Maria Montessori

I researched Maria Montessori, who was an Italian educator and the very first women in Italy to become a doctor. (I thought this was a pretty cool feat!) She orginially began to study engineering in Italy but later decide to stop studying it, which made her family happy that she would no longer study such an “un-ladylike” discipline. She would later go on to study medicine. She graduated from the University of Rome’s medical program with a score of 100 out of 105.

Maria went out to work at a Children’s hospital and one day had a revelation I felt that mental deficiency presented chiefly a pedagogical, rather than mainly a medical, problem."(Webster) The children she was working with could not be treated in the hospitals they needed to be trained in schools. She then started to focus on finding a way to perfect education. She developed her educational theory that suggested that teachers see themselves as social engineers. Her methods of teaching were often criticized. Some said they were too meticulous and harsh for the youth.

She was often heard saying: "I studied my children, and they taught me how to teach them."     

I personally found this to be a very interesting quote that is so simple, yet so true. I believe the teaching of children depend on the nature and personality of a child.

Maria Montessori was the first to have child-sized tables and chair made for the classroom. Nowadays, it is hard to picture a kindergarten classroom without such. She thought that the learning environment was just as important as the learning itself. Maria Monetessori was concerned about the children and their feelings. Her focus on treating children in a respectful, comforting manner has changed the way education is today!

http://www.montessori.edu/maria.html
http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/montessori.html#curriculum