Maria Montessori
Biography
The Italian educator and physician Dr. Maria Montessori was the first Italian woman to receive a medical degree. She was the originator of the Montessori method of education for children.
In 1901 Dr. Maria Montessori began her own studies of educational philosophy and anthropology, lecturing and teaching students. From 1904 to 1908, she was a lecturer at the Pedagogic school of the University of Rome. This period saw a rapid development of Rome, but the speculative nature of the market led to bankruptcies. One such area was San Lorenzo, where its children were left to run amok at home as their parents worked. In an attempt to provide the children with activities during the day to fend off the destruction of property, Dr. Maria Montessori was offered the opportunity to introduce her materials and practice to “normal” children. There, in 1907, she opened the first Casa dei Bambini (Children’s House) bringing some of the educational materials she had developed at the Orthophrenic School.
Dr. Maria Montessori put many different activities and other materials into the children’s environment but kept only those that engaged them. What she came to realize was that children who were placed in an environment where activities were designed to support their natural development had the power to educate themselves. By 1909 Dr. Maria Montessori gave her first training course in her new approach to around 100 students. Her notes from this period provide the material for her first book published that same year in Italy, appearing in translation in the United States in 1912 as the Montessori method, and later translated into 20 other languages.
Differences Between Montessori
and Traditional Education
Montessori education helps your child develop independence, a sense of empathy, social justice, and a lifelong love of learning.
Montessori classrooms are prepared in advance based on observations of the students’ individual needs. They include student-centered lessons and activities. Traditional classrooms are based on teacher-centered lessons and activities.
Montessori lessons are hands-on and active. Students discover information for themselves. Traditional school lessons are often taught to students who listen passively, memorize, and take tests.
In the Montessori classroom, children work on lessons as long as need be, and interruptions are avoided whenever possible. Time limitations are mandated by arbitrary schedules in traditional classrooms.
Montessori teachers act as guides and consultants to students on a one-on-one basis. They assist each child along his or her own learning path. Traditionally, the pace and order of each lesson is predetermined. The teacher must deliver the same lesson, at the same pace, in the same order, for all of the students.
In Montessori schools, “grade-levels” are flexible and determined by the child’s developmental range, i.e., 0-3, 3-6, 6-9, 9-12, 12-15, and 15-18 years of age. In traditional schools, grade levels are not flexible and strictly defined by chronological age within a twelve-month period.
The Montessori curriculum expands in response to the students’ needs. Traditional curricula are predetermined without regard to student needs.
The individual child’s work pace is honored and encouraged in the Montessori classroom. Traditional classrooms expect all children to work at the same pace.
Montessorians understand that the child’s self-esteem comes from an internal sense of pride in his or her own accomplishments. In traditional classrooms, self-esteem is thought to come from external judgement and validation.
Montessori curricula are intended to appeal to the child’s innate hunger for knowledge. Children learn to love learning. Traditional curricula focus on standardized test performance and grades. Children learn because it is mandatory.
