Maria Montessori pioneered a method of education that, even 100 years later, is still far ahead of the times.
The backdrop for her developments was provincial Italy at the turn of the last century. Passionate and determined by nature, she became the first female doctor in Italy in 1896.
Working with the impoverished and "retarded" youth of Rome's ghettos, she realized, "that mental deficiency presented chiefly a pedagogical, rather than mainly a medical, problem." She concluded that, "children build themselves from what they find in their environment."
Although her methods were criticized for being too detached, rigorous, and even harsh for the youth, they did seem to facilitate a more genuine, natural experience. She was often heard saying, "I studied my children, and they taught me how to teach them." Montessori was the first to view education in this manner.
She pioneered other attributes of what seems to be modern education today. She suggested that teachers see themselves as social engineers, and enhanced the scientific qualities of education.
The main concepts of Montessori Method include:
1.) The Prepared Environment - Unlike a typical classroom where students are subjected to the lesson plans a teacher has prepared for the entire class, regardless of each student's aptitude or interest level, a well-prepared Montessori classroom is designed for children to learn independently, at their own pace, through exploration of the activities that are most engaging to them according to the developmental needs each day.
2.) Materials - Each stage of a child's development requires different learning experiences, each stage building on the last. To ensure each child has mastered the lessons needed for the next level, Montessori materials are designed to be inviting and engaging, isolating the concept a child is to learn. Using patterns in color, shape, size, texture, etc... these materials assist the child in discerning each conceptual building block on their own, enhancing the confidence of the child delighting in personal accomplishment every time the material is mastered. Often, a child may return to the same materials at a higher developmental level to discover that the concepts they are now absorbing were alluded to years earlier in the more basic materials.
3.) Normalization - This word might be better explained as "Naturalization" or "Flow" in today's parlance. Here's what she says about, "the most important single result of our whole work."
"Only "normalised" children, aided by their environment, show in their subsequent development those wonderful powers that we describe: spontaneous discipline, continuous and happy work, social sentiments of help and sympathy for others. . . . An interesting piece of work, freely chosen, which has the virtue of inducing concentration rather than fatigue, adds to the child's energies and mental capacities, and leads him to self-mastery. . . . One is tempted to say that the children are performing spiritual exercises, having found the path of self-perfectionment and of ascent to the inner heights of the soul." (Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind
, 1949)A Recipe for Enlightenment?
Sounds like a strong candidate for the foundation of an educational curriculum designed to streamline and strengthen a child's development toward Enlightened states of consciousness. Since the flow state experience is always available to us, even in our pre-rational years, it is important to emphasize your child's awareness of and affinity for this experience. The deeper the visceral memory of a spiritual state of consciousness is embedded from an early age, the stronger it will attract our children to return to it as life becomes increasingly complex.
My own daughter, Corrina, attended Montessori (AMI) from the age of 2-6. Her mom, Jen, is currently in training to become a Montessori primary (age 3-6) teacher. This year the school is training an elementary teacher, so Corrina is attending the local public school for 1st grade.
Personally, I'm grateful that she has the contrasting experiences to help her appreciate and value her Montessori training. She is consistently receiving awards for "best student," "most improved reader" (she's reading at a 4th grade level and writing long stories with illustrations in her journal). Teachers at the school constantly ask us where she went to kindergarten. Next year we plan to enroll her for the 2nd and 3rd grade elementary program.
Ultimately, wherever your child attends school, studying the Montessori Method will have a great impact on your understanding of your child's developmental needs, and how to best help your child grow according to his or her true nature.
For more information, check out these resources:
- http://www.maitrilearning.com/downloads.html -
- Secret of Childhood
- especially recommended for parents. A history of what and how Montessori learned about the unique nature of the child, the problems that can arise when the child's nature is not properly nurtured, and the repercussions that proper and improper nurturing of the child have on society.
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