Transcript Maria Montessori - Dallas Area Network for Teaching and

Maria Montessori
A Study on Fantasy
Maria Montessori
• Born in Anacona, Italy in 1870
• Graduated University of Rome in 1896
as Italy’s 1st female physician
• Became professor of anthropology in
1904
• Started Casa dei Bambini in 1907
• Died in Holland in 1952
The Montessori Method
Sensitive
Periods
Spontaneous
Activity
Role of the
Teacher
Creativity
Fantasy
Imagination
The Study
• Montessori position on fantasy
• Fantasy and Montessori classrooms today
Question:
In the movie Miracle on 34th Street,
does the child’s education
(environment), as constructed by the
mother, reflect Montessori methods –
especially as it relates to fantasy?
Hypothesis
The mother in Miracle on 34th Street does
not employ Montessori methods of
education, because although she promotes
a strong tie to reality, she does not allow
her daughter to discover things for
herself; rather, she imposes her own
thoughts on her daughter.
Montessori on Fantasy
• Child-initiated fantasy/pretend play
• Adult-directed fantasy/pretend play
• Fantasy/pretend play in the classroom
?
Montessori
Today
?
Possible Indicators
of Presence of
Fantasy
0 points
1 point
2 points
3 points
Fantasy-promoting
materials*
The materials
are absent from
the environment
The materials are
present, but are
not in use or are
being used in some
way which does
not involve fantasy
play (i.e.: blocks
being used to
count)
The child is seen
engaging in
fantasy play with
the material,
either alone or
with others
The teacher is
seen using the
material to
promote fantasy
play
Non-fantasypromoting
materials*
The materials
are present, but
not being used
in fantasy
play/promotion
of fantasy
The child is
individually using
the material to
engage in fantasy
play
The child is using
the material to
engage in fantasy
play with others
There is teacher
directed use of
the material to
promote fantasy
play
The child engages
in fantasy play
alone without the
aid of materials
The child
engages in
fantasy play with
others without
the aid of
materials
The teacher
promotes/directs
fantasy play
without the aid of
materials
Other*
No occurrence
of fantasy play
unaided by
materials
Aggieland
Country
School
1500 Quail Run
College Station,
TX 77845
Kindergarten Class
• “The Little Red
Hen”
– Story
– Reenactment
Pre-K Class
• “Story time”
• Plastic Animals
2817 Old Houston Road
Huntsville, TX 77340
Tomorrow’s Promise
• Pink duck
• Gum
• Dinosaur/Lion
• Baby food
• Where is Thumbkin?
Reflecting Remarks
• Children’s inclinations toward fantasy
confirmed
• Teacher-directed fantasy play in
opposition to Montessori’s teachings
• No teacher intervention
Teacher Intervention in
Fantasy Play
“Montessori was concerned with the child’s
contact with reality. Her emphasis was on
real activities, on learning the right way to
use the Montessori materials, and not
encouraging creative dramatic play until
after the child is six. Montessori schools,
however, report that fantasy play does
occur, and most teachers do not
intervene…”
-John Chattin-McNichols
Montessori
and
Miracle on 34th Street
Miracle on 34th Street
• For those unfamiliar with the movie,
Miracle on 34th Street tells the
story of a man who claims to be the
real Santa Claus who becomes
employed at Macy’s Department
Store to play the in store Santa
Claus. He makes it his mission, with
the aid of lawyer Fred Gailey, to
persuade Doris Walker, the
unbelieving woman who hired him,
and her daughter Susan, that he
really is Santa Claus. Doris and
Susan prove to be tough sells, but
Kris Kringle is determined that if
they can be persuaded, there is still
hope for Christmas.
In Miracle on 34th Street…
Like Montessori, Doris Walker (played
by Maureen O’Hara) is very much
against promoting fantasy and pretend
play…
Susan: “Oh, one of those. I
don’t know any fairytales.”
Mr. Gailey: “Oh, your mother
and father must have told you a
fairytale.”
Susan: “No, my mother thinks
they’re silly.”
“Is this illusory
imagination, based upon
credulity, a thing we
ought to ‘develop’ in
children? We certainly
have no wish to see it
persist; in fact, where
we are told that a child
‘no longer believes in
fairy-tales’ we rejoice.
We say then: ‘He is no
longer a baby.’”
-Maria Montessori,
Spontaneous Activity in
Education
Mr. Gailey: “No Santa Claus, no fairytales, no
fantasies of any kind. Is that it?”
Doris: “That’s right. I think we should be
realistic and completely truthful with our
children, and not have them growing up
believing in a lot of legends and myths – like
Santa Claus, for example.”
“In Anglo-Saxon
countries…Christmas is an
old man covered with snow
who carries a huge basket
containing toys for children,
and who really enters their
houses by night. But how
can the imagination of
children be developed by
what is, on the contrary,
the fruit of our
imagination? It is we who
imagine, not they; they
believe, they do not imagine.
