Saturday, March 2, 2024, 8 AM – 4 PM
The Northern Kentucky Convention Center
1 West River Center Blvd., Covington, KY 41011
Registration Rates & Dates
Early Bird Rate, $140 (January 8th – January 21st)
Regular Rate, $150 (January 21st – February 16th)
Membership School Rate, $130 per person for 5 people
No walk-in registration is available
Professional Development Information
- All sessions are approved for .5 CEU’s through Crescent Ridge Academy
- American Montessori Society and Kentucky hours are approved
- Ohio* hours are pending approval.
*You must enter your OPIN number when you register AND bring it with you the day of the conference. If you don’t have an account with the Ohio Professional Registry, click here to create one. Please check with your administrator if this is required for you/your school.
PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT CMS TO SEE IF YOU NEED ONE.
Thanks to our Major Conference Sponsors:
BECOME AN EVENT SPONSOR!
Conference Schedule
8:00 – 9:00 am – Conference Registration & Exhibitors Open
9:00 – 10:30 am – Session A: Keynote Speaker
10:45 – 12:30 pm – Session B Workshops
12:30 – 1:45 pm – Lunch & Shopping
1:45 – 3:30 pm – Session C Workshops
Workshops with * next to the name are approved for the State of Ohio hours through OCCRRA.
*Session A – Keynote Speaker: 9:00 -10:30 am
Colleen Wilkinson
*Of All Things, Love is the Most Potent: Apply Trauma Informed Practices in Our Community
Discover the profound impact of trauma-informed practices within Montessori classrooms as we learn from our keynote speaker, Colleen Wilkinson. Gain insights into the evolving understanding of childhood trauma and explore how it shapes a child’s development and learning process. Learn how to effectively integrate Montessori and trauma-informed principles to create safe and nurturing environments that support the healing and growth of students who have experienced adversity.
Through engaging anecdotes and real-life examples, Colleen will demonstrate the power of trauma-informed practices in fostering emotional well-being, resilience, and empowerment within classrooms. You’ll acquire valuable strategies to establish healthy relationships with students and employ mindful interventions that promote self-regulation and empathy. Don’t miss this transformative opportunity to embrace the needs of every child and make a lasting impact on their lives. Join us on this journey toward creating trauma-informed Montessori environments that nurture healing, growth, and thriving.
Bio: Colleen Brings a Unique Perspective
12+ Years of experience in the Foster and Adoption Community, 20+ Years in Education: Public School, Private School, Montessori & Waldorf Schools, 15+ Years in the Montessori Community, 8+ Years as an Administrator, 10+ years as a Consultant providing Coaching and Professional Development, American Montessori Society, Credentialed Certified Texas Public School Teacher, A commitment to social justice, equity, and inclusion.
Thank you to our Keynote Sponsor:
Session B Workshops: 10:45 am-12:30 pm
*1. Building Resilient Communities
Early Childhood 3-6 years, Lower Elementary 6-9 years, Upper Elementary 9-12 years, Adolescent/High School 12-18 years old, Administration
Colleen Wilkinson
How do school communities become places where children are empowered and resilient? We’ll learn more about implementing classroom structures, curriculum choices, discipline, and interactions that support independence, growing positive mental health for students and staff, and preventing school-based trauma and retraumatization. These tools will encourage teachers to grow their practices for supporting students who challenge them and help them bring out the best in every student in the room. Every adult in the life of children can support the capacity for resilience in students and each other. In this session, collaboration and supportive coaching will help create a community of adults who can apply the principles of trauma-informed practice to daily interactions with students by having healthy communication, clear boundaries, and relationship-based classroom management.
*2. Unlocking the Universe Through Science
Early Childhood 3-6 years
Kristi Lethenstrom & Ali Finnegan
As Montessorians, we know that the importance of the Science curriculum allows children the opportunity to gain more knowledge of the world around them and gives them an opportunity to engage their curiosity of wonder. Science should be fun, it should be messy, it should be engaging, and it should be interesting both for you and for the children you are teaching! Unlocking the Universe through Science is an opportunity for us to come together and learn about how we can propel children’s curiosity away from screens and back into the natural world that surrounds them daily. Our goal is to provide children with the opportunities to learn about the world around them in a way that is interesting and interactive for them. Join us as we take a look into the Science curriculum, the topics that we cover, and the implementation of it. Allow us to unlock the universe through science for you so that you can go into a classroom and unlock the excitement that awaits your students.
