I am?
[She pauses to take a sip o f her iced tea]
Elizabeth: Do you remember the twins, M ackenzie and Laura, who were
in G aya’s class a couple years ago?
Candace: Yes, they were beautiful children. I w as hoping they would
stay.
Alan: W hy did they leave?
Candace: Their parents decided to place them in K indergarten at
Deerfield Elementary.
Alan: Oh.
Elizabeth: Well, Laura is in my neighbor’s class and I asked him how she
was doing...
Candace: W here is M ackenzie?
Elizabeth: I im agine in the other K indergarten.
Pamela: W ould they have been in the same class here if they had stayed?
177
Candace: I w ould think so. [She nods her head in the affirmative] They
were together in the Pink Room. So what did your neighbor say about
Laura?
Elizabeth: She is doing great, now that we got the M ontessori out o f her.
Pamela: W hat? [incredulously]
Elizabeth: T h at’s what I thought.
Candace: N ot the first time I ’ve heard that.
Pamela: D id you ask him what he meant?
Elizabeth: I did and he said that he gets about two to three children
every year w ho come from M ontessori pre-schools and they are too
independent for the regular classroom, they d o n ’t adjust well to the routine
o f the day and they ask a lot o f questions.
Pamela: A teacher told you this? D o n ’t we w ant our students to ask
questions?
Candace: W e are so misunderstood by other teachers. I am taking a
graduate course right now in classroom m anagem ent and the minute I told
the other teachers in the room that I was a M ontessori teacher, the
atmosphere changed.
Elizabeth: H ow so?
178
Candace: One o f my fellow students came up to me at the break and said
her experience with M ontessori teachers is that they spend too m uch time
giving time to children. I d o n ’t want to appear like a ‘kno w -it-all’ to other
teachers, but I find that m ost o f my fellow colleagues d o n ’t w ant me to
challenge their thinking, so I keep quiet in my coursework.
Pamela: Do you think M ontessori teachers feel isolated?
Elizabeth: I think we feel misunderstood. We are trying to em pow er
children. But this idea always seems to get misinterpreted.
Alan: We give them the space, the time, the guidance to really look
inside and see who they a re .. .that’s why I left the business w o rld to
became a M ontessori teach er.. .so many children are not accepted for who
they are!
Pamela: I can see so many connections to the creative voice that 1 am
trying to listen to in my w ork by what you are saying. Can I ask your help
in a very specific way?
Elizabeth; Sure [she smiles]
179
Pamela: One o f the questions that I am trying to find an answ er to is how
what I am observing here at Ethem ba M ontessori can be applied to
m ainstream educational theory and practice. I f this room w as filled with
traditionally trained teachers right now, and the intention w as not to turn
them into M ontessori teachers but to give them tools to help them
understand w hat you do, w hat would you say to them?
Alan: Education is about social action and guiding learners to realize their
connection to the com m unity. There is a M ontessori saying, “ Give them
the universe and their creativity will be their selves.
Pamela: Im plying that if we give them the opportunity to explore and
interact, they will construct themselves and their com m unity?
Alan: Y es, but you need to make sure that they understand that they have
a responsibility to hum anity.
Pamela: Even small children?
Alan: Y ou begin there.
Candace: Adults are not always right. So be open to dialogue with your
students. C hildren see the w orld in a different way.
Elizabeth: Life is full o f choices.
180
Candace: Learning is about m aking discoveries.
Alan: Celebrate the child’s interests.
Candace: W hat good are the grades and all the assessm ents, if w e lose the
child?
Pamela: Lose the child?
Alan: It goes back to the M ontessori’s teaching philosophy that as a
teacher, the instructional process is the discovery o f the child. I f w e miss
it, by rushing the emerging developm ent, w e’ve lost the opportunity to
truly guide the child in their creative work.
Candace: I would seriously ask children the question, Do you really w ant
an A? Do you really know w hat an A represents?
Pamela: Children learn pretty quickly what an F means.
Alan: Instead, let’s ask. Is this really my best w ork and do I care?
Elizabeth: W e are here as teachers to guide children in a great
exploration.. ..to fire the im agination. This is, as M ontessori said, great
work.
181
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + -H -+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
As an example o f a co-perform ance text, this scene provides a
dialogic way to respond to m y fourth research question, H ow can my
findings serve to inform educational theory and or practice? The findings
that I present in Chapter F our include consistent connections betw een the
respect o f a child’s self expression w ithin a social context and the
opportunities that a child has to construct him self by interacting with the
Montessori learning environm ent. The preceding scene offers another
avenue in supporting these findings. I f I was to extract the m ajor points o f
this co-performance I w ould restate the multiple voices o f these
participants in this way.
(1) Education is social action. A lan ’s statement is related to M ontessori
teaching philosophy and he is m aking an indirect reference to a statement
made by M ontessori in her book, The Absorbent M ind. She writes:
Educative practices are rich in methods, aims, and social

