**11** Teachers who made history

Great list of 10 incredibly influential teachers throughout history from mastersinteaching.com.

Love the list, but would obviously have to say that on a true top ten teacher list - c'è Maria Montessori!

Charged with improving the learning situation for 60 needy students in the Roman slums, Montessori created a transformational methodology that continues to improve the education of children worldwide. What she learned and shared through simple child observation is being proven again and again in research studies and classrooms today. A true genius and educator of students and teachers, Montessori taught us all to respect and empower the child. Her advice "One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child." could help ed-reformers get back on the right track today.

The Montessori Mafia

Surely you've read the article and seen these mafiosi around.  The Wall Street Journal article summarizes what we in the Montessori community have already taken as commonplace.  Our kids are more creative because we don't school the creative right out of them!  Nothing magical happens in the classroom itself, the only thing that makes the environment and philosophy seem wonderful and magic is the child itself.  Unleashing his own potential and creativity by exploring his passions.

The comments section of the article is especially interesting, please go comment yourself.  I will just include one comment and his link on this blogpost today.  I include this one because we believe so strongly that Montessori education is and should always be for everyone.

• Daniel C. Petter-Lipstein wrote:

Peter,
Nice article.
To those who think Montessori is an educational method for the “affluent”, I strongly reject that notion. There are over 400 public Montessori schools in the US and more are coming. One is opening in the South Bronx in September and another one is trying to get approved in Oakland, C. Their charter was recently denied not because of its educational approach, which was praised, but for other community reason that were somewhat vague.

See my article, “Superwoman Was Already Here”

Daniel