Join us to talk about how an effective and engaged Board can impact the success of a school. We will examine the Board’s role (and not!), and how it should work in partnership with the Head of School. We will specifically define the “School’s work” and the “Board’s work” as well as cover principles of good governance including issues, structures and the importance of alignment.
Halfway through the school year, leaders are invited to reflect on the successes and challenges of their journey so far. In this interactive workshop, we’ll share insights, celebrate wins, and explore strategies to tackle ongoing challenges, leaving you inspired and equipped to approach the remainder of the year with clarity and confidence. We have half of the year ahead of us…we can do this!
Life has changed for many families over the last several years. Today, it is more important than ever for schools and families to work together to create a nurturing community that supports parents/families/caregivers, teachers, and children. Join Renee DuChainey-Farkes and Tim Seldin as we discuss the value of school-family partnerships, review the recent findings from the new General Surgeon’s report, “Parents under Pressure,” and consider how our schools can become communities where people feel safe, connected, welcome, and can learn together. Working in partnership with our families/parents/caregivers supports what we all know about parenting, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Montessori Schools have an opportunity to support this need.
Join us for a thoughtful discussion about how the world around us is intentionally putting obstacles in our way to negatively impact our ability to focus, concentrate, and do our best work. We will review the 12 main factors that are contributing to our collective loss of concentration and shortening of our attention span. Findings are obtained from Johann Hari’s most recent book, Stolen Focus. Although this is intended for school leaders, we will also touch on how this “targeted distraction” is impacting the children we serve as they grow and learn to be our future leaders.
Having listened to so much about AI and how it is impacting our children, their learning, our schools, AND humanity, all inspired me to look at Dr. Montessori’s Five Great Lessons to see how they “might” fit with AI. The Montessori Leadership spring edition published my article — “Cosmic Education and the Seven Great Lessons for 2023?” to help Montessori educators and parents. I am so looking forward to talking with others to hear their take on the article, AI, and what might be in the future for our schools and children regarding AI.
Join us to talk about The Child Study Model which is grounded in observation and centered on supporting each child’s needs through observing the child engaging with the learning environment. We’ll talk about how schools can utilize this model to help each child reach their potential. Join us and see how it supports Maria Montessori’s vision of working with the child and her premise of the inherent goodness of each child and the necessary need to look at the whole child development.
See how it also provides an opportunity to further build faculty collaboration and a professional learning community at your school.
What Makes People Work Better and Harder and Stay Onboard Longer . . . In a recent article in Harvard Business Review, entitled, “Designing Work That People Love,” author Marcus Buckingham proposes that, “Creating a place where all people can find love in their work means incorporating three principles: People are the point. Employees are the most important stakeholders in your organization. One size fits one. Each of your employees is a unique person with distinct loves, interests, and skills. In trust we grow. For employees to discover and contribute their loves at work, leaders must explicitly make trust the foundation of all practices and policies.” In this period of a critical Montessori teacher shortage, unprecedented turnover, and challenges with retention (especially among Assistants) there are ways to make the everyday work life of your faculty and staff more meaningful, more energizing, and more engaging. Join Jonathan Wolff for a discussion on what makes people love their work, work better and harder, and stay with you longer.
What Makes People Work Better and Harder and Stay Onboard Longer . . . In a recent article in Harvard Business Review, entitled, “Designing Work That People Love,” author Marcus Buckingham proposes that, “Creating a place where all people can find love in their work means incorporating three principles: People are the point. Employees are the most important stakeholders in your organization. One size fits one. Each of your employees is a unique person with distinct loves, interests, and skills. In trust we grow. For employees to discover and contribute their loves at work, leaders must explicitly make trust the foundation of all practices and policies.” In this period of a critical Montessori teacher shortage, unprecedented turnover, and challenges with retention (especially among Assistants) there are ways to make the everyday work life of your faculty and staff more meaningful, more energizing, and more engaging. Join Jonathan Wolff for a discussion on what makes people love their work, work better and harder, and stay with you longer.
