Teacher with higher medical education MariaMontessori, whose method of education was universally known, was an outstanding personality of her time. Her bold approach to pedagogical theory and practice is still controversial.
The methodology of Maria Montessori - the child's self-worth and prepared environment for development
Исследуя поведение детей, Мария Монтессори пришла to the conclusion that the laws governing the development of the human body, the stages of maturation of its physiological systems in conjunction with higher nervous activity are highly individual. The teacher has no right to actively interfere in the process of becoming a person. Any encouragement or punishment violates the natural course of development. Traditional teaching, aimed at imposing general rules on the child without taking into account his individual abilities, hinders the disclosure of the potential of the individual. The task of the teacher is upbringing. The main meaning of the word lies in the root - nutrition. From this postulate follows the natural conclusion that the teacher's true task is to create a nutrient medium that will nourish sensations and emotions, nourish the creative forces and thereby give food for the development of the intellect. If this principle is followed, every child can become a full-fledged, highly developed, harmonious personality. Without a prepared environment, the method of Motessori can not function. The environment only then has a stimulating development, when it allows the child to make feasible independent actions to transform it.
The Montessori method is a concept of a sensitive period of development
The first and most important stage of personality development,according to Motessori - age from birth to 6 years. At this time, the child absorbs the sensations, impressions, emotional signals coming from the environment, and they become a part of his personality.
One of the basic aspects of the Montessori methodis the concept of a sensitive period of development. Sensitive is the period of greatest sensitivity to the environment, when the child is capable of full concentration, the most favorable period for the maturation of certain mental functions and the acquisition of various practical skills. Intellectual development of the child occurs through sensations: a natural interest in the study of the environment, fueled by tactile sensations, which are transformed into cognition.
If the child does not get the opportunity to developcertain skills through feelings and sensations in the relevant period, in the future their formation can be significantly hampered or even impossible. So, for the development of speech a sensitive period is the age from birth to six years. A child deprived of full human communication during this period, can never learn to speak. Conversely, an infant who, from birth, constantly hears emotional human speech, will learn to speak without difficulty.
Montessori's methodology assumes activeUse of special didactic material aimed at developing sensory perception. And the motive for learning is the natural inner need of little ones to imitate the actions of the elders. The role of the teacher is reduced to the recognition of periods of sensitivity and help in organizing the independent activity of the child by creating suitable conditions.
Teaching with enthusiasm
Maria Montessori deeply believed thatThe natural need to learn is laid down in every human being from the very beginning. A child who learns at a natural pace, experiences the joy of teaching and acquires confidence in his powers, which helps him achieve more. The method of Montessori applied in kindergarten gives a clear confirmation that children, through imitation, are fully capable of learning how to wash, dress, fold objects and perform other socially significant and practically useful actions. In addition, in the process of games with didactic materials, children learn the properties of objects, the meaning of letters and numbers, learn to solve logical problems.
The Montessori Method in the Preschool Development Periodthe child has obvious advantages. The use of this technique in mass school education raises objections from the point of view of the impossibility of organizing a strictly individual approach to the education of each child. From the arc of the side - this is the ideal to which one should strive.
