Professional Learning Offerings 2027-2028

A welcoming, experiential introduction that connects everyday classroom experience, educational research, and the deeper principles of Montessori pedagogy. Participants begin with what they know, explore key ideas through hands-on experiences, and spiral toward a more connected understanding of why Montessori practices matter. Designed especially for educators newer to Montessori, the session helps build both practical understanding and personal commitment to the approach.

Explore how explicit instruction, cognitive prompting, inquiry, and sociocultural learning work together across the learning cycle. We will connect current and established research with Montessori’s original intentions, moving beyond knowing what to do toward understanding why it works. Through familiar classroom challenges, discussion, and application, participants will examine how to choose the right support at the right moment without reducing learning to a single theory.

Montessori lessons are intentionally structured, yet the reasoning behind their design can remain invisible. We will identify features of effective explicit instruction within authentic Montessori presentations, consider how teacher language supports attention and understanding, and practice transferring these principles to unfamiliar activities. Participants leave better equipped to adapt lessons with purpose rather than relying on scripts alone.

Executive function, cognitive skills, and metacognition shape how children plan, begin, focus, remember, regulate, and complete their work. This practical workshop helps educators recognize where a student’s thinking process may be breaking down and respond with targeted supports. We will explore ways to externalize cognitive processes and gradually build the independence that Montessori classrooms seek to nurture.

How do we make more room for the joyful, self-directed inquiry Montessori called spontaneous learning? We will explore why children may need explicit support to formulate questions, plan substantial work, get started, and persist through uncertainty. Rather than filling every open moment with assigned tasks, educators will consider how to cultivate curiosity and gradually release responsibility so inquiry can take root.

Deep learning depends on a classroom culture in which children feel able to question, make mistakes, revise ideas, and think aloud. Together, we will examine the prepared environment, teacher language, feedback, and classroom routines that foster trust, intellectual courage, and meaningful dialogue. The goal is a community where errors become information and students feel ready to engage more deeply.

Drawing on Jess’s work with Stanford’s youcubed initiative, this hands-on session explores how classroom culture, feedback, mathematical discourse, and inquiry-rich tasks can reshape children’s relationship with maths. Participants will reflect on their own mathematical experiences, practice making mathematical thinking visible, and use open tasks to notice student reasoning and scaffold greater confidence and curiosity.

What if we approached our own development with the same respect for readiness, reflection, and growth that we extend to children? Guided by Montessori’s writing, this workshop explores concrete-to-abstract learning, spiraling development, Cosmic Education, and a positive relationship with error. Longer sessions include guided reflection and goal setting, with an optional pathway for sharing professional growth goals with school leaders.