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The year 2007 is significant in the life of the Montessori community. We celebrate 100 years since the first Montessori classroom opened in the slums of Rome.
This rich history of experience in meeting the needs of children all over the world still guides and supports the work Montessorians are doing today.
The influence of Dr. Maria Montessori’s vision of child development and its application in prepared environments is reflected in many educational approaches today.
One hundred years after such humble beginnings, we are proud of our heritage and more inspired than ever to continue the growth of the Montessori movement. Come join us as we work for the benefit of children all over the world in these next 100 years.
Montessori is a philosophy of life with pedagogical applications based on the observations and insights of the Italian physician, Dr. Maria Montessori (1870 1952). Through her observations of children all over the world, Dr. Montessori discerned universal patterns of human development, which are expressed naturally and spontaneously in all children regardless of their cultural setting. She created an educational approach based upon these natural patterns and grounded in a profound respect for all life. Over the past 100 years, children throughout the world have benefited from this educational approach that supports, nurtures and protects natural development.
Montessori educational environments are prepared for different stages of a child’s life. Each material in a prepared environment supports some aspect of the child’s development during a specific stage, creating a match between the child’s natural interests and the activities available to them. As a result, children can learn through their own experience, responding at any moment to the natural interests and curiosities that exist in all humans and building a solid foundation for lifelong learning. Each child’s individualized activity, however, occurs within a community of children and many spontaneous social interactions occur throughout the day. Through these interactions, a child learns many valuable social skills and experiences the benefits of communal life.
In the United States, Montessori education includes Infant-Toddler, Pre-School, Elementary and Adolescent programs, in both public and private school settings. Montessori school programs exist on every continent, and professional opportunities for the Montessori graduate abound at both national and international levels. These opportunities include teaching in public and private Montessori schools, as well as employment in fields such as school administration, educational and social research, parent education, program development, material production, adolescent education and family counseling.
Montessori education continues to flourish throughout the world because it builds on what is natural – on those aspects of the child that are universal. When these unchanging aspects of their development are assisted, children grow as strong individuals, equipped to adapt to the changing conditions of the world around them and ready to make their unique contribution to life in all its forms.
“The concept of education centered upon the care of the living being alters all previous idea.”
– Maria Montessori, from The Absorbent Mind
Dr. Maria Montessori founded the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) in 1929 to protect the integrity and completeness of her work and to guide its continued development and application in the interests of children throughout the world. AMI’s objectives are to maintain, propagate and further the ideas and principles of Dr. Montessori for the full development of the human being.
AMI Teacher Training Courses reflect these objectives by providing comprehensive and authentic Montessori pedagogy. The Montessori Training Center of New England (MTCNE) is an AMI training center. AMI Teacher Trainers are master teachers with many years of classroom experience and have completed an intensive, internationally recognized “training of trainers” program to qualify as AMI Directors of Training.
“Resting no longer on a curriculum or a timetable, education must conform to the facts of human life.”
– Maria Montessori, from The Absorbent Mind
The Montessori Training Center of New England was founded in 2003 to meet the urgent need for Montessori teacher training in the Northeast. Since opening, the Center has served as a hub of activity within the Montessori community. Continuing education seminars and workshops, employment referral and professional development are among the many services the Center offers regularly.
MTCNE is located on the Learning Corridor campus in Hartford, Connecticut. It serves as a central location for Montessori activities by offering support for alumni and area Montessori schools. The Center is affiliated with the University of Hartford and is managed by the Capitol Region Education Council, an educational service center also located in Hartford.
Montessori Training Center of New England
43 Vernon Street, Hartford, CT, 06106
Director of Training, Elementary - Carla Foster
Director of Training, Primary - Gretchen Hall |