Credulity is, indeed, a
characteristic of immature
minds which lack experience
and knowledge of
realities….”
-Maria Montessori,
Spontaneous Activity in
Education
“Montessori was against
teacher-directed
representative fantasy play in
the Froebelian tradition. She
also thought that play with
unrealistic toys would lead to
problems, such as an inability to
distinguish fantasy from
reality.”
-John Chattin-McNichols, The
Montessori Controversy
Doris: “But I think there is harm. I tell her Santa Claus is a myth and
you bring her down here and she sees hundreds of gullible children,
meets a very convincing old man with real whiskers. This sets up a very
harmful mental conflict within her. What is she going to think? Who
is she going to believe? And by filling them full of fairytales, they
grow up considering life a fantasy, instead of a reality.
Doris: “Please don’t feel that you
have to keep pretending for Susan’s
benefit. She’s a very intelligent child
and always wants to know the
absolute truth.”
“Another characteristic quality
of the lesson in the ‘Children’s
Houses’ is its simplicity. It
must be stripped of all that is
not absolute truth…the
teacher must not lose herself
in vain words…that is, the
carefully chosen words must
be the most simple it is
possible to find, and must
refer to the truth.”
-Maria Montessori, The
Montessori Method
Said of children pretending
something (i.e. a walking
stick) is something else (i.e.
a horse):
“But this is not a proof of
imagination, it is a proof of an
unsatisfied desire; it is not an
activity bound up with gifts of nature;
it is a manifestation of conscious,
sensitive poverty.”
-Maria Montessori, Spontaneous
Activity in Education
Kris: “No, to me the imagination is a place all by itself, a separate country. Now
you’ve heard of the French nation, the British nation – well, this is the Imagine
Nation. It’s a wonderful place. How would you like to be able to make snowballs in
Hey? Or drive a great big old bus right down Fifth Avenue?
the summertime?
How would you like to have a ship all to yourself that makes
daily trips to China? And Australia? How would you like to be
at the Statue of Liberty in the morning, and in the afternoon fly
South with a flock of geese?
Summary of Similarities
• Against fairy-tales
• Belief that promotion of fantasy will
lead to problems distinguishing reality
in life
• Emphasis on teaching children the
absolute truth
But are they enough?
Primary to a Montessori
education is the idea of
Conclusion
Although it’s true that neither Montessori nor
the mother in Miracle on 34th Street
encouraged fantasy play in early childhood,
at least by today’s interpretation, this
objection to fantasy does not seem to be a
core requirement of a Montessori education.
Therefore, because the daughter’s
environment does not resemble that of a
Montessori education with regard to other,
more important elements, it can be
concluded that the mother does not use
Montessori methods of education.
Evaluation of the Study
• Limited in observation
– Mobility
– Time
• Did not have opportunity to interview
teachers
Works directly and indirectly impacting the
research for this presentation include:
•
“About Maria Montessori.” American Montessori Society. 26 March 2005 <http://www.amshq.org/montessori.htm>.
•
Chattin-McNichols, John. The Montessori Controversy. Albany: Delmar Publishers Inc, 1998.
•
Crain, William. Theories of Development: Concepts and Applications. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc,
2005. 65-86.
•
Elkins. “Re: The role of imaginative play in the Montessori classroom.” Online posting. 12 Nov. 2000. AMS Online Bulletin
Board. 26 March 2005 <http://www.amshq.org/ubb/html/Forum1/HTML/000004.html>.
•
Epstein, Paul, and Tim Seldin. “Brief Answers to Questions Parents Often Ask.” The Montessori Foundation 2005.26
March 2005 <http://www.montessori.org>.
•
“Maria Montessori.” Association Montessori Internationale 1999. 26 March 2005 <http://www.montessoriami.org/4people/4bmaria.htm>.
•
Miracle on 34th Street. Dir. George Seaton. Twentieth Century Fox, 1947.
•
Montessori, Maria. “On Discipline-Reflections and Advice.” The Call of Education 1.3 and 1.4 (1924). 20 March
2005http://www.montessori-ami.org/1welcome/1earticles/article01.htm
•
Montessori, Maria. “Some Words of Advice to the Teachers.” The Call of Education 11.4 (1925). 21 March
2005http://www.montessori-ami.org/4people/4bmariala1925.htm
•
Montessori, Maria. The Advanced Montessori Method: Spontaneous Activity in Education. Vol. 1. Trans. Florence
Simmonds. 1917. Cambridge: Robert Bentley, Inc., 1965.
•
Montessori, Maria. The Advanced Montessori Method: The Montessori Elementary Material. Vol. 2. Trans. Arthur
Livingston. 1917. Cambridge: Robert Bentley, Inc., 1964.
•
Montessori, Maria. The Montessori Method. New York: Schocken Books Inc., 1964.