ends, but one m ight say it takes no account o f life itself.
O ur action should be tow ards what is intellectual. One who
desires to be a teacher m ust have an interest in humanity.
(p. 10)
182
(2) We (as teachers and learners) have a responsibility to humanity.
(3) Children see the w orld differently. This should be respected.
(4) Life is full o f choices
(5) Learning is about m aking discoveries.
(6) Celebrate the child’s interests
If this scene were actually to be performed, then I would begin by inviting
the teachers to re-enact the scene with me. I f they opted to not to
participate, then I w ould arrange to have others who would be w illing to
play the roles. In any event, this work is m eant to offer an exam ple o f
how a co-performance m ight look.
In the next scene, (scene two), I present the voices o f the M ontessori
parents who were w illing to share with me the reasons why they placed
their child or children at Ethemba M ontessori. This scene represents
another possible representation o f perform ance ethnography, the narrative
poem (Richardson, 1997). The reader will recall that in Chapter Three, I
stated that I would return to my conversation with the parent-teacher
assistant who exclaim ed that she “w asn’t very creative.” Hers is one o f the
voices represented in this research based narrative poem.
183
A Few Words over Coffee: Scene Two
I can hear the intermittent coffee grinder, it drowns out the voices.
That is why I sent my daughter to Ethem ba, she w asn’t being heard.
B y w hom ?
She is able to express who she is and she know s what she can do
How about w hat she can’t do?
She can take the time to learn.
I can smell the rich, brown, dark roast. It perm eates the senses.
You are studying creativity.
W hy?
I want to expand the idea, widen the view , discover the self, un-cover the
m eaning.
I ’m not creative.
W ho told you that?
I can ’t draw
How about your daughter?
She is very creative.
184
I can ’t dance.
I c a n ’t sing
I never could.
Really, not even w hen you were five years old?
I didn’t go to a Montessori school.
I w ish I did.
Why?
Everyone has a chance to sing.
Who taught you that you w eren’t creative?
I ’m not sure.
I ju st learned it, I guess.
My son is at Ethemba M ontessori because o f the teachers.
They love my children.
W hat do they teach?
M ore than the basics.
Practice
Refine
Self
Construction promises to offer a new day for this school
185
I ’m not sure if it is the best.
It’s not about being the best
W hat then?
It’s about learning to love w hat you do
M y daughter and son come from another country.
I know the teacher will let them speak.
They w ork very hard
Take their time
In a space that is safe
Safe
They are not laughed at
School is a place that they w ant to be.
M y children are thinking, asking questions
W hat are they asking?
Care
and
C om m unity
186
How?
and
W hy?
W hat about texts, grades, worksheets, tests?
W hat is work?
I know what my children can do.
I know how my daughter is creating her world.
There is plenty o f time to play
They are children.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The narrative poem captures the dialogue in a very different way. It
is the goal o f the narrative poet to create an alternative understanding, to
com bine the literary with the sociological (Richardson, 1997). This
dialogue took place in a local coffee shop about five miles from Ethem ba
M ontessori. There were six parents whom I talked with over coffee. The
questions represent my voice, as researcher. The words and phrases
represent the w ords o f the participant parents. Although, this vignette did
not directly address the fourth research question, it does serve to illustrate
further the culture o f a M ontessori school, within which these parents play
a role.
187
Limitations o f the Study
The two m ajor limitations to this study were tim e and place. Two
minor limitations were related to parental concerns concerning my
presence in the field and the imposed m ethodological confinem ents o f this
study.
Time
This study was originally proposed to be a six m onth, qualitative,
ethnographic study; however, due to adm inistrative issues concerning the
Institutional R eview Board, my application process took longer than the
usual six weeks; thus, my time in the field began three w eeks later than
planned. Although I believe I took full advantage o f the tim e that
remained in the academic school year, extended tim e in the field m ay have
further enriched the study’s findings.
Place
My original intent for the field site for this study w as to conduct it in
a public urban M ontessori elementary school. I had been approved by the
vice administrator o f the school and also had acquired the perm ission from
three elementary teachers in the building to conduct m y observations in
their classrooms; however, the principal o f the building, called m e two
weeks before my proposal defense and announced that he had, “no desire
to have a qualitative researcher in his building”.
188
M y second choice for a research site was Ethem ba Montessori
A cadem y m ainly because its classrooms ranged from prim ary to upper
elem entary, w hich would allow me the opportunity to observe a w ider age
group o f M ontessori learners. I also believed that I could present a more
in-depth perspective o f the school’s culture because two years previously I
had been the A rt teacher for the lower elementary classrooms and I had a
collegial relationship with the school’s director.
W ith this said, although Ethemba M ontessori offered me access to a
M ontessori learning environment, which w as essential for this particular
study, and I w as able to conduct my field w ork in a place that generated
for m e a num ber o f valuable qualitative observations it was not my ideal
setting. I w ould have preferred to work w ith a m ore diverse population o f
children, not only diverse in racially or ethnically, although this w ould
have been optim um , but also in the socio-economic and community sense.
The com m unity that Ethemba M ontessori is located in is clearly semi-
rural. I had planned to work in an urban setting.
189
The research story that I have told in this study presents some
em ergent findings related to perform ance creativity and the possibilities o f
re-conceptualizing the term creativity from a m ulticultural standpoint.
However, I do believe that the vignettes may have offered a w ider
diversity o f children if I had been able to gain access to my original site or
one similar.
Parental Concerns
There were two specific requests from parents that I not conduct any
observations, speak to their child or be present in the same room at any
time with their child. In order to respect the parents’ wishes, I did not
observe in two classrooms for m ost o f the time I was present in the field.
Although, I don’t believe it im pacted the findings o f this study in a
significant way, I do believe it should be presented as a limitation. A s a
result, I was present in one room for two days and the other, for one day.
In both cases, the parents did not reveal to me the nature o f their
