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ASSIGNMENT MODULE 1

INTRODUCTION TO MONTESSORI

Prepared by:
Name: Rama Ali
Roll No: DK-2059
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Question 1:

Discuss the life and works of Dr. Maria Montessori and why is she
referred to as a lady much ahead of her time?

Answer 1:

M
aria Tecla Artemisia Montessori was an
Italian physicist and educator, who is well
known for the philosophy of education and
her scientific writing on pedagogy, was born on 31
August 1870 in an educated middle class family in
Ancona, Italy. She was the only child of her parents.
At an early age she broke the stereotypes and
enrolled in an all-boys technical school aiming to
become an engineer, however, her mind changed
and she adopted for medical school at the Sapienza
University of Rome from where she completed her
honors in 1896. Her educational method is still being
used in many public and private schools globally
even in recent times.

Coming towards her family, it is known that her

father’s name was Alessandro Montessori who was
a conservative military man and her mother named
Renidle Montessori was a liberal lady who supported Maria with her educational pursuit.
As her father was a military man he frequently had transfers that gave Maria an
opportunity to acquire education in big cities of Italy.

In those days, Europe was said to be conservative and did not support the idea of women
empowerment; Italy too followed the same attitude, however, Montessori pursued her
education in medical as well as scientific education regardless of the fact that her father,
teachers and male fellow students always opposed her. Not only she pursued her
education but also got the highest honors from the medical school of university of Rome.
She was the first woman physician in Italy in 1896 and holds the title of being the first lady
doctor in the Italian history.

Work with special children:

Although Montessori never liked the idea of choosing education as a career as it was
considered to be the traditional and the stereotypical career for women but ironically she
has become the most well-known person in the field of education. She specialized in
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pediatrics and psychiatry and this helped her to have scientific approach rather than the
familiar philosophical approach regarding education. While teaching at the medical school
of university of Rome, Maria came in frequent contact with the children of working class
and poor. Her experience made her realize that intelligence can be present in different
forms other than form that was generally recognized by the traditional schools.

Montessori was appointed as the director of new Orthophrenic school that was attached
with to the University of Rome that was formerly a municipal asylum for special children.
On inquiry she came to know that those children fought for food and got dirty, this lead to
the wave of reform started by her and her colleagues. She discovered that children need
to be treated with love and affection and her young patients needed purposeful activities
that could help boost their self-esteem.

For almost a year she did research in the medical libraries of Western Europe in order to
find previous successful work regarding the education of disabled children. She got
inspired by two French doctors of the 18th and 19th century respectively. From Itard and
Seguin she took the idea of scientific approach that was based on observation and
experimentation.

The Orthophrenic School

She kept on trying Seguin’s educational method and observe the response and the
progress of her disabled students in becoming independent and verbal. After two years
of hard work on the mentally disabled children she was able to surprise the world as those
children cleared the standardized exams given by the Italian public schools.

When Montessori’s work got recognition another question arose that what kept the normal
students back. She suggested that the schools didn’t work on developing the intellectual
potential of the students and that’s why they lacked behind. She said that if she can attain
such good results with mentally challenged students then there would be better results
with normal children. Her work strengthened the humanistic ideals and she was regarded
as a reformer.

Casa Dei Bambini

In 1907, Montessori became the medical director for a day care centre that was organized
for working class children who were not old enough to go to school. The condition of the
day care known as the Casa dei Bambini were terrible, however she continued her
experiment with the older children by teaching them how to help with the everyday tasks.
She also introduced hand-on materials of perceptual discrimination and puzzles and eye-
hand manipulative exercises that she had used with mentally disabled children.
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Montessori introduced practical day to day

exercises that include cleaning, dressing,
gardening etc and to her surprise children
aged 3 to 4 took more interest in learning
practical everyday living skills. The older
children began to take care of the school.
They also assisted their teachers with the
preparation and serving of meals and the
maintenance of clean environment.

Montessori observed the children’s

inclination and developed manipulative
accordingly. The other area of children’s
fascination was numbers and so series of
concrete math learning materials was developed. They further progressed on to
multiplication, division, skip counting and increasingly advanced and abstract concepts.

Montessori was a lady ahead of her time

Montessori Method wasn’t so perfect yet she improved it with trial and error. Maria was
ahead of her time because she did not believe in the traditional method of education of
that era that did not focus on early education. She gave importance to early education
and wellbeing of students. Breaking stereotypes since early age it was no surprise that
she was a reformer in the field of education.
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Question 2:

Which are the main requirements to be considered to start a House of

Children? How do you implement them?