Join our special guest Renee DuChainey-Farkes and other school leaders as we talk about how to support and meet the needs of our faculty as they continue to move forward. The faculty are the heartbeat of our schools. What do we know about their needs?
I used to think that our school’s mission was solely about each student and his/her learning; now I know that our mission also includes the parent as a learner. My personal journey from “I used to think…but now I know” occurred through observation and research during my 30 years in leadership at Kingsley Montessori in Boston and was confirmed in my travels last year visiting over 65 Montessori schools worldwide. In conversation, heads of school acknowledged the value of parent partnerships for the child’s learning outcomes as well as, strikingly, the parent’s learning.
The parent experience is not just about making parents happy; it’s also about helping parents learn and grow, which positively affects the student experience and learning outcomes. Through my research, I have learned that the parent experience is both related to and separate from their child’s experience. It is about self-identity and individual learning on how to be a confident parent. As parents learn and grow, they look to educators for support and guidance. The foundational stages that our student’s experience coincide with the parent’s own
developmental stages.
There are many benefits. When parents feel connected to the school, they are happier, they are more confident, and they actually become more self-assured as parents. We know that children learn best when they see the connection between the adults in their life—their parents and their teachers. This special partnership supports children to do their best work. Happy parents become strong ambassadors for the school, and word of mouth is the best advocate for new students and families. Parents can be a rich source of information and experience. What’s better than our parents having a great personal experience for themselves in addition to their child’s great learning experience? And happy customers share their enthusiasm with others.
The Parents as Partners initiative positively affected enrollment, retention, student learning assessments, reduced parent anxiety, and made the community more collaborative and positive. It was fueled by many “I used to think …but now I know” experiences by administrators, faculty, and parents, as we worked at opening our own and others’ minds to the potential benefits.
My objective in writing is to open minds to the benefits of embracing and enhancing the parent experience at your school and to introduce effective implementation strategies and processes. Please join me in a journey from “I used to think…but now I know.” We will cover the concept of Parents as Learners and introduce the Voice of the Parent so we can listen to it. What we know today about parents’ needs and wants is profound and provides significant opportunities and benefits to all of us. Some of these benefits include improved student learning, better parent (customer) experiences, strong student retention, and increased new admissions.
During the last decade, I have participated in a multi-year research initiative including surveys, school visits, parent interviews, and a variety of readings. The non-traditional survey tool was created by the research and consulting firm Resonance Insights. In this survey, parents were asked to describe their ‘ideal’ school experience as well as their ‘current’ school experience. The results highlighted gaps between what parents desired and what they were actually experiencing. This gave us a unique opportunity to reflect on our work and think about the parent in a different way.
During a six-month sabbatical, I traveled and met other Montessori heads of school. We engaged in this very topic—how to partner with parents in a way that enhances the student and parent experience, together and separately. These conversations acknowledged the potential benefits as well as the challenges. In addition to the many surveys and visits, I also reviewed the findings from AMI’s research on Montessori parent aspirations and motivations. Here again, parents want to be brought into the experience so they can understand the process and aid in their child’s growth through partnership with the school. Two books were instrumental in my learnings, Small Animals (Kim Brook), and Ellen Galinsky’s Developmental Stages of Parenthood. Both do an excellent job at helping us understand the Parent as a Learner.
Who is the customer in our schools? Is it the child, or is it the parent? Many teachers/administrators believe it is the child. I believe (and now know) the parent is the customer; the student is the consumer. The parent is the one who decides where the child goes to school and for how long. Much of this is based on the student’s experience, but we also now know that the experience of the parents is a key factor in whether the child will stay at the school (retention). While our mission is about helping each child to grow and develop in their own unique way, we should ask ourselves: What about parents growing and developing? Parents are growing and learning about parenting during the same time that their children are at our schools. Galinsky shows us that parents also go through their own developmental stages of growth, and they often look to us for support and guidance.
The parenthood experience is complex and diverse, yet it is also predictable and universal. Parents are well-intentioned and need involvement and connection. These feelings are linked to their aspiration to be good parents in harmony with themselves and their families. How do we open this dialogue? How do we help our schools support the needs of parents? In my experience, we have a special opportunity to support each parent to reach their greatest potential, which directly benefits the child and the school. This opportunity for partnership is stunning!
