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 * Mover Name:** Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori was born in 1870 and she was the first woman in Italy to receive a medical degree. She worked in the fields of psychiatry, education and anthropology. She believed that each child is born with a unique potential to be revealed, rather than as a "blank slate" waiting to be written upon.
 * Basic Work:**
 * Preparing the most natural and life-supporting environments for the child
 * Observing the child living freely in this environment
 * Adapting the environment in order that the child may fulfill his or her greatest potential, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
 * Maria Montessori’s philosophy of schools is still practiced around the world today and although it wasn’t started recently, these schools are still extremely influential. For example, there is a Montessori school that is very well known and supported around this area in Dutchess County.

She opened the Montessori Training Center in the Netherlands, in 1938. She also founded a series of teacher training courses in India in 1939. Later, she founded the Montessori Center in London (1947). She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times—in 1949, 1950, and 1951.
 * Key Work:**

Alexander Graham founded the Montessori Education Association in 1913. He gave financial support to Dr. Maria Montessori.
 * Key Personnel:**

Today, Montessori schools are found worldwide, serving children from birth through adolescence. The Montessori Method’s major emphasis is on children learning certain knowledge through the sensitive periods that are attributed to them. The teaching style is different because it is individual oriented. There is more contact between just the teacher and the student and little interaction between children which is in contrast to many other types of schools and learning methods. In the United States, there are more than 4,000 private Montessori schools and more than 200 public schools with Montessori-styled programs. The Association Montessori International founded by Maria Montessori in 1929, maintains Montessori educational principles and disseminates Montessori education throughout the world.
 * Why/How a mover?**
 * Links:**
 * **[|www.myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=mariaMontessori]**
 * [|www.oakmeadow.org/montessori.html]
 * [|www.montessori-namta.org/NAMTA/geninfo/mmbio.html]