Maria Montessori
is regarded
as one of the world's
most outstanding educators and psychologists.
She was born
in the town of Chiaravalle, in the province of
Ancona, Italy in 1870 and against all traditions
began, at age thirteen, to attend a boys' technical
school in preparation for her dream of being an
engineer. After seven years of engineering she
began medical studies and became the first
female doctor in Italy in 1896. Shortly
afterwards, she was chosen to represent Italy
at two different women's conferences, in Berlin
in 1896 and in London in 1900.
In her medical practice at the University of Rome's
psychiatric clinic, Dr. Montessori developed an
interest in the treatment of children, and for
several years, wrote and spoke on their behalf.
She based her conclusions on the direct observation
of children, accepted no preconceived opinions
or theories about their abilities and did not
attempt to manipulate their behaviour toward any
end. Her clinical observations led her to analyze
how children learn, and she concluded that
they build themselves from what they find in their
environment. She constantly experimented and
developed materials based on the needs, interests,
and developing abilities of children.
At age twenty-eight, she became the director of
a school for 'unhappy little ones' which she called
mentally disabled children. She spent eleven hours
a day at the school, and late into the night at
home, working on this project. After two years
under her guidance, these children, who formerly
had been considered uneducable, took a school
examination along with normal children and passed
successfully.
Educators called Dr. Montessori a miracle worker.
What was her response? If mentally disabled children
could be brought to the level of normal children,
Dr. Montessori wanted to study the potential of
"normal" children.
Shifting her focus from the body to the mind,
she returned to the university in 1901, this time
to study psychology, anthropology and philosophy.
In 1904, she was made Professor of Anthropology
at the University of Rome.
Her desire to help children was so strong, however,
that in 1906 she gave up both her university chair
and her medical practice to work with a group
of fifty young children of working parents in
the San Lorenzo district of Rome. It was there
that she founded the first Casa dei Bambini,
or Children's House. What ultimately became
the Montessori method of education developed there,
was based upon Montessori's scientific observations
of these children's almost effortless ability
to absorb knowledge from their surroundings, as
well as their tireless interest in manipulating
materials. Every piece of equipment, every exercise,
every method Montessori developed was based on
what she observed children to do "naturally,"
by themselves, unassisted by adults.
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Like
others I had believed that it was necessary
to encourage a child by means of some exterior
reward that would flatter his baser sentiments,
such as gluttony, vanity, or self-love, in
order to foster in him a spirit of work and
peace. And I was astonished when I learned
that a child who is permitted to educate himself
really gives up these lower instincts. I then
urged the teachers to cease handing out the
ordinary prizes and punishments, which were
no longer suited to our children, and to confine
themselves to directing them gently in their
work." - Maria Montessori |
Children teach themselves.
This simple but profound truth inspired Montessori's
lifelong pursuit of educational reform, methodology,
psychology, teaching, and teacher training--all
based on her dedication to furthering the self-creating
process of the child.
The news of her amazing success soon spread around
the world and people came from far and wide to
see the children for themselves.
Maria Montessori made her first visit to the United
States in 1913 at the invitation of Alexander
Graham Bell and his wife Mabel. Thomas Edison
and Helen Keller were amongst her other strong
American supporters. The following is from a 1913
letter from A. Graham Bell:
Dear
Dr. Montessori,
On behalf of the Montessori Educational Association
of America I have the honor to inform you
that we have elected you as its first Honorary
member and to express to you in this way our
deep appreciation of your great work for humanity.
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On her second visit to
the United States, Dr. Montessori made an appearance
at Carnegie Hall in New York in 1915. She was
then invited to set up a classroom at the Panama-Pacific
International Exposition in San Francisco so that
more interested people could observe her methods.
A room was built with a glass wall behind which
spectators sat and watched the children. Twenty-one
children, all completely new to a Montessori environment,
attended for four months. The observation seats
were filled every day and at noon, when the children
served lunch to their classmates and washed up
afterwards, there was standing room only in the
audience. The two gold medals awarded for education
at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition
both went to the Montessori class. On this
second U.S. visit, she also conducted a teacher
training course and addressed the annual conventions
of both the National Education Association and
the International Kindergarten Union. The committee
that brought her to San Francisco included Margaret
Wilson, the daughter of U.S. President Woodrow
Wilson.
The Spanish government invited her to open a research
institute in 1917. In 1919, she began a series
of teacher training courses in London. In 1922,
she was appointed a government inspector of schools
in her native Italy, but because of her opposition
to Mussolini's fascism, she was forced to leave
Italy in 1934. She travelled to Barcelona, Spain
and was rescued there by a British cruiser in
1936 during the Spanish Civil War. She opened
the Montessori Training Centre in Laren, Netherlands,
in 1938, and founded a series of teacher training
courses in India in 1939.
In 1940, when India entered World War II, she
and her son, Mario Montessori, were interned as
enemy aliens, but she was still permitted to conduct
training courses. After W.W.II she founded the
Montessori Center in London (1947) and was nominated
for the Nobel Peace Prize three times--in 1949,
1950, and 1951.
She instituted the study of Cosmic Education for
the child from six to twelve years of age, since
she could see that in meeting the needs of
the child, the needs of the world would also be
met. "Cosmic Education" is the child's
gradual discovery, throughout the whole of childhood,
of the interrelatedness of all things on earth,
in the past, in the present, and in the future.
Maria Montessori died in Noordwijk, Holland, in
1952, aged 82 but her work lives on through various
teaching associations around the world and her
extensive written legacies.
Content for this article sourced
from: Child of the World, Michael Olaf's Essential
Montessori for ages 3-12+ has been granted by
the Michael
Olaf Company (707) 826-1557 - and - North
American Montessori Teachers' Association.
© NAMTA. All rights reserved.
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