objections to the study, the school adm inistrator suggested that I not
bother to pursue the m atter and I did not inquire further.
190
Methodological Confinements
A t the beginning o f m y doctoral coursework, I envisioned my
future study as culm inating in an authentic perform ance ethnography, one
that w ould have been a live perform ance o f an actual research based two
act play, perform ed by am ateur actors, M ontessori children and myself. A
dramatic play, supported by sound qualitative m ethodology w ould have
p resented data in a m anner that is clearly different than a textual
dissertation.
Because perform ance ethnography is a relatively new
methodology and not presently being used in teacher education I could
have offered my work as a seminal exam ple for future doctoral candidates
and other educators interested in this m ethodological approach. The
present reality, however, bound by academic tradition, dictates how
doctoral w ork is conducted, presented, and accepted w hich severely
limited this outcome. A lthough 1 reserve the option to w rite both the
ethnographic text and present an abbreviated narrative perform ance as a
part o f my dissertation defense, the performable potential o f this study, at
least within its present context, did not achieve its ultim ate possibility.
191
Academic Contributions
It is im portant to ask the question, How did this study contribute to
the field o f education and to academic literature in a significant w ay? I
offer two responses to this question. First, this qualitative ethnographic
study offers a contemporary view o f a M ontessori culture. This is
important because according to the m ost recent and com prehensive
bibliography o f Montessori based research, there are only two studies
(Brophy & Choquette, 1973; Dimoff, 1978) that have been conducted into
creativity, in the Montessori classroom (N orth American M ontessori
Teachers Association [NAMTA], 2000). Second, creativity research
related to M ontessori environments has clearly been ignored in the field;
however, this is also the case in the broader area o f creativity research
(Sternberg & Lubart, 1990).
Im plications
The findings o f my study reflect an em ergent concept o f perform ance
creativity. They also offer some practical ideas that could be applied to
mainstream educational settings.
192
I offer three im plications here.
(1) The fields o f neuroscience and education have the potential to be
drawn closer together by the connections that this study has found in
regard to self-construction and the form ation o f meaning. The union o f the
two fields could offer m any opportunities to inform curriculum design and
teacher education. One possible im plication is related to the grow ing
neurological evidence supported by the findings o f this study that
sensorial refinem ent serves to build stronger neural pathways, encouraging
imaginative behavior (C zem er, 2001; Freeman, 2000; Restack, 2003).
(2) The idea o f individual conflict resolution by using the ‘peace
rose’ and the com m unity conflict resolution through classroom dialogue
has implications for how hostility could be dealt with in settings and or
situations w here students feel disem pow ered or discounted. W hen the
focus is upon intentional com m unication and collaboration, as in
M ontessori classrooms, then learners are able to freely express their
perspective regarding an event or incidence. In other words, each ch ild ’s
perspective and voice is respected in the resolution o f personal and
community conflicts.
193
(3) The present atmosphere in mainstream educational assessm ent is to
evaluate students by standardized methods, as in the federally mandated
testing requirements from the No Child Left Behind legislation. In
addition to this, letter grades which often draw their relevance from
subjective means are used as an indicator o f a child’s current and future
potential (Francis, 2000; Kohn, 1992; Lillard, 1996)
Evaluative practices based upon standardized testing and letter
grades are in direct opposition to the M ontessori evaluative m ethod o f
determining a child’s developmental level (Lillard, 1996). In other words,
Montessori evaluative practice involves a teacher carefully observing the
child’s active work and his ability in accom plishing self selected and
teacher guided learning activities. The teacher then creates w hat is called a
developmental checklist, unique to each learner, stating the tasks the child
has mastered and the tasks that the child still needs to be able to
accomplish in order to move to the next m ulti-age level. The
developmental checklist, w hich I described in Chapter Three, avoids the
subjective evaluation o f learners, by stating simply, if the child can or
cannot perform a task.
194
This obvious difference between m ainstream and M ontessori
evaluative methods is directly related to the kind o f philosophical dialogue
that needs to occur between and among educators as to w hat constitutes
effective, just, and holistic assessm ent o f a ch ild ’s learning and
potentiality.
Suggestions fo r Future Research
I suggest three directions for future research in regard to this study.
First, I would encourage qualitative inquiry into global cultural
perspectives o f creativity. By attaining a broad m ulticultural world view o f
creativity, the field o f education will be better inform ed. The immediate
result o f this re-conceptualization o f creativity w ould allow for a deeper
recognition and appreciation o f expressive creativity in a greater number
o f forms. This study has only begun this endeavor.
Second, the obvious dearth o f qualitative studies related to
expressions o f child creativity, as stated earlier in this chapter, represents a
gap in the literature and the need for m ore investigation.
195
Third, this study can serve as an example o f how the data gathering
techniques and presentation style o f performance ethnography can be used
in an educational setting. Performance ethnography is a relatively new
m ethod which has the possibility o f being informative and evocative as
well as pedagogic (Denzin, 2003). M ore educational studies using this
m ethod could extend and enrich future educational research.
Chapter Seven, the final chapter o f this dissertation will comprise the
perform able script that will be enacted at the dissertation defense. The
reader will note that this script is a research based perform ance and, as
explained in this chapter, gives voice to the participants w ho collaborated
w ith me in its authorship. It offers another form o f perform ance
ethnography, the narrative collage, explained earlier in this chapter.
Chapter Seven is composed o f the textual script only. The final
perform ance, held at the Blair Caldwell Research Library in downtown,
Five Points, Denver, will be a m ulti-m edia presentation and will include
m usic and other visual imagery.
196
CHAPTER SEVEN
Look, Listen, Work, Speak: The Voices of Creativity
“The prom ise o f a performative social science...helps us to create