*3. Living in Wonder: The Joyful Center Between Control and Chaos
Early Childhood 3-6 years, Lower Elementary 6-9 years, Upper Elementary 9-12 years, Adolescent/High School 12-18 years old, Administration
Rosemary Quaranta
Living in wonder together is the true work and gift of the Montessori classroom. Wonder is where spontaneous activity is born, purpose is pursued, and curiosity is fueled. And yet, many lose sight of this central goal and approach their role as a guide with either too much control or too little structure, allowing child to languish where they might otherwise thrive. In this workshop we will explore how to live together in wonder, reflecting on the attributes a teacher needs to contribute to an environment where all community members live in wonder. Recognizing that adults must arrive at wonder before they can invite children toward this joyful center, we will reflect on the balance between too much control and too little structure and to consider who you need to be as a facilitator of wonder.
*4. Hands-on Geometry Using a Drawing Board and Tools
Early Childhood 3-6 years, Lower Elementary 6-9 years, Upper Elementary 9-12 years
Joan Cotter
Maria Montessori felt geometry was vital to the life of the young child and developed the well-known geometry materials. Montessori children, ages five and up, enjoy using small drawing boards, T-squares, and triangles. The children eagerly mastered the tools and made geometric figures. They constructed equilateral triangles and divided them into halves, thirds, fourths, sixths, eighths, twelfths, and more. They also constructed hexagons, stars, squares, and tangram arrangements. Montessori’s book Psychogeometry discusses extending geometric principles to older children. With these drawing tools, they can construct tangram configurations, reflections, the Pythagorean theorem, and several spirals. While doing this work, children discover geometric relationships and develop a deeper love for mathematics. They will also learn how geometry can be a strong component of art. Come to this hands-on workshop and become proficient with constructions using the drawing board and tools. Materials will be provided.
*5. The Essential Elements for Public Montessori: Fostering Continuous School Improvement
Early Childhood 3-6 years, Lower Elementary 6-9 years, Upper Elementary 9-12 years, Adolescent/High School 12-18 years old, Administration
Seth Webb
Public Montessori schools are asked to fulfill a special promise: to deliver a high-quality Montessori program, while meeting all of the performance expectations required of the neighboring schools in the district. The weight of external accountability, and fear of the consequences of students not performing well on year-end testing, can contribute to public Montessori schools focusing heavily on the metrics they will be reporting to their district or authorizer – metrics that likely don’t align with what public Montessori schools hold and treasure, including: independence, focus and concentration, passion and joy – in short, human flourishing.
Designing a quality Montessori program with these outcomes in mind, and sustaining the implementation of aligned best practices through the push and pull from external stakeholders, are critical factors in determining a school’s overall success. The revised and expanded Essential Elements Implementation Rubric supports public schools to succeed and thrive. The rubric is rooted in Montessori principles, and informed by years of refinement in the field. It considers five domains: Adults, Montessori Learning Environment, Family Partnership, Leadership and Organizational Development, and Assessment. The first two domains reflect the fidelity of Montessori implementation, while the latter three domains provide insight on the level of a public school’s sustainability.
Attendees in this session will receive an orientation to the Essential Elements Implementation Rubric, learn what public schools that have used the rubric are doing to maintain fidelity to Montessori pedagogy while also operating sustainably; and leave ready to use the rubric as a self-study tool in their own settings.
*6. Social-Emotional Development and Conflict Resolution in the Montessori Classroom
Early Childhood 3-6, Lower Elementary 6-9
Jamie Minniear
Children need to learn and practice tools that support their communication in order for them to build relationships with parents, teachers, and peers. This workshop will share an intentional way to interact and support a child’s independence while gaining confidence in their interactions. Attendees will learn language as well as how to engage with children to help them communicate emotions when problem-solving or when their feelings or bodies are hurt. This assistance we have intentionally practiced and provided at Community Montessori School for more than a decade provides grace, love, and boundaries that support children’s maturity and confidence. This is a superpower when children are able to overcome their big emotions or hard situations in a productive way. This presentation aligns with Maria Montessori’s ideas around supporting children to build, practice, and develop self-discipline. In addition, having done this many years now, the older children move in and help one another with this process which contributes to the global community because it’s ultimately is rooted in love.
