Reflections: Reading The Montessori Method Together - Chapter by Chapter

In this podcast series, we read The Montessori Method by Dr. Maria Montessori—chapter by chapter—using the original English translation commissioned while she was still alive.

When I was starting my own Montessori school, I turned directly to Dr. Montessori’s writings because they were available in the public domain and, quite frankly, free. What I didn’t realize at the time was that I was reading the 1912 English translation by Anne E. George, created with Dr. Montessori’s knowledge and approval. Later, I learned that many Montessorians in the U.S. encountered her work through later translations—especially the 1967 version—which helped spark a massive resurgence of Montessori education in America.

Both versions matter.
But they are not the same.

In the original translation, Dr. Montessori’s full voice comes through—her scientific rigor, her philosophical depth, and her spiritual understanding of the child. Some of that texture feels softened or missing in later editions. As Montessori education has grown, I’ve also noticed that the method is sometimes diluted or reshaped in ways that feel far removed from what Dr. Montessori originally envisioned.

This podcast is an experiment—and an adventure.

Each episode features a chapter-by-chapter reading of The Montessori Method, along with reflections and annotations that connect Dr. Montessori’s words to modern classrooms, families, and educational realities. I pause to offer context, raise questions, and explore how her ideas still challenge and inspire us today.

This is not a lecture or a final word. It’s a conversation.

If you have thoughts to add, questions to ask, or if you think I’ve gotten something wrong, I invite you to reach out and message me. I’m on a journey too—learning, re-learning, and listening carefully to Dr. Montessori’s voice alongside you.

Whether you’re a Montessori guide, school leader, parent, or simply curious about the foundations of this work, you’re welcome here.

Let’s begin—chapter by chapter.

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00:09 Introduction
01:30 Reflections on Finishing the Book
02:14 Speaker Introduction (Melissa Rohan, Founder of Waterfront Academy)
02:58 The Recording Process and Technical Challenges
04:58 Personal Takeaways and Learning
05:54 Insights from Research on Historical Context
06:47 Plans for Future Readings
07:09 Takeaway: The Concept of Discipline
11:36 Takeaway: The Role of the Prepared Adult and Environment
13:22 Takeaway: Dignity and the Uniqueness of Every Child
14:37 Takeaway: The Importance of Mothers and Family Support
17:34 Takeaway: The Requirement of Faith
21:11 Takeaway: The Significance of Writing and Reading
23:44 Conclusion and Call for Listener Feedback


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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Welcome to this chapter by chapter reading of the Messori Method by Dr. Maria Montessori. When I was starting my Montessori school, I turned directly to Dr. Montessori's original writings, partly out of conviction and partly because they were available in the public domain and free. What I didn't realize at the time was I was reading the original English translation commissioned while Dr. Montessori was still alive, translated in 1912 by Anne E. George. Later I discovered that many of us have encountered Massori through later translations, especially the 1967 version, which helped spread the method widely in the US. And for which I'm personally grateful. But returning to the original text, I found something more: Dr. Manessori's full voice, her depth, her vision, and her spiritual and philosophical foundations. In this podcast, I'm reading the original translation chapter by chapter, adding reflections to help connect her words to today's classrooms and families. This is an experiment, an adventure, and a shared journey of learning. Let's begin. Hi, and welcome to chapter by chapter of the Manessori method. We have been reading the um 1912 English translation of Dr. Montessori's work. And uh this episode we are going to just kind of I mean, we finished the whole book, if you can believe it, and um and I just wanted to give some of my thoughts and um because I have a lot actually, I have a lot about about the book itself and just um my own self-reflection um that I thought I'd share with everybody. I think it might be interesting, maybe. And uh so my just in case you don't know, my name is Melissa Rohan. I am the founder and president here at Waterfront Academy. This is a dual language English, Spanish, Montessori school, and the Catholic tradition. We started the school 13 years ago. Uh and uh and we're we're you know, everything's great. It's wonderful. Um, and I started this endeavor um because of some of the conversations that I was having with different people uh who had just gone through training or Montessorians who've been Montessorians for a very long time. Um, and I thought that this would be a value for a lot of people, actually. So it took about a month to get through um recording each of those episodes. I had to print out all the because I was working from a PDF. Um, so I had to print out each of those chapters and then read the chapters and then make some notes on them and then put together some of my thoughts um and then read through them. I think just the technical aspect of it, uh, that was a lot of paper. One. I think that doing it was always hard to remember to print double-sided, and so I did a lot of one-sided printing, and then I didn't want to do it again uh because I didn't want to waste all that paper, so that was kind of annoying. And then, like, let's see, some of the other things that I thought it was hard to read aloud, and I think I did a really good job. I'm really proud of the work I did, I just didn't expect it as hard as it was going to be.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Also, my my glasses, these are uh my normal ones that I wear every day.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