The parent’s experience is both about the child’s learning as well as the parents’ own learning. This was breakthrough thinking for me and offered profound benefits. The parent experience and the student experience are together and separate. We must focus on the totality of this experience: the parent experience with school and the student (my child) and the parents’ own experience with the school for themselves (me as a parent).
Our Voice of the Parent research told us what parents wanted for their child from the school. They want to be sure that their child is a learner—that s/he is curious, adept, and will be a lifelong learner. They want their child to become independent, finding and following his or her own passion. They want their child to be treated with respect as a unique individual. They want their child, and themselves, to be connected to a welcoming community, to be happy, and to be safe. They want to be assured that their child is well prepared socially, emotionally, and academically. And most importantly, they want teachers to love their child and for their child to have friends at school. They want teachers to see their child(ren) as unique individuals and to help them reach their greatest potential.
Our extensive research data affirms that parents want the school to help them not only learn about their child but how to be better parents.
And we now know what parents want from the school for themselves as parents. They want effective two-way communications between home and school. They want to understand that parents and teachers have equal roles in developing and supporting the child. They want to be involved in their child’s education and need the teacher to tell them how. They want to understand the process of learning and how it takes place. They also want to feel connected and have a sense of belonging in the school. They want to be assured that their child is in the best place for him/her to grow. Parents want to be proud of their child’s school and, in return, they will advocate it to others.
Parents today experience fear, worry, and, anxiety about whether their child is developing ‘on schedule.’ There is a general trend of parents seeking more information about their child’s learning and a less-than-full understanding of Montessori pedagogy. Over and over, parents have shared that they are uncertain, and they worry all the time. They report often feeling overpowered, out of control, and unable to set boundaries and limits with their child because they are unsure. They feel pressured to do the right thing and often not sure what the right thing is! The better we can understand our parents’ concerns, the more we can support them to grow and learn as they navigate from one stage of parenthood to the next, often at the same time, their children are moving from one developmental stage to another. They want help; they want guidance. They want to understand how and why. For schools, this is a wonderful opportunity; it is mission-centric for us. We know that parents have good intentions, through all of this worry and anxiety. They often report that they want to be the ‘best parent’ … tell me how!
The Voice of the Parent categorizes themes that drive parents and are ranked as follows: Me as a Parent (self); My Child, Teachers and Staff; Curriculum/methods, Outcome; Community/people; Communications/Participation; and Location/Facility. Within these categories, specific questions include the following:
Did I choose the right school for my child?
Is my child having the best experience?
How can I fully understand my child’s learning in Montessori?
Is my child challenged?
How can I be involved in my child’s education?
Is my child safe?
Does my child have enough friends?
Are the teachers the best?
Parents feel responsible for their children’s successful development and make a tremendous effort and investment to support that development. Acknowledging this and involving parents as partners gives parents confidence that they will be successful in their role.
My experience is that it is difficult for administrators/faculty to consider that parents are their customers, and their experience is mission critical. But when we allowed ourselves to consider it and explored our work in light of it, we create many opportunities. What is our communication style? What does programming look like? Are we focused on the parent experience? Have we defined the parent experience at our schools? The essential question is: Can we make the parent experience better?
What can we do to enhance the parent experience? It begins with the Voice of the Parent, a whole new way of thinking about what we do and how we do it. Creating a framework for embedding the Voice of the Parent into your school work is key. It is critical for success that all operations of the school are included: leadership; admissions; development; education; facilities; finance; and marketing and communications. Through this framework, every parent communication, calendar event, or other interaction must be reviewed and guided by what we call three clear points (TCP). Three clear points utilizes the domains of learning: Feel, Know, and Do. For each activity or action, we ask ourselves these three questions, which often lead to redesigning our format and/or our communications.
