Paula Polk Lillard - Montessori Today: A Comprehensive Approach to Education from Birth to Adulthood

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Montessori:

A Modern Approach

by Paula Polk Lillard

Dr. Montessoris Own Handbook:

A Short Guide to Her Ideas and Materials

by Maria Montessori

The Montessori Method

by Maria Montessori

Copyright 1996 by Paula Polk Lillard

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Schocken Books Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House Of Canada Limited, Toronto. Distributed by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

Photographs copyright 1996 by Karin Olsen Campia Charts copyright 1996 by Denise Selhausen Grateful acknowledgment is made to Rebecca Makkai for permission to reprint A Students Reflections, copyright 1996 by Rebecca Makkai. Reprinted by permission of Rebecca Makkai.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lillard, Paula Polk.

Montessori today: a comprehensive approach to education from birth to adulthood / by Paula Polk Lillard.

p. cm.

eISBN: 978-0-307-76132-3

1. Montessori method of education. 2. Education, Elementary.

I. Title.
LB775.M8L55 1996
371.392dc20 95-4608

v3.1

To my mother and father

with gratitude for their heritage

of courage, service,

and zest for life and its lessons

Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist; it should furnish you with an original spirit with which to tackle the big challenges; it should allow you to find values which will be your road map through life; it should make you spiritually rich, a person who loves whatever you are doing, wherever you are, whomever you are with; it should teach you what is important, how to live and how to die.

From Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto,
recipient of a New York State Teacher Award

(Photographs follow )

M argaret Stephenson, Montessori teacher and international trainer from the United Kingdom and United States, has been my inspiration and mentor in writing about Montessori theory and practice for nearly thirty years. I owe her my deepest gratitude, not only for her guidance and encouragement to me personally but for her lifelong dedication to the highest standards in Montessori education worldwide.

I thank all of my Montessori colleagues who responded so generously to requests for clarification on Montessori theory and information on research and growth of Montessori schools today. I am especially grateful to Marsilia Palocci, member of the Pedagogical Committee of the Association Montessori Internationale, for her help with in-depth understanding of Montessoris concept of universal human tendencies.

It has been a joyful experience to engage in the teaching-learning process with the children, parents, and staff of the Forest Bluff School. This book could not have been written without the love and support that we have shared. Laura Earls in particular gave unstintingly of her time and expertise concerning the elementary classroom.

I am very appreciative of the help which Susan Jasper gave in my household and personal affairs in the past months, which made it possible for me to both write and teach.

I was fortunate in having Bonny Fetterman as my editor at Schocken Books. She offered both wise counsel and understanding of the educational vision which I hoped to convey.

To the bulwarks of my daily lifemy husband of almost forty-five years, my daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildrenI owe every debt but especially for their patience, encouragement, and support in the writing of this book.

I have endeavored in my writing to be true to the principles of Maria Montessori and the educational system which she began. I accept sole responsibility for my understanding and explanation of them as expressed in this book.

T his book is an overview of Montessori theory and practice, with special emphasis on the childs elementary-school years, for parents, teachers, and all those who are concerned about education today. I felt compelled to write this book. Let me explain why, in part, by relating a recent conversation.

I had been on an airplane, seated next to a man who looked of an age to be the father of young children. As it happened, I learned that he had two sons, ages nine and eleven, both attending a large Montessori school in Chicago since they were three years old. Because this school followed its elementary level with a middle school program, this father was planning for his sons to remain there until age fifteen. They would then go on to public or private school; he was not certain which one and expected that his sons would have a role in making the final choice.