Autobiography:

 

A good story rarely begins without a woman who was not brought up in a poor, unfortunate household where she must climb to the top to find glory. It very rarely involves support from the parents, or to be lucky enough to be born in a time period of change. Although my life did begin this way – born into middle class, with two well-educated parents, in a time period destined for change – my journey was anything but easy. And it makes a great story.

 

I was born in Chiaravalle, Italy in 1870, when Italy had just become a united country. At this time, the education for a young girl was determined by the Catholic Church as well as our own families. When I turned seven, however, the times began to change when my country allowed its women to enter into public schools. Although I was nervous, I found myself constantly pounding against the gender-barrier walls and when I was fourteen, I enrolled in a technical school where I excelled beyond my peers (whom were all boys). My teachers called me “strong-minded” and “precocious;” qualities which would lead me to attend the Regio Istituto Tecnico Leonardo da Vinci in 1886 after my graduation.; Here, I studied the natural sciences, mathematics, other languages, and biological sciences – which sparked my dream to pursue a career in medicine. However due to my gender, my dream was not easily met. It became even more difficult when my father and I constantly argued about my decision to keep trying, but luck was on my side whenever I talked to my mother about it; whom of which was my biggest supporter. It was not until two years later, when Pope Leo XIII spoke on my behalf, that I was accepted into the University of Rome, despite my gender, and was finally allowed to study medicine.

 

In 1896, after presenting what was referred to as a “brilliant and outstanding thesis” from one of the male board examiners, I was given a full medical degree, making me one of the first female physicians in Italy. I chose to work in the field of pediatrics and psychiatry and was hired to be a surgical assistant at Spirito hospital. While I was there, I volunteered in a research program at a psychiatric clinic: where I would travel to Rome's asylums for the insane in order to seek out patients for treatment. I was overwhelmed by the troubles of the handicapped, poor and developmentally delayed children that I had encountered with each visit. They were deprived from stimulating environments, and it was their pain that drove my passion in trying to seek out a better method to help them.

 

I had soon read every book I could get my hands on that had to do with mentally retarded children and became particularly fond of Jean- Marc Itard' and his student's, Edouard Séguin, groundbreaking work. This work focused on an education through the senses by using practical apparatuses to assist in the child's development of sensory perceptions and motor skills. Additionally, I wanted to expand my knowledge of education and decided to attend courses at the University in pedagogy, where I studied the works of Rousseau, Pestalozzi and Froebel. I was enthralled in what I was learning through their theories and was anxious to apply my own as well.

 

In 1900, I became the director of the Orthophrenic School, a school with various disordered children; which proved to be a perfect opportunity for me to practice what I had learned. I began to create my own methods and tested them through hands-on observations. I discovered that the children had an innate drive to learn and that they were capable of accumulating substantial amounts of information about the world. I gave them furniture, supplies, equipment, and found that the children were self-motivated to explore and experiment on their own. It was even more interesting to find that the students actually worked better in small age groups where the older children unknowingly learned how to nurture as they taught the young ones new skills. So not only did I find that it was not necessary for the students to learn through lectures from an adult, but that the students could actually teach themselves. I provided these children with real-life experiences in the classroom; such as a kitchen, home economics, business, or even building furniture or a home. In these studies, the children were able to their increase self-esteem, manners, verbal expressions, as well as other practical skills. Above all, however, I learned just how important it is for teachers to pay close attention to what their students need. I recognized each child's individual experiences and guided them to lessons based on what I felt they could benefit from next. Many of my mentally handicapped children were then able to, not only master basic skills and self care, but were also able to pass academic tests that were designed for mainstreamed children. I could not have been more proud of them, delighted to see them succeed.

 

I was more than pleased when my research reached the ears of Alexander Graham Bell who founded the Montessori Educational Association in 1913 in Washington, D.C. Two years later I was invited to Carnegie Hall to speak about my findings. Although these were difficult for some people to grasp, I managed to come up with an analogy, “Supposing I said there was a planet without schools or teachers, study was unknown, and yet the inhabitants—doing nothing but living and walking about—came to know all things, to carry in their minds the whole of learning: would you not think I was romancing? Well, just this, which seems so fanciful as to be nothing but the invention of a fertile imagination, is a reality. It is the child's way of learning. This is the path he follows. He learns everything without knowing he is learning it, and in doing so passes little by little from the unconscious to the conscious, treading always in the paths of joy and love.”In doing so, I became very good friends with Helen Keller, who later helped me develop many of my sensory materials that I used in my schools. My theories about educating children seem to be spreading across the country and I can only hope that this continues. All I can ask is for people to listen, because I truly believe that these schools and this research can change the way our students grow and learn, without the stress of doing so.