During Montessori work periods, there are often times when a child tries to interrupt a presentation or disrupt another student’s work. As a Montessori teacher, it is important to have a variety of different strategies for dealing with these situations and the ability to implement them in a subtle, non-intrusive manner. One of my favorite strategies is gluing. It is particularly effective for Montessori students in their first phase of normalization, who may struggle with staying focused on the task at hand. Essentially, gluing refers to keeping a child who is behaving in a disruptive manner close by your side, before inviting them to choose a more suitable activity.
Today, my three-year-old student Jordan was having difficulty choosing his own work, and staying focused seemed next to impossible. His mother mentioned to me that he went to bed very late the previous night and she worried that he may have some behavior challenges throughout the day — boy, was she right. I was grateful for that little bit of information, as it provided me with the necessary insight to effectively guide Jordan throughout the work period, while being sensitive to how he was feeling that day. Jordan was clearly overtired, and was interested in everyone else’s work but his own.