relationships to enact an ethic o f care and empowerment. ”
-Denzin (2003)
This chapter comprises the perform able script that will be presented
at my dissertation defense. I include it as a part o f the body o f the
dissertation because it represents the hybrid nature o f this study. The first
part o f this work, contained in the previous chapters, is a traditional, text
bound ethnographic account through w hich I have w oven the dialogue
based techniques o f performance ethnography.
The dram atic script that I have designed is a pedagogical
performance narrative. This kind o f narrative edits experiences that draw
upon multiple composite voices (Becker, 1990). The script uses the
narrative form o f collage. Denzin (2003) refers to narrative collages as
being unfettered by causal sequences. Like the m usical genre o f jazz,
which is im provisational, the collage is shaped and defined by the data
that is collected and takes on a unique form through the collaboration o f
both the researcher’s and participants’ voices.
197
M etaphorically speaking, each line o f text is a musical phrase that when
played tells the research story. I invite the reader to consider the music
found in the voices o f this text.
Look. Listen, Work, Speak: The Voices o f Creativity
As a note to the reader, this narrative collage represents a script, not the
other elem ents o f the performance which will include music and imagery.
We a sk m any questions.
Who am I?
Where do I com e from ?
Why am I here?
These are the questions that M ontessori asks.
H ow do we fin d the answers?
It is a discovery,
A s e lf discovery,
A c h ild ’s discovery
A creative construction ( pause)
M ontessori children begin their day sitting on the flo o r
In silence.
198
Rem em ber when yo u are p a rt o f a circle,
There is no beginning and no end.
The silence opens yo u r mind,
Your senses.
The silence opens yo u r heart and mind.
B y this silence,
You will learn to listen...(pause)
To the world.
There is construction within and without.
Inner-constructive force,
Creative labor,
I am.
Who can I become?
What is creativity?
It is life activity.
Hey, watch me. L ook at me!
We see the child,
B ut we can not say this is all we see.
The creativity o f life
199
Is the potential
Each child, each human being
Changes,
Works,
Creates.
We have to watch to learn.
I am here.
Where do I com e fro m ?
East, South, West, North
What would happen i f we looked at the map in a new way?
H ow do I do that?
You change things around.
Try and get it w orking as best as you can.
This is hard work.
What am I seeing?
Vision, what is it?
Vision is trying to look fo r something but not seeing it yet.
H elp me.
200
I am trying to make the w orld a better place.
We have only been here fo r 19 seconds.
Rem em ber the cave paintings?
Rem em ber when we fir s t went to sea?
Rem em ber when w e fir s t made weapons
Rem em ber when we firs t w rote a word?
What was the first w ord ever written?
I wonder about the universe.
The M ilky Way
The Solar System
The Earth
The Western Hemisphere
North America
The United States
Colorado
Ethemba M ontessori
M y classroom
Me.
201
Why am I here?
We fr e e the spirit o f the child.
This is creative w ork
D o yo u know m y nam e?
There needs to be a paradigm shift.
We are not here to im press ourselves.
We are here to shape the environment.
The child will discover who he is,
The child w ill discover who she is,
The teacher needs to love the spirit o f the child.
We are not here to leave others out o f the game.
D id you notice that y o u r fr ie n d is talking?
D id yo u listen?
This is not m y classroom ; this is not yo u r classroom;
This is our classroom.
I f there are not enough f o r everyone,
Then we m ust build it another way.
It is their world.
202
When I take the rose,
I hold it and speak,
You hold it and speak,
Together we will
Create.
In Closing
The purpose o f this study has been to describe and interpret the
dimensions o f performance creativity w ithin a M ontessori culture.
Particular attention was paid to four dim ensions o f perform ance creativity:
self, self-expression, meaning, and cultural significance. In the preceding
chapters, I presented these dimensions through dialogic vignettes and by
the writing o f b rief performance pieces, as dem onstrated in C hapter Six.
This chapter is another example o f how the research story can be told in a
performable way. Thus, I was able to accom plish my first goal, that o f
defining and describing performance creativity in a M ontessori learning
environment.
203
The second goal o f this study w as to interpret what I observed. I used
three lenses through which to interpret the data. The first was a
neurological perspective, the second a M ontessori perspective and the
