Schedule
We have an exceptional schedule of keynotes, workshops, roundtables, and networking opportunities. Start planning which sessions you want to attend.
Friday, November 3, 2023
All times are given in Mountain Standard Time (USA)
7:30 am – 8:00 am
*In-person Onsite*
Back to Center
Join us for 30 minutes of mind-quieting, energy-boosting activities and exercises. Share your favorite mind-body practices: creative movement, songs, affirmations, poems, breath work, visualizations – any activity that brings you peace and positivity.
8:00 am – 8:50 am
Breakfast
9:00 am – 9:30 am
General Session Opening Ceremony
9:30 am – 10:30 am
Keynote – E Scott Osborne
11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Patty Sobelman
(For Leadership)
1A | Please NO Volunteers
*In-person onsite & live-streamed*
Parents have a deep need to express gratitude to our schools… do not make them into volunteers! Volunteering is what people do with the time that they have left over, after they have done everything else. People have the time (and the money) for what they value most. How to set the expectation that community means participation, that we are all in this together and we are never finished!
11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Lori Karmazin
Tanya Ryskind
(For Casa/Elementary)
1B | Embracing the New Child
*In-person onsite & live-streamed*
Dr. Montessori’s called us to “look for the child who is not yet there.” This mandate has perhaps never been as important as it is today. Teachers across the globe are expressing frustration and concern as they experience challenges with more children than ever before. Whether the cause for what we are dealing with is post-Covid syndrome, too much screen time, or the stresses of society trickling down, we are seeing more children struggling with self-regulation, short attention spans,
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independence, motivation to learn, and social interactions. This session will explore the common themes schools and teacher education programs are hearing from the field and seek to find positive interventions. If this phenomenon presents us with a “new child,” then we need to be ready to embrace each of them as they are and support them with love, kindness, a well-prepared environment, and well-prepared adults. We will identify the common characteristics of these new children and how this affects the normalization process for each child and the class. We will look at common pitfalls of judgment and negative re-enforcement when teachers are overwhelmed by these challenges. Then we will seek to renew our faith in the child who is not yet there and begin to sketch out positive plans for supporting healthy development.
Building on our first reflections, we will further explore interventions and opportunities for supporting the challenges presented by these ‘new children.’ We will look at adaptations to the environment, lessons, and classroom leadership strategies to set children up for success and support their social and emotional difficulties. We will explore ways to engage the child who doesn’t want to work or lacks the focus, independence, and self-regulation to stick with it. This will be an interactive workshop where teachers can be heard, get support, and share ideas for helping today’s children become healthy, happy, and competent members of our communities.
11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Anya Bartlett
(For Elementary)
1C | Connecting with the Cosmic Curriculum – Part 1
*In-person onsite & live-streamed*
The Cosmic Curriculum is the core and foundation of the Montessori Elementary classroom. Yet, many teachers don’t fully understand it’s depth and purpose, avoid the Great Lessons and overlook the Cosmic Connection. Parents are often confused or conflicted about the purpose and presentations, and Administrators avoid it altogether. In this workshop, we will discuss the purpose and true meaning of Cosmic Education, explore key principles of the Cosmic Curriculum,
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discuss the Cosmic connections that can be interwoven throughout the classroom, and discover ways to make the Great Stories joyous and meaningful for ALL of our students. In the second session, we will get interactive with the Great Stories and a variety of follow-up activities that follow each story. In this workshop, participants will re-connect with the Cosmic Curriculum and uncover ways to bring Cosmic Education to life in their classrooms.
11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Marc Seldin
(For Secondary)
1D | Teaching Entrepreneurship
*In-person onsite & live-streamed*
It is common for Montessori programs to offer some kind of business education at their upper levels. But there is a world of difference between a class business and teaching entrepreneurship, with entrepreneurship being closer to Dr. Montessori’s vision of the Erdkinder’s preparation for life. The skills that entrepreneurs possess aren’t just useful for business creators, they are also useful for artists, activists, and architects. In this session we will talk about the benefits of
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entrepreneurial education and learn how design thinking can inform an entrepreneurial pedagogy. The latest research will be summarized, as well as the societal implications of broad entrepreneurial education. Attendees will be invited to discuss both the soft and hard skills needed by entrepreneurs and to speculate about how these may be applied to other pursuits.
