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My first year in a Montessori environment was as an assistant to a seasoned, and I believe, enlightened 3-6 Montessori guide and mentor. I say…
After 28 years in Montessori, in which I have held nearly every type of position, including assistant, lead guide, mentor, school administrator, teacher trainer, and…
Earlier this year when I was in San Francisco and between speaking gigs, my perspective shifted a bit by visiting a Claude Monet exhibit at…
I’ll never forget the wonder I experienced during my 3-6 training when learning about Montessori education as a means of creating world peace. The idea…
It’s interesting to me that we rarely talk about sleep as is related to learning other than to notice when a student is cranky and…
Believing that you can accomplish something is a critical part of doing it. If you don’t believe you can do something, then you are very…
Excitement as is related to learning is defined as a heightened state of physiological arousal exemplified by an increased heart rate and blood pressure, and…
When a teacher demonstrates how to do a procedural task, like a math problem, going through the sequence of steps to the solution, this is…
Visualization relies on humans unique ability to harness their imagination and create a representation of an abstract idea. There are many permutations of visualization, yet…
Sometimes the process of learning involves unlearning mistaken understandings and correcting misconceptions. Undoing Errors May be Less Necessary in Montessori Montessori environments…
George Bernard Shaw couldn’t have been further from the truth when he wrote, “ “He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.” In fact, teaching…
You might have heard that really smart people talk to themselves. Wonder why? It might be because they use a neuro strategy of self-explanation that…
Rewards can shape behavior by providing incentives for performing certain behaviors. Use of extrinsic rewards, such as money, gold stars, or candy, can have unintended…
As a Montessori Upper Elementary guide of 9-12 year olds, I swear, my students likely thought I didn’t know anything! I was always asking questions…
So much of what we do as Montessori educators is proscribed from the annals of Dr. Montessori and passed down generationally through our training to…
Learning by watching others is called observational learning, something every Montessori practitioner experiences every day! Observation Through Millennia People can often learn a…
Norms are the unwritten rules and behaviors that govern social settings and interactions, such as raising your hand to get the teacher’s attention. Establishing classroom…
Making involves producing something. Whether you write a poem, create a garden, or assemble an electronic kit, “making” is the idea is that you are…
Listening is a Key Practice in Collaborative Learning Environments When students use the learning strategies of listening and sharing with others, their collaboration leads…
This week’s installment of The ABCs of Learning: Montessori Edition varies from the rest of my articles on learning strategies, as knowledge is more of…
Just-in-time Telling is a strategy of experiencing a problem before learning of a solution or explanation. When students experience the nuances of the problem first,…
Imaginative Play is at Work in Montessori Environments Most people would agree that children naturally love to pretend play and use their imagination to…
Hands On Learning is a Hallmark of Montessori Methodology The focus on specific hands on elements in learning environments scaffolds the learning to be…
The science behind memory is far more complex than most Montessori training programs can deliver; however, as a Montessori guide, you already employee the essential…
Feedback is about more than self-correcting materials Receiving feedback about one’s work is important for knowing what still needs to be learned and how…
The theory of elaboration in learning resonates with Montessori educators with its multiple components of order, sequence, and scaffolding. For students, elaboration is as…
Practicing skills and concepts is an important part of the learning process; however, just repeating a skill does not lead to improvement. Deliberate practice is…
Have you ever noticed that when you’re quizzed by someone, formally or even within a conversation, that when you’re asked to recall something specific, it’s…
Rock your New Year Resolutions to improve your Montessori practice by going back to the ABCs! The ABCs of Learning, that is! The…
Aha! Now this makes sense! Research into the use of analogy, metaphor, and allegorical stories and their effect on the brain reveal the…
New evidence indicates a sense of belonging is an essential part of optimal learning environments. Children need to feel that they are part of…
You might have noticed a holiday trend in the U.S.: towards the end of September, store aisles started to sport “Seasonal” decor such as wire,…
Over twenty years ago, I fulfilled a dream by embarking on a personally and professionally transformative journey over the course of an intensive year gaining…
When adults hear that Montessori classrooms allow children to choose their own work, that they use student directed learning, or in other words, the teacher…
Today, rather than hunker down in front of my computer during my morning work cycle, I took a wander through the deYoung Museum’s exhibit, “Monet:…
Every aspect of your school is running smoothly and you have all the resources you need for staff development . . . said no school…
As an adult immersed in a culture where I couldn’t speak the language, didn’t know how to eat the food, and being reliant on others…
Montessori schools attract staff that are committed to respectful interactions with children, and yet sometimes, those same skills fail to translate into effective communication between…
Is Self-Regulation Another Neuromyth? “Famed impulse control ‘Marshmallow Test’ fails in new research” reads the headline. On June 1, 2018, a number of media…
If you spend any time whatsoever on social media, and you happen to be in the online world of Montessori, you might be faced with…
Part of being a Montessori guide is a commitment to reflecting and adapting our practices to best serve our students. In today’s parlance this could…
Montessori preschool environments are renowned for introducing big abstract ideas, such as the decimal system, to young learners through precise, beautiful, instructional materials. In…
Unschooling is a rare topic to be promoted by a professional educator; yet after you hear my tale as a mother who happens to be…
Many in the education field are familiar with Stanford Professor Carol Dweck’s notion of instilling in children a growth mindset, that is a belief that…
I truly didn’t know that I had a “mathematical mind” until I was in college taking my first Montessori certification. I didn’t know because I…
Twenty-seven years ago, I stepped into a Montessori classroom for the very first time. The five year old boy that I was a nanny for…
“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need…
In the fall of 1969, I was three years old and my young adult cousin came to live with my family for awhile. Although there…
The Dual Nature of Screens There is a lot of concern in our culture over the quantity and quality of screen time, and its…
Whether you are half of a co-teaching team or a more traditional lead guide and an assistant, you are subject to the vagaries of working…
A frequently asked question by Montessori elementary teachers at the beginning of the year is how to set up an effective expectation for student work…
Dear Miss Tammy (for that is the name that generations of your students will remember you by), I know you’re on fire with the…
Montessori schools attract staff that are committed to respectful interactions with children and yet sometimes those same skills fail to translate into effective communication between…
Montessori environments are uniquely prepared for the students using them, and the cleaning and maintenance of these uniquely prepared environments usually falls to a team…
Most Montessori schools around the world serve children within a unique education paradigm. Their families may or may not have the information about the benefits…
Delivering a quality Montessori experience for your students is a lot of work. You prepare and maintain an environment and curriculum that meets every child’s…
Having grown up in a homogenous, predominantly white middle-class area of a very white state, my memories of diversity in my schools is limited to…
My lifestyle this last year could be the envy of some and would probably horrify others. Living closer to nature feeds my spirit. But…
There is a question that has been bugging me, and I’ve been searching for the solution for years. It’s one of those trick questions where…