Maria Montessori was born in 1870 in Ancona, Italy and grew up in Rome. She was an ambitious learner, breaking gender barriers as she excelled in math and the sciences.
Maria Montessori graduated from medical school in 1896, becoming one of Italy’s first female physicians. Her early medical practice focused on psychiatry, but she immersed herself in pedagogy and educational theory.
In 1907 Montessori opened Casa dei Bambini, a childcare center in a poor inner-city district of Rome. Its success brought her methods world-wide attention.
In 1909 Montessori published her landmark book, The Montessori Method. As a public figure, Maria also campaigned vigorously on behalf of women’s rights. She was recognized in Italy and beyond as a leading feminist voice.
In 1913 Alexander Graham Bell and his wife Mabel founded the Montessori Educational Association in Washington, DC.
Montessori was training teachers in India in 1940 when hostilities broke out between Italy and Great Britain. During her internment in Kodaikanal, she worked with her son, Mario Montessori, to develop much of the elementary curriculum.
Montessori was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times—in 1949, 1950, and 1951.
The Montessori method was adapted for the American culture by Dr. Nancy McCormick Rambusch, who was instrumental in founding the American Montessori Society (AMS) in 1960.
Today, LMS is one of more than 4,000 private and public Montessori schools found worldwide, serving children from birth through adolescence.
What Matters in Montessori
This “crash-course” in Montessori education is a series of easy-to read articles about the tenets of Montessori education; many encapsulate the research by Angeline Lillard in her book Science Behind the Genius.
By Mignon Duffy, President, LMS Board of Directors Spring ‘14
I was talking with my Dad recently, and he observed that adults who have spent more than a couple of years at a Montessori school do not say “I went to a Montessori school” -- they say “I am a Montessori child.” I am a Montessori child myself, and watching my own children thrive at LMS prompts me to think about what that means, and how I am a different person for having been educated in Montessori schools. Here are a few of the things I have come up with that are part of being a Montessori child:
From the fall of 1995 to the spring of 2009 I had at least one, and in some years three, of my children attending LMS. My kids, now 21, 19 and 17, were guided by gentle loving hands into the Children’s House as wide-eyed Toddlers, and 10 years later they walked out of the Jane Mack Building (or Middle School for my youngest) as confident, grounded, well-educated young adults. I feel so fortunate to have found LMS and am grateful everyday for the lasting mark it has made on my three kids, and on our entire family.