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CHAITYAVRIKSHAA Montessori Teachers Training Centre chaityavrikshaa montess
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“It is not enough for the teacher to love the child.She must first love and understand the universe. She must prepare herself, and truly work at it.”
- Maria Montessori
MARIA MONTESSORI
Maria Montessori was born on August 31, 1870, in Chiaravalle, Italy to a family that prized education and was very well educated for girls of her times. She grew up without losing her inner childlike curiosity about the world around her. She went on to become the first woman medical graduate of the University of Rome. After working as an Assistant Doctor in the clinic dealing in Psychiatry, she took charge as the Director (1898-1900) of the Scuola Ortofrenica, a school for children with special needs, which had been founded as a result of her interest in such children.
The first thing she questioned about the prevailing education system was the lack of teaching methods for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Before envisaging one of the most outstanding educational methods that bears her name today, she also studied Philosophy at the University of Rome, with particular emphasis on the psychology of childhood and lectured to students there in Pedagogical Anthropology. The Education methodology Dr. Montessori devised was unique for a fact that it was built on the natural curiosity- the way a child prefers to learn something new.
Around 1909, she developed the Montessori method, the popular educational methodology for children aged three to six, based on free discipline and free choice by children from stimulating learning apparatus designed by Maria Montessori herself and the method was a success. She soon accepted a new challenge to open 50 schools for slum children and also one for the children of laborers which went on to become the first Casa dei Bambini. Thus a quality learning environment for young children was born.
From her experience and observation as a doctor, Maria Montessori developed more learning materials and a classroom environment that fostered the children’s natural desire to learn. News of the school’s success soon spread through Italy and by 1910 Montessori schools were well acclaimed worldwide. Dr. Montessori dedicated rest of her life, in advancing her child-centered method of education. From 1919 onwards she travelled round the world, lectured widely, wrote articles and books, every other year conducting courses in teaching by the Montessori Method, holding similar courses every alternate year in London. Now by the efforts put by her, she had followers to take the new learning methodology to new heights. Montessori education was by then adopted worldwide. From the first Montessori school —the Casa dei Bambini, or House of Children, established in Rome on January 6, 1907, her vision has grown today to over 22,000 Montessori schools spread over 110 countries worldwide.
Core Components of Montessori Education
Dr. Maria Montessori was convinced, from a lifetime of scientific observation, that there are laws of growth in the character and disposition of the child as marked as those in his physical life; that adults generally fail to appreciate these laws and force their own ideas on the child. This results in the suppression of the child’s deepest drives and his mind is thrown into confusion. This often manifests itself in naughtiness, hysterical crying and sulking. A childhood so full of repression results in an adulthood full of complexes.
Maria Montessori’s revolutionary method of education recognizes 5 core components as essential in all Montessori schools. Fully integrating all of them should be a goal for all Montessori teachers and schools. They are :
1. Well Trained Directress or Montessori Teachers-
Who understand the importance of allowing the child to develop naturally, and interfere as little as possible with the child’s own pursuit.
Who are able to observe children and let each child reveal her or his true self, in the course of the development.
Who can introduce them to challenging and developmentally appropriate lessons and materials based on observations of each child’s unique interests, abilities, and development (social, emotional, cognitive, and physical).
A trained Montessori teacher serves as a guide rather than an instructor of information. She prepares the classroom by creating an environment marked by aesthetic care and awareness, in order to support and inspire the developmental progress of each student and guide each child’s learning through purposeful activity. A well trained Montessori teacher is well versed in not only Montessori theory and philosophy, but also knows the accurate and appropriate use of Montessori materials. And who has observational skills to guide and challenge her students. She should have a firm foundation in human growth and development, and last but not the least, the leadership skills necessary for fostering a nurturing environment that is physically and psychologically supportive of learning.
2. Multi-Age Classrooms
Multi-age groupings enable younger children to learn from older children and experience new challenges through observation; older children reinforce their learning by teaching concepts they have already mastered, develop leadership skills, and serve as role models. This arrangement mirrors the real world, in which individuals work and socialize with people of all ages and dispositions.
3. Use of Montessori Materials
A hallmark of Montessori education is in its hands-on approach to learning. Through the Elementary level, this includes the use of beautifully crafted, specifically designed learning materials that invite to be touched and explored. Each material teaches a single skill or concept, and includes a built-in mechanism called Control of Error or COE for providing the student with a way of assessing progress and correcting mistakes. For the children to achieve this, the teachers should give a precise and efficient material presentation. The aesthetically created materials introduce concepts that are increasingly complex and provide passages to abstraction, both in these grades and beyond.
4. Child- Centric and Activity Oriented Work Education
Montessori education supports children in choosing meaningful and challenging work of their own interest, leading to engagement, intrinsic motivation, sustained attention, and the development of responsibility to oneself and others. This child-directed work is supported by the design and flow of the Montessori classroom, which is created to arouse each child’s curiosity and to provide the opportunity to work in calm, uncluttered spaces either individually or as part of a group; the availability and presentation of enticing, self-correcting materials in specified curricular areas; teachers who serve as guides and mentors rather than dispensers of knowledge; and uninterrupted work periods.
5. Uninterrupted Work Periods
The uninterrupted work period recognizes and respects individual variations in the learning process. During the work period, students are given time to work through various tasks and responsibilities at their own pace without interruption. A child’s work cycle involves selecting an activity, performing the activity for as long as he is interested in it, cleaning up the activity and returning it to the shelf, then selecting another activity. During the work period, teachers support and monitor the students’ work and provide individual and small-group lessons. The uninterrupted work period facilitates the development of coordination, concentration, independence and order, and the assimilation of information.