third a multicultural perspective in regard to the concept o f performance
creativity. The idea o f perform ance creativity was partially constructed
from the concept o f symbolic creativity described in Paul W illis’s book,
Common Culture. Through a num ber o f e-m ail dialogues with W illis, I
was able to blend his idea o f sym bolic creativity with my em erging idea o f
performance creativity. Because W illis’s ideas concerning creativity were
so closely aligned to the M ontessori perspective o f creativity it was
intriguing to me to find out if these ideas could be found in the practical,
everyday life o f the classroom.
M y desire to investigate w orld view s o f creativity and weave them
into this study grew out o f the global perspective o f M ontessori
philosophy. M ontessori and W illis w ere describing creativity in a very
different way than most W estern creativity researchers define it; therefore,
I decided to incorporate this elem ent into m y proposed re
conceptualization o f creativity, aw ay from product and process, and
towards the activity o f life itself, w hich I elaborate upon in Chapter Two.
204
This study represents the beginnings o f a m ulti-dim ensional concept o f
performance creativity. As I stated previously in Chapter Four, the
findings o f this study only offer emergent possibilities for a theory' o f
performance creativity. A theory is a formulation o f relationships
constructed upon principles. One study does not a form a theory;
however, one study can present a potentiality for further investigation and
perhaps the development o f a series of principles regarding a re
conceptualization o f creativity. The role o f this study, and any future
writing that comes out o f it, could be to initiate this work.
Finally, this dissertation is the work o f a developing performance
ethnographer, but it is also the w ork o f a teacher. As I stated in Chapter
Five, performance ethnography invites dialogue. This study has been an
invitation to the members o f the teaching profession to begin a
conversation concerning how we perceive the creativity o f our students.
The spirit o f a song written by the South A frican artists, Johnny Clegg and
Juluka entitled, H eart o f the D ancer pertains to the kind o f conversation I
hope this study will generate. The first stanza o f the song is written, “I
w ant to look inside the heart o f the dancer. H is m ovem ent has magic
mystery. It must have a m essage and m eaning because h e ’s doing
som ething to me. ” (Clegg & Juluka, 1996, tracklO)
205
Educators will enter this proposed discussion from m any different
perspectives; however, the place from w here we m ight begin the dialogue
is to recognize that all children have a creative voice. A ll children are
dancers.
206
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A lexander, B. (2000). The garbage m an’s kid. Text and
Perform ance Quarterly, 20, 97-114.
A rm strong, M. (1998). Awakening Genius in the Classroom.
ASCD.
B ecker, H. (1967). Whose side are we on? Social Problem s.
14, 239-247.
Bourdieu, P. (1996). Understanding. Theory, Culture, and
Society, 13, 17-37.
Brewer, J. (2000). Ethnography. Philadelphia: Open U niversity Press.
Brophy, J. & Choquette, J. (1973, M arch). Divergent Production
in M ontessori Children. Paper presented at the biennial
m eeting o f the Society for Research in Child D evelopm ent.
Burton, V. (1963). Life: A Story in Five Acts. New York: H oughton
Mifflin.
Chu, Y.K. (1970). Asian views o f creativity. In A. A n g o ff & B.
Shapiro (Eds.), Psi fa cto rs in creativity (pp. 35-50).
New York: Parapsychology Foundation.
207
Christians, C. (2000). Ethics and politics in qualitative research
In N orm an K. Denzin & Yvonne C. Lincoln (Eds.),
H andbook o f qualitative research (p. 133-155).
Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Clegg, J. & Juluka (1996). The Heart o f a Dancer. On A
Johnny Clegg and Juluka Collection CD. N ew Y ork:
Putumayo.
Cloots, A. (2000). The metaphysical significance o f w h iteh ead ’s
creativity. [Electronic version] P rocess Studies 30, 36-54.
Conquergood, D. (1985). Performance as a moral act: ethical
dim ensions o f the ethnography o f perform ance.
Literature in Performance, 15, 1-11.
Conquergood, D. (1998). Beyond the text: tow ard a perform ative
cultural politics. In Sheron Dailey (Ed), The fu tu r e o f
perform ance studies: visions and revisions (pp.25-36).
W ashington, D.C.: National Com m unication A ssociation.
Czemer, T. (2000). What M akes the You Tick: The B rain in
Plain English. New York: John W iley and Sons.
208
Csikszentm ihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity: Flow and the Psychology
o f D iscovery and Invention. New York: Perennial.
