Cristina de Stefano

A fresh, comprehensive biography of the pioneering educator and activist who changed the way we look at children's minds, from the author of Oriana Fallaci. Born in 1870 in Chiaravalle, Italy, Maria Montessori would grow up to embody almost every trait men of her era detested in the fairer sex. She was self-confident, strong-willed, and had a fiery temper at a time when women were supposed to be soft and pliable. She studied until she became a doctor at a time when female graduates in Italy provoked outright scandal. She never wanted to marry or have children--the accepted destiny for all women in her milieu of late nineteenth-century bourgeois Rome--and when she became pregnant by a colleague of hers, she gave up her son to continue pursuing her career. At around age thirty, Montessori was struck by the work being done with children from the slums of the San Lorenzo neighborhood, and realized what she wanted to do with her life: change the school, and therefore the world, through a new approach to the child's mind. In spite of the resistance she faced from all sides--scientists accused her of being too mystical, and the clergy of being too scientific--she would garner acclaim and establish the influential Montessori Method, which is now practiced throughout the world. A thorough, nuanced portrait of this often controversial woman, The Child Is the Teacher is the first biographical work on Maria Montessori written by an author who is not a member of the Montessori movement, but who has been granted access to original letters, diaries, notes, and texts written by Montessori herself, including an array of previously unpublished material.

En el 150 aniversario de su nacimiento, la apasionante biograf a de Maria Montessori: una pionera del feminismo y de las nuevas pedagog as cuyo m todo est hoy m s vivo que nunca. Maria Montessori (1870-1952) fue una de las mujeres m s influyentes de su poca. Su formaci n multidisciplinar -en medicina, biolog a, antropolog a y filosof a- y su pionera defensa de la igualdad de g nero le permitieron concebir la educaci n desde una perspectiva in dita que pon a el foco en el ni o, en dejarle espacio y estimularlo seg n sus necesidades, confiando en su capacidad para aprender por curiosidad y no por imposici n. Comenz su proyecto pedag gico en una escuela del barrio de San Lorenzo, una de las zonas m s pobres de Roma. Pronto el llamado «milagro de San Lorenzo se extendi por Italia y el extranjero. Figura tan carism tica como pol mica, su m todo de ense anza sigue siendo hoy uno de los m s innovadores y prestigiosos. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION On the 150th anniversary of her birth, now available is Maria Montessori's exciting biography: a pioneer of feminism and new pedagogies whose method is now more alive than ever. Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was one of the most influential women of her time. Her multidisciplinary training -in medicine, biology, anthropology, and philosophy- and her revolutionary defense of gender equality allowed her to perceive education from an unprecedented perspective that focused on the child, giving them their own space and stimulating them according to their needs, and trusting their ability to learn out of curiosity rather than obligation. She started her pedagogical project in a school in the San Lorenzo neighborhood, one of the poorest areas in Rome. Soon the so-called "miracle of San Lorenzo" spread throughout Italy and abroad. As charismatic as she is controversial, her teaching method remains one of the most innovative and prestigious to date.