The Montessori Toddlers Understanding the Role of Spirituality in Teacher-Child Relationship (ePub)

Maria Montessori, considered "a citizen of the world," as indicated on a commemorative plaque in Rome, is one of the most outstanding educators of the twentieth century. She was born in Chiaravalle, Italy, in 1870. In 1896, she became the first woman in Italy to become a physician. For many years, she worked with children with developmental disorders as part of her duties stemming from her appointment to the Psychiatric Clinic at the University of Rome.

Basing her approach of the education of the child's senses on the work of Froebel, Itard, and Seguin, Montessori developed unique materials for the children to use. She came to believe that their learning could be immensely ameliorated with a particular educational program, and, indeed, it was. During the ten years after her graduation, Montessori was also involved in her private practice, with hospitals around Rome, her lectureships at different women colleges, and eventually, her Professorship in Anthropology. Later in years, Montessori would comment on how her life, in its entirety, was an example of her principle that "the preparations of life are indirect" and that one must be "obedient to events." As her biographer, Standing became acquainted with Maria Montessori in 1921 and continued to contact her up to her passing in 1952, collaborating with her in writing articles, teaching in schools, and assisting her in the teacher training. He reflected on how Montessori's first part of her career built her later work with children.

Following is a classic example of her life's mission.

Montessori's interventions, at that time, were "anything but scientific"; however, what someone else may have considered insignificant, Montessori deemed necessary. For example, she noticed that the children would repeat an exercise many times over, for no apparent external reason, before they would be finished working with the material, at an age when adults expected children to have a brief attention span. During this time, they demonstrated the ability to concentrate intensely on their work. Another example was the children following the teacher, who would put the materials back in their proper places.

Contrary to the teacher's thinking that they were being disobedient by not staying in their places, Montessori realized that the children had a love for order: they wanted to put the material back in their proper places themselves. This, in turn, led to the astounding discovery that the children could choose their cloth according to their interests. Therefore, the free choice was added to the principles of repetition of the exercise and concentration, which gave her insights into "the unexplored depths of the child's mind."

Other discoveries included that the children preferred to work with the material rather than play with toys. They were oblivious to rewards and punishments. They loved silence. When Montessori decided to teach them the delicate art of blowing their nose, an action that adults usually criticized and humiliated the child about, the children broke out in applause. Montessori surmised, "children have a deep sense of personal dignity," and "later on the inculcation of this respect for their dignity-of even the smallest child became one of the most prominent elements in the training of her teachers."