11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Cassi Mackey
(For Leadership)
1E | Creating Harmony: Through Courageous Conversations – Part 1
*In-person onsite & live-streamed*
Learn how to integrate open and honest communication into the culture of your school to the point where the expression of concerns is expected, required, and desired by everyone. We will discuss how to ensure all voices are heard, while building a sense of belonging, which will improve the community’s well-being, civility, and prosperity. We will focus on building the skills necessary for engaging in difficult conversations with others while maintaining the integrity of the
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relationship, and creating shared agreements to support a culture of honest talk.
11:00 am – 12:30 pm
Hillary Drinkell
(For All)
1F | Empowering the Individuals to Empower the Whole
*In-person onsite & live-streamed*
Empowering the Individual to Empower the Whole: a philosophical and biological approach to the preparation of students and faculty/staff developing resilience, interconnectedness, collaborative and courageous Montessori communities. By empowering our most important assets, our students and faculty/staff, we positively influence whole classroom communities, whole faculty/staff communities, whole school communities, and the larger demographic communities in which we live.
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In this interactive workshop, we will discuss how aspects of ancient wisdom traditions, new concepts in neurobiology and the concept of MWe (Dr. Dan Siegel’s latest term: Becoming IntraConnected developing the concept of Me+We=MWe.) will help our communities develop resilience creating a strong sense of community-belonging while maintaining our unique identities.
12:30 pm – 1:15 pm
Lunch
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Sarah Moudry
(For Infant-Toddler/Casa)
2A | The Space Between – Transitioning Young Children to the Primary Community
*In-person onsite & live-streamed*
Teetering on consciousness, a young child prepares to join the Primary Community. In this presentation and conversation, we will discuss how we prepare each child, ourselves, the communities, and families for this transition. We will cover parent communications, physical, emotional, and social readiness, as well as how to prepare the environment for the significant milestone.
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Barbara Murphy
(For Casa)
2B | Flourishing Across the Montessori Triad: Meaningful Connections That Nature Well-being
*In-person onsite & live-streamed*
Dr. Montessori argued that “one test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child.” What drives happiness? According to the world’s longest study on the topic, conducted since the 1930s by Harvard researchers, positive relationships bring people the greatest joy and contribute the most to their overall well-being.
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As part of the learning experience, different relations occur as the child interacts not only with others but also with the environment and even introspectively with themselves. How does each of these relationships affect well-being? If meaningful connections are the key to happiness, as research suggests, which relationships should we nurture as we look to foster joy and wellness in the classroom? And how can we do so in a way that aligns with Montessori pedagogy?
Echoing the Montessori learning triad, we will explore the impact of relationships on well-being along three dimensions: social, environmental, and intrapersonal. In each case, we will revisit, from a relational perspective, different elements of Montessori pedagogy, such as community, movement, sensorial education, Cosmic vision, nature, independence, purposeful work, and concentration. Finally, we will see how the nurturing of meaningful connections as part of the Montessori learning experience can help children flourish by contributing to their happiness and well-being.
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Anya Bartlett
(For Elementary)
2C | Connecting with the Cosmic Curriculum – Part 2
*In-person onsite & live-streamed*
The Cosmic Curriculum is the core and foundation of the Montessori Elementary classroom. Yet, many teachers don’t fully understand it’s depth and purpose, avoid the Great Lessons and overlook the Cosmic Connection. Parents are often confused or conflicted about the purpose and presentations, and Administrators avoid it altogether. In this workshop, we will discuss the purpose and true meaning of Cosmic Education, explore key principles of the Cosmic Curriculum,
Read more ...
discuss the Cosmic connections that can be interwoven throughout the classroom, and discover ways to make the Great Stories joyous and meaningful for ALL of our students. In the second session, we will get interactive with the Great Stories and a variety of follow-up activities that follow each story. In this workshop, participants will re-connect with the Cosmic Curriculum and uncover ways to bring Cosmic Education to life in their classrooms.
01:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Sheila Linville
Lindsey Pollock
(Inclusion)
2D | Breaking through the Bias of Boy Behavior; Creating Successful Classroom Environment for High Energy Boys!
*In-person onsite & live-streamed*
Come Join Us for a Creative, Interesting, enlightening Conversation about Boy Behavior. This presentation will be workshop style, so come ready to construct and deconstruct your perspective/bias about boys.
What is going on inside the boy brain for my primary/lower elementary children?
Why can’t the boys in my classroom just sit still?
Are the boys even listening to me?
Why do I feel so frustrated by boy behavior’s?
Why do they talk a mile a minute?
Why is the Handwriting Program not working for the boys-there are still so many tears?
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Come join Heather White AMS 3-6, AMS 6-9, Masters Degree in Education and Educational Specialist Degree in School Psychology (NCSP). Sheila Linville AMS 3-6, 6-9, Masters Degree in Education, sister of all boys, mother of sons! Combined classroom experiences of 43 years:)
The workshop will begin with understanding the neurobiology of the boy brain. We will then reflect upon the perspectives and biases about boys that many classroom guides for primary and lower elementary find themselves stuck in. Then follow us, as we consider the needs of boys in Montessori classrooms. Finally, we will delve into the preparation of the adult necessary to adequately meet those needs, and undergo the spiritual transformation Dr. Montessori described.
You will laugh and be vulnerable as we delve into this content. You will leave with practical ideas to implement into your classroom to help positively shift the boys dynamic:)!
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Cassi Mackey
(For Leadership)
2E | Creating Harmony: Through Courageous Conversations – Part 2
*In-person onsite & live-streamed*
Read more ...
relationship, and creating shared agreements to support a culture of honest talk.
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Sharon Damore
Mary Macintosh
(For Leadership)
2F | Building a Successful Employee Pyramid for Montessori Schools Future Sustainability
*In-person onsite & live-streamed*
Every day, we hear concerns about how to staff and lead our Montessori schools. Teacher assistant turnover seems to be a recurring challenge in our schools. We all experience apprehensions about how to recruit and retain Montessori teachers and the challenge of finding the right leader to champion our schools.
Developing a nurturing, upward mobility queue in our schools to prepare for the future of generations of Montessori school leaders is paramount in our schools to ensure sustainability, and preserve our organizations’ legacy.
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We will talk about the framework of a proposed pyramid, …starting with recruitment and training of teacher assistants …to cultivating Montessori teachers to become school leaders. … to the the role and responsibilities of a Board, or Owner planning ten years out for cultivating future leadership.
The session is interactive with opportunities for reflection, discussion and future planning for your organization.
3:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Break
Network & Visit Exhibitors
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Ann Epstein
(For All)
3A | Current Montessori Research: What is new and how can we apply it to our everyday practice?
*In-person onsite & live-streamed*
Montessori research is booming. Recent publications include a global census report, a comparison of Montessori and neuro-sequential learning (cognitive learning strategies), trauma informed practices in a Montessori context, using the Montessori cosmic curriculum to develop a place-based indigenous science program, and development of a Montessori coaching tool to enhance professional
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development. We will discuss eight to ten studies addressing primary, elementary, and secondary levels as well as leadership and philosophy.
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Vyju Kadambi
(For All)
3B | The Future of Advocacy
*In-person onsite & live-streamed*
Join MPPI staff for a session with updates and advancements in our work over the last year. We have new projects underway and new advocacy strategies to share. Learn about the important policy issues we are focused on and how you can get involved. Network and strategize with other Montessori advocates while participating in hands on advocacy strategy activities. This session is open to everyone.