They're progressives on the top. I can see far away, and on the bottom I can um see like what I'm reading, and um, and they're just like my everyday glasses. The other glasses that I wore mostly they're really stupid cheap, like Joss readers, and they don't have the anti-glare. And so I I when I watch myself and I notice that my glasses were like shining back at the camera, that was a little embarrassing and annoying, but um, but I can see, so I think I'm gonna just gonna have to buy another set of stupid cheap readers that have they're a little bit more expensive and have the anti-glare on them. We we live and we learn. Um and um I think like for me on my reflection, one of the big things that I took away from this was I didn't expect to learn as much as I did. Um, because there was a few things that I learned. Um, one, there were details that I had missed all those years ago, and there were details that I have forgotten over the years. So I thought that that was really um exciting for me. Um and even in like the pre-read before the recorded read, I found myself running through it as quickly as possible to get the notes to do the research. Like even when I was doing the recorded read, I was like in my head, like, wow, yeah, that that's important. And so that was that was really um interesting for me. But in the research as I was doing it, especially on these historical figures and what was going on at in the at that time, a real like um timeline study, that was really interesting for me. Um, I don't know if others are as interested in that as I am, so I didn't really go as deep as I might have. Um because I feel like if you were listening, please let me know if I'm wrong. But if if you were listening, you weren't necessarily interested in a lot of the stuff I had to bring to the table. You were more interested in listening to Dr. Manossori's words. Um, and so I didn't really want to go dive too deep. Um, but I did learn a lot through that research, and I'm excited to do more. So that was the next thing I wanted to say is that like I want to do this again. Um, I have an idea which book I'm gonna do next, but I would love to hear what everybody else would like to hear. Um, and I I'm definitely gonna do Dr. Montessori's book uh works. I'm not gonna do somebody else's works, but I will do Dr. Montessori's works. So let me know on that.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

