Digital Object NAMTA Journal 41/3 19 Attention "The Advanced Montessori Method, Volume 1" was published in 1918 in English and is considered a seminal work along with "The Montessori Method." In the foreword to this book, Mario Montessori writes: "...the refulgent figure of the child, Dr. Montessori…
Digital Object NAMTA Journal 41/3 18 Methods Evolved by Observation Montessori's idea of the child's nature and the teacher's perceptiveness begins with amazing simplicity, and when she speaks of "methods evolved," she is unveiling a methodological system for observation. She begins with the early childhood explosion into…
Digital Object NAMTA Journal 41/3 17 Some Observations of a Father on the Development of His Daughter This father gives some brief observations of his daughter beginning at the time of her entrance into a Montessori school at the age of three years through the age of six. Through his observations and interactions with his daughter, he gains an awareness of…
Digital Object NAMTA Journal 41/3 16 Observations on Sara's First Eight Months by Her Mother Grazia Honegger Fresco gives us direct observations of her daughter from birth to eight months, grouping her observations by age even further into birth to fourth month, fifth and sixth months, and seventh and eighth months. Within each age range, she focuses…
Digital Object NAMTA Journal 41/3 15 A Guide to Parent Observation in the Primary Class Just as the classroom guide must prepare for observation in the classroom, so too should parents prepare themselves for classroom observation. What is the purpose of their observation? What is the procedure? What should they note? What points of awareness…
Digital Object NAMTA Journal 41/3 14 The Essential Is Invisible to the Eye: The Evolution of the Parent Observer. Part 2 The question of how schools can help parents experience joy in observing their children led to a quest to identify experiences that can contribute to the awakening of consciousness. Workshops, surveys, discussion, and interviews yielded data that led to some…
Digital Object NAMTA Journal 41/3 13 The Essential Is Invisible to the Eye: The Evolution of the Parent Observer. Part 1 In acknowledging the privilege that we as Montessorians are given, "the privilege of being present as children construct themselves," Mary Caroline Parker proposes that parents also should be given that same privilege. Parker created an "Art of Observation"…
Digital Object NAMTA Journal 41/3 12 Question and Answer: Observation in the Elementary Classroom In this article, Kay Baker sets out to answer the questions, "What is observation? What is the nature of observation in the elementary class? How can observation help the adult guide the development of children?" She responds by listing the areas that can be…
Digital Object NAMTA Journal 41/3 11 Observation Helfrich addresses two perspectives from which to think about observation in the classroom: that of the teacher observing her classroom, her group, and its needs, and that of the outside observer coming into the classroom. Offering advice from her own…
Digital Object NAMTA Journal 41/3 10 Observation In order to achieve the goal of observation, preparation of the adult, the observer, is necessary. This preparation, says Hilla Patell, requires us to "have an appreciation of the significance of the child's spontaneous activities and a more thorough…
