Maria Montessori

First women to graduate from Medical school
Advocated for children with disabilities and became a director of state Orthophrenic school 1899 A-typical children
Jean Marc Gaspard Itard & Edouard Sedguin influenced Maria Montessori
In 1906 in San Lorenzo, Maria had an opportunity to work with children
- 16 children came
- Malnourished
- "they were like buds that seemed never destined to bloom"
- Accessible items for the children
- Selection of learning materials that she learned from Itard & Sedguin and items she created herself
- Children can choose freely, in the beginning the children weren't allowed to make their choices freely they were assigned to them
  - She realized the kids didn’t need her to choose the work for them the kids can do it themselves
  - After that she placed the items into a low open shelf and allowed the children to pick work themselves

What does she discover?
- Children:
  - Prefer work than play
  - Are capable of incredible concentration
  - Are able to handle freedom of choice
  - Love to repeat
  - Love to keep things in order
  - Do not need reward or punishments in order to behave
  - Love and enjoy silence
  - Have strong sense of personal dignity
  - Experience certain "explosion" periods of learning
She thought children couldn’t learn how to read and write until after the age of 6.
- She began to teach them just the sounds of the letters using the sandpaper letters
  - "explosion into writing"
She started writing messages on the chalkboard
- She didn’t teach them to reach they taught themselves she only taught them the sounds
The world found out about her work in San Lorenzo
- People were amazed and came to observe

Montessori spreads in 1912

Montessori Lingo

Child (not kid, not friend)
Early childhood school (not daycare, center, preschool)
Work (play is related, but different)
Materials/exercises (not toys)
Presentation ( a demonstration you give to a child to model how to use a certain material)
Toddler community or environment (classroom for 15-18m)
Children's house (or casa or primary) community or environment (classroom for 3-6yo)
Guide (more often than "teacher" though teacher is also fine

** Personal notes taken from my Montessori diploma course with The Prepared Montessorian.