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“The older type of instruction tended to treat the teacher as a dictatorial ruler. The newer type
sometimes treats the teacher as a negligible factor, almost as an evil, though a necessary one. In reality,
the teacher is the intellectual leader of a social group, He is a leader, not in virtue of official position, but
because of wider and deeper knowledge and matured experience. The supposition that the teacher must
abdicate its leadership is merely silly.”
Maria Montessori
Born August 31, 1870
Died May 6, 1952
Born in Chiaravalle
(Ancona), Italy
Physician, educator,
philosopher, humanitarian
and devout Catholic
best known for her
philosophy and the
Montessori method of
education of children from
birth to adolescence
Montessori Method
an educational approach where children are
given freedom in an environment prepared
with materials designed for their self-directed
learning activity.
The purpose of which is to bring about,
sustain and support children’s true natural
way of being ("the child's true normal
nature").
The Three-Period Lesson
Period 1 consists of providing the child with the name of the
material. In the case of letter sounds, the teacher will have the
child trace the letter and say, "This is u. This is p." This provides
the children with the name of what they are learning.
Period 2 is to help the child recognize the different objects. Most
of the time with the three-period lesson is in period 2. Some
things the teacher might say are, "Show me the u. Show me the
p” or "Point to the u. Point to the p.” After spending some time in
the second period, the child may move on to period 3.
Period 3 involves checking to see if the child not only recognizes
the name of the material, but is able to tell you what it is. The
teacher will point to the "u" and ask the student, "What is this?" If
the child replies with, "uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu", the child fully
understands it. With letters, the lesson finally ends with the child
blending the letters to make a simple word, such as “up.”
Planes of Development
The natural development of children proceeds through several distinct
planes of development, each one having its own unique conditions and
sensitive periods for acquiring basic faculties in the developmental
process.
The first plane (ages 0-6) involves basic personality formation and
learning through physical senses. During this plane, children
experience sensitive periods for acquiring language and developing
basic mental order.
The second plane of development (6-12) involves learning through
abstract reasoning, developing through a sensitivity for imagination and
social interaction with others.
The third plane (12-18) is the period of adolescent growth, involving
the significant biological changes of puberty, moving towards learning a
valuation of the human personality, especially as related to experiences
in the surrounding community.
The fourth plane (18+), involves a completion of all remaining
development in the process of maturing in adult society.
In America
After the 1907 establishment of Montessori's first school in
Rome, by 1917 there was an intense interest in her method in
America in large part due to the publication of a small booklet
entitled "The Montessori System Examined" by William Heard
Kilpatrick - a follower of John Dewey.
Confusion and conflict about the method's philosophy emerged
with particular intensity in the modern development of Montessori
in the United States where, in 1967, the name "Montessori" was
held to be a "generic term" that no organization could claim for its
own exclusive use. Since then, the number and diversity of
Montessori organizations and philosophies have expanded
considerably.