On a student’s first days of school he is given several lessons each day. Once given a lesson a student may choose that material without asking permission. The materials in a Montessori classroom were initially chosen by trial and error. Only those most interesting to the students were kept in the classrooms. So the students are naturally attracted to what is here. If, however, a student is not working in a particular area, for instance writing, this would be observed by the teacher and she would direct that the student take out writing work. It is not just a “do whatever you want” environment. Fortunately, most often the students are productively self-directed. But when they are not, the teacher is there to step in and give clear and direct instruction.