Dr Maria Montessori: a Report on The Life and Educational Approach

Introduction

Maria Montessori was known as an Italian educator who actually started out as a physician before she discovered her interest in the way children develop. After many years of observing and researching, she developed the Montessori method, which was a student-centered approach to learning. Montessori opened her first school, called the Casa dei Bambini, in 1907, and from there, the popularity of this method spread. This essay on Dr Maria Montessori consists of information about the background of Montessori and her life leading up to her method. There are facts about what a Montessori school consisted of and why there were successful. Lastly is the history of the schools themselves, when and where they were created. Montessori schools saw education differently from the traditional educational approach and there were many schools created to fit the needs of the students who decided to attend.

The Life and Career of Maria Montessori 

Maria Montessori was born on August 31, 1870, in a town called Chiaravalle, Italy. Her mother, Renilde Stoppani, was well-educated and was a very good reader, which was rare for Italian women during that time. Her father, Alessandro Montessori, was a financial manager for an industry that was ran by the state. When Montessori reached the age of 14, she started going to an all-boys technical institute. Here, she focused on math and science. Later in her schooling, Montessori went to medical school at the University of Rome, earning high honors. She graduated from here in 1896 and was named the first female doctor in Italy (Maria Montessori Biography).

During Montessori’s medical career, she did pediatrics, where she worked with children, many of them being poor. While doing this, she gained knowledge about the types of intelligence that was common in all children, no matter their background. In 1900, Montessori accepted the position as director at an Orthophrenic School for children with developmental disabilities. This is when she started to do research on early childhood development and early education. She started coming up with her own ideas for how teaching would be most effective, and she used these ideas on the children at the Orthophrenic School. The results that she found from using her teaching methods were surprisingly good (Maria Montessori Biography).

In order to understand how Montessori’s method encouraged children’s development, it is necessary to know what this method consisted of. Montessori believed that the children should take ownership of their education. To do this, the students would pursue topics that were interesting to them and they had total control over what they were doing during the day. The teacher was in the classroom but was there to guide learning instead of instructing it. The teacher would move around the room and encourage students and their interests. The students learned at their own pace and weren’t necessarily doing what every other student in the classroom was doing. If you would walk into a Montessori classroom, you would most likely find different groups of children working on different things, related to what sparked each child’s interests. Montessori schools provided an environment with opportunities, but each student could go their own way with these opportunities. These schools didn’t focus on grades, tests, or homework because the students would learn information in different ways than reading out of a textbook. Montessori said that students learning tricks for taking tests could help them get a good grade, but they usually wouldn’t have a very good understanding of the topic. This method got rid of the stress of grades and encouraged students to really dig deep into a topic and understand it well. They also prepared their meals and cleaned up after themselves because Montessori believed that hands-on experience was most effective. This being said, there were many field trips in Montessori schools so students could understand concepts by actually seeing or working with them. Something else that is different from the traditional classroom is that these classes were usually mixed-aged. This was because the younger children would learn from the older children and the older children would increase their knowledge on a topic when they reexplain it to a younger-aged student. Also, there usually wasn’t much of a curriculum, and if there was one, it typically wasn’t enforced much because, once again, the students were pushed to explore their natural curiosity. Through this method, student gained independence and became more confident in what they were capable of (Teachers, Schools, and Society pg. 259) (American Montessori Society) (Age of Montessori).

There were many pros and cons to the Montessori Method, which were pointed out by people who had experience with these schools. Students learned independence because they went into school every day ready to work on what interested them, not what interested others. Also, preparing their own meals, and working on activities individually taught them how to accomplish on their own. Also, social interaction was common in these schools. The students worked together and shared their own interests and ideas. Another pro of the Montessori Method was hands-on-learning. This inspired creativity and gave a different approach to learning than reading out of textbooks. This also taught children self-discipline and they learned this naturally instead of being forced to follow certain rules. Although there were many obvious pros to the Montessori Method, there were also cons. It was difficult to go from a Montessori school to different type of school because the traditional style of learning was so different than this type. Also, because there wasn’t a set curriculum, some parents saw that as a bad thing because they wouldn’t have set things to learn. Independence wasn’t always a good thing for children because some children went the wrong way with it. Lastly, Montessori schools don’t have routines and some kids may prefer the structure. There were many pros and cons to this method that Montessori knew about, but she wanted to explore this and see where it would go with students (The Pros & Cons of Montessori Education).

Montessori knew that her methods were effective on the development of the students at her Orthophrenic School, but she was curious to test her methods on other children outside that school. The Italian government allowed her to pursue this goal in 1907. Her job was to be responsible for 60 children, being ages one to six. These children that she worked with did not have prior education and came from very poor families. She officially opened the school on January 6, 1907, and the name of this school was Casa dei Bambini, which translates to “Children’s House.” This first Montessori school was located in a poor city called San Lorenzo, Rome and she was able to design the learning environment how she thought would be most beneficial, while also testing her teaching methods on the students (Maria Montessori) (American Montessori Society).

