Maria Montessori. The founder of Montessori Method. %%Esslearning%%

Madam Maria Montessori [1870-1952]- founder of the Montessori system.

Maria Montessori was a woman's rights activist doctor and pioneer of education for children with mental disabilities. From a young age, she wanted to be different so Maria Montessori necessarily has a set path in life.

Early Childhood life [Maria Montessori],

Maria Montessori was born in Italy on 31st August 1870 in Ancona. Her father was Alessandro Montessori and her mother was Renilde Stoppani.
Maria Montessori had a childhood in which her mother believes in discipline. As a child, Maria Montessori had already shown interest in the poor by doing some knitting for them daily. One incident at home was that as a parent was having a heated argument she dragged a chair between them stood on it and held their hands together as tightly as she could. This is an incident that begins to show her efforts of bringing the adult and the child together.

School Life.

Maria Montessori began attending a public elementary school in 1876. Later she entered the secondary school Regia Scuola Tecnica Michelangelo Buonarroti.  

When Maria Montessori was young she had over hereof the teacher of her mention of her eyes. And as a practice never raise her eyes at that teacher. It is here that the Montessori principle of not talking about children in front of them. And thus giving respect went to the youngest children.

As a young child, her family moved to Rome the city of a great education. Because of the boring method of teaching maria didn't like to attend school but she loves to learn. She had decided to become an engineer to pursue the school. She would have to go to technical school. Because of the time period, it was unacceptable for a woman to be an engineer. Her father told her that technical school and engineering was for boys. And if she wanted to continue her education. She would go to a classical school in classical school girls. She has to learn Latin Greek and literature as well as had to cook in. So if a woman was to have a career rather than do housework and care for children she would be a teacher. Young Maria did not like his side.

Selection of career.

She also enjoyed mathematics and science and wanted to study them. Further, Maria's mother was more open to this idea and encouraged her. Eventually, with help from her mother, Maria convinced her father. He let her go to a technical school in Rome when she turned 13 in 1883.

In her school, in which she enrolled there she was strictly separated from the boys. Maria graduated in 1886 with 138 out of 150 on her final examination. Dr.Montessori graduated with a degree in physics-mathematics from Regio Instituto Tecnico Leonardo da Vinci in 1890.

Maria continues her education in engineering at Rome's Technical Institute. There she became interested in biology and considered studying medicine. All her friends and family except her mother disapproved of her decision to become a doctor.

Struggle in the field of Medical.

Maria was told that women would never be allowed into Medical School. After support from her mother's letter recommendations from previous teachers and persistence. She became one of the first female medical students at the University of Rome. Maria's fellow classmates did not like the idea of a woman in medical school. They made jokes and often deliberately and left no place for her to sit. She played these things off and didn't mind them. As much because unlike some of her classmates, she was determined to study and become a doctor. Through all this her mother supported her. But her father did not show as much interest or support. The naked body was not allowed to see by both men and women at the same time.

Teacher Vs. Doctor.

Her parents wanted her to become a teacher. But Maria wanted to pursue higher education. By this time she had realized that she wanted to become a doctor. Madam Montessori entered in the Medical program at the University of Rome in 1893. She specializes in pediatrics and psychiatry and become a doctor of medicine in 1896.
Maria took her dissection questions alone on the first day of this class.

She was confronted by death for the first time. Maria was frightened so much that she considered giving up her dream of becoming a doctor. But she did not persist. She overcame her fear and later became an excellent surgeon.

Beginning of Maria's Carrer.

Following her graduation as a medical doctor. She was employed as an assistant at the San Giovanni Hospital attached to the university. During this time she also started a private practice.

In late 1896, she becomes a surgical assistant at Santo Spirito Hospital in Rome. During her early medical career, she was mostly with the poor and children. Maria had a deep interest in education as well as psychiatry. She used to observe the ways in which children were educated. Maria Montessori felt that children could do better if some changes were made to the existing education system.

Love Life.

She formed a relationship with Giuseppe Montesano, a fellow doctor. A son Mario was born in 1898 as a result of the union. Montessori and Montesano did not get married and their relationship ended. Because Montesano married to another woman.

A career as a Doctor.