Answer 2:

C
asa Dei Bambini (House of children) is the very first Montessori school in Italy
which was established by Dr. Maria Montessori in 1907 based on her study,
observation and experience of learning and discovering the nature of children.
Casa Dei Bambini was based on such a comprehensive and effective modern Montessori
system which then become the standard for every house of children in every part of the
world even as of today.

Actually, Montessori House of Children is name

of place which helps children to learn through
observation and experiments as per their inner
needs for development so, it is very necessary
that such place i.e. House of Children should be
designed considering some basic requirements
necessary for learning of children.

In order to start a House of Children, one should

considered at least following main
requirements;

1. It is extremely necessary that all the things in the house of children should be of
children’s size so that it will be easy for them to touch and use everything including
but not limited to seats, wash basins, chairs, toilet seats etc.

2. As there are lots of children from different age groups and background in every
Montessori house with obviously different inner needs for development, it is necessary
that Montessori house of children should have adequate activities through different
materials to satisfy the need of each and every children and they should also be placed
in the shelves which can easily be accessible to children.

3. The floor space of the House of Children should be adequate to accommodate all of
the enrolled children along with all the development materials and the Montessori
furniture. There should also some floor space be available for children who like
movement and want to work on floor instead of chairs. The least recommended space
for each student enrolled at early childhood is 20 square feet which should be
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increased to 30 square feet per student at elementary level and then 40 square feet
per student for secondary level students.

4. Montessori House of Children should have a homelike environment for a student

instead of a large institution and for that, classrooms at elementary level and
secondary level should have childlike kitchen, science lab, art room, library and an
individual bathroom for each level.

5. In a classroom there should be some windows for good ventilation and a perfect view
of garden and nature. This will give children some natural and pleasant environment.
There should also a door to outside so that they will spend some time in a garden
close to nature and to learn plantation, observe plants, trees and birds and either they
can just paint pots and walls to get themselves busy in developmental activities.

It will not be wrong if we say that all the requirements for opening a Montessori House of
Children mentioned above will prove worthless if there are no plans and strategies for
implementation. Fortunately, Dr. Maria Montessori didn’t let us unguided in this area also.
Her detailed study and quest for understanding the nature of children helps in devising
such an amazing implementation strategies and ideas which even as of today are
compulsory for every House of Children. Some of the most important implementation
strategies are mentioned below;

1. Respect for Children:

It is very basic principle of Montessori that we should give respect to children. Giving
respect to children means that we give importance to their inner needs on the basis of
which they select activities for them. If we impose our will on the children without
considering their special needs in a rude manner, how can we expect them to be well-
behaved and obedient? In Montessori classrooms, children should be allowed to select
activities of their own choice and to work with that until they become easy for them.

2. Independence to Work:

Independence to work simply means to avoid the unnecessary help for children in doing
their activities. Main purpose of the House of Children is to make children independent
enough to perform their day to day activities without any help of parents. For this, it is very
necessary that in order to grow and develop child should be encouraged to do the things
by himself. It is pertinent to mention here that freedom too has some limits and children
should be redirected promptly and firmly if they want to do anything which is inappropriate
for them or for community.
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3. Prepared Environment:

Children of age group from 3 to 6 years have strong ability naturally to absorb from their
environment so it is very necessary that environment should be prepared in such a way
that will be beneficial for their learning and to design it to meet their special needs, abilities
skills and interest. Teachers should adapt the environment according to the needs of students
and rapidly modify the selection of activities, tone of class and physical layout as children
needs are constantly changing.

4. Focus of Individual Progress and Development:

Instead of assessing the community of children as it is a practice in conventional schooling

system, in a Montessori program, every child is considered as a separate entity. Latest
researches have proved that learning curve of every child is unique and it could not be
standardized. As Montessori House of Children is based on the modern education system,
progress of each child is viewed separately and the child will not be moved to next phase of
learning until he get ready for that.

5. Role of the Adult

Teachers in Montessori system are commonly called guide whose role is just like a facilitator
in the classroom. They arrange activities and Montessori materials according to the needs
and age group of student on shelves which can be easily accessible by students and allow
them select activities of their own choice. Children learn a lot first from their mothers and then
from their teachers so, the teachers behavior and attitude towards students should be polite,
reasonable and helpful.