But the takeaways from this book that I thought um were important enough to say again clearly, Dr.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Montessori talking about discipline at that time was revolutionary, and I want to say talking about discipline at this time is still has that feel, probably not as dramatic. I can only imagine what it would have been like for her, um, because it's just people don't want to accept it. And I don't think it's for any malicious reasons. I want to hope that it's not, but there has to be um an accepted value that children are people and they deserve dignity. And if you can accept that value, right, that all humans deserve dignity and that children are humans and they also deserve dignity. If you if we cannot accept that value, then I think that this is really hard to accept. And I and she talks a lot about discipline because one, yes, it's you are um uh allowing for the dignity of the child for sure, but it requires, this is where it gets really tricky, it requires giving the children freedom and letting them because discipline is not something you give, it is something that is learned, right? The discipline to wake up every morning at 6 a.m. That's discipline. The going to work, discipline, staying at work and being on uh at work, discipline, focused, disciplined, that all requires discipline. And it it's not something you're born with. It is something that is learned and developed over time. And so it really should be given to the children right from the onset, is like giving them this gift of learning how to be disciplined. Um, because as we know, the most successful people in our communities are very disciplined people. Well, they didn't just wake up one day and they were like, well, I want to be disciplined today. No, this is something that is cultivated over time and it's stressed so that that muscle can grow, right? You got to stress test the thing so that it can grow and develop. And so that is what we are doing with the children at that very young age is we are stressing that discipl that that skill so that they can grow that skill, right? And so what is one of the things that that comes with is giving them the freedom to make choices, right? And then the so what does that require? Well, that requires a very well-trained adult. It really does. Um, and so it's if you and I've seen this, I've seen this, um, if you bring in an adult who is not trained in this, it is very, very challenging for the adult. And I don't think it's not it's not impossible, right? So so if you're a mother or father and you wanted to do this in your family, it just it's it's um intentional, and you have to be intentional about it. And um, and so you would need to make a plan, I think. I this is how I would do it, this is how I do it. I would make a plan and say, okay, here are the the way that we're going to, you know, I don't know. This is how we're going to be in the living room, right? Like so we're setting up the parameters and the expectations, but allowing for that freedom, right? And uh, and so we would have all of that all set up. So as the child is growing and living and being a part of the community, the expectations are already there. So it's not changing, right? So and they can be free. They can be free to put on their coat, their red coat, or their blue coat, or they could put on their galoshes or their snow boots, or I don't know, whatever it is, right? And um, so I think that that is something that is very intentional. The the adult has to be prepared, maybe not trained, prepared is a better word. And uh, and so does the environment, right? So, in the environment, the environment has to be there so the child can move about freely. That is something that we don't see in a typical school, right? And um, and I like I personally like um having um having that ability for the children, right? We had a I had a tour the other day with a with a parent, and look like you know I don't know what perfect looks like, I really don't, but I do know this that like I can't it would be ridiculous. I mean it would be laughable for me to say that like every child needs to look like this cookie cutter, right? Like that's that's ridiculous. Like if I did that, like only one of my children, not all three of them, would be acceptable, right? Like it would and I love all three of them, right? I so I wouldn't say like all children have to be like this particular thing. It it's it's not it's not reasonable, it's not sustainable, it it just doesn't it doesn't make any sense. So, like, so I remember in this in this meeting that I was having with this parent, the parent was like almost apologizing. I I don't want to say that because I think that's too too extreme, but like kind of for their child, and I was like, look, like the every child is different. Like I would expect that. I wouldn't want somebody to look like this or someone else to look like that. Like it's just it doesn't make any sense. So I given that, right, every human deserves dignity, every child is a human and deserves dignity. We're all different, and that's why giving, you know, that's why giving that to dignity is so important, and we're all different. And so I think that's really, really important in this is that we need to have an environment that a child who needs to move around a little bit more has the room to move around a little bit more, and the child who needs a little bit more space has the room and the space to have that little bit more space, right? And I and so we have an environment that is suitable for as many children as possible, right? And uh is it gonna be perfect for every child? No, I don't I don't think that's a reasonable expectation, but we definitely do try to be. And um and I think that that is very important, that is really conveyed, and and she conveys it over and over and over again because it's just so important, and it was so hard for people to believe, uh, accept. Um, and that and that's I I would imagine very frustrating and challenging for her at the time because I feel it now. Um the other thing she talks about, and she doesn't say a lot about it, but when she says it, it's very poignant. She talks about mothers. There was a couple of two that I remember specifically, two times. The first time she was talking about how when she created this uh first um classa, she did it because she had observed that the mothers were going to work under the changes, the political changes that were happening in Italy, in Rome at the time, meant that more and more mothers were going to work. Well, if you were a mother going to work, then who was going to be there for the child? So that was one really big element, and she was saying that she was building this not to replace mothers, but to support the mothers that had to leave the home to go to work, right? And so if there was a best way of uh nurturing and supporting the growing and developing child the way a mother would, that is what you know, and and quite frankly, and this is in like the in the preface, is that like even the mothers that are staying home, of course, mothers want to do their best. And if there's ways to improve, they want to know ways to improve. And so that is what the Manessori method is is partially for, right? She Dr. Manessori learned how the child, how humans develop, okay, why to support families and mothers and children, right? So, um, and so in communities. Uh, and so I think that that is very important um to to to to place rate here is that importance that she put on the mothers. And she felt really bad for the mothers that couldn't be with her child with their children and had to go to work, and it wasn't really a choice. That I think was she really said that and felt that, and you can feel it in the writing. And she talks about it very briefly, but it is there. Um and so I just I thought like it was important for me to to put this that note here because I do feel that as well. Um, and when I talk to a a mother, like um I I don't this is not in my mind. My school is not a replacement of what happens in the home. It's really just supposed to support what goes on. Um, but the the first parents are the parents. That's that's it, right? Like so I want to honor that. Um, and I think that we all do. Or at least I hope. I hope that. The other thing she talks about, and this is towards the end of the book, and I thought, well, one.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

