Opening Doors Through Education

As a past educator and now a mother with children of my own, I would say that I have a love of and a strong interest in education.  This of course takes root in the home at an early age and is fostered throughout the life of the child either in a home-school program, or private or public education.  

My deep interest in "how" children learn and in seeking the best methods available to assist their natural abilities, led me to further explore Maria Montessori and her method of Montessori Education.

An Italian woman way ahead of her time, Maria Montessori broke down many barriers previously preventing women from advancing in certain fields.  She attended an all-boys technical institute for engineering at the age of 13, and went on to graduate from the University of Rome's Medical Program in 1896.  Maria was one of Italy's first female physicians and often had to work independently and after hours in order to achieve this goal, because the male physicians did not think it appropriate for a woman to be in clinicals with the men.

I am inspired by the fact that Maria did not let any of the obstacles in her path prevent her from moving forward, and rather she used those obstacles to her advantage as well as the advantage of the unlikely patients she served.  She began to focus her medical practice on psychiatry as well as studying educational theory.  She banded the two to serve children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  These children were largely cast off by the society of that time and her interest in this population seemed unwarranted.

In 1900 Maria helped to direct a training institute for special education teachers, which was declared a success.  This allowed her the ability to open a center for poor inner-city children, which also had so much success that in 1910 her Montessori model began to spread worldwide!

So what is it that she did differently to help these children with disabilities to function at the same level and often better than high functioning children in public schools?  Montessori's key rests in observation.  She spent many years simply observing the natural aptitude and interests of children in many different environments.  Her conclusion was based in giving children greater freedom to experience their environment under the guidance of director rather than a teacher.  Montessori observed that children often taught themselves through their surroundings and the manipulation of materials.  She created interesting materials that held lessons in math and basic skills.  Her classroom structure was painstakingly geared toward the child's natural ability to learn.  

Thus, Montessori education is know as "the child-centered approach" and is a long stretch from the basic classroom structure in which all children are seated in rows of desks and expected to preform the same tasks within the same time frame at the same level of aptitude. 
. . . the task of the educator lies in seeing that the child does not confound good with immobility, and evil with activity, as often happens in old-time discipline . . . A room in which all the children move about usefully, intelligently, and voluntarily, without committing any rough or rude act, would seem to me a classroom very well disciplined indeed. -The Montessori Method
 Montessori education allows each child their own pace to explore, learn, and grow.  The crowning glory of the educational system is that each child is considered exquisitely unique and of great importance in every stage of development and as an eternal soul!