In the beginning of her first school’s journey, the students were struggling, but shortly later, they became highly interested in what was happening. The children began to learn how to deeply concentrate on a topic and how to be calm in the classroom. The students started caring about their education and worked with their interests to learn new things. This school was very successful, and the word spread, so soon after the opening of the Casa dei Bambini, a second school opened on April 7, 1907. This school was also located in San Lorenzo, but the third school, opened on October 18, 1907, was in Milan. As these schools became more known, other educators wanted to learn more about the Montessori Method. Montessori herself ended up informing some educators on how to use this method. Montessori traveled around the world doing training programs and encouraging schools to be built. There were children all over the world who were interested in this method and a few years later, Montessori schools spread across five continents. With all of this success and interest from others, Montessori decided to write her first book, which was published in 1909, named Il Metodo della Pedagogia Scientifica applocato all’educazione infantile nelle Casa dei Bambini. This book was translated into many languages, one of them being English, with the title The Montessori Method. The English version was made into 5,000 copies and was very popular, selling out in only four days (American Montessori Society).

As the Montessori Schools spread across the world, the first one in the United States was opened in 1911, in Scarborough, New York. Differing from her first schools which were for children of poor families, the ones in the United States were targeted toward wealthy families who had a desire for a great education. The first time that Montessori came to the United States was in 1913. It took her almost two weeks to get there and during her journey, she wrote down her thoughts and made small drawings in her diary. It was much later published, called Maria Montessori Sails to America. There were many articles and books that were written about the Montessori Method. In fact, there were 187 English articles and books written about this by 1914 (American Montessori Society).

Although there are always problems along the way with a new idea. Montessori schools started to become not as popular because of language barriers and World War I. According to the Biography of Dr. Maria Montessori, “The rise of fascism in Europe substantially impacted the progress of the Montessori movement. By 1933, the Nazis had closed all of the Montessori schools in Germany, with Mussolini doing the same in Italy.” There also were a few people who did not like this method and talked down on it. One of these people being William Kilpatrick, who talked poorly about Montessori in his book and this view of his started to spread and became known in the United States. Montessori education in the United States was rare to see at this point. After a period of time passed, people were starting to dislike the traditional American education and they wanted change for their children. An educator from New York, Dr. Nancy McCormick Rambusch, decided that she wanted to get to know more about Montessori education, so she took the training required to be a Montessori teacher in London. When she returned to her home to New York City, she began to use the Montessori method in her teachings to children. A group of parents became interested and wanted to open a private school where the Montessori method was used. With a bit of time, Montessori schools became popular once again. In 1929, Maria Montessori, with the help of her son, created the Association Montessori Internationale which was made to hopefully have her philosophy taught by others as she originally planned. (American Montessori Society) (The History of the Montessori Education).

Before the 1920s, Montessori’s main focus was on early childhood education, but at that point she decided to start focusing on adolescence. She realized that these students learned best by doing activities that helped them understand where they belong in the world. According to the American Montessori Society, “She proposed residential schools where young adolescents-whom she called Erdkinder, or “children of the earth”-could work and live in a trusting community, engaging in real-world activities such as farming or marketing their own handmade goods.” She believed that doing these kinds of activities would prepare them for the world ahead. Also, through the years, Montessori classrooms have updated their classrooms and now have bilingual, faith-based, and learning disability classroom to fit everyone’s needs. (American Montessori Society).

Conclusion

Overall, Montessori made a large impact on education around the world. Her Montessori method was successful, as there are still schools around today that practice it. She saw that the traditional education method wasn’t working for all children and wanted to research to find new ways to teach children that were more effective. Her approach consisted of hands-on learning, independence, and exploring student’s natural interests. In 1947, she spoke to The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) about “Education and Peace”. 1949, 1950, and 1951 were three years that Montessori was nominated for the Noble Peace Prize. (Montessori Australia). There were many Montessori schools built all over the world, now being around 20,000, and in the United States, there are around 4,500. There are even some in Wisconsin. The first Montessori school in Milwaukee was built in 1961. It was founded by Hildegard Solzabacher and he wanted more people to know about the Montessori method. To do this, he gave lectures about it at Marquette University. Montessori died on May 6, 1952, in the Netherlands. Although she is no longer with us, her method will always be important to education (Montessori Schools) (Biography of Maria Montessori).

References

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2. Burnett, A. (1962). Montessori Education Today and Yesterday. Montessori Education Today and Yesterday, Journal 71–77. Retrieved from https://www-jstor- org.libweb.uwlax.edu/stable/pdf/1000044.pdf?refreqid=excelsior:f8e6cc7dd60baa4d82fe 03dccf7f4c20
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4. History of Montessori Education. (n.d.). Retrieved October 6, 2019, from https://amshq.org/About-Montessori/History-of-Montessori.
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6. Mead, S. (n.d.). The History of the Montessori Education. Retrieved October 25, 2019, from https://www.whitbyschool.org/passionforlearning/the-history-of-the-montessori- education.
7. Sadker, D. M., & Zittleman, K. R. (2015). Teachers, Schools, and Society(Tenth). pg. 259
8. Wegener. (n.d.). Guide for students in history and philosophy of education / by Frank C. Wegener. Retrieved October 19, 2019, from https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015024187851&view=1up&seq=9.