Csikszentm ihalyi, M. (1997). Flow and creativity. The NAMTA
Journal, 22, 61-97.
Denzin, N. (1997). Interpretative Ethnography: Ethnographic
P ractices f o r the 2 P ‘ Centuiy. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Denzin, N. (2003). Performance Ethnography.
Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Dewey, J. (1925). Experience and Nature. Chicago: Open
C ourt Publishing Company.
Dillard, A. (1982). L iving by Fiction. N ew York:
H arper and Row.
Dimoff, E. (1978). The effect o f initial structure upon young
children and divergent thinking. Graduate Research in
Education, pp. 45-67.
Duffy, M. & Duffy, D. (2002). The Children o f the Universe:
The M ontessori Cosmic Curriculum. Burlington, VT: Parent and
Child Press.
Edelman, G. (2004). Wider than the Sky: The Phenom enal
Gift o f Consciousness. New York: Yale U niversity Press.
209
Eisner, E. (1994). Cognition and Curriculum Reconsidered.
Columbia University: Teachers College Press.
Feldman, D. (1999). The development o f creativity. In Robert
Sternberg (Ed.), The H andbook o f creativity (pp. 169-186).
Cambridge: C am bridge University Press.
Fetterman, D. (1998). Ethnography: Step by Step. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Francis R. (2000). Report cards: do they make the grade?
Education World. Retrieved September 7, 2005, from
http://www.education-world.eom/a adm in/adm in 195.shtm l
Freeman, W. (2000). H ow Brains M ake Up Their M inds.
Columbia University: Columbia U niversity Press.
Gardner, H. (1991). The Unschooled Mind. New York: Basic Books.
Gardner, H. (1993). Creating Minds: An Anatom y o f Creativity.
New York: Harper Collins.
Gardner, H. (1994). The A rts and Human Development.
New York: Basic Books.
Goodall, H.L. (2000). W riting the N ew Ethnography.
New York: Alta M ira Press.
Guilford, J.P. (1950). Creativity. American Psychologist,
5, 444-454.
Hainstock, E. (1986). The Essential M ontessori. N ew York: Plum e.
210
Hamm ersley, M. (2001). W hich side was becker on? Questioning
Political and epistem ological radicalism. Q ualitative
Research 1,91-110.
Hill, T & Hill, R. (1994). Creations Journey: Native Am erican
Identity and Belief. Smithsonian Press.
Hughes, A. & Drew, J. (1984). A state creative. Papers in
the Social Sciences. A, 1-15.
Kohn, A. (1992). N o Contest: The Case Against Competition.
N ew York: M ariner Books.
Lillard, P. (1996). M ontessori Today. New York: Schocken Books.
Locust, C. (2005). The talking stick, Acacia Art. Retrieved
July 9, 2005 from h ttp ://w w w .acaciaarts.com
M adison, D. (1998). Perform ances, personal narratives,
and the politics o f possibility. In Sheron D ailey (Ed.),
The fu tu re o fp erfo rm a n ce studies: visions and revisions
(pp. 276-86). W ashington, D.C: National Com m unication
A ssociation.
Mason, H. (1988). The character o f creativity. H isto iy o f
European Ideas. 9, 697-715.
Mato, D. & Cooksey, C. (2004). Yoruba: An A rt o f Life.
Denver: A frica D irect.
Matsuov, E. (2005). Culture as dialogue. M anuscript
submitted for publication.
M ienczakowski, J. (2001). Ethnodram a: performed research:
limitations and potential. In Paul Atkinson, A m anda
Coffey, Sara Delamont, John Lofland &Lyn Lofland
(Eds.), H andbook o f ethnography (pp. 468-476).
London: Sage.
Miller, J. (2000). Creativity. Paper presented at the
American Montessori Institute.
Montessori, M. (1932). Education and Peace. Chicago:
H enry Regnery Company.
Montessori, M. (1964). The M ontessori Method. N ew York:
Shocken Books.
M ontessori, M. (1966). The Secret o f Childhood. N ew York:
Ballantine.
M ontessori, M. (1967). The D isco ve/y o f the Child. N ew York:
Ballantine.
Montessori, M. (1995). The A bsorbent Mind. New York:
Henry Holt.
212
Morris, J & Preston, E. (1994). Speaking with Beads: Zulu Arts fro m South
Africa. London: Tham es and Hudson.
Okediji, M. (2004). The concentrated image: yoruba art and
eternity. In Yoruba: an art o f life (pp.8-13). Denver:
Africa Direct.
Paget, M. (1990). Perform ing text. The Journal o f
Contemporary Ethnography, 19, 136-155.
Pendelton, Renee. (2002). The N orth Am erican M ontessori
Teachers A ssociation B ibliography and Research
Guide [Special Issue] The NAM TA Journal, 27(2).
Phenix, P.H. (1986,). Realm s o f M eaning. N ew York:
M cGraw- Hill.
Pollard, M. (1995). The L ig h t Bulb and H ow it Changed
the World. N ew York: Facts on File.
Ratey, J. (2001). A Users G uide to the Brain. New York: Vintage.
Restak, R. (2003). The N ew Brain. New York: Rodale.
Richardson, L., (1997). F ields o f Play: Constructing an
Academ ic Life. New B runsw ick, NJ: Rutgers
University Press.
213
Richardson, L. (2000). Evaluating ethnography. Qualitative
Inquiry, 6, 253-255.
Rorty, R. (1980). Philosophy and the M irror o f Nature.
Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Schwartz, J. & Begley, S. (2002). The M in d and the
Brain: N euro-plasticity and the P ow er o f
M ental Force. N ew York: Regan Books.
Sinclair, E.C. (1971). Towards a typology o f cultural
attitudes concerning creativity. Western Canadian
Journal o f Anthropology’, 2, 82-89.
Spradley, J.P. (1980). Participant Observation. New York:
Holt, Rhinehart and Winston.
Standing, E.M. (1998). M aria Montessori: H er Life and
Work. New York: Plume.
Sternberg, R. (Ed.). (1999). Handbook o f Creativity.
Cambridge: Cam bridge University Press.
Sternberg, R. & Lubart, T. (1999). The concept o f creativity:
prospects and paradigms. In Robert Sternberg (Ed.),
The handbook o f creativity (pp.3-15). Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
214
Tan, A. (2003). The Opposite o f Fate. N ew York: Putnam.
Torrance, E.P. (1994). Torrance Tests o f Creative Thinking.
Lexington, MA: Personnel Press.
U hrmacher, P.B. (2002). A n education o f meaning. Curriculum
and Teaching D ialogue, 4, 67-73.
Van Maanen, J. (1988). Tales o f the Field: On
Writing Ethnography. Chicago: U niversity
o f Chicago Press.
Vygotsky, L. (1987). Im agination and its developm ent in
childhood. In R.W. R ieber & A.S. Carton (Eds.),
The collected works o fL .S . Vygotsky, (pp. 339-350).
New York: Plenum Press.
W eisberg, R.W. (1986). Creativity, Genius, and Other Myths.
New York: Freeman.
W eisberg, R.W. (1993). Creativity, B eyo n d the M yth o f Genius.
New York: Freeman.
W illis, P. (1990). Common Culture: Sym bolic Work and
Play in the Everyday Cultures o f the Young.
Boulder: W estview Press.
Willis, P. (2000). The E thnographic Im agination.
Cambridge: Polity Press.
215
W iredu, Gyeke, & Dzobo, (1992). Person and Community.
Ghanain Philosophical Studies. Council for
Research in Values and Philosophy.
Woods, P. (1996). Researching the A rt o f Teaching:
Ethnography fo r Educational Use. London: Routledge.
W onder, J. & Blake, J. (1992). Creativity east and west: intuition
vs. logic. Journal o f Creative Behavior, 26, 172-185.
W orley, D. (1998). Is critical perform ative pedagogy practical? In
Sheron Dailey (Ed.), The fu tu re ofperform ance stu d ies:
visions and revisions (pp. 136-140). W ashington, D.C.:
National Communication Association.
216
PERFORMANCE CREATIVITY: THE ROLE OF SELF, MEANING,
AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE IN A MONTESSORI
ENVIRONMENT
An Abstract o f a Dissertation
Presented to
the College o f Education
University o f Denver
In Partial Fulfillment
o f the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor o f Philosophy
by
Pamela Bridget Thompson
June 2006
Advisor: Dr. Nicholas J. Cutforth
A BSTRA C T
The purpose o f this study was to describe and interpret the
dimensions o f performance creativity within a Montessori culture.
Performance creativity is a re-conceptualization o f how creative activity is
recognized and encompasses four elements: self, self-expression, meaning,
and cultural significance. The conceptual framework for this study
articulates creativity as a dynamic self-construction influenced by the
meaning one draws from a cultural learning environment. The re
conceptualization o f creativity is built upon a frame o f neuroscience
research, Montessori philosophy, and selected Eastern/Asian, African and
Native American views o f creativity.
This qualitative study was conducted in a Montessori primary and
elementary school in the western United States, and it employed both the
traditional ethnographic techniques o f extended observations and artifact
analysis. The study also used the performance ethnographic method o f the
collaborative dialogic interview.
The goal o f performance ethnography is to produce a research
based performance narrative which views research participants as
collaborators in the composition o f the performance script. One o f the
facets o f a performative study is that it initiates a dialogue within a larger
community. The goal for this study is that it will invite educators to begin
to re-examine how and why children express creativity and how creativity
can be envisioned through a multicultural lens.
The findings o f this work present emerging connections among
neurological, Montessori and multicultural perspectives o f creativity that
were observed in a Montessori learning environment. Educational
implications related to this study include the potential for the fields o f
neuroscience and education to be drawn closer together, by using a
multicultural avenue through which to describe creativity. The goal o f
designing curriculum and teacher education that is supported by
neurological evidence is one that can be supported by further research in
this area.

