The Montessori System was
developed almost a century ago by Italy’s first
female physician, Dr. Maria Montessori. Her
desire to help children led her to shift focus
from the body to the mind, giving up her medical
practice to work with a group of sixty young
children from Rome’s working class San Lorenzo
district. The first Casa dei Bambini, or
Children’s House was where Dr. Montessori, by
observing and working with this group of
children, was able to develop the theories and
methodologies adopted by all Montessori school
systems today.
The simple, basic truth, Children teach
themselves, lies at the heart of the Montessori
philosophy. This unique and progressive
approach to early childhood education is based
on the encouragement of the individual child to
set his/her own pace and discover learning by
way of their natural interest in exploring the
world. The program makes the most of these
“sensitive” early age periods of intellectual
growth and allows a child to develop his/her
potential and unique abilities to their fullest.
In a Montessori school, the specially certified
teacher is not the repository of knowledge but
merely a guide. Each according to his/her
unique gifts, the Montessori teacher encourages
the child to “discover” reading, math, art,
music and science, individually, as a group, and
at their own pace. As a result of this
approach, a child is started on a process of
joyful learning - a process that lasts a
lifetime.
Through the course of a child’s participation in
the program, his/her skills in muscular
coordination, concentration, independence and
discovery increase. The child is encouraged to
be an independent, socially warm person with a
positive self-concept, not afraid to make
mistakes for he/she learns from them.
The child is given the opportunity to be a
leader or a follower, depending on the situation
and can approach any task, organize materials
and self and arrive at a desirable result. |
"An
adult works to perfect the environment; a child
works to perfect himself."
Dr. Maria Montessori |
