Montessori Philosophy

WHO WAS MARIA MONTESSORI? Born in Ancona, Italy in 1870, Maria Montessori was to become the first woman to graduate from the University of Rome Medical School. Upon her graduation in 1896, she began her work with the University's Psychiatric Clinic. Her visits with children in insane asylums in Rome prompted her to study the works of Jean Itard and Edward Seguin, Pioneers in special education for the mentally deficient. In 1898 Dr. Montessori became director of the State Orthophrenic School. Basing her educational methods on the insights she had gained from Itard and Seguin, she spent the following two years teaching the children, preparing materials, taking notes, and reflecting on her observations and work. As a result of this intensive study, and her discovery that these children could learn many things that seemed impossible, she devoted her energies to the field of education for the rest of her life.

WHY MONTESSORI AT THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LEVEL? Some regard Montessori education to be important only at the preschool (Children's House) level. However, the work of developing into fully formed, self-reliant, and responsible individuals continues beyond this period. Children at the elementary school level have a whole new set of needs that call for the continued sensitivity of the teacher. From birth to age six, children are sensorial explorers, studying every aspect of their environment, language, and culture. From age six to twelve, children become reasoning explorers. They develop new powers of abstraction and imagination. They utilize and apply their knowledge to further discover and expand their world. During this time it is still essential that the child carry out activity in order to integrate acting and thinking. It is his own effort which gives him independence, and his own experience which brings him answers to how and why things function as they do. The teacher's role is to prepare an appropriate environment with those materials which have value and purpose, and to foster and protect the child's endeavor to explore. The teacher serves as a guide and is the link between the child and the environment.

Montessori Philosophy

Montessori returned to the University of Rome to study philosophy, psychology, and anthropology. The following years provided her with experiences in clinics, hospitals, a daycare center in a housing project, and in schools which she opened in San Lorenzo, Milan, and Rome, the latter for the children of well-to-do parents. Studying the children in all conditions throughout the world, she discovered universal principles underlying the development of all children.

WHAT IS THE MONTESSORI PHILOSOPHY? According to Montessori, "A child's work is to create the person she/he will become." Children are born with special mental powers which aid in the work of their own construction. But they cannot accomplish the task of self-construction without purposeful movement, exploration, and discovery of their environment - both the things and people within it. They must be given the freedom to use their inborn powers to develop physically, intellectually, and spiritually. A Montessori classroom provides this freedom within the limits of an environment which develops a sense of order and self-discipline.

Also basic to Montessori's philosophy is her discovery of Sensitive Periods in children's development. During these periods children seek certain stimuli with immense intensity, to the exclusion of all others. So it is during this time that a child can most easily master a particular learning skill. Dr. Montessori devised special materials to aid children in each Sensitive Period. It is the responsibility of the teacher to recognize these periods in individual children and put them in touch with the appropriate materials in the classroom environment.

The focus of Montessori education continually changes to adapt to the child's natural stages of development. Montessori described these stages as Planes of Development, which occur in approximately six year intervals, each of which is further subdivided into three year segments. These Planes of Development are the basis for the three-year age groupings found in Montessori school classes: ages three to six; six to nine; nine to twelve; and twelve to fifteen.

The Montessori philosophy of education is based on the natural stages of development, and you can learn more about it at the NAMTA, AMI (Association Montessori Internationale) or AMS (American Montessori Society) websites.