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Why It’s Ok to Quiz Your Kids. Really!
Recently I saw a post on Instagram from a popular Montessori account that warned parents of quizzing their children. She recommended not to ask your toddler to tell you the color of something but rather to point out the color to him or her. Why? Because not knowing the answer could damage your child emotionally. And without quizzing them, the child will learn this stuff anyway. Well this resonated with a lot of people, and it had a ton of likes.
Yet I thought, what a curious thing for a Montessori-minded person to recommend: forgoing recall altogether? Of course we all want confident and emotionally-secure children. But when we ask and a young impressionable child doesn’t know something — does that psychologically damage them in some way?
Could quizzing our children actually be a beneficial tool? Montessori says yes!
In fact, I’d argue that toddlers — most of all — are accustomed to not know things as they grow leaps and bounds.
Quizzing kids is a helpful way to not only measure learning progress but also a method to impart knowledge. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater here and miss out on an important tool.
In the Montessori pedagogy, quizzing is step three of the all-important three period lesson.
What is the Three Period Lesson?
The three period lesson originates from psychiatrist Edouard Séguin who educated children with severe cognitive delays. Right there, this guy gets my vote. As a mom with a child with severe cognitive disability, I know it takes a certain kind of devotion to persevere in this type of work. You can read more about him here.
Maria Montessori, also gifted with working in a similar demographic of children (the street kids who were considered inferior and were certainly disadvantaged), must have understood the full potential of Seguin’s work.
Maria Montessori adapted his technique to be used in her casa and the rest is kind of history. And if it’s good enough for Montessori and her casa, it’s good enough for me and my casa.
The three period lesson is presented in a series of three short lessons.
Period 1 consists of naming the desired targets of the lesson. Generally objects will be limited to three in number and ideally isolated to a work mat to help aide concentration.
The guide, or parent, will use correct nomenclature (or other facts) and repeat them often until the child associates the terms with the objects.
“This is the dog. This is the cat. This is the frog.”
“Dog. Cat. Frog.”
“See the dog? He’s by the cat. Here is the frog.”
As always repetition is key. In language development, especially with young children, framing a sentence in different ways helps build their vocabulary.
Period 2 consists of identification. The guide or parent builds on the previous lesson by using the same objects and asks the child to point to the objects as they are named.
“Can you show me the dog? Where is the cat? Where is the frog?”
“Please hand me the dog. Now the cat. Hand me the frog.”
Now comes the horrible quizzing part. Just kidding. It’s generally termed recall.
Maybe the word quiz itself has imparted such bad memories of “pop quizzes” on people that the meaning has taken on a purely negative connotation. That happens with words. I could see how Montessori-minded folks, who don’t believe in giving standardized tests to kids and believe in letting children discover and grow at their own unique paces would want to disown a word like quiz. But truly to quiz is just to ask for an answer to a question. And in Montessori, hidden assessments (observations) happen constantly — or else we wouldn’t be able to know what work a child is ready for next.
Period 3 is recall. This is where we ask the child to identify the concept, term or nomenclature. We point to an item and ask, “What is this?”
Then the child voices, “A dog. A cat. A frog.”
Unless, if the child doesn’t know the answer, then you have a huge problem on your hands. Confidence, duly shaken, the child will become broken and never grow into a complete human being. Just kidding again. As you may guess, should a child not be able to complete period three, you just repeat period two. If they are still flummoxed, do not pass Go, do not collect $200, head straight back to the first period lesson. Or possibly, give the child a couple weeks or even months to show readiness for the work.
That my friends is the three period lesson. It’s a super helpful tool to have in your homeschooling tool belt.
I think for a lot of us this pattern of questioning makes sense and comes pretty naturally. That is why so many parents “quiz” toddlers and young children. I would equate this behavior with other natural instincts like parentese, when parents speak in varying pitches to their infants aka baby talk. Sometimes we just do these weird things as moms and dads; then science catches up later telling us all about the benefits of the things we already knew were awesome. We tend to do it because we feel joy engaging with our children in this way. Trust that joy.
“One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child.” – Maria Montessori
I don’t have a quote to back it up, but I believe that this happiness goes both ways between the child and the teacher. That pride and delight you feel when your child interacts with you in this way is a natural response to a good thing. Don’t repress it.
Be wary when anyone admonishes your natural instincts. Trust yourself.
Know too that challenges are good. They help us grow. Even better, mistakes themselves are amazing avenues for growth. That’s why Montessori classrooms give glass cups to tiny people. More necessary than our fear is our trust that children are intrinsically capable. As Montessorians, as parents, we should not shield our children from simple mistakes. Instead we celebrate them and their potential to teach. We must trust ourselves as we trust and follow the child.
So please, quiz away!
Amen! Thank you for saying this. It needs to be heard!