Montessori is one of the most significant and famous names of foreign pedagogy. Who was respected and accepted in the noble houses of Europe? Who helped thousands of children learn the basics of learning? Whose books are still sold off the shelves? This is Maria Montessori. The biography of this outstanding scientist and the concept of her work are outlined below.
Montessori Family
Maria comes from a noble aristocratic Montessori-Stoppani family. Father, as a distinguished civil servant, was awarded the Order of the Crown of Italy. Mother grew up in a liberalist family, in an atmosphere of gender equality. The best qualities of their parents were taken up by their daughter Maria Montessori. The biography (the family played an important role in her life) of Mary is connected with the biography of her parents. She was born in 1870 in the Milanese abbey of Chiaravalle. The father and mother sought to give the child the best education.
Uncle
Since childhood, she communicated with her relatives-scientists, read their works. Maria especially respected the work of her uncle, the writer and theologian, Antonio of the Stoppani family.
He was a highly respected figure in Italy (a monument was erected to him in Milan). Hisdevelopments in the field of geology, paleontology have become widespread and developed. There are facts indicating that some of Mary's pedagogical ideas were borrowed from him. For example, the use of the theory of scientific positivism in pedagogy.
Education
The efforts of parents and relatives to educate and educate Maria bore fruit when she went to school. Maria Montessori, whose biography is interesting and informative, already at the first stages of schooling showed that classes were easy for her. Mathematics is her favorite subject. It is known that she solved arithmetic problems even in the theater. For the first time, Maria saw the socially secondary position of a woman at the age of 12, when she wanted to enter a gymnasium. Only boys were accepted into an institution of this level. However, the character that Maria Montessori had (the biography emphasizes this more than once), the influence of her parents and, of course, her outstanding intellectual abilities broke the system accepted in society. She was accepted. Here, at the technical school, Maria constantly had to prove her right to study among young men. This fact has become one of the decisive ones in her desire to fight for the rights of women and those people with whom society does not consider.
Choice of profession
The passion for natural sciences in the gymnasium and the desire to be useful to society affected the choice of profession that Maria Montessori made. The biography shows that this choice was not easy. She decided to become an engineer, while her parents leaned towards pedagogy.activities. In 1890, she was admitted to the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Rome. However, she was fascinated by medicine. Maria began to attend medical courses and decided to become a doctor. It was another challenge to society. The medical faculty did not take girls. But her perseverance and knowledge, the authority of the family, allowed Maria to enter the University of Rome in 1892 and graduate from the Faculty of Medicine, becoming the first woman in the history of Italy to receive the profession of a doctor.
Beginning of pedagogical activity
The biography of Maria Montessori tells that from the last years of her studies, Maria was an assistant in the hospital, and since 1896, after defending her dissertation in psychiatry, she began to practice in the clinic. Here she first met children with disabilities, after which she turned to the medical literature on the adaptation of this special category of children in society. The work of the psychiatrist Edouard Seguin and the deaf-mute specialist Jean Marc Itard strongly influenced Montessori and her work. She was convinced that such children would benefit more from competent pedagogical work than from medication.
Maria began to study works on the theory of education, pedagogy, theory of education. Since 1896, she has worked with children with disabilities, whom she prepared for exams at the level of a junior comprehensive school. After the outstanding results shown by her students, Maria became known to the general public. The government openedOrthophrenic Institute, headed by Maria Montessori. The biography, briefly described above, allows us to conclude that Maria had unique abilities, sensitivity and awareness of the importance of her work.
Development of methodology
Since 1901, Montessori studied at the Faculty of Philosophy, while simultaneously practicing in schools, where she led experiments and made observations. Maria saw the conditions in which children study in a comprehensive school: audiences not adapted for teaching, strict discipline, lack of desire for the comprehensive development of students. She was amazed at how children with disabilities grow up: the complete absence of the educational process, and education was reduced to violence. Maria realized that it was time for society to become more humane and enlightened. And in 1907, Maria Montessori opened her first school - "Children's House". The biography and activities of the subsequent years of life are aimed at developing and improving the methodology of developmental education.
The first international training seminar, attended by several dozen teachers, Montessori held in 1909. The publication of her first book on the methods of working with children in the "Children's Home" dates back to the same period. Maria constantly improved the methodology and regularly conducted training courses for teachers from all over the world. The effectiveness of the principles of Montessori work remains recognized in modern schools and development centers.
Maria Montessori: biography, children
Mary created her own family. Her heart was given to the doctor with whom she worked in a psychiatric clinic, working in parallel with special children. In 1898, a boy was born to them, whom the young gave up for education in a simple family. This happened because Montessori could not oppose anything to a society where the birth of children out of wedlock was sharply condemned. Maria's decision was influenced by the family of her companion - the noblest family in Italy Montessano-Aragon and the oath of eternal cordial closeness that Maria and Giuseppe gave each other.
Mario Montessori
Mario, the son of Maria Montessori, whose biography is no less interesting, did not hold a grudge against his mother and at the age of 15 began to live with her. He also possessed an extraordinary mind, took seriously the work of his mother, helped her, took upon himself the organizational aspects of her activities. Contemporaries claim that Maria represented Mario in society as a relative, and only at the end of her life announced that he was her son. Together they did a lot for world education: they organized seminars and courses, spoke at conferences, engaged in practical activities, opened schools. Mario managed to become a worthy successor. At critical moments, he was there. When the authorities in their homeland began to ignore them and survive, mother and son, Mario and Maria Montessori, were forced to migrate to India together. The biography (death took Maria at the age of 82) tells that Mario continued the work of Montessori after his mother passed away. Mario himself left the business started by Maria Montessori to his daughter Renilde. She continueddissemination of the Montessori method throughout the world. It was she who managed to introduce this pedagogy in Russia in 1998.
The Montessori Method
Helping a child do it himself is the main motto of the entire Montessori methodology. It lies in the idea of not forcing him to act, not to impose his idea of the environment, not to touch the child if he is resting or watching.
Adult or teacher are observers of the child's activities. They guide him, patiently wait for the initiative coming from the child. The teacher carefully approaches the design of the environment in which the child will be: everything in it should be aimed at the development of sensory. An important factor in communicating with children, according to the Montessori method, is a respectful and polite attitude. Maria expressed her love for children and pedagogical activity in her books, some phrases of which became aphorisms. Their essence is as follows: the child is taught by the environment, the people around him, their behavior, their attitude towards each other and towards the child. The manifestation of the best human qualities when communicating with a child is a seed, sowing which, you collect valuable fruits in the future.
Some aspects of Montessori pedagogy are criticized. This is the lack of creativity, the rejection of role-playing activities, the limitation of physical activity, and more. However, Maria Montessori, whose biography was associated with children, created such a technique, valuable elements from which are used in many developingcenters and kindergartens.