6. Mix Age Group:

The most important feature of Montessori Schooling system is “Mixed Age Group”. It means
that when working in a room children of different age group work together without being
separated into divisions. This Mixed age group class has many advantages. In such a class,
older students help younger children and in turn become better and stronger individuals with
a greater sense of responsibility in them while the younger children also learn to help each
other. It also help new younger children to settle down more easily in classroom. Mixed age
group classrooms become like a Family setting where older children accept the role to help
and take care of their young fellow students. It also helps in discouraging competition and
encouraging cooperation and coordination within community of students. Another important
advantage of mixed age group class is that young children easily learn code of behavior from
older children in their classroom and teachers need not to remind them regularly about the
code of conduct.
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7. Sensitive Period:

Dr. Maria Montessori discovered that children can learn and develop in specific areas more
easily in some specific times. In that sensitive period of learning, specific task and abilities
can be developed in children in less period of time with less efforts. It is the responsibility of
teacher in Montessori house to observe behavior and activities of children to discover the
sensitive period of every children and provide the relevant activities for best results.

Question 3:

What are the discoveries made by Dr. Maria Montessori by observing the
child?

Answer:

D
r. Maria Montessori was a keen
observer of children. She
observe them scientifically. She
was on a quest to discover the true
nature of children. Whenever she saw
any unusual activity from a child, she
observe them whether the child repeat
the activity and not only this, she also
studied the conditions under which the
child performed that activity. After years
of her research through scientific
observations and experience gained
through her research on children, she
designed a unique method of learning
called Montessori Schooling System
and make various discoveries about the
nature of children. Some of these
discoveries are listed below;

1. Dr. Montessori observed that children have natural ability for deep concentration and
love towards work. She came to this conclusion after observing the 3 years old child
in Casa Dei Bambini who worked with deep concentration with the wooden cylinders
and their containers. She also try to distract the child by making noises and performing
different activities around her but to her amazement, that child didn’t get distracted by
any type of activity. Another observation which she made from this experiment is that
the child seemed quite happy and satisfied when she finished her work. This sense of
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satisfaction and happiness is because of the inner need of the child to do and master
on that activity for their learning and development.

2. Another important point which Dr. Maria Montessori observed from that child was that
the child repeat the task almost 42 times with same concentration level. She
discovered that every child has natural love for repetition and the child keeps on
repeating the task to assist his personal development. She also taught some children
to wash their hands and then she noticed that the children keep on washing their
hands sometimes even when their hands are clean. These observations lead to the
discovery of giving freedom to children to select and complete their task.

3. Dr. Maria Montessori also observed that children love to place things in order. She
noticed that children learn from their teachers to put back all the Montessori materials
and activities back in shelves after using them. Children have natural sense to keep
things and their environment in order. She obliged this natural sense of children to
keep things in order and give them freedom to place all activity materials back in open
shelves. When visitors came to visit Casa Dei Bambini, they were also get impressed
from the obedience and discipline of students. Montessori discovered that the real
discipline in children came from the freedom we give them instead of forcing them to
behave in a particular manner.

4. Another surprising discovery which Maria Montessori came across was when one day
she forgot to lock the cupboards and next day, all the children help themselves with
materials and activities of their need. She noticed that children didn’t have any
intention of stealing anything instead, they put back all the materials on their place
after usage. This made Montessori realized that children have ability to select the
materials as per their inner needs of development which then developed the principle
of Freedom of Choice of Activity.

5. While observing the children in the House of Children, Maria Montessori observed that
children were more interested in developmental activities instead of showing interest
in expensive toys. She noticed that children like to work instead of playing especially
in their school timings and the attention of children towards toys were very short lived
after which they get back to their Montessori materials and activities. Maria Montessori
discovered that children have their sense of priorities and they give priority to the
activities which help them in learning different skills and abilities.

6. Another incident occurred which lead to the discovery by Maria Montessori that
children are indifferent to rewards and punishments and they can only be motivated
through their inner needs and freedom. Once she entered the classroom and
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observed that one child is sitting on the chair in the center of class as a punishment
by teacher. At the same time one student is rewarded by the teacher with a badge
due to his good behavior. She noticed that with all her surprise, the rewarded children
was indifferent to that badge and it was worthless for him. Instead, he gave that badge
to the child who was punished by the teacher. The punishment also didn’t mean
anything to the child who was punished and after receiving the badge from other child,
he didn’t get any excited or happy. This leads to the discovery that rewards and
punishments hindered the children’s choice of activity and then she restricts the
teacher from this practice.

7. Maria Montessori once taught children to clean their nose as most of children in Cass
Dei Bambini were poor and dirty. She was surprised when she noticed that children
showed great interest in keeping themselves clean when Maria demonstrated them
clearly how to keep their nose clean. From this experience, Maria discovered that like
adults, children also have sense of dignity and they also like to be respected.