1. How do we want parents to feel?
2. What do we want parents to know? (pedagogy before logistics)
3. How will we execute this task, responsibility and/or deliver the message? (make the shift)
Implementation begins with full commitment from leadership. Teachers and staff need to adjust their mindset to ‘parent as customer,’ and professional development needs to highlight the benefits to both the teacher and child. Using a survey to find out what parents want, as opposed to what we think they need is important because the issues may not be the same.
Once schools have this information, it’s important to define what partnership is at your school. Engaging the parent association to help with the work is critical to success. They should be involved from the beginning, allowing them to see the survey results and help define priorities since they are on the ground with other parents! And of course, communicating priorities and actions is important, as well as progress and outcomes/decisions. Keeping the parent association involved is extremely helpful because they can keep this new work on their monthly agenda and provide continuous feedback and updates.
This framework has led us to reconsider our spaces, to add programs, and to communicate with this new focus shift on how we want parents to feel at school.
Here are a few examples:
1. We created a more welcoming environment in our community open space for parents, adding a coffee bar, couches, tables and stools so they could meet together, or do their own work while waiting for pick up.
2. We altered morning drop-off in our elementary building—we now encourage parents to walk their children to their classrooms.
3. We reached out to new families with personal phone calls three times a year. This is a shared exercise by all members of leadership rather than just teachers. They continue their regular outreach, but this is part of our orientation.
4. We created a parent experience steering committee that meets three times a year to give input (not decision-making) on topics under review. This committee involves parents, teachers, and administration.
5. From time to time, we develop parent/teacher task forces to study an issue. A task force, as opposed to a committee, has a clear goal and timeline. It ends when the work is done.
6. We developed task forces (beginning and an end) on the major areas of review for the year. Parents report on the results to school leadership.
7. We worked with Chip Wood (author of Yardsticks) to redesign our parent-teacher conference and progress reports, now more focused on meeting parents expressed needs.
8. We have developed leadership retreats and professional development for faculty to aid them in developing parent partnerships.
9. We developed a Parent Speaker Series on topics determined by parents.
10. We developed “the Kingsley Way” to define our pedagogy, teaching, and parent expectations.
In summary, we embraced the Voice of the Parent and used it to create an action plan. Everybody was involved in the sharing of the findings, as well as in determining priorities. We had a strong commitment to execute the plan from leadership, faculty, and the parent association. Everybody benefits in moving toward the ‘ideal’ parent experience. Overall, our plan closed programmatic communication gaps, developed the leadership to be more customer focused in their work, and changed the mindset of teachers to better understand and leverage the role of the parent. As a result, parents were happier, retention strengthened, and parents became our best ambassadors for admissions events. A happy school!
My journey lead me to move from “I used to think…but now I know” on most aspects of the parent experience with substantial benefits for the students, administrators/faculty, and the parents. I urge you to consider the parents’ experience at your school and, more specifically, how your programs can, perhaps, better focus on the needs of parents as learners. We have so much to gain from what parents know about their children, and we have so much knowledge and experience to help our parents feel more confident and be the best parents they can be. This is the true partnership of the school and home, working to help each child achieve their greatest potential. Remember, children learn best when parents learn with them. Let’s respect parent insights and concerns and help them. Then, we will gain a more engaged and energized parent community. This is important work.
We understand the great importance of parents becoming partners in the education of their child during these formative years. Our work is for them. We believe that schools are transformational forces in the lives of our children and families. Please join us in this important work!
“Let us place the school in the home; not only that, but let us place it there as collective property, and let us place under the eyes of parents the entire life of the teacher, in the accomplishment of her mission.”
—Maria Montessori, Il metodo della pedagogia scientifica, 1909. P.45 ′
ML / Feb 2019 / Pg 15
Maria Montessori has been a constant presence in my life for over 30 years. All four of my sons are Montessori students. I’ve seen and sensed the impact that Montessori has had on them and on me, as a parent, educator, and leader.
