20
Dec
It has been said that family is the people who, when we knock on the door, have to let us in. I like that - it reflects the unquestionable value of the...
Yearly Archives: 2019
13
Dec
This is the time of year when posts start popping up on
social media commiserating with teachers in the last days before winter break
pop up, proclaiming, “There’s no tired like teacher-before-winter-break tired,” or...
06
Dec
Anyone who has tried to create an “elevator speech” to explain Montessori education has experienced both the power and the challenge to our method: it is so multi-dimensional that it is impossible...
22
Nov
Years and years ago, a colleague returned from a Montessori conference with a list of the qualities that our interactions with one another can take on. It was expressed as a scale...
15
Nov
I love the Sunday funnies.
Give me the color comics and a perfectly made cappuccino and I am guaranteed
30 minutes of bliss - and some occasional pearls of wisdom. Two weeks ago, there...
08
Nov
Occasionally, I have an experience that is so profound that I feel I simply must share it. Sunday evening’s All Souls Procession in Tucson, Arizona was one of those occasions.
01
Nov
Last week, I was honored to speak at a gathering of Montessori teachers from the British Columbia Montessori Teachers Public School Association - a Montessori teachers' union. This inspiring band of teachers...
25
Oct
In broader educational circles, October is sometimes thought of as a time of the doldrums, when everything becomes a bit too routine. It is midway between the exciting start to the school year...
18
Oct
Have you ever had your feelings hurt? Of course, you have – it is part of life! Every time we put ourselves “out there” we risk having someone respond in an unexpected way. Sometimes, the...
11
Oct
Last week’s blog talked about creating opportunities in the classroom for good drama, lessening the need for bad drama; this week we begin a series of blogs addressing specific “bad drama” behaviors...
04
Oct
October! Already! By now we are seeing not only a change in the weather and in the flora and fauna, we are seeing a change in our classrooms; we are settling into a routine. Just...
27
Sep
In the past week or so, I was lucky enough to spend time with delightful teachers and administrators at Selkirk Montessori in Victoria, BC, Canada and at The Montessori Academy of Colorado...
20
Sep
Complete the sentence: Montessorians are ____________________.
Have you ever pondered how many completely different, absolutely accurate ways there are to complete that sentence (…some more irreverent than others…)? I suspect...
13
Sep
Saturday, September 21, is International Day of Peace. As Montessorians, we strive for everyday to be a day of peace, but this day, set aside by the UN in 1981, gives us an opportunity...
06
Sep
Last Monday, we marked the date on the calendar that
once-upon-a-time marked the beginning of the school year in the US: Labor
Day. Of course, nowadays schools start
back up at various times from the...
30
Aug
This weekend marks the 149th anniversary of Maria Montessori’s birth – an occasion for which I am deeply grateful. Just think how our lives would be different if she had not been...
23
Aug
One of the great joys in life is unexpectedly experiencing something that animates us, that prompts us to an elevated or exalted place, that breathes new life into us. We tend to...
16
Aug
When reading the title of this week’s blog, did your brain automatically
reply “Who’s there”? If so, you have a tell. You work with elementary-age children, an age
that we might laughingly refer to...
09
Aug
As a child, I always looked forward to the beginning of the school
year. I think that is partially because
my mom put us (mostly) in charge of our own summers. We determined how...
10
May
Endings. And beginnings. They tug at my heartstrings and make me a bit
sentimental. Or maybe I am sentimental by nature - maybe endings just legitimize
those emotions. Either way, they trigger
feelings of gratitude...
03
May
Today’s blog is a continuation of last week’s topic of attending
mindfully to transitions that are about to happen for our children. Last week we looked at practices that
preserve normalization in our classrooms...
26
Apr
Have you noticed? Mere days from
now we will turn the calendar to May – the crazy month filled with culminating
projects, Mother’s Day gifts, final report cards, graduation preparations and
celebrations, and a score...
19
Apr
Last week, I was blessed to attend a reunion of Montessorians; we all had taught at one particular school in Colorado over the past 30 or more years. Many of us had...
12
Apr
Last week, I hopped into my car to run an errand and tuned into the middle of a radio interview of a woman who works with adolescents; I was just in time...
05
Apr
Anyone (child or adult) who has ever been in the classroom with me has heard my discussion about the importance of monitoring self-talk. It goes something like this: when you make a...
29
Mar
Who is in your tribe?
Last week, I was with my tribe – 4,000 passionate Montessorians from around the globe, all focused on improving our individual and collective practices....
15
Mar
Maria Montessori often spoke in analogies. One of my favorites encourages teachers to view the child as a fertile field in which we sow and tend seeds of interest, waiting to see...
08
Mar
Today’s post continues the discussion started last week on unanticipated and often unrecognized side-effects of a season focused heavily on standardized testing and test prep. Last week addressed the impact to classroom...
01
Mar
I grew up outside of Chicago where, back in the day, they put cinders on slick roads in the winter. By February, the sidewalks and gutters would be full of ash-infused slush...
23
Feb
Do you ever get the feeling that the Universe is asking something of you? When I get that, it feels like random people tugging on my sleeve, each whispering the same thing into my...
16
Feb
Tomorrow I will be with a group of fellow travelers on the path towards self-actualization: our current elementary interns. If this weekend runs true to form, they will arrive exhausted, half-sick, filled...
08
Feb
It is that time again, when teachers are anticipating — with some combination of dread and amusement — one of the sweetest holidays of the year: Valentine’s Day. Personally, I love the idea of...
01
Feb
What first drew you to Montessori?
Most Montessorians I have known initially followed a child, experiencing the Method first through the eyes of a significant young person in their lives. That is certainly my story....
25
Jan
Welcome to the third in a series of blogs on creating an authentic working environment. Last week’s blog was all about shifting our paradigms to support a classroom culture that overtly values learning,...
18
Jan
How was your week? Since today is Friday, if you are like most teachers, what you are feeling right now is relief that the weekend is here! But when you think about...
11
Jan
“You are not the boss of me!” I remember the first time I heard a feisty, bedazzled, pig-tailed, 4-year old say this to an older boy in her class. I was as...