Simply put, Montessori is a method of teaching. Maria Montessori was the first female physician in Italy and graduated top of her class in 1896. Through extensive observation of children she discovered how children learn and what they are actually capable of. She developed scientifically designed materials which provide a way to teach abstract ideas using a "hands on" appoach.
Not long after she graduated from the University of Rome, Maria Montessori was appointed Assistant Doctor in the psychiatric clinic there. It was her job to visit the insane asylum to select subjects for the clinic. During one of her visits she noticed a group of what they referred to as "challenged" students. They were grouped with the insane. When she asked why they were put together, she was told to look at them, they had just been fed yet were eating the bread crumbs off the floor. As Maria Montessori observed these children she noticed that they were not eating the bread crumbs, they were manipulating them, creating designs. Montessori as well as Jean Itard and Edouard Sequin (French doctors) believed that the mental capacities of these "challanged" children could be improved with proper education. She began to give lectures stating that these children deserved the benefits of education as much, if not more than the "normal" children.
After a couple of years she was given charge of all the "challenged" children. During this time she observed them. She used her scientifically developed materials and she provided practical life work. She watched as these students developed self confidence, independance, and self discipline. After two years there was a public examination where many of her students did as well as the "normal" children. When everyone was congratulating her on her achievments this was her response:
"While everyone was admiring my students, I was searching for the reasons which could keep back the healthy and happy children of the ordinary schools on so low a plane that they could be equaled in tests of intelligence by my unfortunate pupils." -Maria Montessori-
It wasn't long after that, that the basis for the Montessori Schools we have today was created and implemented for all students.
Some differences between the Montessori Method of teaching and traditional education include but are not limited to the following:
* Montessori Classrooms are child centered, everything is child-sized and everything in it is for the child, there is not even a desk for the teacher.
* Multi-age grouping allows students to learn from each other. Younger students learn from older ones while older students have the opportunity to "teach" the younger ones. As we know it is not until we actually teach something that we truly know and understand it. The multi-age grouping also allows students to progress at their own pace whether slower or faster without the need to be singled out and moved into special groups.
*Montessori uses scientifically developed materials to teach abstract ideas. The "works" in a Montessori classroom have a built in control of error and allow students to check their work and learn from their mistakes.
* Students in a Montessori classroom are able to choose what they want to study and how long they want to study that particular subject, allowing their concentration to develop as they are not interupted to meet the pre-determind lesson plan of the teacher.
* Students choose to work independantly or in small groups. Purposeful movement is built into the structure of a Montessori Classroom, "The hand is the instrument of the mind." -Maria Montessori-
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