Founding Kingsley Montessori (Boston, Massachusetts) in 1986, serving as Chair of the Board of Trustees for ten years and then Head of School for another 21 years, Maria was my daily guide and strategic mentor as we committed to growing Kingsley from a very small preschool (one class of 15 children) to today’s outstanding school of 330 students, serving the Foundational Decade of Learning from Toddler (18 months) through Elementary (grade 6). It has been my privilege to observe how teachers brought Maria’s pedagogy and philosophy to life for each child and, to work with parents dedicated to their children’s education and often challenged by the innovativeness of Maria’s treasure. It was a privilege every day—a calling to which I have dedicated myself.
For the past several months, I have been ‘on the road with Maria,’ visiting Montessori schools, observing classrooms, talking with students and teachers, and having amazing conversations with heads of Montessori schools. I have visited a marvelous variety of schools: big (800 students) to small (25 students); public and private. I visited a variety of programs including Infant, Early Childhood, Elementary, Middle school, and High Schools, in diverse locations including Florida, New York, Chicago, New England, Colorado, London, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Amsterdam. I visited 65 schools in all. It’s been an amazing journey. I know so much more than I did before, giving me much to share. This article is a first opportunity to bring this experience to more of you.
I want to convey that I was very well received by every school, every head of school, and every teacher with whom I had the opportunity to meet. I am so very thankful. These visits were authentic, compassionate, open, and caring. Our conversations were honest, deep, and open to sharing their reality—their accomplishments as well as their challenges. I found so much love in these schools and clear commitment and respect for the child. The opportunity to talk and share was highly valued and, as I learned, not often available to heads of school.
Why?
Why did I make the journey? I was curious. I wonder if reading DaVinci by Sir Walter Isaacson inspired me? Like DaVinci, I related my constant curiosity (about Montessori) to his ‘unrelenting curiosity’ and I am a keen observer and forever note-taker, as was he. I wanted to see Maria’s gift to us close up, in a variety of settings and learn from it; enriching my understanding of ‘follow the child.’ I was eager to see the world of Montessori, school by school, and learn about their accomplishments and challenges. I was curious to see if I could offer some opportunities for schools to connect more with each other.
I found that people wanted me to visit their school; they wanted to hear about other schools and my experiences. Many went out of their way to welcome me on a short two-day notice. I was so very grateful. We had so many very rich conversations, candid sharing of challenges, successes, and enthusiasms. In many instances, teachers, as well as Heads of School, were available to talk and share with me.
Heads of school told me they valued my time with them since it’s rare that they have the opportunity to talk about their specific issues, needs, concerns, accomplishments, and visions—and to hear about the challenges facing other heads. It is true that the head of school position is both complex and lonely. Heads welcomed the support and open dialogues. I observed this the most in China, London, and Amsterdam; often due to their physical locations. I began to think what can we for each other to support and enhance?
Even in the USA, one head exclaimed, “I’m lonely! I don’t visit other schools, and I’m immensely curious about what you are seeing. I want to know how others are dealing with issues. What can I learn from them? What can I learn from you?”
In China, I was asked to hold a head-of-school salon, which ended up being inspiring to many. It was wonderful to see this group of heads (principals) come together and realize the benefit of sharing their situations. The salon lasted twice as long as planned! In fact, they continued well after the time I had to leave.
I experienced time and time again, the power that sharing information gave to the Montessori community. The most common request to me was, “Take us with you, blog with us, share your experiences, let us ask questions and even add thoughts.” In London, a head exclaimed, “You’re a maven, the Montessori Maven!”
Several worries were apparent to most of the schools. They included succession planning for Montessori leadership; quality Montessori programming (brand); availability of trained teachers; and quality of teacher training to best prepare teachers for the profession. I will revisit each topic in more detail in subsequent articles.
My adventure continues, and I will continue to visit schools and share my experiences. I want you to come with me on my adventure. I’ll share my experiences and enrich them with my learnings from my 30+ years with Montessori and my visits with many of you. Let me know your thoughts and questions. We will make it a very rich conversation with the intent of building connections, improving schools, and being less lonely.
Some Of My Most Impressionable Moments
I experienced my very first Infant class known as Nido (Italian for nest) at the Montessori Academy of Colorado. It was an extraordinary moment for me, first because it was my first observation of an infant class and, second, I saw the true essence of what Maria meant by ‘follow the child.’