8. Dr. Maria also discovered that in the early age, children have naturally very strong
observation power and they can learn almost everything at their early age more easily
than them get older. This discovery form the basis of the conclusion about the
sensitive period of children which ranges from 0-6 years.

9. She also observed that children are more comfortable with the things of their own size.
In their house, almost everything are designed for the use of adults so children find it
very difficult to use them. Also adults restricts them from using the perishable goods.
In House of children, everything should be of children sized including, chairs, tables,
basins, washrooms etc. so they can use them easily. Moreover, they should not be
restricted to use anything for their personal development.

10. She also observed that in order to build complete personality of the child, teachers
should follow PILES concept. Which means that children should do physical,
Intellectual, lingual, emotional and social activities. Montessori schools should help
them in all types of activities like math, art, culture etc.

These discoveries by Maria Montessori bought revolution in conventional education

system and then form the basis of all the modern Montessori Schools all over the world.
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Q4) what does ‘PILES’ stand for when we talk of human development?
Discuss the physical, lingual and intellectual development taking place
during 3 to 6 years of age?

Answer:

PILES:

The acronym PILES stands for:

P= Physical

I= Intellectual

Language
L=

Emotional
E=

Social
S=
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These are the keys areas of human development. In PILES, each category represents
group of activities which a child learn during the process of his / her development.
Researchers find PILES model very useful for the development of children as teachers
can easily monitor the growth of their students and can help them their developmental
phase using activities that can prove helpful in growing specific skills in students.
However, every child have their own abilities and time span for development so, PILES
table cannot be standardized for all students. Some students can learn some skills quite
early than other students so, children should not be compared with other students.

Every child starts learning right from his / her birth. We can divide them into Development
Stages. We are discussing here only sub-phase of first development stage which is from
3 years to 6 years of age. In this phase, child brings all the activities in to practical format
which he learned or observed in his early life. For this, he needs a freedom to select and
physical perform all the activities by himself. At this stage, restriction on this need of
children could prove disasters for the development of children.

Let’s discuss in detail each area of development separately during 3 to 6 years of age of
child;

Physical Development:

Physical development is very important area of child development. It focuses on the

development of child’s body which include size, strength and physical maturity. It also
include gross and fine motor skills of child. This will build ability to control the muscles of
their bodies. Following are the major physical developments observed in children during
3 to 6 years;

During 3 to 4 Year During 4 to 5 Year During 5 to 6 year

Runs around obstacles Pick up toys easily by Dance while watching
bending with straight legs television
Put two feet on one step Climb up ladders Can easily play all ball
while coming downstairs games
Pickup heavy toys Climb upstairs easily Improves in balancing
himself
Love to play outdoor Better with ball games Can walks on thin line
games
Can walk on tiptoes Stand on one foot for longer Touches toes with straight
time legs
Can moves pedals Can sit cross legged Expert in all outdoor
activities including
swimming, climbing and
sliding.
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Intellectual Development:

Intellectual development is also called the cognitive development. It focuses on skills of

children to observe and analyze their environment and surrounding and their abilities to
solve their day to day problems. It is relevant to the mental abilities of children which
includes solving math problems, imagination power, creativity, relating and judging things
etc. Following are the major intellectual developments observed in children during 3 to 6
years;

During 3 to 4 Year During 4 to 5 Year During 5 to 6 year

Learn to name colors but Recognize primary colors Love detailing in drawing
confuses in blue and
green
Hold pencil easily Recognize what is painting Can copy a model of up to
before it is complete 10 bricks
Make a small tower from Can make a tower of 10 Can draw figures with all
blocks blocks easily features
Start painting but cannot Can draw house and people Able to count fingers
make recognizable with head body, legs and
pictures arms
Can draw head of people Skilled in holding and using Skilled in coloring and
pencil playing Jigsaw puzzle
Can copy a circle Can copies some alphabets Can recognize more colors
like X, T, H, V and O and match them easily

Lingual Development:

This domain focuses on child’s abilities of speaking and reading and their vocabulary
power. This is the most common academic domain which forms the basis of child’s
reading and writing skills. Children learn lots of new words from their siblings and parents
at home and from their teachers at school which increases their vocabulary. Following
are the major lingual developments observed in children during 3 to 6 years;