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Erica Santana
Krista Lee
(For Elementary)
3C | The Observational Journey: Navigating the Foundational Practice
*In-person onsite & live-streamed*
During this two part session, we will dive into the importance of observation! Maria Montessori wrote that the key to being a teacher lay in the scientific observation of the child. “When she feels herself, aflame with interest, ‘seeing’ the spiritual phenomena of the child, and experiences a serene joy and an insatiable eagerness in observing them, then she will know that she is ‘initiated.’ Then she will become a ‘teacher.’” Maria Montessori began to create materials and lessons
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as she observed the needs of the children. We, as teachers, administrators, and parents, need to revive this much needed practice.
Attendees will learn about the basics of observation. We will discuss the in and outs of observation in a classroom, how to begin, and how to share this information with teachers and administrators. They will learn how to plan for observations everyday.
We will show different observational habits of scientists. Montessori believed that, “Scientific observation then has established that education is not what the teacher gives; education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words but by experiences upon the environment.” Then, we will observe around the hotel (dependent on the surrounding area) or watch videos. After the observation, we will discuss their thoughts and insights. We will be discussing and engaging the audience through games and conversation. Come to our presentation and be inspired to observe!
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm
James Moudry
(For Secondary)
3D | So You Have a Middle School or High School…Is it Working? Is it Montessori?
*In-person onsite & live-streamed*
As a teacher or school leader, how do you know if your middle school or high school program is on the right track? How are you continuing to take practical steps to ensure your original vision for the program is realized? Schools with new adolescent programs (middle school or high school) may be familiar with the cycles of elementary or primary classes, but do those same expectations apply for classes with teenagers?
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This presentation is for:
- teachers/guides in middle schools or high schools
- Middle/high school program leaders
- School leaders at schools with adolescent programs or considering adding these programs
Good to attend if:
- You lead a school that has a middle/high school
- You teach in a middle school or high school program
- You’ve heard parent concerns about your adolescent-level programs
- Your gut says something might be off
- You don’t know how to evaluate whether your middle school or high school is doing what it should be doing
- You’re worried that you don’t know as much about how these programs should look as you do about other levels of the school
- You feel intimidated by the idea or complexity of running or adding a middle school or high school program
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Julia Volkman
Kitty Bravo
(Leadership/Adult Educators)
3E | The Secret of Adulthood
*In-person onsite & live-streamed*
As Montessorians we believe in the secret horme or urge within every child driving their development, but what about adult learners? Is it possible to tap into a similar passion for learning within the adult? Can we use some of the wisdom of our approach for children to support adults both for teacher training and ongoing professional development? This session looks at adult learning from a blended perspective of Montessori principles and brain based adult learning theory as we
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seek to respectfully engage, inspire, and guide learners who are beyond the fourth plane of development.
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Tim Seldin
Renee DuChainey-Farkes
(Leadership)
3F | Leadership and Board Succession Planning for Schools
*In-person onsite & live-streamed*
Navigating transitions on the Board or in school leadership is a pivotal moment in a school’s journey, demanding foresight, clarity, and a deep understanding of institutional culture.
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This 90-minute workshop delves into the intricacies of succession planning for Montessori institutions, empahasizing the crucial roles of both the Head of School and the Board. The session provides a comprehensive roadmap to preparing for succession, defining the character and skills needed in the new trustee or head of school, effective strategies to search for and evaluate potential candidates, and onboarding new leadership.
Participants will gain insights into the entire succession planning process – from anticipating changes and defining leadership attributes to the nuances of onboarding new leadership. The workshop will further elucidate the distinct phases of integrating new leaders or trustees into the school.
We also highlight the opportunities that transitions offer for organizational introspection and growth. Prepare to embark on a comprehensive exploration of leadership continuity, ensuring that your Montessori school remains steadfast in its mission and values through every change.
Attendees will leave equipped and inspired, ready for the subsequent 180-minute session, where they will apply these insights and craft their own succession strategies.
5:15 pm – 5:45 pm
Back to Center
Join us for 30 minutes of mind-quieting, energy-boosting activities and exercises. Share your favorite mind-body practices: creative movement, songs, affirmations, poems, breath work, visualizations – any activity that brings you peace and positivity.
6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
(For All)
Communal Dinner