I truly wish that every infant (and their family) could have a Nido experience. It is the epitome of showing respect for the child. I plan to write more about this program for our youngest students in future articles and blogs.
I visited a public Montessori school in Chicago that was amazing. It was the first public school that I visited, and it was March, so I got to experience the national school walkout led by students. It was when students across the country stood in silence in the schoolyard for 17 minutes to honor the students of the horrific event at the Parkland School in Florida. It was inspiring to observe the empathy and caring of our young middle school students. It made me more empathic.
I also visited two amazing public Montessori schools in Ft. Lauderdale and Hollywood, Florida: Beachside Montessori Village and Virginia Shuman Young Montessori. I was so very happy to see 600+ students being given the opportunity to experience Montessori in a public school setting. The administrators are so committed, caring, and proud of their programs.
These visits took place soon after the Parkland school shooting incident, and I observed safety meetings by the district and learned how the principals and assistant principals were prepared to support the re-entry of students to Parkland. It was a very impressive example of an engaged superintendent, who had the foresight to prepare the whole school community in support of the return of Parkland students and each other. This meeting was held on a Sunday afternoon.
Next was a middle school class at Near North Montessori in Chicago, Illinois. A group of middle school students I observed were purposefully engaged and focused in the Sandwich Shoppe. It is a true student-run business that prepares lunches for students. They not only created the menu and cooked the food, but also packaged the lunches by 11:30 am each day and, included in the lunch recyclable boxes a personal note to each student. Wow! How to make each other feel recognized and known in a big school community.
The Montessori High School, Beacon Academy in Chicago was my first experience observing at this level, where I saw an environment of 170 students (soon to grow to 220) focused, independent, and purposeful. It was such a pleasure to see engaged students at this age. I think we will be seeing more Montessori high schools—nothing short of a liberal arts small college. Impressive!
My Research Goals
When I set out on this journey, I wanted it to be a research project to gather consistent and meaningful information. My plan included a protocol of questions that I followed with all heads of school to ensure consistent information-gathering. These were the questions that pertained to the following areas:
♣ Pedagogy: Tell me about how you deliver the Montessori curriculum—what does it look like, how authentic is it, how do you involve parents in understanding the Montessori pedagogy?
♣ Parent Experience: What programs do you have that focus on the parent experience. How do you define parent engagement? Define the parent experience as you see it. What programs do you have in place to address the parent experience?
♣ Teacher Training: How do you feel about quality teacher training for Montessori teachers?
♣ Enrollment: What are patterns of retention at your school, what are the entry points, do you see patterns regarding when students tend to leave your school, do you measure persistence (years attended) and how do you define your competition?
♣ Professional Associations: Are you associated with AMS, AMI, IMC or other associations? What are you getting from them? What would you like to get?
♣ Next School Placement: Who leads the next school placement at your school? How do students do/how do you know? Do you have alum data?
♣ Three Words: What three words would you use to describe your school?
♣ Challenges: What are the three biggest issues/concerns you face?
♣ Biggest Worries/Fears: What are your best hopes and worst fears about your school?
♣ Last One: If I were to come back and talk with you in 3 or 5 years and you are successful, why were you successful? What would your success look like?
In the next part of the series, I will begin with the questions put forth and some of the answers to see where we are, where we might go, and what big work we need to do.
Delivery of Montessori Pedagogy and Programming
I was both excited and thankful to learn that the schools I visited felt they were delivering Montessori at its best. They were actively engaged in conversations about being as authentic as possible, while facing specific challenges and requirements, of which there are many. That being said, there was clear variation in both innovation and execution.
Innovation was evident in multiple areas from 11-month contracts and all-year school programming to parent/caregiver programming, and programmatic connections to the community.
Execution. I found more challenges than I expected. For example, public pre-school four-year-old and Kindergarten programs are impacting the existence of the three-year cycle for Montessori early childhood in a significant way. This is a result of many factors some which include the need for publicly-funded preschool and Kindergarten to lottery issues for enrollment.
