Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori (1870 – 1952)

“Scientific observation has established that education is not what the    teacher gives; education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words but by experiences upon the environment. The task of the teacher becomes that of preparing a series of motives of cultural activity, spread over a specially prepared environment, and then refraining from obtrusive interference. Human teachers can only help the great work that is being done, as servants help the master. Doing so, they will be witnesses to the unfolding of the human soul and to the rising of a New Man who will not be a victim of events, but will have the clarity of vision to direct and shape the future of human society. ”   – Maria Montessori, Education for a New World

Maria Montessori was a woman ahead of her time.  Her method of education continues world-wide as a strong, challenging program for preschool aged children through to young adulthood.

Maria Montessori was the first woman in Italy to receive a medical degree despite setbacks from the medical community and her father.  Her motivation and interests led her to study in the fields of  psychiatry, education, and anthropology.  After much work with children, she developed an understanding that each child is born with a unique potential which can only be revealed by the individual. 

Maria Montessori was self-motivated from a very young age which led her to attended a boy’s technical school at the age of thirteen.  By the age of 20, and after seven years of engineering, she began premed.  In 1896 and after many set backs, she became Italy’s first woman doctor and is honoured on the Italian currency. Due to medical gender resistance at the time, she worked as a psychiatrist at the University of Rome. After much work in the treatment of special needs children, she was given an educative role to study fifty poor children of the dirty, desolate streets of San Lorenzo slum on the outskirts of Rome. There, she had the opportunity to observe the movement of children when freedom and purposeful work was provided. She attained unprecedented success in this Casa dei Bambini “House of Children.” Even Maria Montessori was surprised at the realized potential of these children as she had given them the public school’s standardized tests and the childrens’ performance were unprecedented. Her observations lead her to believe that children learn ‘without knowing’ what he or she is learning and in doing so, passes from  unconscious to conscious learning.

By 1915, her Casa dei Bambini was visited by many people from around the world and she received invitations by individuals such as Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison to bring her method the the United States of America. There, she opened a classroom in San Francisco containing twenty-one children. Spectators watched these children embrace the Montessori method. This class received a gold medal, and from that time period onward, the education of young children was altered forever.

Years later, Maria Montessori developed the elementary Montessori program for children 6 to 12 years of age. She observed the required curriculum by the state at the time in Rome and adapted the art and science subjects so that the children could use materials to guide their open-ended research, and their own interests, working at a much higher level than was previously (and is presently!) thought possible for children of this age. The elementary child, when allowed to work independently instead of being taught in groups led by a teacher, and in classes with mixed age group of 6 – 12 year-old children all helping, inspiring, and teaching each other, academic subjects could be mastered at a much faster pace – many of which were not taught until middle or high school.

Today, the Montessori Method of education is stronger than ever and known worldwide. Children who have had the privilege of attending a Montessori school gain many life skills, and academic knowledge which prepares them for future learning.  To ensure the high standards, Maria Montessori left clear observational guidelines and the important message to “follow the child”.  When individuals hear of the academic level reached by students in the Montessori system of education, confuse the materials as being the method.  The method also involves freedom within structure, mixed-aged group, extended uninterrupted work periods,  following the child’s developmental level and pace.

The true potential of the child is revealed when the complete Montessori method is understood and followed. It requires a trained, experienced adult who uses fine tuned observational skills, a specially prepared environment, allows the child opportunities for choice, practical work, care of others and the environment, and above all encourages the high levels of concentration reached when work is respected and not interrupted. Only then can a human being that is superior academically, emotionally, and spiritually be revealed.  

 Montessori Quotes

“When dealing with children there is greater need for observing than of probing”

 “It is true that we cannot make a genius. We can only give to teach child the chance to fulfil his potential possibilities.”

“Little children, from the moment they are weaned, are making their way toward independence.” 

“Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.”

“Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to words but by experiences in the environment.”

“The first essential for the child’s development is concentration. The child who concentrates is immensely happy.”

“Respect all the reasonable forms of activity in which the child engages and try to understand them.”

“Plainly, the environment must be a living one, directed by a higher intelligence, arranged by an adult who is prepared for his mission.”