Art History in Montessori Education
Montessori learning was developed by Dr. Maria Montessori in 1907. Montessori educational facilities span the globe and promote self-directed learning opportunities for both the teacher and the student. Art history lessons combine with art studio projects to give the student an applied learning concept. Teaching Montessori methods require the instructor to recognize and respect the individual student's natural intelligence. Art history can be discovered and experienced in Montessori education through theater, museum visits and guest artists.
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Portraits
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Learning in Montessori education is self-directed based on age and development. Providing the students with art supplies and asking them to create a self-portrait gives the teacher the opportunity to talk about the importance of portraiture in documenting history, particularly for European cultures. The students engage in their own work as the educator speaks with the students about the different types of portraits from history. The Montessori method recommends large blocks of work time so the students can fully interpret the materials and apply them to their own experience. Self-portraits can be put aside and re-visited at another time to discuss a new period in art history, or a new likeness to a certain historically significant figure.
Theater
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Drawing and painting is one way to occupy young learners and help them absorb information about art history. Building theater into their play groups helps students who no longer have the ability to sit with their projects. Movements and characters from history can be taken from the Impressionist period, Chinese dynasties or local folklore such as New Orleans' Mardi Gras. Many children can participate in different acts, or they can share roles within a small scene. Older students can research the details of a particular artist's life and create a drama based on their research.
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Museum
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A visit to a historical society or art museum can bring art history into the present. Montessori teachers can provide students with an art journal before they attend a field trip and allow the students to take notes when visiting different exhibits by drawing in the art journal about what they witness from history. A museum curator or historian can take questions from the students about different types of art in the exhibits.
Masks
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Native societies carved masks as an art form. Many native cultures have masks as part of their traditional art forms, used either for ceremony or decoration. Art history can explore the different cultures from around the globe through mask making. The Montessori method supports allowing students to study the culture of their choice. A teacher can prepare examples based on observations about the interests of her students.
Pop Culture
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Learning how students view the advent of television and mass communications as parallel to other movements in art history supports the experiential learning environment present in Montessori teachings. Montessori education explores how teachers and students interact. The pop art movement describes a recent time in art history that contains images with which young people identify.
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- Photo Credit playing children image by Marzanna Syncerz from Fotolia.com tribal masks image by StephenD from Fotolia.com
