Montessori

The Montessori method was developed by an Italian physician of medicine named Maria Montessori. In the late 1800's and early 1900's, she worked with two different groups of children:

  1. children of the elementary age from the insane asylums in Rome,
  2. young children, ages 3-7, belonging to families living in tenement homes in Rome.
Her experimental work with these two groups of children,brought about observations, which today, make up the founding principles of the Montessori method of education.

Maria Montessori found that children are more interested in participating in "real life" activities, than they are interested in playing with toys. This observation led to the invention of "practical life lessons" in which children are given the opportunity to participate in daily activities involving care of their environment, care of self, care of others, and food preparation. She also invented a curriculum of self-correcting hands-on materials in the areas of sensorial, math, language, geography, and science. Maria Montessori wrote, "The human hand, so delicate and so complicated, not only allows the mind to reveal itself but it enables the whole being to enter into special relationships with its environment. We might even say that man takes possession of his environment with his hands." (The Secret of Childhood, pg.81) Through Maria's experience with the group of children from the tenements, she found that children learn from each other, the older ones teaching the younger ones.

Another significant discovery was that of the "sensitive period." This is a time when children work with a strong focus, and a passion for learning, because they have chosen a lesson that captures their curiosity. She observed that when a child is going through a sensitive period of learning, all of his/her concentration and energy is directed toward this one area of learning or this one lesson. Then, when the child is ready, he/she will move on to another sensitive period of learning. Maria wrote, "childhood thus passes from conquest to conquest in a constant rhythm that constitutes its joy and happiness." (The Secret of Childhood, pg.40)

Montessori believed the teacher's role to be that of:

  1. an observer of the children
  2. a preparer of the environment,
  3. a director of the spontaneous work of the children.
Maria wrote, "I offer only a beginning of the method, which I have applied to children ages three to six. But I believe that these tentative experiments, because of the surprising results which they have given, will be the means of inspiring a continuation of the work thus undertaken." (The Montessori Method, pg. 30) The Joy of Learning Montessori School is a continuation of the work begun by Maria Montessori.