MONTES'SORI METHOD 



3917 



MONTESSORI METHOD 



The school, amid such a people, was able to 

 have an uplifting influence, setting an example 

 of cleanliness and order, and coming, in its 

 pleasant atmosphere of happiness and peaceful 

 occupation, like a ray of sunshine through the 

 dark clouds of squalor and oppression which 

 overshadowed their lives. 



Perhaps, in a moment of depression, you have 

 once chanced upon one of those quiet retreats; 

 some monastery or nunnery, in which the in- 

 mates seem to live undisturbed by the bustle 

 and turmoil of the world about them, and go 

 about their duties with serene, cheerful faces, 

 loving one another, and extending kind hospi- 

 tality and confidence to the stranger who may 

 visit them. If so, you will have felt a kind of 

 reinvigoration, like a draught of clear water to 

 one who is thirsty. It is a glimpse of another 

 life wherein the needs of the spirit seem to find 

 promise of satisfaction. And one leaves with a 

 sense of encouragement, almpst with an ideal, 

 which remains as a warm remembrance in the 

 heart, and as a help and uplifting influence in 

 life. 



Similar to this is the effect of these "Chil- 

 dren's Houses" among the homes of the poor. 

 Here is a room in which there is peace; all is 

 orderly, clean and pleasing to the eye. Its in- 

 mates move about with clear, happy faces, and 

 eyes which express an inner joy. No harsh 

 word is heard, but only the hum of contented 

 activity, the voices of little beings busily em- 

 ployed. Occasionally music bursts forth, a sim- 

 ple march or song, a pretty tune, which the 

 teacher plays for the children to listen to. 



Then, if there is a garden, the children have 

 here planted shrubs and flowers, and made a 

 nature beauty spot in the midst of slumland. 



A little community has sprung up, creating 

 its own atmosphere of happiness and content- 

 ment, and representing the attainment of higher 

 possibilities of human life. Little wonder that 

 the "Children's House" became a source of in- 

 spiration in the tenement. Parents, who before 

 seemed too low for any hope of redemption, 

 began to send their children to school well 

 dressed and washed. The children themselves, 

 in fact, were unhappy, or refused to come unless 

 they did so, thus bringing the message of the 

 school into the homes and lives of the parents. 

 Flowers began to appear on window sills; and 

 the walls of staircases and corridors and the 

 cleanliness of yards began to be respected. 



The presence of the school, in fact, seemed 

 to act as a balm of healing, forming a center 

 of new ideas, and of inspiration and encourage- 

 ment; for children, undoubtedly, have an en- 

 try io the heart which is closed toother appeals, 

 uplifting the life about them, like real redeem- 

 ers from a better land. 



The teacher, also, has a great opportunity for 

 social work. Owing to the reformed building, 

 she is able to live near her school in the same 

 tenement as the children's parents; and in this 

 position she is able to become intimately ac- 

 quainted with them. Through a winning and 

 cultured personality she is able to gain their 

 confidence and find countless opportunities of 

 giving advice, and of helping to raise and purify 

 the lives about her. 



The "Children's House" 



An ideal "Children's House," as Dr. Montes- 

 sori conceives it, would consist, not of one room 

 only, but of several communicating with one 

 another, and it would also have a garden. The 

 rooms should include a gymnasium, a dining 

 room and a little parlor, or common room, in 

 which the children can rest or play when not at 

 work in the large working room. Such ideal 

 premises, however, are not essential to the 

 practice of the method, and excellent results 

 have been obtained in a single large room, even 

 without a garden. 



The rooms should be prettily furnished and 

 decorated, and made as homelike as possible. 

 An important feature of the furnishings of the 

 "House" is that they are all of dimensions 

 suited to the children. The chairs and tables 

 are low, as also are the cupboards, pegs, basins, 



the blackboards hung upon the walls, and all 

 the other articles which the children use. 



The children also have charge of their house. 

 They have to keep it clean and in order, wait 

 upon themselves, and do all the practical opera- 

 tions connected with their life. They lay the 

 tables for meals, wait upon one another at ta- 

 ble, wash up, sweep the floor, wash the chairs 

 and tables, brush the carpets and little mats 

 which they use, clean their own shoes, and so 

 on. The "Children's House," in fact, is really 

 what its name implies, a house made for chil- 

 dren, of which they are the masters. 



Dr. Montessori also insists that the objects 

 which the children use shall be fragile, that is, 

 not of the unbreakable pattern which it is com- 

 mon to give children to-day. The drinking 

 tumblers are made of glass, the plates of china. 



