Montessori

Montessori is a unique choice of life that parents make by sending their children to a Montessori school. In order to understand the Montessori approach to learning I believe it is highly important to understand its historical context. Maria Montessori was born in Italy in 1870 and came from a conservative background as her father was in the military. Montessori had funded her own University studies and was the only women to enroll on a doctor’s course. Montessori worked in a psychiatric clinic in the University of Rome and this is where her Montessori theory kicked off where she was interested in helping children with various different levels of mental disability. She then attended the University of Rome to enroll in philosophy and anthropology  The in 1906 the first Montessori nursery was set up as she was invited to set-up a school in the slum district of Rome in San Lorenzo. There was no support given such as re sources of money there for she had to obtain all that her self (Isaacs, 2012) and I believe strongly that’s why the Montessori approach is such a popular one as the learning is all about the materials that are on offer in the environment that the children are in. This is a picture of the type of materials from the Montessori classrooms that have been structured and re shaped to a children's size:

Montessori according to Isaacs believed that children develop in different unique stages and that that is underlined in the organisation of the Montessori nursery's. The age group in my opinion is key to success of the Montessori schools because children are place in classrooms with children older than them for example 0-3 (the absorbent of mind)  age in one class that's referred to as the infant community and 3-6 referred to as nursery/kindergarten. Then from 6-9 (childhood) and then 9-12 (adolescence) which is key because children can develop by watching, communicating and learning of older children. These have sub divided into three and Montessori called them the sensitive period  (Isaacs, 2012). The characteristics of the Montessori schools is what draws me to applaud the Montessori approach. The key characteristics involve inter-graded curriculum, movement, teacher is the facilitator  respect, freedom of choice and individuality (Elementary, 2013). These characteristics are the perfect ingredients in my opinion to prepare a child to succeed in the future.

This video clip gives us an in sight into a Montessori classroom and a clear perspective of these characteristics in use for example movement; when the children are allowed to travel around the classroom exploring new activities  The children have their own freedom to choose and activity they wish to carry out. The video also shows us the inter-graded curriculum where maths is being taught by the materials they have to work with which is more creative perhaps I would argue than the national curriculum we have today. It also shows the children working independently by doing different activities such as the little boy who was shown sitting in a corner reading a book. This context of education in my opinion is considered to be one of he greatest and most influential to a child's development in terms of early years education from the 20 century carrying on into the 21^st century.