Gables Montessori Blog

SOME BOOKS BY MARIA MONTESSORI

Maria Montessori wrote fifteen books and many inspiring articles between 1909 and 1947. This famous founder of Children´s Houses designed her own method of teaching already known in the entire world. The Montessori Method is one of her books, many of them were written in Italian and translated under her supervision. Some of her later works were transcribed from her lectures, often in translation, and only later published in book form. Some of her titles:

The Montessori Method: The essential elements of Montessori´s educational theory emerged from this work. This educator began to develop her own pedagogy by working with children in the Casa dei Bambini in 1907 (Children´s Houses).  The method of Montessori is based on scientific observations related to the capacity of the children to absorb the knowledge of the environment as well as their interest in materials that could easily manipulate. Every part of the equipment, every exercise, and every part of the developed method was based on what Montessori observed, what children were capable of doing “naturally”, by themselves, without the help of the adults.

Dr. Montessori’s own Handbook: In 1914, Montessori published, in English, Doctor Montessori’s Own Handbook, a practical guide to the didactic materials she had developed. This handbook offers an overview of Methods as developed for 3 to 6 years old. It is a short work, a manual for teachers and parents, detailing the materials, games, and techniques used as well as her philosophy in developing them.

The Mother and the Child: The mother and the child is a lecture delivered by Maria Montessori in August 1915. The book called ¨The Mother and the Child¨ speaks about the importance to give children freedom and a suitable environment, so they will be able to fully develop according to their own nature.

The Advanced Montessori Method, Spontaneous Activity in Education: in 1917 there were two titles published, in two volumes: Spontaneous Activity in Education and The Montessori Elementary Material, both of them are the Advanced Montessori Method. The first one, Spontaneous Activity in Education, emphasizes the importance of the prepared environment in education and presents her educational philosophy and methods for children of the ages of three to six years. Her aim is to appeal to the child’s curiosity and to reveal the immense potentiality of the child’ which is tremendous energy.

The Montessori Elementary Material: The second volume of The Advanced Montessori Method is entitled The Montessori Elementary Materials and was published in 1917. The second volume discusses the application of the Montessori principles in the education of older children, between 7 and 11 years of age. This book presents the materials and techniques Dr. Montessori devised for teaching older children. They are seven separate sections where Montessori applies her unique materials to the teaching of grammar, reading, geometry, arithmetic, art, music, and poetic metrics. The materials shown in this book aim directly to the child’s curiosity and lead him to self-mastery of the fundamentals of elementary school learning.

Peace and Education: As war-affected Europe, Maria Montessori became profoundly concerned with the theme of peace and the values of mankind. She dedicated herself to searching for new human truths taking the premise as starting that the child should be his own teacher, she moved on to consider the problems of human and social development and began a crusade in the name of education. This book is a collection of speeches, which she delivered at international congresses and peace councils.

The Absorbent Mind. This book is the result of training courses in India given by Maria Montessori in 1947. These courses feed The Absorbent Mind as an analysis of the physical and psychological aspects of a child’s growth. From birth to three years, the child learns motor coordination, language, and social skills, and establishes work habits that set patterns for life. Dr. Montessori emphasizes the mental powers of children that enable them to construct all aspects of human personality.  As Dr. Montessori exhibit in this book, the child is the builder of the man and the first years of life are those that are going to create his personality, for it is important to give him the necessary help in this period to stimulate the integration of the mind and the body and not to limit only to the physical care.

The Discovery of the Child. Maria Montessori describes the nature of a child and introduces her method of education. She believes that once the main principles of her method are applied it will become easier for the practitioners to use the method. She challenges the traditional classroom and instead introduces a peaceful classroom where teachers are not mainly focused on maintaining discipline, but rather allow children to interact with their environment and use Montessori materials as the means to learn. A child learns from the Montessori environment, which includes the teacher who becomes a facilitator of the child’s learning.

 

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