In private and public Montessori schools there is always the challenge of uninterrupted work cycles. I found it encouraging that so many heads of school wanted to discuss this issue. It was often reported that there are many inconsistencies in teacher preparation, that results in inconsistencies in classrooms. This isan area which needs our attention, as it directly impacts quality Montessori teacher-training programs.
Pedagogy. Many discussions were around the need for more/better teacher preparation about lesson delivery in regards to the developmental readiness of the child. When is the ‘right time’ vs. ‘following the album’ because “that is what I was taught and what my album says.” More discussion around instructional process would be beneficial to assure quality, Montessori.
This is especially true for parents who have ‘bought into’ a pedagogy that is quite foreign to their own educational experiences. Further understanding would directly enhance enrollment and retention; a consistent challenge for most schools. We must always remember that the vast majority of our parents did not experience a Montessori education; nor do they totally understand it.
Parent Involvement. Everyone agrees that children learn best when parents learn with them. While I did observe quite a bit of parental involvement, it was primarily through volunteerism. Many schools outsource parent involvement to the school’s Parents’ Associations. While this is beneficial to building a school community, it is not connected to the child and their learning, which, I think connects to understanding and retention. I wonder how we can work to engage parents in understanding student learning. This would be a great advantage for students, families, and Montessori. How do we get more collaboration and participation of parents?
The learning process drives enrollment and retention. What does this new generation of parents want, need, and expect from the school? This is an area for further study and I would be interested to hear from others in the field. In my travels, I did meet up with several school leaders that are studying “millennial” parents to understand them more from a ‘customer in’ focus. I welcome your thoughts in this area.
Programming. I saw amazing innovations and partnerships with local communities. I saw programming generated by the students’ interests: packaging and food recycling programs; environmental programs and marine biology at the beach; student-run stores and kitchens; and internships in the business community. All of these programs affect learning in meaningful and purposeful ways and were evidence of student leadership. Service learning was something Maria would certainly appreciate. Expanding our global programs is essential to preparing our students for the next century, and for providing them opportunities in creativity, community, and collaboration.
Montessori Brand. I felt love and respect for children in all the schools. I see a strong commitment by teachers and administrators even when they are facing challenges. I experienced a sense of authentic pride in schools. I saw a real growth mindset in all the schools from facilities to accommodate enrollment and programming to more transitions to makerspace environments to support innovation and creativity.
The Montessori ‘brand’ continues to be confusing to many parents. Heads and admission people are spending lots of time ‘explaining Montessori.’ Heads are all working hard in their own schools but looking for more support. This concerns them greatly about the future of Montessori.
This tour has been a wonderful experience. I am so very thankful to the 65 schools who welcomed me and were willing to share with me. I very much look forward to sharing more of my
experiences in conversation with you.
We will end the first part of the series here and put this as a sort of PS at the end.
This is my first article. I will shortly begin a blog. It will be called: Montessori Postcards from Renee. If you want to be added to my blog, please send me your info at: rduchainey7@gmail.com.
Renee DuChainey-Farkes has just completed 32 years leading Kingsley Montessori in Boston and growing the school from 15 preschools students to 330 students, Infant through Grade 6. She is now preparing as a national speaker on many school issues and looks forward to connecting with Montessori leadership.
Renee will be presenting at the MF Conference in November in Sarasota.
For more information, visit: tinyurl.com/y763mc9g
ML / September 2018 / pg 17
Montessori Family Alliance School Group Membership (Print & Digital 2026 1/2 year pricing)
Original price was: $30.00.$15.00Current price is: $15.00.
The Montessori Way, Revised and Expanded: An Education for Life; A Comprehensive Guide for Parents and Teachers
$25.00
The Montessori Child: A Parent's Guide to Raising Capable Children with Creative Minds and Compassionate Hearts (The Parents' Guide to Montessori)
$20.00
The Montessori Toddler: A Parent's Guide to Raising a Curious and Responsible Human Being (The Parents' Guide to Montessori)
$20.00
Montessori in Action: Building Resilient Montessori Schools 1st Edition
$29.95