She got an opportunity to work at a Children's Hospital. This sparked our interest in becoming a child specialist. She was awarded an exceptional score of 105 under the final examination. After being awarded her diploma on July 10^th, 1896. She was appointed as a counselor to the newly formed National League for the protection of retarded children in 1899 in 1907. She became one of the first female doctors in Italy. Riya was the assistant doctor at the university's psychiatric clinic. This provided the new doctor with an opportunity to study mentally disabled children.

 Work for Mentally Disabled Children.

For the first time, when Maria visited an asylum for mentally disabled children. She noticed something about how the children were created and knew that it was wrong. She was unfulfilled that there was nothing to stimulate the children.

Nothing present to see nothing for them to touch. She saw that there was no effort being put in to try and educate them. That society had given up on them in her mind this wasn't right. This caused her to research. What information there was on mentally disabled children. She came across the research of two French doctors Sean max gasp edita and his student Ed Watts. Who focused on educating mentally disabled children.

Maria found in her research that mentally disabled children needed Special education rather than medical treatment. She also came to the conclusion that mentally disabled children without special care and education became delinquents.

Maria's Powerful speeches.

During her lectures and speeches, she advocated for the education of mentally disabled children. They often referred to the work. She had read and how these ideas when applied had worked in other countries. These speeches gained footing and became so popular. She also started traveling to Europe for delivering lectures. These lectures were popular partly because of the way that she spoke was easy to understand. And interesting but more importantly, the ideas she talked about captivated her audience this got the attention of Italy's minister of public education.

This led to a program being developed with the goal of educating mentally disabled children she spent nearly 12 hours a day studying how these children in the program learned and taking notes on how to better educate them before reaching the goal of eventually helping them learn to read and write she worked with them on basic tasks and motor skill activities. she took a more hands-on approach she worked with each child on what they need to help was rather than putting them all together and just lecturing to them she noticed that her methods were working after how their children for only two years they were able to read and write proficiently enough to pass tests taken by children in traditional schools some even scored higher than normal after conducting her research.

Work as Caretaker.

She was later hired in an apartment in Italy to care for poor children. While their parents were working or trying to find a job. The apartment kept all the children in one place so the thing would cause less damage to the building. Maria Montessori was one of their caretakers. She observed the children what they did she watched how they performed in completed tasks. She applied some of the other methods she had used with the mentally disabled children to help teach these children.

Maria found that when these methods she had used with the other children were applied. It had a different effect. The child when performing a task would devote their entire focus on. They would not stop until they had completed the task. She also found that after the child performed the mental exercise they were happier in seemed healthier. These observations helped her revise and improve her methods of normal children.

She had developed was based around independence from the child wanting to learn he developed physical objects called materials that the child would touch and work with which would help them learn.

How a teacher should be?

The teachers acted as guides that would help the child understand the concept and keep order in the classroom. But they did not necessarily tell the child what to do when to do it or exactly how they were supposed to do. It is because what she was doing was not intended to be a normal school it was not set up like a normal school.

This allowed her to find the cause of what was going on in the Child what she had created she would later name la casa de Bambini or Children’s house enrolling around 50 to 60 children from a poor background.

Her first school become a great success and soon schools all over Italy begin following this model. The idea of the Montessori educational approach gain popularity all over the world. Soon Montessori schools were sprouting up in countries like America Germany France China and India among other Nations from 1915 to 1939

She covered countries like Spain the Netherlands and the UK in 1939. initially. When Mussolini rose to power he liked Montessori way of teaching he mandated that all schools be taught using her methods because the children who score higher on the test they would work together.

But, when Maria refused to teach fascism rather than encourage independence. The relationship quickly, fell apart in Montessori schools across Italy were closed and Maria Montessori left Italy. When he rose to power in Germany all the Montessori schools were closed for the same reason but they went to a further extreme the books of her teachings and materials were burned after she left Italy.

Maria’s Visited India...

She went and lived in India where she would live for the rest of the war. Maria played a very important role in rebuilding the education system in India during the second world war. She saw a need for peace which grows for even more to include it in her teaching philosophy. The Madam Montessori idea was appreciated by the entire globe.

