Montessori Method
The Montessori Method of teaching was developed by Dr. Maria Montessori, the first female doctor in Italy.
Dr. Montessori’s philosophy is based upon her careful observations of children, and it was from these observations that Dr. Montessori concluded that the most important period of life is from birth to 6 years of age.
Dr. Montessori believed that every child carries unseen within himself the person that he will become.
A specially prepared environment was created to meet the needs of children in which turn would cultivate their natural desire to learn. This prepared environment already predisposes the child to develop according to his own speed, according to his own capacities in a non-competitive atmosphere in the first year of school.
Dr. Mario Montessori always said, “Never let a child risk failure, until he has a reasonable chance of success…” – understanding the necessity for the acquisition of a basic skill before its use in a competitive learning situation.
The minds of children between the ages of 3-6 years of age are like sponges. Dr. Maria Montessori called this period, the absorbent mind, where children don’t question what they are learning, they just absorb it.
Dr. Montessori recognized that the only valid impulse to learning is the self-motivation of the child. Children move themselves toward learning. The teacher prepares the environment, functions as the reference person and offers the child stimulation’s but it is the child who learns, who is motivated- through the work itself-to persist in his chosen task.
If the Montessori child is free to learn, it is because he has acquired from exposure to both physical and mental order, an “inner discipline”. This is the core of Dr. Montessori’s educational philosophy. Patters of concentration, motivation and thoroughness established in early childhood produces a confident and competent learner in the later years.