Abstract/Notes: "Dr. Maria Montessori, the Italian educator, is to spend the summer in America, arriving in New York today. A number of organizers of the Washington Chapter, Montessori Educational Association, have gone to New York to greet the educator, among them being Miss Margaret Woodrow Wilson, Mrs. Adalia Hensley, Miss Anne E. George, Mrs. William Hitz, Miss Jean D. Cole and Mrs. Eldridge Roger Boyle. Dr. Montessori is to go at one to Los Angeles, Cal., where she is to conduct a training course for teachers, beginning May 1. She also is to address several educational and scientific bodies holding conventions on the Pacific coast during the time the exposition is in progress."

Language: English

Language: Spanish

ISSN: 2766-7936, 2766-7944

Abstract/Notes: Maria Montessori's work is intimately grounded in her detailed teaching practices and the logic of their sequence, along with their underlying ideas and values, particularly in the area of language arts. There are no studies, however, which comprehensively analyze her language arts curriculum for children from three to seven as it was applied by the practitioners who fostered, interpreted, and promoted her work in America in periods of its popularity: 1909-1921 and 1953-1963. This lack of comprehensive analysis blurs the fundamental identity and contextual coherence of Montessori's work and obscures the significant and ongoing contribution made to American education through her language arts curriculum. An analysis of Montessori's published work and those written about her was made in order to achieve a description of her language arts curriculum for the purpose of comparing her work to that of her American sponsors. To determine how Montessori's curriculum was interpreted and applied, the literature on the history of the Montessori movement was reviewed and five leaders were identified: Ann George, Alexander Graham Bell, Clara Craig, Helen Parkhurst, and Nancy McCormick Rambusch. Their writings and other primary sources were analyzed with reference to Montessori's curriculum. In some cases interviews were conducted and Montessori classrooms were observed over an extended period of time. The analysis of the activity of the leaders, within their contemporary social and educational settings revealed how Montessori's curriculum became detached from her original experimental context and was reshaped because of lack of understanding or of agreement with the systematic purpose of her educational material in the development of language arts skills, and because of varying intentions and views on how and what children should learn. The findings of the study also contribute to existing studies on the reasons for the decline of Montessori's practices by the end of the first period, and for success in the revival of her work in the second period. In addition, conclusions contribute to the unified body of knowledge needed to thoroughly identify the Montessori educational model practiced and researched by educators.

Language: English

Published: Durham, North Carolina, 1984

Abstract/Notes: The chapter addresses how the relationship between Maria Montessori and Helen Parkhurst redirected the Montessori movement in the United States. In 1915, Parkhurst was an assistant to Maria Montessori who was lecturing at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Parkhurst designed and served as directress of the highly popular glass-walled Montessori demonstration classroom exhibit at the Exposition. Supplanting the Montessori Educational Association, Montessori established the Montessori Promotion Fund to publicize her method, manufacture and market her materials, and finance her travel to America. When Montessori returned to Europe, she designated Parkhurst to supervise all aspects of Montessori education in the United States, overseeing all Montessori schools, and establishing college programs to prepare Montessori teachers for certification in public school systems. Parkhurst worked as Montessori’s American surrogate for four years but in 1919 decided to pursue her own independent career path. She devised a progressive innovation featuring instruction in education laboratories which became known as the Dalton Plan.

Language: English

Published: Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020

ISBN: 978-3-030-54835-3

Series: Historical Studies in Education

Abstract/Notes: In the early years of the twentieth century, the great structural, social and cultural changes in American society included a growing number of immigrants arriving from the poorest regions of Europe. For the first time, the issues of immigration, assimilation and social integration became the most important problems facing American society. In the optimistic climate of the so-called progressive era, social reformers thought that these problems could be solved by the science of pedagogy, as applied to the educational needs of foreign immigrants. This essay centres on the pedagogical efforts of Italian-American educator Angelo Patri, who attempted to integrate Italian-American children into the fabric of American society through education. It starts by assessing Patri’s early writings, such as A Schoolmaster of the Great City, and his private and professional papers. In doing so, his work is situated in the debate on progressive education alongside pedagogue Maria Montessori, demonstrating his central role in the debate on integration through education. Within this analysis, particular attention is paid to the notion of learning by doing, and it is argued that both educators were influenced by this particular aspect of progressive education.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1080/0046760X.2015.1063710

ISSN: 0046-760X, 1464-5130

Abstract/Notes: This research explored student evaluation practices used by Montessori elementary teachers. The Montessori teaching method emphasized students learning at their own pace within a prepared environment where the teacher's role was somewhat different compared to traditional classroom settings. Both traditional and alternative methods of student assessment were utilized by Montessori teachers (e.g., anecdotal records, informal conferences with students, observation of students, one-to-one interview with students, checklists of lessons, demonstration of skill mastery, and standardized achievement tests). The methodology and reasoning behind student evaluation was not well understood by the educational community, and today's dynamic cultural environment demands better attention to this subject. Following a literature review of assessment practices, analysis consisted of sampling member schools of the American Montessori Society (AMS). A questionnaire was submitted to 241 eligible AMS member schools with elementary programs across the United States, and 108 responses (representing 30% of the eligible schools) were collected. The questionnaire's items (27 total questions) were refined to 16 research questions which were analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. A number of results were produced. The two most prominent were: Montessori elementary teachers used more alternative than traditional methods of assessment practices; and, the factors that influenced the assessment practices used by Montessori teachers were the make up (student:teacher ratio, individual student's needs, multi-aged range) of students in the classroom and the Montessori method of education. Other results of this study included: Montessori schools used standardized achievement tests but individual respondents were not convinced they fit the Montessori method of teaching; and, the combination of non-graded report cards, anecdotal records, and student portfolios were successful reporting practices for parent teacher conference. The study concluded with identifying several areas of assessment practice where future research and professional development may benefit Montessori administrators, teachers, students, and parents.

Language: English

Published: Memphis, Tennessee, 1999

Abstract/Notes: Presented at International Montessori Congress, Rome, November 1996

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: The American Montessori Society (AMS) Records document the history of an important American educational organization, and consist of printed, typescript, and handwritten materials; sound recordings; films; photographs; and slides. The collection, although not complete, reflects AMS's professional and administrative activities and also provides historical information about the Montessori system of education in general.

Language: English

Extent: 76 linear feet

Archive: Archives and Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut Library (Mansfield, Connecticut)

Abstract/Notes: Maria Montessori's child-centered teaching method came to the United States in 1913 and became linked with an approach to progressive education and child rearing which many Americans considered permissive. During the post-World War II years, advocates of Montessori's method combined this permissive mode with elements of an authoritarian mode to produce an authoritative approach to teaching young children. Following this approach, educators at the Princeton Montessori School have developed and implemented a firm yet empathic teaching model for their classes. The social system which the teachers have developed in their classes respects children's intrinsic motivation in the form of a benign token economy, called a credit-debit system. In this system the rules of the classroom, and the rewards and sanctions attending the rules, are developed cooperatively between teacher and children. Teachers consider the small group as the basic unit of social organization for the presentation of lessons. Teachers present curricular subject areas in a sequence of steps which are numbered and which correspond to a set of materials preassembled by the teacher and directly accessible to the children. For each subject, students keep personal interactive journals which contain written and illustrated work for the whole year. Through these methods, teachers at the Princeton Montessori School demonstrate that they have understood the basic message of Montessori and imbedded that message in a culturally sensitive and appropriate form of schooling.

Language: English

Published: New Jersey: Princeton Center for Teacher Education, 1992

Abstract/Notes: El Boletin, May 2003

Language: English

ISSN: 1071-6246