She would continue to give lectures and establish schools and using her methods. As this happened she with the help of her son, Mario would record and further solidify the method materials in the curriculum used she would continue this until her death on May 6^th, 1952. She died in Noordwijk, South Holland, the Netherlands on May 6, 1952, at the age of 81.

Her Philosophy-

 Creating a peaceful environment helps to teach children about peace which provide freedom of thought in the child

Then just that Maria Montessori believed that in order to achieve peace you must do more than just talk about it. The child must learn in an environment that promotes peace within himself. The stars at a young age with the concept of grace and courtesy being touched them as well as how to express themselves. As the child gets older they are taught conflict resolution and how to peacefully solve both personal and interpersonal problems they're also taught a sense of a global community.

Maria's thought.

Children are the future of any country so there is no competition between Children versus the World. She believed that in order to make peace we must educate children not just in an academic sense but in the education of the whole. Child in her words establishing lasting peace is the work of Education.

All politicians could do is keep us out of the war the fundamental idea of her philosophy is based on the growth of the child's mind and nurturing of the child's needs for learning. Maria becomes the first female doctor in such an era when women have lots of restrictions.

The traditional ways of memorizing and rote learning are not a proper option for the thought that children. She stood up by creating a method of learning that allowed the child to be independent and think for themselves, in turn, creating that level of learning.

The teaching of Dr.Maria allowed children to implement their learning by using physical objects which helps in sharpening their future skills.

The Basic Principles of Montessori's Philosophy of Education.

Maria Montessori is the pioneer behind the Montessori Method. The Montessori materials were known as the Montessori method. "Children's house" is another name of Montessori School.

    The basic principles of the philosophy include:-

1] Development from within-

she believed that the education of a child is from within. she was of the opinion that education must help in the complete the unfolding of child individuality. A suitable environment should be provided so that the child main grows and develop the potential that is within him.

2] The the doctrine of freedom of Liberty-

 This Doctrine is the outcome of the concept of education as development her belief is that there should be no interference in the way of a child's growth and development the education should be scientific in nature.

3]Principle of individual development-

Dr. Montessori believed that every child is unique he progresses at his own speed and rate. The collective method of teaching crushes his individuality. 

She treats each child as a separate individual and does not believe in classroom teaching but individual learning. The motive of the teacher has to be that, child learning should help in growth and development

4] Principle of scientific self-education-

Montessori has shifted the emphasis from teaching to learning. Maria believed that self-educated auto educated is the only true education. She advocates that the child should remain under stop and should be independent.

Maria has devised the didactic apparatus (scientific apparatus). That attracts the attention of all children it keeps them busy spontaneously it leads them to learn the power of movement reading writing and arithmetic. The letters numbers are all engraved in wood the upper the Apparatus is self-corrective this means if there is an error the child will automatically know and he can correct the error by himself.

5] Principle of sensory training-

 Montessori outsourced that senses are the Gateway of knowledge. She advocates that sensory training is the key to intellectual development that is cognition. She pointed out that the senses are very active between the age span of 3 to 7 and that a lot of learning takes place during this period

She has designed much material for sensors training. The sensorial material provides a kind of guide to observation because it classified the impression that each sense receives, the colors, notes, noises, forms and sizes,  touch, sensations, odors, and tastes.

6] Principle of motor efficiency or muscular training.

She believed that muscular training facilitates other activities like writing, drawing speaking, etc. She stress stresses that running, walking, etc, all depend on muscular training. Methodically and systematically children learn practical life skills like how to talk, dress, and also keep the environment clean.

In the children's house, children themselves do everything. They dust the room and the furniture, wash the clothes, and do all the things that are done in a family. Children learn to wash, dress, and undress. Children learned to take care of their clothes and belongings.

7] The teacher as a directress.

According to Maria the function of the teacher is to direct not to teach. So she replaces the word "Teacher" by the word "Directress".
The teacher would not interact much but observe and help the child to learn through his own experience.

8] No place for fairy tales.

According to Maria Montessori children should not be living in of world of fantasy and fairy tales this would be unnatural for their growth and development.

9] No material rewards and punishments.

According to Maria Montessori, they are just artificial methods resulting in a natural development that children should be self-motivated and self-disciplined.

