Maria Montessori 1870 - 1952

Maria Montessori was born in Chiarvalle, Italy

August, 1870

Her family lived in an apartment on the second floor

above a store front.

Maria’s father,

Alessandro MontessoriWho was a civil accountant

Maria’s Mother

Renlide Stoppani

Encouraged her daughter to be an

Independent thinker

She was a great supporter of her daughter's career and an

important influence in Maria’s life.

1880 Maria at age 10

In her teenage years (1883-1886) Maria attended a technical school, studying science and math… boldly going where no girls had gone before!

Maria Montessori was the first Woman to graduate from Medical

School in Italy, 1896

She worked at a medical clinic, made house calls, and was assigned the

medical care of children in a mental institute.

It was the children in the mental institute that inspired her to seek

answers to the mystery of how children learn. After amazing results

with the children in the institute using sensory education techniques,

In 1898 Montessori was named Co-Director of the

Orthophrenic School, where they worked with mentally deficient children and trained teachers.

Dress made by one of Maria’s Patients

January 6, 1907

Inauguration of the first Montessori School

The Case de BambiniIn the San Lorenzo District of Rome, Italy

1913Maria Montessori wrote and published

her first book about her work withChildren.

English title, The Montessori Method

It sold 17, 410 copies in the first year of publication.

Montessori (in black) andher translator, Helen Packurst traveled extensively lecturing and training teachers.

She made her first trip to the US in 1913. She set up the first teacher training course in the US in California in 1915.

There was also a Montessori demonstration classroom set up at the World’s Fair in San Francisco, which won two awards.

In 1919 she established the first international course in England.

1915

Announcement of the

first International Course in England

Published in the Teacher’s World

in 1919

1919

What was the wonder due to? No one could state it. But clearly it conquered me forever, because it penetrated my heart as a new light.

One day I looked at them with eyes which saw them differently, and asked myself: “Who are you? Are you the same children you were before?”

And I said within myself: “ Perhaps you are those children of whom it was said that they would come to save humanity. If so, I shall follow you." Since then, I am she who tries to grasp their message to follow them.

1923, Maria Montessori was honored for her

work, receiving a Doctorate of Letters, for her expert work in the fields of psychiatry,

medicine, and anthropology

In the 1920’s and 30’s the Montessori approach spread world wide. Many of the leading figures in psychology and child development were influenced by her work, such as;

Jean Piaget, Erick Erickson, and Anna Freud.Photo taken in 1933

1936

In the late 1920’s the Montessori method became the official educational system in Germany and Italy under Hitler and Mussolini.

In 1933 Hitler closed all German Montessori schools and in 1934 Montessori was banned from her home country of Italy.

She established permanent residence in Holland in 1936, but considered herself a citizen of the world.

Maria Montessori and

her son, Mario, in 1938

In 1939, Maria Montessori was invited to train

teachers in India by the Theosophical Society

The first training course had over 300 attendees and in all she trained over 100 teachers while in India.

She started the first Montessori Elementary course while in India and studied Infants and Toddlers.

Maria and Mario (1940) spent the next 7 years in India, detained there during World War II.

The Educational Institute of Scotland confers upon Montessori and Honorary Fellowship, 1946

Montessori Spoke at the 10th international Conference, 1949, giving the first of many lectures on the “child as the constructor of

peace.”She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

in 1949,1950, and 1951

If help and salvation are to come, they can only come from

the children, for the children are the makers of mankind.

1950Montessori continued to lecture in Europe giving her

last public engagement in London in 1951 at the age of 81.

Maria Montessori died May 6, 1952. She was buried in Amsterdam.Her grave stone reads,

“I beg the dear all powerful children to unite with me for building of peace in man and in the world.”

To honor Montessori, many streets were given her name.

This tablet was placed at Montessori’s place of birth in Chiarvalle, Italy in 1965 to honor and remember her.

Mario Montessori dedicated his life to continuing his mother’s work until his death as President of the Association Montessori International

If education recognizes the intrinsic value of

the child’s personality

and provides an environment suited to spiritual growth, we will have the revelation of an

entirely new child whose astonishing characteristics can eventually

contribute to the betterment of the world.

Maria Montessori

Education and Peace