Deborah DavisVisions - Montessori
If we think back over the readings and essays we have studied so far, we see echoes of them in the work of Maria Montessori. Discuss the similarities and differences between the readings we have seen so far and the philosophy and teachings of Maria Montessori. Be sure to reference the connections you discern.
Maria Montessori’s comment “by merely ‘living’ and without conscious effort the individual absorbs from the environment even a complex cultural achievement like language” (Hansen, 2007, p. 117) reflects our recent studies. Tao presented that “life is education” (p. 95). Addams experimental method and “education by current events” both present an advocacy for a “full life for all persons” (p. 89) and her entire approach of experience for the basis of knowledge (p. 86). These same themes are elemental in Montessori’s approach to “learning beyond the classroom” (p. 122).
The focus on peace and a central tendency is a consequence of the times. Living through the two World Wars and many other conflicts of the Century, led many educators of the time to focus on peace. Makiguchi was another of those who lived in such a time of conflict as to believe that peace was key to educational development.
Montessori’s focus on the environmental experience also seems to reference Dewey “focusing directly on the environment in which teaching and learning take place” (p. 23). Freire’s elements of “social hope” (p. 35), and DuBois reference to heart “full of hope” (p. 55), are also present here. “Her argument that children were the greatest hope for peace” (p. 115) is a reflection of this hope.
Montessori differs in some areas. The idea that “the adult’s role is to ‘follow the child’” is not completely unique, but other educators indicate the responsibility of the adult to “engage students creatively with the curriculum” (p. 23). Further, Dewey recognizes the “time-honored instructional methods . . . a good lecture . . . a discussion of a text . . . small group activities. . . .” (p. 23).