Three learning areas...

The Three Types of knowledge formed learning areas in this method as discussed above are:-

1-Exercise in practical life

2-Sensory training exercise

3-Scientific method for teaching language and arithmetic through the didactic apparatus.

Importance of the Montessori method.

How can we as educator's utilize aspects of this philosophy event in current times? given below are the major ways in which this philosophy still continues to inspire all of us.

1- Reverence respect for the individual- 

We have to respect it, child, for his uniqueness and never compare children to Madam Montessori "the child was a God and her school was a temple".

2-Using science in education- 

Today we treat education as a science and make children think independently we depend upon experimentation observation and other scientific methods for the improvement in the field of education

3- the psychological approach to education- 

In the modern system of education, we lay much emphasis on the psychology of a child. today we attach importance to needs, interests, motives, and the potential of a child.

4-Sensory training-

Training of senses through concrete experience is the foundation for connecting with the environment and gaining knowledge.

5- The unique method of reading and writing- 

The 3rs of education- reading, writing, and arithmetic have to be imparted in Unique ways.

6-Learning through living- 

Practical life skills should be included in the curriculum that enables children to learn good habits and cleanliness the children learn the lesson of the dignity of labor they are not ashamed of manual work and self-help by attending to their own needs themselves this also helps in physical development.

Didactic Apparatus in the Montessori Method.

 # three sets of solid insets.

# Graduated 3 sets of solids which contain the following:-

1- pink cubes

2-brown pyramid, stairs

3-Rods include green, red, and blue colors in alternative ways.

various geometric solids like pyramids sphere cylinder, etc.

• tables of shape and size with surfaces rough and smooth.

• small wooden tables of various weights.

• two boxes each of them contains four colored tablets.

• # a set of drivers that has a plane inset.

• #Geometrical forms of paper were used to past 3 series of cards.

• Collection of closed boxes of music Bells. For music wooden boards and discs were used.

• # tactile material.

Montessori's popular materials and uses.

 Material:-- pink tower, long Stairs, broad stairs and wooden cylinders.

1) Wooden Cylinders.

 These include four sets of cylinders,

-- Minimizing the diameter

-- depleting diameter and height

-- decreasing in diameter and increasing in height

--Contraction in the height

 The child has to take them out and put them back according to the purpose of visual discrimination and dimension.
Purpose of visual discrimination and dimension.

2)Pink Tower.

Wooden blocks with a different diameter the child has to arrange them in the right order on the contrasting color match.
Purpose visual discrimination and diameter

3) Broad Stairs.

10 wooden blocks of wood decreasing in height and breadth child arranges it in a descending order
Purpose visual discrimination of two-dimension

4) Long rods.
Long roads are reducing in length and the child has to arrange then lengthwise.
Purpose visual discrimination of One dimension

5)Geometric insets.

 where the difference at first, is very large but as the child grows older he has to  distinguish finer differences

6)Color tablets.

Three sets of color tablets in a primary color. two sets in secondary colors. 63 sets in graded colors. these have to pair.

 Didactic exercise for teaching languages and arithmetics.--

The process involved letters made with wood, which help children to learn letters and trace easily. Tables and boards also have letters engraved. Children can follow tracing, which makes him ready to learn and write by giving senses experience.

   The teaching of languages consists of a desk, small balls, and cards with letters pasted on them and also colored board of certain measurements with a letter engraved on them. By following these can help to achieve aims easily.

Kindergarten Method and the Montessori Method.

Froebel’s Kindergarten Method	Maria Montessori method.
Based on a philosophical background	Based on the scientific background
Scope of development of imagination, it has a fantasy orientation	No scope for fairy tales it has reality orientation
More scope for social development -classroom teaching	Less scope for social development
Sense training through gifts	Individual learning
Important of manual activities, gardening clay modeling	Sense training through didactic Apparatus. -self-corrective Apparatus
The teacher as a leader like a gardener activity participates	Stress on daily life activities, washing sweeping, how to take care of themselves.
The method is easily applicable	The teacher as a directress only provides apparatus and observes
Not a detailed system of teaching 3rs.	Not easy to apply an expensive
	A detailed system of teaching 3rs.

