Introduction - Woman behind the Theory
Life, Education, and Career of Montessori
The only child of Alsessandro Montessori and Renilde Stoppani, Maria Montessori was born on August 31, 1870 in Chiaravalle, Italy (Gutek, 2004). During the time Montessori was born, Italy was going through major changes. Italy had just completed unification in which they became modernized as a force of nationalism and liberalism (Gutek, 2004). Yet Italy still had remnants of conservatism and traditionalism. Social and gender roles were eventually inherited across time and generations (Gutek, 2004). However, women's roles were more fixed by custom and tradition (Gutek, 2004). Higher and professional education was not usually accessible to women. Yet that didn't stop Montessori from pursuing her dreams. In challenging Italy's 19th century gender conservations, Montessori would enter a technical school to study engineering and later (at the University of Rome's medical school) to become Italy's first degreed female physician (Gutek, 2004).
Montessori defeated all adversities throughout her years in school. From the time she was a young pupil till she graduated from college, Montessori exemplified strong determination and dedication. Both of Montessori's parents supported her in her studies, though her father was particularly strong in her pursuing mathematics. Yet Montessori wanted to establish independence and did so by entering a technical secondary school. At the age of 13-years-old, Montessori enrolled in the Regia Scuola Technica Michelangelo Buonarroti and pursued a 7-year curriculum (Gutek, 2004). Montessori graduated from the school with high honors in 1886. She continued her academic career by entering the Regio Instituto Technico Leonardo da Vi...
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The Child Development Center of College of San Mateo provides early care and educational programs for children between the ages of 3 to 5 years old. Children are divided into classrooms with a “master” teacher, a “regular” teacher, and two or three “associate” teachers. Klara attended Classroom, “A,” a stimulating and well-resourced classroom. Klara was observed for two hours on Monday from 9 am to 11 am and for two hours on Wednesday from 9 am to 11 am. During these two hours, classroom activities consisted of “free time,” “story time,” and an outside “play time.” A “master” teacher, a “regular” teacher, and two “associate” teachers were present during observations. Additionally, a total of eighteen children were in attendance during the observed days.
Origin from a city in the north of Italy, the Reggio Emilia approach in Early Childhood Education is adopted by multi-countries over the past decades. This approach has a core philosophy, that children should play a leading role in education. Children are seen as full of knowledge and intelligence, with full capabilities to express themselves if only given the proper ways to do to so. They are protagonists of their own learning and have a say in what topics and problems they will study and research. Teachers provide resources to assistant children’s learning and developing. The curriculum is emergent, meaning the teachers choose topics and projects based on careful listening and observations of their student’s interests, needs and inquiries. Children are encouraged to use materials and media to demonstrate their learning and understanding of a topic or project. Documentations and environment have direct influences in helping children’s learning. Parents and community also play a supportive role in children education (O.E.C.D, 2004).
The results of quality preschool programs can be seen early after they begin. Children learn many important life le...
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Preschool is a highly debated area of a child’s educational journey. One of the primary goals of preschool is to prep the child for traditional elementary school. There are various contemporary models of early education that have been constructed to help children develop their educational career. A few examples of these models are the Bank Street Approach, The Reggio Emilia Approach, The Montessori Approach, and the Head Start Program just to name a few. The Waldorf approach is the program of discussion in this particular paper. The Waldorf Approach was originated in 1919 with the basic analysis that children can learn traditional educational subjects through artistic activities. The assumption is that children should dictate the classroom curriculum, and that the material learned should benefit the child as a whole. There are four conditions that teachers focus on when using the Waldorf Approach. The four conditions are Aesthetic, Social, Symbolic, and Sensitive conditions. In a classroom setting these four conditions are put into practice by ...
With the success of working with these children she was asked to open a school in a housing project in Rome, which was opened on January 6 1907, which was called Casa dei Bambini or Children’s House. Montessori was focused on teaching the children how to develop their own skills at their own rate, which was a principle Dr. Montessori called “spontaneous self-development”. [Early Childhood Today, p. 74.] Montessori discovered that children’s innate power for learning worked best when the children were able to be left alone in a safe, and a hands on environment. When the children were given furniture, equipment, and supplies they were able to work by themselves, they were also self-motivated to explore experiment and reach new understandings. Montessori found self...
Maria Montessori was born in Italy in 1870 and influenced childcare massively in the 20th century. Montessori believed that children learn best through using their hands. She felt that one of the main factors that contributed to the child’s development was the ‘prepared’ environment. Children learn through exploration and the adult’s role is to create an environment where they can do
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The Montessori Method has been and is very popular around the world with early childhood practitioners and parents. The Montessori approach is designed to support the natural development of children in a well-prepared environment. Some of the principles and philosophy are respect for the child, sensitive periods, the prepared environment, absorbent mind, and observations. (hardy, 2013) (Notes, 2013)
There are basic Montessori methods. They are: The teacher must pay attention to the child, rather than the child paying attention to the teacher, the child proceeds at his/her own pace in an environment controlled to provide means of learning, and Imaginative teaching materials are the hear...
Wolery, M., & Hemmeter, M. (2011). Classroom Instruction: Background, Assumptions, and Challenges. Journal Of Early Intervention, 33(4), 371-380. http://library.gcu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ952335&site=ehost-live&scope=site
What Kids Really Learn in Preschool. Parenting. (Fall 99):Vol. 13 Issue 7, p 74. October
... such a manner that its curriculum framework is open to interpretation enough to be adapted to most if not all child-centered early years educational approaches. Montessori has a structured curriculum, which while not as flexible as High/Scope can still adapt to Aistear’s framework into their own set curriculum using already established Montessori exercises. In addition, Montessori and High/scope both share an emphasis on the importance of the prepared environment for the children, which is in accordance of Síolta, without which the Aistear framework cannot be successfully undertaken.