My Favorite Montessori Text
It's been almost 20 years since I started my work in
Montessori. I began in training with three provided textbooks: The Absorbent Mind,
The Secret of Childhood, and The Discovery of the Child. Over the course of my
career working in classrooms, coaching, and now working with adults as a
teacher trainer, my library has significantly expanded. We are so lucky that Dr.
Montessori was prolific in her writing and that we have translations to make
them accessible to us. I have found that some of the older texts can be difficult to read
due to dated language, a very scientific and almost poetic at times writing
style, and then there are moments when the translation is not fantastic. But still, all are incredibly valuable!
Isn't it amazing that you can read The Absorbent Mind 15
times and still get something new out of it? I always find that remarkable
about going back to the books. But today, I want to share my very favorite! The
1946 London Lectures. It's a fairly new Montessori book being published in
2012. These lectures made up the first training course after World War II. And not only that, this particular course commenced
just six years before her death. There is a lot of consolidation of theory and
work within the lectures in this book. It seems that everything comes together.
There are a number of reasons why I really enjoy this
specific text. The first is that the translation is beautiful and the editing
is incredible. You should expect nothing more from the editor, Annette Haines.
In the editor's notes, she wrote,
“In 1982, when I was in the AMI Training
of Trainers Programme, my mentor Pearl Vanderwall, who had been trained by
Maria Montessori… presented me with a very worn little suitcase, zipped
and locked with a tiny padlock. Somewhat ceremoniously, she unlocked the
lock and unzipped the case. From it she very carefully extracted a bundle of
yellowed, mimeographed pages. The paper was fragile and the words had faded.
The title page read: Lectures held by Dr. Maria Montessori during a training
course in London 1946… These unpublished lectures were like an old and
forgotten goldmine, the entrance seldom traversed, but promising treasure
within.” p. xii
Now if that doesn't get you excited about reading a
Montessori book, I don't know what will!
Next, I love the table of contents. Every lecture is
numbered and named with a summary beneath. The index is also very detailed
which makes finding specific information for reference easy. Another element
that I really enjoy about this book is that the lectures are dated. With the
first being held on September 3rd, 1946, and the last
lecture being held on December 11th, 1946. This was an almost four-month-long training course! And the amount of information in this text that those students
received is immeasurable.
The lecture on the Four Planes, the Psychology of the
Unconscious, Education from Birth, and the New Teacher are some of my favorites. If you haven’t had a chance to peek at this
book, let me assure you, that it is worth it not just as a practitioner, but to
provide context and information to parents. It is available in English and
Spanish and if you have an AMI USA membership, you get a discount when you use
their bookstore. (I am not an affiliate here, just passing on a great place to
grab the book!)
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