Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was an exemplary educator and ahead of her time. This Italian born in a middle class family, had the opportunity to attend college and graduate in medicine. It was the first doctor in Italy.
He began doing internships in a psychiatric hospital with children who had some mental deficiency. She in their contact with the boys reinforced their self-esteem and trusted their abilities while doing games and manual activities. In this way he taught them to read and write.
This made him think that his method could be more effective with children who did not present any type of difficulty. In 1907 the doctor opened her first "Bambini House" applying her particular way of teaching known in pedagogy as the Montessor methodand which has greatly influenced initial education.
The Montessori educator intervenes in the educational process as a "guide", that is; A learning facilitator. They are the students themselves who, through the exploration of the environment, build their knowledge. The teacher plans the class respecting the interests, needs and pace of learning of the students within a classroom that allows freedom, communication and stimulates group work. The principles that the Montessori Education It aims to develop in students are:
Freedom.
Structure and order.
Emphasis on nature and reality, promoting self-discipline and personal safety.
Appreciation of beauty and positive and spontaneous response to life.
Self-construction and psychic development.
Responsible life in community.
This method also has a project that guides the importance of caring for the body and the environment. María Montessori gave great importance to the game as a learning strategy for which she devised a didactic material for this purpose (geometric shapes, sticks, pencils, paintings), and proposed furniture appropriate to the size of the children. He also highlighted the importance of parental involvement in the children's educational process.
There are currently schools where the Montessori Method is taught, but it should be noted that early or pre-school education in our time is conceived based on the educational and philosophical principles of the legacy that the educator left for the benefit of children.