Out

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Out

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

PERFORM ANCE CREATIVITY: THE RO LE OF SELF,

M EANING AND CULTURAL SIG N IFICA N CE

the College o f Education

o f the Requirements for the D egree

Pam ela Bridget Thom pson

Advisor: Dr. Nicholas J. Cutforth

ProQuest Information and Learning Company

THE U NIV ERSITY OF DEN VER

x Provost for Graduate Studies

D edication and Acknowledgem ent

Perform ing Research: An Introduction 1

The How and Why o f C reativity 18

Perform ance Creativity 21

Perform ance Ethnography 25

The Content and Design o f Chapters 26

The Performance Com m ences 27

Chapter One: Constructing a Culture 28

The Living Act o f Perform ance 37

Performance is Com m unicative 38

Perform ance is Sensorial 40

The Culture o f the C hild 56

The Idea o f Perform ance 57

Chapter Two: Creativity: A n Em erging W orld View 60

A N ative A m erican Perspective 72

Chapter Three: Part One: Creating Self 82

C hapter Three: Part Two 103

Scene XIV 103

Introducing Cultural Significance 119

Culture: Dynamics and Dialogue 119

Scene XVI 129

Scene XVII 132

Chapter Four: Analysis and Interpretation 13 8

Data Collection 140

Participation Observation 140

Representational Artifacts 142

Dialogical Interviews 143

Data Analysis 145

Three Tenets o f Ethnographic A nalysis 147

The Ethnographic Imagination 148

Content Analysis 150

Purpose o f Study 152

Findings: Chapter One 152

Cultural Significance 159

Findings: Chapter Two 160

Findings: Chapter Three 163

A Possible Theory 163

Chapter Five: Perform ing E thnography 165

Revising the Role o f the T eacher 167

A Revision o f Qualitative R esearch 169

Chapter Six: Perform ing M ontessori 173

Authentic A dequacy and V alidity 173

Learning from Lunch 176

A Few Words over Coffee 184

Limitations o f the Study 188

Parental Concerns 190

M ethodological Confinem ents 191

Academic Contribution 192

Chapter Seven: Look, Listen, Work, Speak: 197

Look, Listen, Work, Speak 198

This work is dedicated to the women in my family who endured

I dedicate this work to my past and present students who continue to

teach me more than they will ever know.

I dedicate this work to my father and mother who always encouraged

me to work hard and not be afraid to ask, why?

the future o f humanity. Ethemba M ontessori A cadem y is a private, non

o f the s e lf throughout the study. It is important to keep in m ind, the m ulti