Dr. Maria Montessori

(1870-1952)Presented by: Catharina Gräbe

From “The Founder of The Montessori Method.” North Garland Montessori School. Retrieved from http://www.northgarlandmontessorischool.com/whatismontessori/dr-maria-montessori.htm

Who was Maria Montessori, and

how did her ideas influence

education?

Note. From “Maria Montessori,” 2013, Inspire Kids Montessori.

Retrieved from http://www.inspirekidsmontessori.c

om/maria-montessori/

Maria Montessori• Born in Italy on August 31, 1870 • Lived in Rome for much of her

childhood• Father – financial manager for a

government owned company• Mother – raised to value education

(American Montessori Society, 2013, Maria Montessori)

Resisting cultural expectations

• Wished to become an engineer• Attended a formerly all-boys technical

school from the age of 13• Decided to go to medical school• Attended the medical program at the

University of Rome• Graduated in 1896, one of the very first

Italian female physicians(American Montessori Society, 2013, Breaking Barriers)

Beginnings of the Montessori Method

• Faced great adversity as a female doctor• Became a voluntary assistant doctor at the

University of Rome Psychiatric Clinic • Began caring for children in the asylum• Tried to find ways to educate them by using

principles of science• Studied Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard (1775-

1838) and Edouard Séguin’s (1812-1880) methods for teaching deaf children

(Thayer-Bacon, 2012, pp. 5-6)

Teaching Children with Special Needs

• Appointed as the codirector of the State Orthophrenic School

• Allowed to house children from the asylum in a separate ward

• Used Itard and Séguin’s work to create new teaching methods

• Designed teaching tools that allow children to learn through experiencing the world and using their senses

• Some of the children from the asylum gained literacy skills and scored above average on state exams(Thayer-Bacon, 2012, p. 6)

Can Montessori methods work with

all children?• Left the Orthophrenic School in 1901 to

further her understanding of learning• Focused on studying Séguin’s work• Elected to oversee project to provide

daycare for sixty preschool age children from indigent families

(Thayer-Bacon, 2012, pp. 6-7)

The Children’s Home• Opened her first school in 1907 to provide a place

for the children to spend the day• Appointed a “directress” instead of a teacher

• Carefully observed children’s behavior

• Children pursued their own interests• Moved around freely, not forced to sit behind desks

• The children were provided with Montessori’s teaching tools(Thayer-Bacon, 2012, p. 7)

A Montessori Classroom in 1927

Note. From “What is Montessori Education?” Beautiful Sun Montessori School, Retrieved from http://www.montessoriaruba.com/montessori

Montessori Tools

Note. From “Montessori.” Headstart School. Retrieved

from http://headstart.edu.pk/acade

mics/montessori

Learning Self-Care Strategies

Note. From “Having the Right Tools.” Near North Montessori School, 2014, Retrieved from http://www.nnms.org/having-the-right-tools/

Motivated to Learn• Children elected to play with teaching tools

instead of toys• Continued creating more tools and activities• Children learned literacy and self-care skills• Correct environment is essential for learning• Achieved great success and public

admiration

(Thayer-Bacon, 2012, p. 7)

Expanding the Montessori Method

• Teacher education • Founded schools for indigent children• Wrote books to document her methods• The Montessori Method (1909)

• Translated into eleven languages • Sold out in four days

(Thayer-Bacon, 2012, pp. 7-8)

Montessori Goes Global

• 1913 - Began teaching educators from around the world

• 1911 - First American Montessori school • Anne George• 12 students• Wealthy family home in New York

(Thayer-Bacon, 2012, p. 8)

Gaining Popularity• Mabel Hubbard Bell founded the

Montessori Educational Association in 1913• Margaret Woodrow Wilson, daughter of

President Woodrow Wilson, served on the board.

• By 1914, nearly 100 schools had adopted the Montessori method

(Thayer-Bacon, 2012, p. 8)

Montessori Schools Today• At least 22, 000 Montessori

schools exist currently• These schools are found in 110

countries

(American Montessori Society, 2013, Maria Montessori)

A Modern Montessori Classroom

Note. From “Freedom of Movement – Liberty within Limits,” montessori4autism, Retrieved from http://montessori4autism.org/iii-ingenuity-of-montessori/montessori-benefits-for-asd-students/freedom-of-movement-liberty-within-limits/

Excerpt from The Absorbent Mind

“So we found that education is not what the teacher gives: education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual. It is acquired not by listening to words, but by experiences upon the environment. The task of the teacher then becomes not one of talking, but one of preparing a series of motives of cultural activity spread in a specially prepared environment.…and so we found that individual activity is the only means of development: that this is true for the preschool child as well as for the young people in primary and other schools.” (Montessori, 1949, pp. 7-8)

Discussion Question

Should all schools implement the self-correcting, sensory based methods designed by Dr. Montessori or are these techniques only applicable in certain situations?

Note. From “The Montessori Classroom - A Very Montessori Poem,” August 20, 2010, North American Montessori Center, Retrieved fromhttp://montessoritraining.blogspot.com/2010/08/montessori-poem.html#.UuahjBw8Iy5

Works CitedMaria Montessori. (2013). American Montessori Society.

Retrieved January 26, 2014, from http://amshq.org/Montessori-Education/History-of-Montessori-Education/Biography-of-Maria-Montessori.aspx

Montessori, M. (1949). The absorbent mind. Adyar, Madras, India: The Theosophical Publishing House. Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/28033439/The-Absorbent-Mind-MontessoriLink to Electronic Book: The Absorbent Mind

Thayer-Bacon, B. (2012). Maria Montessori, John Dewey, and William H. Kilpatrick. Education & Culture, 28(1), 3-20.Link to Article: “Maria Montessori, John Dewey, and William H. Kilpatrick”