During 3 to 4 Year During 4 to 5 Year During 5 to 6 year

Recount numbers till 10 Recount up to 20 and can Become more fluent and
but can count only 3 count up to 4 or 5 things expressive
objects
Love to ask lots of Become more questioning Doesn’t understand
questions mind intangible words and asking
about their meaning
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Can rephrase name, age Can recognize their name, Can tell their name, age and
and sex age and address address and sometimes
knows their birthday
Can able to complete Confuses reality with Taking more interest in
sentences but they are imagination funny stories and jokes
still childish
Can have simple Can remember latest Still love stories and also
conversations with adults conversations with others use them while playing
Love to listen to their Likes long stories and also Remember more songs and
favorite stories again and tells stories. poems and love to sing
again them
Can repeat nursery Can sing more songs and
poems and can sing some poems
songs
Understand and can use Loves jokes and humor
pronouns such as you,
me, I etc.
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Question 5:

Write a comprehensive note on role of teacher in the Montessori classroom.

Answer:

The teacher in a Montessori education system is considered as a guide, a facilitator or a

directress. Her role is very different from that of a teacher in a conventional schooling
system. The teacher is considered as an artist who uses his / her art for the development
of her students. In order to understand her art, first we need to understand the types of
art.

There are two types of arts:

 Productive Art
 Cooperative Art

Productive Art:

It is an art where the activity of the artist is necessary for things to be done or completed.
Here the activity of the artist is the main cause of production. For example, a carpenter
or a painter. Carpenter uses his skills to make cupboards, chairs tables and many more
things from woods. Similarly, Painter uses his skill to draw a painting by using paints and
brushes.

Cooperative Art:

It refers to an art where the activity is not the only cause of production. Moreover, the end
product is also not predefined. Here, the artist only facilitates in the process of production.
There are three main cooperative arts. Farming, Healing and Teaching. Here, we only
discuss about teaching in detail.

Role of Teacher in Montessori Classroom:

Children learns first from their mothers at home

and then from their teachers in school. So
teacher should be a role model for students as
they imitate her actions. There are many roles of
teacher in Montessori classroom. Main roles are
defined below;
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1. Provide Appropriate Materials:

Every Montessori student in the classroom has different interest for development
activities according to their inner needs. It is the role of directress in the classroom to
identify that interest on individual basis and provide the relevant Montessori materials
to facilitate the development of student.

2. Prepared Environment:

It is the responsibility of the guide in the classroom to provide the environment which
is best suitable of learning of the students. Environment should be prepared in such a
way that student could easily select the activities of their interest from the shelves and
can put the materials back after using them.

3. Observing the Children:

Every child in the Montessori classroom is a separate entity. The teacher in a

classroom should be able to observe each child individually and she can be able to
identify his need of development. There should be a strong bond between teacher and
student on individual basis so that the teacher can understand the developmental
needs of her students and can provide them with the relevant Montessori materials.

4. Giving Lessons:

Teachers should give lessons to their students which are brief and interesting so that
children don’t feel burden on their mind. Teachers should elaborate the work to
students and them let them do their work at their own pace according to their needs.

5. Evaluate Students:

It is the role of a directress to evaluate the students on individual basis in such a way
that she should be able to understand the developmental needs of her students and
also about their skills and abilities so that those skills can be used in a better way for
their learning and development.

6. Good Communicator:

As children imitate their teacher and consider them as their mentor and role model,
teachers in a Montessori classroom should be a good communicator. This will help
the student to learn communication skills from their teachers and will convey their
needs and thoughts more easily to their teachers and parents.
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7. Development of Moral Values:

It is also a role of a teacher to develop a sense of moral values in students including

the sense of respect, discipline, dignity etc. These students will be the major part of
the society in future so it is very necessary for them to develop such values in them
by teacher.

8. Diagnostician:

As the Montessori teacher can observe and notice the growth, development and
behaviors of her students more precisely, she can also be called as a diagnostician
for students. She also help the parents in guiding about the habits and behaviors of
their children.

9. Protect Independence and Freedom:

Teacher should allow her student to select activates for them according to their own
needs and interest and also protect their independence and freedom of work by letting
them does their work on their own pace.

10. Supportive:

Last but not the least that teacher should be a great support to their students who not
only offering them sense of security and support by helping them in doing their work
and listening about their problems, but also support them in generating new ideas.

We can conclude that as a teacher is a cooperative artist who help students in their
learning and developmental process. Her role is more than a teacher in a conventional
schools who expects children to just follow them without considering their individual needs
and abilities. Montessori teacher works as a guide, mentor, directress, facilitator, role
model, advisor or a counselor in order to develop learning abilities and skills in children.