Montessori

Maria Montessori was born in the province of Ancona, Italy, August 31st, 1870. Her parents were Alessandro Montessori and Renilde Stoppani. Maria was very disciplined as a young child and was told to knit every day for the poor. When Maria was 14 years old she wanted to study Engineering. This was unheard of in her time. A young woman’s job of the time was to teach. She was told to take an interest in teaching which she refused. Montessori attended a technical institute for boys and was attracted to biology. She changed her mind and decided to become a doctor. She fought her way through interviews at the University of Italy because women weren’t allowed to become doctors at the time. Eventually, she was accepted into the program of Medicine.

Maria Montessori was the first woman doctor in Italy. She graduated in 1896 with the degree “Doctor of Medicine”, and became an assistant doctor at a psychiatric clinic in Rome. She toured asylums for the insane. During this time she saw “insane” children and set out to help them by making materials for them to work with. She succeeded and after a few years, these children were able to take the same tests as children in regular schools. After ten years of working and studying as a doctor, Montessori was asked if she would work with the children in the SanLorenzo district of Rome. These children were left alone all day while very poor parents worked to provide for them. A room was set up and this became Montessori’s first class, using the same materials from the asylum. Her first class went so well, Montessori decided to give up medicine and continue with the method she had been using to teach children. She traveled to India, Canada, the States and all over Europe opening schools. Montessori passed away in May 1952, but her schools continue.

Maria Montessori taught children by using a special technique. She believed that children could learn through using their senses. She found through research that young children have periods where they are interested in learning certain things, and called these periods “sensitive periods.” She observed the children, and when they showed an interest in learning, for example, letters of the alphabet, she would give a lesson. Montessori also made the classroom a place for the children buy using, small furniture, bright colors, and natural materials. Instead of the teacher being the focus, she allowed the children to choose their work. The teacher was the guide, and was in the classroom to help the children learn and give them ideas for new things to explore. The teacher would prepare the environment, and add new things to the shelves. The teacher was never to interrupt unless the children were damaging the material, hurting another child or hurting themselves.

Montessori found that children felt more comfortable in the classroom if they first saw things that they had seen at home. She created smaller versions of tools or equipment that children could use, for example sweeping, using cutlery (spooning beans), washing clothes (by hand). The children also explored the senses through materials that required them to use touch, sight, hearing, smelling, and tasting. These two areas she called Practical Life and Sensorial. Montessori also made language and math materials. The math materials were representations of the concepts (for example addition) so that the child would understand what happens when you add something together. The numbers were shown as quantities first and the symbols were added after mastering the quantities. The language materials are based on phonetic sounds so that the child finds it easier to learn to read. The letters are cursive because she found that children always scribble in circles, and more circles are found in cursive. This made writing easier. Language started with sounds, then gradually led to words, sentences, and finally stories. Grammar was also taught because the children were found to have an interest in it. Montessori also included science, geography, botany, and history through the same sort of concrete materials, gradually this leads to the concepts needed to learn various things including scientific names of animal parts, plant parts, continents and names of places around the world. The young children in Montessori’s classroom showed an interest in learning anything they were exposed to and Montessori’s ideas have survived into the 21st century.