Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work

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Biography of Maria Montessori, 1870-1952. Hollis & Carter Limited 1957; this edition, Mentor Books / The New American Library, Inc., New York, 1962. "Revolution in the Classroom. The inspired educational ideas of Maria Montessori have taken root all over the world—in Europe, America, Russia, India, China, Japan. Through the Montessori method even the physical aspects of elementary schoolrooms have changed from dull regimentation to colorful informality. Maria Montessori’s first observations came from an Italian classroom of retarded children; she found that even these unfortunates, when encouraged, had a spontaneous interest in learning, and a spontaneous self-discipline. Applying her discovery to normal children, allowing her students to progress in an atmosphere of freedom, Dr. Montessori found that they paced their own development through a series of sensitive periods where they became acutely aware of language, order, their own senses, society. Her method encouraged these periods to explode into bursts of creativity—reading, writing, passionate curiosity—thereby freeing the mind of even the apparent dullard and giving new scope to education and new breadth to the mind and spirit of the child. In this fascinating biography, written by her friend and disciple E. M. Standing, Dr. Montessori emerges by indirection—in quotations from her letters and diaries which reveal her humility and her delight with the success of her experiments—as an engagingly warm and self-forgetful person. Rounding out the portrait are eight pages of photographs of Montessori children at work in many countries of the world." Maria Montessori - Her Life and Work - Front Cover Revolution in the Classroom MENTOR and SIGNET Titles of Special lnterest Title Page Printer's Imprint Dedication [photoplate] Letter from Dr Montessori to the Author Author’s Note CONTENTS Introduction (by John J. McDermott) Preface PART ONE: Life of Dr. Maria Montessori 1. Preparation 2. Discovery 3. Development 4. A Great and “Representative” Personality PART TWO: The Psychology of Development 5. The Young Explorer 6. Stages of Development OR Growth and Metamorphosis 7. “Sensitive Periods” in Development 8. The “Work” of the Child—The Creation of the Adult 9. The Sensorial Foundations of Intellectual Life 10. Deviations and Normality OR Growth and Inner Directives PART THREE: The Significance of Movement in Education 11. A Visit to Lilliput OR an Hour in a Montessori School 12. Movement in Relation to Instinct and Reason 13. The Exercises of Practical Life 14. Movement and Mental Assimilation [photoplates 1 - 11] PART FOUR: The New Relationship 15. The Fundamental Problem in Education 16. The Prepared Environment OR the New Third Factor in Education [schematic] Prepared Paths to Culture 17. Liberty in Education—True and False 18. The Montessori Directress OR A New Vocation for Women PART FIVE: Montessori and Froebel 19. Montessori and Froebel: Similarities 20. Montessori and Froebel: Differences 21. Montessori, Froebel, and the Junior School Appendix Bibliography Montessori Societies Montessori Training Colleges Firms Authorized to Sell Montessori Teaching Materials Montessori Films Index PLUME BOOKS / NAL titles Rear Cover