Humbly Bringing Change

Dr. Maria Montessori said,

"How splendid it would be

if we could, by standing ready

by treating the child intelligently

with understanding of his vital needs

prolong the period in which he has this capacity to absorb!

What a service we should render mankind

if we could help the human being to acquire knowledge without fatigue

If people could find themselves replete with information without knowing how they came by it-as it were by magic!

Thought it is true, is it not,

that all the works of nature are

perhaps, magical and mysterious?"

:)

-p. 28 in The Absorbent Mind

KoriMontessorus!

I don't even know where to begin, but I think this is the best place and time as any. As many of you know I moved about a month ago to Minnesota to attend MTCM, the Montessori Training Center of Minnesota, in Saint Paul. I do have to say that thus far, the experience has been more than I could have expected! In the quality, the inspirational aspect, the dedication of the staff and my fellow trainees couldn't be any better. I finally feel I am where I should be in terms of a vocation and calling in life and although I am aware of how much further I have to go, I simply know I am stepping into a beautiful and significant profession. Montessori is so complex and different than any other method or tradition of education taught, that I know of, and I do get overwhelmed when someone who is unfamiliar with it asks me, "well what exactly is Montessori?" I get overwhelmed because I want so badly to do it justice and accuracy but have again a long way to go in developing this, what I see now as, skill...And that is what this blog is for now as well, to help me explain to the world unfamiliar with Montessori, what it is.

The Montessori method was developed over years of observation and trial and error scientific experimentation by a woman beyond her time, a genius really, and to me an anthropologist through and through. By profession however she was a physician, and the first woman to attain an M.D. in Italy (University of Rome) in 1896!! She then pursued a second degree in the Art, Science, and Profession of Teaching and from 1897-1898 Maria gained all the knowledge she could by reading all major works on education philosophy in the last 200 years. That is only the beginning of her impressive life.

What I absolutely love though, is where the seeds of the method came out of, that we now implement in Montessori schools around the world. (It is important to note too that Dr. Montessori never wanted it to called a method and merely gave credit to the children; And encouraged adults to look to the child, to follow the child and continue to learn from them.)
It all began after Maria Montessori worked with disabled children and produced amazing results in their test scores. She did this through introducing them to materials, many of which first were created by two important men: Gaspard Itard (1775-1838) and Edouard Seguin (1812-1880) who both researched and built upon their findings that children learn much better through engaging all their senses. After she was praised for these results, Maria was actually more intrigued and interested to see if "normal children" were being held back and not pushed to their potential and wanted to try out these materials on them. She was later given this opportunity through a crazy story and series of events that took place in the San Lorenzo district in an old housing project, coined the "shame of Italy", that began to be revived in the early 1900's. Dr. Montessori was then called upon to see to the children there who were left alone all day when the adults would go to work...to be continued:)

the daily quote, because she is so quotable!

"This phenomenon of creation and evolution makes manifest the power of God, who chose to make the newborn appear infinitely frail, while endowing him with the omnipotence of superhuman energies." San Remo Lecture: III The Absorbent Mind

endnote: the title 'KoriMontessorus" was created by one of housemates! Shout out to B-Love.