Welcome back to our third week with the article, “What is Montessori?”
The question is more appropriately asked, “Who is Montessori?” Maria Montessori was the first female in Italy to graduate as a medical doctor. At first, she was assigned to work with children with mental and developmental disabilities. Having studied the works of Seguin and Etard, the leading European special education theorists and practioners of the day, Dr. Montessori worked with her children and had made such good progress that her children were able to pass the state graduation exams. Based on her observations with the use of the Seguin and Etard materials and techniques, she contemplated the use of her method with younger children in their typical development. During subsequent trials and observations she found that younger children with typical development naturally gravitated to the materials and techniques. As she expanded her base of study, she found this natural gravitation to be universal among children of differing cultures and economic backgrounds. Reports of her method spread throughout Europe, India, and America and requests for her to teach others about her method came flooding in. She spent the rest of her life teaching others how to guide children in learning how to learn for themselves, championing women’s rights, and in the ongoing observation, study, and documentation of how children learn. When we speak of Montessori today, not only do we remember and honor the woman who brought us this method of teaching children, but we also speak of the actual method in which children are taught to think and learn for themselves.
Until next time,
Lorraine
