Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook

By Maria Montessori

This is the book that Maria Montesorri wrote in response to requests from thousands of American parents and teachers. A short, illustrated guide to the use of the Montessori classroom materials, it shows how to set up a “children’s house”—an environment for learning where children can be their own masters, free to learn at their own pace.
 
Frames for lacing and buttoning, geometrical wooden inserts, sound cylinders, sandpapers letters, colored numerical rods: these are familiar features of any Montesorri classroom, whether in the pioneering days or today. Dr. Montesorri explains how to use these materials with preschool children to stimulate their powers of observation, recognition, judgment, and classification.
 
These self-correcting learning tools are the original “teaching machines” for young children. Inherently logical and aesthetically pleasing, they were designed to hone the child’s visual, auditory, and tactile perceptions. Dr. Montesorri stresses that each child approaches the apparatus differently. The role of the adult, whether teacher or parent, is to let the child experiment, perceive his own mistakes, and run his own risks in learning.

(With black-and white illustrations throughout.)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Mar 30, 2011
• ISBN: 9780307781048

Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was an Italian educator and physician. Born in Chiaravalle, she came from a prominent, well-educated family of scientists and government officials. Raised in Florence and Rome, Montessori excelled in school from a young age, graduating from technical school in 1886. In 1890, she completed her degree in physics and mathematics, yet decided to pursue medicine rather than a career in engineering. At the University of Rome, she overcame prejudice from the predominately male faculty and student body, winning academic prizes and focusing her studies on pediatric medicine and psychiatry. She graduated in 1896 as a doctor in medicine and began working with mentally disabled children, for whom she also became a prominent public advocate. In 1901, she left her private practice to reenroll at the University of Rome for a degree in philosophy, dedicating herself to the study of scientific pedagogy and lecturing on the topic from 1904 to 1908. In 1906, she opened her Casa dei Bambini, a school for children from low-income families. As word of her endeavor spread, schools using the Montessori educational method began opening around the world. In the United States, the publication of The Montessori Method (1912) in English and her 1913 lecture tour fostered a rapid increase of Montessori schools in the country. For her groundbreaking status as one of Italy’s first female public intellectuals and her role in developing a more individualized, psychologically informed approach to education, Maria Montessori continues to be recognized as one of the twentieth century’s most influential figures.