Montessori Mondays - Who is Montessori?

This post provides a very brief overview of the life and work of the woman who created the Montessori Method. There is some information omitted, particularly the specific history of her time spent promoting her method, but if you would like to learn more about this amazing woman there are a couple of biographies that you should be able to find at your local library. Thanks for reading!

Maria Montessori attended a traditional school as a child where most adults, including her father, expected children to sit quietly for long hours and memorize and recite information that was doled out to them by books and teachers. Her mother, who came from a well educated family, encouraged Montessori to go beyond the typical educational standards for girls leading Montessori to become a specialist in surgery and diseases of women and children and the first woman in Italy to be certified as a medical doctor. Some of her early work after graduating included visiting insane asylums where children with mental, physical, or emotional disabilities that prevented them from participating in traditional school were being kept alongside adults with severe psychiatric disorders. She believed this environment was causing the children to be deprived of stimulation and experiences that would help them learn to use their bodies and minds and began researching existing ideas on working with children with disabilities. Through her research and work, Montessori became a co-director of a school for disabled children where she was able to put some of her initial ideas into practice and discovered that children were capable of learning and doing far more than most people thought if provided with the right materials and opportunities. Some of her revolutionary, initial ideas are standard now in education: child sized tables, chairs, and shelves. She became known as an educator that could work miracles with children that proved challenging under traditional teaching methods and was hired by a group of bankers, who were part of the San Lorenzo slum renewal project, to keep their workers' children out of trouble during the day. Montessori created Casa dei Bambini, “The Children's House” and helped many of the children in the slums by providing them with constructive activities, such as chores and puzzles, to redirect their destructive energies and provide them with a sense of competence and self worth. To promote her method and educate others in her work, Dr. Montessori left her teaching position at the school and published her first book in 1909, devoted much of her time to lectures and public speaking, and created an international teacher training course. Her last few talks that she gave focused on educating children on living in peace in the world.