Montessori : A World Educator

My first educational experience was Montessori school from 18 months until kindergarten, when I began attending public school. Montessori is a method of teaching named after its founder, Italian physician and educator, Maria Montessori. In these schools, students are grouped by their development, not age, and move at their own pace. There is little teacher instruction and much hands on, self taught learning. In my opinion, this style creates better fit children for the real world.

MONTESSORI’S research shows that children learn through movement and should have environments that are specifically tailored to meet their needs. Montessori schools provide a foundation for learning that is centred on care for the environment, care for the self as individual and

Montessori education was established in Italy more than 100 years ago and is still practiced in many countries today. According to Maria Montessori, "A

Education is very important especially in this day and age. What school one attends and how they perceive school to be is a huge factor in one’s life success. There has been research done in the past few years proving that students who receive a Montessori education will prosper academically more so than those who receive a traditional education (Ryniker and Shoho, 2001). Traditional schools typically follow teacher based philosophies and the Montessori education is student centered. On average, children enjoy student based philosophy classrooms. Therefore, they are much more in tuned to what they are learning and that benefits their educational career. Having fun while learning is the key to keeping children engaged.

Maria Montessori was born on August 1870, in a small town in Italy. She was the first woman to obtain her medical degree, which was in 1896. She was intended to challenge the trust of Educations worldwide. In 1906, Maria Montessori worked with handicap children and decided to open her first school, called Casa dei Bambini, which meant Children’s House. She is the founder of education called Montessori Method. The Montessori method teaches children to learn through the work that they do. She is also notable for being the first woman to graduate from the University of Rome with a doctorate degree. She died in May 1952, in Netherlands.

In today’s society many people recognize that our current educational system is antiquated and heavily flawed. Many do not believe the education our children routinely receive adequately prepares them to be successful in their adult lives and because of this parents are very concerned. This dissatisfaction has led to the implementation of numerous alternatives to the traditional educational system to which we have become accustomed. Each of these alternatives has their own collection of philosophies and methodologies, proponents and opponents, advantages and disadvantages, but the common thread is that they each aim to provide our children with a better, more effective education suited for today’s world. Montessori education is one of these alternative learning options that been around for many years and has been steadily gaining popularity.

Maria Montessori founded an education system which is called Montessori and still bares her name, her system is based on belief in the child’s creative potential, (Douglas, n.d.). Her first Casa Dei Bambini (Children’s house), where Maria was using her approach of teaching was opened in 1907 in Rome. She was great educator who believed that children are learning through their personal experience at their right time and their own pace. (Ridgway, 2007). Children rather than learning largely from what the teachers and the textbooks say, learn from “doing”,(Douglas, n.d.). To provide for children an effective, independent learning process, and that they become a competent and confident learner, Teacher had to provide for children a healthy, clean, well-prepared and well organised environment in which children could develop. Maria Montessori came up with idea that if children have to work and play independently, they have to be comfortable and need appropriately sized tools and items that fit their small hands (Mooney, 2000). Montessori believed that children learn through sensory experiences. Teacher has a responsibility to provide wonderful sights, textures, sounds, and smells for children. Sensory

In reality, the children move about the classroom independently, choosing the order of their learning activities. There may be 15 or more activities, or ?jobs? as they are called in some Montessori classrooms, occurring at the same time with small groups or individual work, yet the classroom remains quiet, yet busy and productive, sometimes with the soft hush of classical music playing in the background. Many Montessori school classrooms place a card around the child?s neck with the day?s objectives written in the form of a checklist for the students to monitor themselves. This checklist encourages the students to take responsibility for their own learning, as well as discourages prompt-dependence, since the student need not wait for instruction. Some of the activities in a Montessori classroom include reading, pre-reading using phonics, math, discovery science and writing. Children learn skills in a way that he or she is not aware that learning is taking place. For example, a child playing in the sand box with a small rake is not aware that he or she is learning fine motor skills and how to hold and control a pencil. Another observation in a Montessori classroom is that most classrooms tend to span three grade levels. This practice allows to children to become mentors to younger students. Also, the large gap in developmental levels allows children to ?learn at their own pace? (Keller, 2001), which is another important Montessori

A pre-normalized child does not have the joy normalized children have . a pre- normalized child coming into the Montessori environment has a chaotic impression from surrounding environment, he has a low self-esteem. He would abandon his work without completion. He shows discipline only when an adult is around and it does not last.

The education system back in her era focused on teaching the children to memorise word to word from books and posters and Children sat in rows at desks at the classroom learning from a blackboard and slates. This method of education wasn’t stimulating and exciting for children. Nevertheless through her experience Montessori discovered children want to learn, and they will do it in their own time frame and they shouldn’t be forced.

How is the child’s exploration and orientation in his physical environment complimented by the Montessori materials and presentation?

Control of movement: these are provide the foundation and set the stage for all works in the Montessori classroom.included how to carrying chair,using whold and transfer bean to another bowl and so on.

One of the key founding principles of Montessori education is that children thrive and excel in an environment that is ordered and structured. One of the most obvious ways that a Montessori classroom is structured is in space: every thing has its proper place in the shelves - set up so the child can get things for him or herself - and when a set of learning materials is finished with for the day or for the moment, the bits and pieces need to be put away so that spatial order is maintained. Learning to do so is part of the self-care that is also stressed as part of Montessori learning. Many parents often try to imitate these principles at home, making sure that materials and other things that their child can use are in a place that the child can access easily. And wise parents also make sure that the rule about putting it away properly in the right place when you've finished applies at home as well as at the Montessori early learning centre.

Maria Montessori was the originator and founder of the Montessori Method. She was the first female to graduate as a doctor from her university in Italy. After graduation, Montessori's work with so called “idiot children” led to an interest in child development. (M. Beaver et al, 2001, p.379) After researching Montessori was convinced there was a need for special schools catering to children who presented learning disabilities.

Montessori firmly believed that the ‘hands’ are the mother of skills. By providing Montessori sensorial materials to the child she was convinced that correct manipulation with quality and quantity would certainly create a lasting impression in the child’s mind with the understanding of mathematics. We place materials quite intentionally on trays, we color code activities, materials are displayed