The observation about the Montessori classroom.

On their first visit, many adults are not quite sure what's going on the Montessori classroom environment is like nothing they've ever seen. Their children as young as three and as old as six in the same room at times the adults in the classroom are just observing what is going on or working with a single child. Most of the children are busy working with various hands-on materials. They seem unusually independent putting away materials they have finished with and then making their own decision about what to do next.

The structure of the Montessori classroom.

Beautiful colors make Montessori classroom look more welcoming and also to make the child independent early age so child-friendly furniture is also an important part of the Montessori classroom. The child can easily serve food by himself, can easily reach to sink to wash hands by own.

Montessori aspects.

Other aspects of the Montessori philosophy may not be immediately obvious. There's an emphasis on cooperation and respectful behavior the adults in the classroom speak to the children at their own level in a calm voice. The child should patiently wait for our chance to use the material and don't interrupt other children. Montessori activities helped children to identify errors and help to correct own mistakes.

All of the children's senses are used in the educational process another the unique aspect of the Montessori method is that it is International. Maria Montessori spent many years working with children in her native Italy. In India and traveling all around the world sharing what she had learned in working with young children.

Materials, activities, and curriculum

Today Montessori schools and training centers can be found worldwide although all Montessori classrooms are different in some ways. Materials in the Montessori classroom are organized on the base of 5 curricula which are related to practical life, sensorial language, math, and culture.

Montessori materials help to process logical knowledge which allows children to organize their thinking and problem-solving skills and children absorb the knowledge through sense.

The teacher as a guider.

No direct response from the teacher's side. She is not teaching the child as much as assisting the child in teaching herself by introducing new concepts as soon as she is ready and giving him the tools to discover the knowledge on his own small children have many life skills that they need to learn to achieve independence. Children develop a sense of pride when they're able to do things for themselves in the hurried world. Adults often will tie a child's shoes or zip up his coat to save time respecting a child's desire to be independent is a cornerstone of Montessori philosophy.

Self-help skills

Many opportunities related to learning practical life skills were provided in the Montessori classroom. With the help of activities like self dressing in front of different frames like zipper frames, snap frames, etc. which give joy to the children. These provide an opportunity to see the joy of repetition realizing that they are practicing a difficult small muscle skill important to day-to-day life is a powerful motivator for children, silver polishing is a task most adults would not expect to see a three or four years old engaging in but children love the activity polishing silver is not only beautiful it provides the child with small motor development many of the activities.

Motor skills

Montessori classroom helps to focus on the child's fine and gross motor skills and also eye-hand coordination. The handwashing activity follows a logical sequence that includes getting the water, wetting the hands, soaping washing, rinsing, nail cleaning, drying, and cleaning up. Small children love working with water many practical life activities challenge the children to control their small hand muscles to complete delicate tasks such as spooning objects from one container to another learning to pour beans from one pitcher to another and back to pouring water from a variety of containers with progressively smaller openings spilling are not a problem because the children have the skills to clean up their own work caring for the environment is the responsibility of every child.

Learning to sweep and use a dustbin wash a table water plants and even arrange flowers are all common practical life activities. Montessori classrooms also offer children many opportunities to learn to control the movement of their bodies as well as other objects in the classroom.

The girl had to use the red rods to layout a maze and carefully step to the center without touching any rod this activity improves balance. Children should provide extra time and given assistant if required to complete their task the task on their own.

Maria's Ideas

The best way to learn in Montessori is by engaging with a hands-on activity. She believed that children need to move freely in their environment and to investigate whatever interests them for these reasons.
Montessori insisted that the classroom be beautiful through years of observation, she was able to develop a curriculum that appealed to all of the child's senses a familiar sight in any Montessori early childhood classroom is the knob cylinders there are four different sets of knob cylinders each varying in dimensional characteristics the child learns to discern between subtle variations in width breath depth and height by removing the cylinders and replacing them in the proper slots the activity provides a clear example of the concept of control of error, if the child places any cylinder in the wrong slot it will be impossible to complete the task without correcting his error.
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Overview- 

In this post, I gave you information about Maria Montessori, the first lady doctor in Italy. How she inspired working for children. Her Montessori method and philosophy of education.