Dr Maria Montessori was the first lady of Italy who was graduated from the University of Rome and become a doctor of pediatrics medicine. She was born on 31st August, 1870 belongs to middle class family. Her father, Alessandro Montessori was military officer of conservative mind and her mother, Renidle Montessori was a liberal lady and she supported her daughter in the completion of her studies. Despite of all the opposition from everyone, she continued her efforts towards studies and became the first women physician in Italy in 1896. Works of Dr Maria Montessori:After graduation, Montessori was in charge of new Orthophrenic School where she observed the behavior of mentally disabled children.
First it was under the supervision of nurses which later on due to their rude attitude towards children, look after by Dr. Montessori. As a part of her work she did research and studies the work of French doctors of eighteenth and nineteenth century Jean Marc Gaspard Itard and Edouard Seguin. She was very much inspired by their mode of educational method based on observation and experimentation. She applied these methods on disabled children.Their work derives her to put all the efforts on such slow learners and as a result she got positive feedback.
Many of these children passed the public examination so called the normal children. Such type of positive feedback develops an interest in Dr Montessori to apply this method on mentally normal children too. First she didn’t get the opportunity but later on she was asked for to supervise the children of working class who can’t attend the school. The Children House named “Casa Dei Bambini” which was located in the poor area of Rome was first opened in 1907.
It has only 50 children aged between two to five years and only one untrained teacher. Montessori faced problems like the children who came there were of different behavior s ignorant from their parents but she didn’t hesitate and start teaching. She introduced all those methods of teaching that she had used with the disabled children. As a result she was surprised to see the same feedback which was increasing rapidly.
Children were doing their activities till evening until their parents worked. The activities of children include cleaning, dressing, gardening, and all the manipulative exercises.She found that the children showed more concentration, repetition of tasks. Children were doing the work of their own choice that led to their development. In addition she had seen so much potential in children to do work in other areas too.
These children were more involved in Montessori methods, constructive activity and practical activity than the toys they are provided. She concluded from her research work that children were much capable of doing their work and can do advancement in every field of life if there were provided the proper environment. Dr Montessori first house of children Casa de bambini gained worldwide recognition.Many of the visitors were impressed of her work. Even the renowned personalities like Alexander Graham bell, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and many more praised her work.
She had eventually gained respect in the eye of every person, teachers and parents. Many articles were written by her and also written for her work. Her teaching methodology was implemented at various places. She got so much fame of her educational methodology all over the world. Many montesorri schools were opened all around the world buy eventually due to some reasons her work went down.
The reasons are given below:1). In the World War 1 and 2, the transportation and travelling were affected badly so had difficult in sharing of knowledge.2). Professor William Kilpatrick, influential scholars of his time omitted some of Montessori theories that were based on proper grounds had no solid material. But later on Dr Nancy McCormick brought back the work of Montessori and then again many organizations started to follow her educational setup. Dr Maria Montessori, a lady much ahead of her time: Dr Maria Montessori’s first house of children laid the basis of an educational philosophy which helps in the complete development of the child in controlled environment.
She spent her lifetime in studying the child development that forced the other organizations to promote her work. She discovered many innovative ideas about children and the process of learning. She was honored by many prizes and Nobel Prize three times in her life. She died in the Netherlands in 1952 but she truly deserves a lady much ahead of her time because her methods is still used and helped many children to have a better future. She was a true pioneer of modern education system.
Her name and philosophy lives in hundreds of organization.
