Maria Montessori: biography and photo. Interesting Facts

Montessori is one of the most powerful 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 divorced from store shelves? This is Maria Montessori. The biography of this outstanding scientist and the concept of her work are set out below.

The Montessori Family

Born Mary of the noble aristocratic family of Montessori-Stoppani. His father, as a distinguished civil servant, was awarded the Order of the Crown of Italy. Mother grew up in a liberal family, in an atmosphere of gender equality. The best qualities of their parents were taken by their daughter Maria Montessori. Biography (the family played an important role in her life) Mary is connected with the biography of her parents. She was born in 1870 in the Milan abbey of Chiaravalle. Father and mother sought to give the child a better education.

Uncle

Since childhood she has been communicating with her relatives-scientists, reading their works. Especially Maria respected the works of her uncle, writer and theologian, Antonio from the genus Stoppani. He was a highly respected person in Italy (in Milan he erected a monument). His developments in the field of geology and paleontology have received wide dissemination and development. There is evidence that some of the educational ideas of Mary are borrowed from him. For example, the use of the theory of scientific positivism in pedagogy.

Education

The efforts of parents and relatives in the upbringing and education of Mary gave fruit when she went to school. Maria Montessori, whose biography is interesting and informative, already at the first stages of schooling showed that classes are given to her easily. Mathematics is her favorite subject. It is known that she solved arithmetic problems even in the theater. For the first time, the social secondary position of the woman Maria saw at the age of 12, when she wanted to go to the gymnasium. Only boys were accepted into an institution of this level. However, the character that Maria Montessori had (the biography stresses this more than once), the influence of her parents and, of course, the extraordinary intellectual abilities have broken the system adopted in society. It was accepted. Here, in the technical school, Maria constantly had to prove her right to study among the young men. This fact has become one of the decisive in her striving to fight for the rights of women and those with whom society is not considered.

Choice of profession

The fascination with the natural sciences in the gymnasium and the desire to be useful to society have affected the choice of the profession that Maria Montessori has done. Biography shows that this choice was not easy. She decided to become an engineer, while parents were inclined to pedagogical activity. In 1890, she was admitted to the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the University of Rome. However, she was fascinated by medicine. Maria began to attend medical courses and decided to become a doctor. This was another challenge to society. The medical faculty did not take girls. But her perseverance and knowledge, the authority of the family allowed Mary to enroll in 1892 in the University of Rome and graduate from the medical faculty, becoming the first woman in the history of Italy, who received the profession of a doctor.

Beginning of pedagogical activity

Biography of Maria Montessori tells that since the last years of training Mary was an assistant in the hospital, and since 1896, after defending a thesis in psychiatry, she began to practice in the clinic. Here she first met children with disabilities, and then turned to the medical literature on the adaptation of this particular category of children in society. The work of psychiatrist Eduard Segan and specialist in working with deaf-mute people Jean Marc Itar strongly influenced Montessori and its activities. She was convinced that such pedagogical work would be much more beneficial to such children than medical products.

Maria began to study work on the theory of education, pedagogy, theory of education. Since 1896, she worked with children with disabilities who were preparing for exams at the level of a junior secondary school. After the outstanding results that her students showed, Mary became known to the general public. The government opened the Orthophrenic Institute, which was headed by Maria Montessori. The biography, briefly described above, allows to draw a conclusion that Mary possessed unique abilities, sensitivity and awareness of the importance of her work.

Development of methodology

Since 1901, Montessori studied at the Faculty of Philosophy, in parallel engaged in practice in schools, where she led experiments and made observations. Maria saw the conditions under which children in the general education school are trained: not adapted for the training of the audience, strict discipline, lack of desire for comprehensive development of students. She was amazed at how children with disabilities are growing: the total lack of an 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, her first school - "The Child's Home" - was opened by Maria Montessori. Biography and the activities of subsequent years of life are aimed at developing and improving the methodology of developmental learning.

The first international training seminar, attended by dozens of teachers, was held by Montessori in 1909. The same period includes the publication of her first book on methods of working with children in the "House of the Child." Maria constantly improved the methodology and regularly conducted training courses for teachers from all over the world. The effectiveness of the principles of Montessori's work remains recognized in modern schools and development centers.

Maria Montessori: biography, children

Maria 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. They had a boy born in 1898, whom the young were given up to be raised 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 her companion's family - the noblest genus in Italy of Montessano-Aragon and the oath of eternal intimacy, which Maria and Giuseppe gave each other.

Mario Montessori

Mario, the son of Maria Montessori, whose biography is no less interesting, did not hold resentment towards his mother and at the age of 15 began to live with her. He also had an extraordinary mind, took seriously the work of his mother, helped her, took on the organizational aspects of her work. Contemporaries say that Maria represented Mario in society as a relative, and only at the end of her life declared that he was her son. Together they did a lot for the world education: they organized seminars and courses, spoke at conferences, practiced, opened schools. Mario managed to become a worthy successor. At critical moments he was near. When the authorities began to ignore and survive in their homeland, mother and son, Mario and Maria Montessori, were forced to migrate to India together. Biography (death took Maria in 82 years of life) tells us that Mario continued the Montessori case after the mother left her life. Mario himself left the business of his daughter Renilde, started by Maria Montessori. She continued to spread the Montessori method throughout the world. It was she who managed to introduce this pedagogy in Russia in 1998.

Montessori Method

To help the child to make himself is the main motto of Montessori's entire technique. It consists in the idea not to force him to act, not to impose his idea of the environment, not to touch the child, if he rests or observes. An adult or an educator is an observer 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 sensorics. An important factor in communicating with children, according to the Montessori method, is a respectful and polite attitude. Maria expressed love for children and teaching activities in her books, some of which became aphorisms. Their essence consists in the following: the child is trained by the environment, people around him, their behavior, their relationship to each other and to the child. Manifestation of the best human qualities in dealing with a child is a grain, sowing which, you collect valuable fruits in the future.

Some aspects of Montessori's pedagogy are criticized. This is the lack of creativity, the rejection of plot-role-playing, the restriction of physical activity, and so on. However, Maria Montessori, whose biography was associated with children, created such a technique, valuable elements of which are used in many development centers and kindergartens.