Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori Maria Montessori was a famous doctor and teacher; she was the first woman to graduate from the University of Rome La Sapienza Medical School, and she was one of the first female physicians in Italy. Montessori worked with children for most of her life; teaching them, observing them, and taking care of them; her theory was: “Children teach themselves if only we will dedicate ourselves to the self-creating process of the child (Gordon and Brown 13-336).” She believed that if children did things step by step, they could do anything; she called this the sequential steps of learning (Gordon and Brown 13-336). According to Gordon and Brown, the Montessori concept is both a philosophy of child development and a plan for guiding growth. This concept believes that education begins at birth and that the early years in a person’s life are very important. During this time, children pass through “sensitive periods,” in which their curiosity makes them ready for acquiring certain skills and knowledge (Gordon and Brown 13-336). Montessori’s method was based on the idea that children want to learn, and that children must learn independence and order to understand the world that is before them. After she graduated from medical school, Montessori became a member of the University's Psychiatric Clinic and was very interested in trying to teach the “uneducable” or the “special needs” children. Here David Weinberg explains Montessori’s theory about children with special needs: “Montessori believed that mental deficiency presented more of a pedagogical problem, rather than a medical problem. After she presented a paper defending this opinion at the Pedagogical Congress of Turin in 1898, she was called upon by the minister of education to give a course to the teachers of Rome on the education of intellectually and developmentally disabled children. This course led to the founding of the State Orthophrenic School and

Cited: Driscoll, A., and N.G. Nagel. "Maria Montessori." Early Childhood Education,Birth-8. (2008): n. page. Web. 30 Sep. 2011. <http://www.education.com/reference/article/maria-montessori/?page=3>. Gordon, A.M, and KW. Brown. Beginnings and Beyond: Foundations Early Childhood Education. 8th . Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2011. 13-336. Print. Weinberg, David . "Maria Montessori and the Secret of Tabula Rose ." Montessori Life. (2009): 30-35. Print.