THE MONTESSORI METHOD

by Maria Montessori,

Schocken Books, New York, 1964

Ch. I A Critical Consideration of the New Pedagogy in Relation to Modern Science.

The author presents the tendency of pedagogy in the light of the most recent acquisitions of medicine, experimental psychology, morphological anthropology. All these elements cannot make a new pedagogy since the conception of education is old, school is not free, the child has no room for his natural manifestations.

School needs to be reformed and liberated together with the changes and transformation of society.

What restrict the free expression of the child’s manifestations are the instruments of education, the desk, the material prizes and punishments, the discipline of immobility and silence, the intellectual contents of school curricula imposed by law upon the teacher and the child.

Ch. II History of Methods.

With the aim of developing a system of scientific pedagogy, Maria Montessori states the fundamental principle of the new pedagogy – the liberty of the pupil. Hence the new pedagogy will arise from the study of the individual, the observation of free children. In pedagogy the study is limited and secondary as it accompanies the work of education. The Montessori method is defines as the method peculiar to experimental pedagogy and it is the result of two years of experiments in the Children’s Houses. Maria Montessori explains how her method was nourished by the writings, experiments and achievements of Itard and Seguin, how she adapted their findings, and her own research and experience while working with children and teaching in the Children’s Houses.

Ch.III Inaugural Address Delivered on the Occasion of the Opening of One of the “Children’s Houses”

Ch. IV Pedagogical Methods Used in the Children’s Houses.

In the scientific experiments conducted in the Children’s houses, Maria Montessori used the study of the development of the child, the method of anthropometrical records in its educational side with the purpose of forming in the children habits of order, and the habit of observing themselves. Thus the method of observation included the methodical base of the liberty of the pupils in their spontaneous manifestations. From this principle of liberty of movement derived the main innovation of Maria Montessori, the school furniture especially designed for young children. The impact of this discovery is on a healthier development of the child’s body as well as on discipline in the classroom.

Ch. V Discipline.

In the Montessori method discipline is active. The child learns to master himself, to move as he is prepared for life not for school. Maria Montessori stated that: “The liberty of the child should have its limit the collective interest.” In the new method discipline is founded upon the difference between good and evil, and these values do not correspond to those in the traditional school discipline. The aim of this new system is to discipline for activity and this is good, while inactivity, immobility through obedience are evil. So discipline should not be an imposition but a voluntary action. Hence the child will be led toward independence. Also the abolition of prizes and external punishments derive necessarily from this new form of discipline. The isolation of the disturbant child is a way of observing discipline in a Montessori classroom.

Ch. VI How the Lessons Should be Given.

In this method the lesson resembles an experiment. The focus is on individual lesson and not on collective lessons. The characteristics of the individual lesson are brevity, simplicity and objectivity. If the lesson is not accepted by the child and the child does not interest himself in the object the teacher should not insist by repeating the lesson or to make the child understand that he has made a mistake because in doing so she offends the principles of liberty.

Ch. VII Exercises on Practical Life.

In this chapter is presented the way in which there are introduced the forms of social life. A special attention should be given to the preparation of the child for cleaneliness, order, pose, conversation.

Ch. VIII Refection – The Child’s Diet.

The children’s diet must be balanced, healthy, and adapted to the children’s needs in the respective stage of their development.

Ch. IX Muscular Education – Gymnastics.

In the Montessori method gymnastics for young children refer to a series of exercises to aid the normal development of physiological movements: walking, breathing, speech. Among the recommended exercises are those with apparata, the free games, another educational exercises which consist in the care of plants and animals, the cultivation of the earth and the use of wooden frames to develop coordinated movement of the fingers. Very important is the respiratory gymnastics that teaches the art of breathing and is accompanied by exercise for proper use of lips, tongue, and teeth.

Ch. X Nature in Education – Agricultural Labour: Culture of Plants and Animals.

Agriculture and animal culture as Maria Montessori names them are excellent means of moral education helping the child: 1. to observe the phenomena of life; 2. to foresight by the way of auto-education; 3. to develop the virtues of patience and confident expectation, as a form of faith and philosophy of life; 4. inspires a feeling for nature; 5. makes the child follow the way of development of the human race.

Ch. XI Manual Labour – The Potter’s Art and Building.

If gymnastics help to exercise the hand, manual labour is directed to accomplish a certain work. Both are related. Following the principle of liberty the aim of manual work is not to produce useful objects, to accomplish an educative result; the aim is to encourage the spontaneous manifestation of the child.

Ch. XII Education of the Senses.

The education of senses plays a crucial role in the Montessori method. The pedagogic experiment with a didactic object and awaiting the spontaneous reaction of the child is analogous to experimental psychology. The didactic material for the education of the senses is aimed to render possible in normal children the process of auto-education. Also the differential perception of stimuli by means of repeated exercises. An important technique of the sense education is to isolate the sense.

Ch. XIII Education of the Senses and Illustration of the Didactic Material: general Sensibility; the Tactile, Thermic, Baric and Stereognostic Senses.

Ch. XIV General Notes on the Education of the Senses.

The aim of the Montessori method is twofold: biological and social, that is to help the natural development of the individual, and to prepare him for the environment. Hence the education of senses is of great pedagogical interest.

Ch. XV Intellectual Education.

The teacher must use an exact nomenclature. This prepares for an exactness in the use of the language. The first lesson will be followed by a short period of silence, and then by a test. If the child makes a mistake the teacher does not correct him. She will repeat the lesson at another time when the child is ready.

Ch. XVI Methods for the Teaching of Reading and Writing.

Ch. XVII Description of the Method and Didactic Material Used.

Ch. XVIII Language in Childhood.

The development of articulate language takes place in the period between the age of two and the age of seven. This is the age of perceptions and of good memory.

There are presented here the defects of language due to the lack of education, and the exercises for the corrections of language.

Ch. XIX Teaching of Numeration; Introduction to Arithmetic.

Numeration is learned easily by counting objects. Here are explained exercises with number, the lesson on zero, exercises for the memory of numbers, addition and subtraction from one to twenty, multiplication and division, the lesson on decimals.

Ch. XX Sequence of Exercises.

In this chapter are listed the grades in the presentation of the material and in the exercises.

Ch. XXI General Review on Discipline.

Discipline comes through work. It must be reached by indirect means.

Ch. XXII Conclusions and Impressions.

In Montessori schools the children work by themselves, thus making a conquest of active discipline, independence in all acts of daily life, and progress in intellectual development.