The whole book she talks about faith. She does in many ways. Her faith, faith required, references to faith, etc.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

Um, but at the end of the book, what did you which is something that I wanted to talk about. How it was at the end, it was I feel like it was towards the end. Now I'm wondering if it was towards the middle. Anyways, um, second half of the book. Um, she says something along the lines of to do this work, it requires faith. And I remember reading that, and I just laughed a little to myself. That might have been out loud. I think it was to myself, though. Because it is so true. Um raising children requires faith. It really does. Because you have to have faith that the development of the human actually happens, right? No baby is going to be in a diaper forever. Babies aren't going to be in baby in diapers forever. Let me just say it this way. Generally speaking, babies are not going to be in diapers forever. Babies at some point will learn to speak. At some point, the child is going to hit puberty. At some point, that child is going to be an adult. At some point, that child is going to want to leave the home and go off and start their adult life, right? These these are things that are going to happen. It may not seem like that at the moment, but it is it is going development is based on the moment of conception. It is not based on what school they go to or who's teaching them or it which environment it is. It they are going to learn. We are humans. Humans are designed for learning. That is what we're designed to do. Humans are designed for learning. It is quite divine. It is beautiful. They could a child could be in a room by themselves in like the worst conditions in the world, and they're still gonna learn something. Something's going to happen. There's their bodies are still gonna grow. Like these are is it going to be an optimum optimum? No, it's not. But but it is going to happen. And so you have as a parent, as the adult, there is that requirement of faith that these are going to happen. These things are going to happen. And um, and so and it's going to happen on the child's timeline, not my timeline, not your timeline. It's on the way God designed the child on that timeline. It is not up to us. Okay. So I that faith is a requirement, right? I feel like when I say that, I'm saying that to the parent who is having sleepless nights because the baby will not sleep through the night. They eventually will sleep through the night. That that will happen. That'll happen. It won't be maybe tonight, but it will happen. So you just have to have faith that that is going to happen. Anyway, so I felt like I had to put that one there as well. The other thing that I wanted to talk about was how significant Dr. Mono's story for her too, for her too, how significant it was for the writing and the reading. That was so huge, so huge. It is still so huge, huge, because I see uh when with families and children that are coming in and out of our out of our environment, when they come in from other schools that are not Monsori, the idea of them learning how to read at such a young age is mind boggling. And um and so we have to teach the parents and we have to show the parents that this is it's Not only will it happen, but it can happen. Right. So it's um I can only imagine, just like discipline, what this revelation was like. And and I think in the preface again from the professor at Harvard at the time, it was so amazing reading that and writing it again and reading it again, was because um he in his mind he read Dr. Montessori's work and he was like, eh, some of this is gonna be useful, some of it's not. But what is so impressive here in the United States, if we could adopt, was this um was the methodology on writing and reading. And he wanted that for kindergarten, he wanted that for moms at home to have that knowledge so that they could support that at the home as well. So I think that that was a really big, um a big finding for her, um, among all the others, but I think that was probably the one that got a lot more notice than than anything else. And um how young the children could start to write and how exciting it was and how much better they were doing with this method. Um and so those were probably you know some of the things that I had taken for granted, maybe, because again, I was my parents were Montessori people, and I was raised in a Montessori way, and so I probably took a lot of this for granted and didn't really see it um with this new perspective or with this perspective, and um, and so that was really enlightening for me. Um, so, anyways, those are really my thoughts on reading the book. Um, I would be curious to hear what were your big takeaways from it. Um, I so shoot me a message uh or leave a comment. Um, yeah, that that is uh that is our show for today, is the um just reflections and thoughts on chapter by chapter, the Montessori Method by Dr. Massori. Have a wonderful day. That concludes this chapter of the Monsori method. Thank you for listening and for taking part in this journey with me. This project is very much an exploration. If you have thoughts to add, questions to ask, or if you think I misunderstood or missed something important, I generally want to hear from you. Please message me, share your reflections, or continue the conversation with fellow listeners. On a quest two, learning, relearning, and engaging deeply with Dr. Montessori's work as we go. Join me next time as we continue chapter by chapter.