7. Creating a Culture of Student Agency in the Elementary Classroom
Lower Elementary 6-9 years, Upper Elementary 9-12 years
Jessica Simpson
In an ideal Montessori elementary classroom, children guide their own educational journey. They willingly work in areas of challenge to improve their skills and dive deep into topics of their own choosing independently. But how do we get there?
As guides, it is always a struggle to walk the line of ensuring that children learn what is expected by society while encouraging and making time for student driven work. Finding this balance can feel impossible when we feel pressure from administration and parents or when students are uninspired, unwilling to take academic risks, or unmotivated to choose work beyond what is assigned to them.
This workshop will explore how the transformation of the adult, classroom culture, and environment affect student agency and provide a roadmap for you to develop a culture of student agency in your classroom.
*8. Music and Movement in the Montessori Classroom
Early Childhood 3-6 years, Lower Elementary 6-9 years, Upper Elementary 9-12 years
Maria Franzini
The presentation will cover music and movement activities spanning the ages of 3-12. The songs and movement are integrated into and derived from the Montessori curriculum. Curricular areas include: science, biology, geography, history, peace, socio-emotional, and of course, music! Activities to use with the Montessori bells will be included. Participants should come ready to sing and move. Many lesson ideas will be given for various ages, and should be accessible to both practiced and emergent music-makers. Lessons are based on arts-integration principles, as well as the teachings of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, who was a contemporary of Maria Montessori.
Lunch & Shopping: 12:30 pm – 1:45 pm
A box lunch will be served on the Conference Level with plenty of comfortable seating areas to relax, enjoy your meal, and network with Montessori colleagues! A vegetarian option is available, but we are not able to accommodate other dietary needs and allergies. You are welcome to bring your own food to the conference center as well.
Thank you to our Lunch Sponsor:
Exhibitors are open during this time and are looking forward to sharing their beautiful resources with you!
Session C Workshops: 1:45 pm – 3:30 pm
- *The Being Project: Yoga Beyond Tree Pose for Social-Emotional Learning
Early Childhood 3-6 years, Lower Elementary 6-9 years, Upper Elementary 9-12 years, Adolescent/High School 12-18 years old
Emily Hunt & Kristin Schott
1. 3-Period Lesson
We start each class in a seat with a discussion. The middle of the class is filled with movement, using our voice, and releasing energy. The end of class is always a Final Relaxation with Stillness Stones. The presentation for The Being Project: Yoga Beyond Tree Pose for Social-Emotional Learning will follow the same structure. Guests will even write a guided meditation of their own through an outlined worksheet they can take home.
2. Whole-Part-Whole
The presentation and structure of our classes begin with guests understanding that they are already connected to yoga and meditation and that it goes beyond tree pose and standing on their head. We will begin by asking a simple question: What do you do to relax? Common answers are cooking, cuddling my cat, walking, etc. Guests will begin to understand that this indeed is a form of meditation and why. We will then go into the new exercises they will practice and add to their tool belts to take home with them to the classroom.
3. Grace and Courtesy
Especially with The Being Project’s new focus on Ohio’s Social Emotional Learning standards, grace and courtesy is a foundation of our program. Our curated conversations with children on emotions and how they work (and how they are regulated) allow children to treat themselves with grace. Our conversations on social situations and how to “Be Together” strongly tie in with the concept of courtesy for others.
4. Uninterrupted Work Time
Set the scene; no loud noises in the background, soft lighting, etc. The Being Projects 3-part cards, Calm Corners, yoga poses, meditation exercises and more that children can use on their own.
5. Freedom Within Limits
An ethical yoga teacher will encourage children to watch first if they feel apprehensive, and will never require them to do any pose or activity that they don’t feel comfortable doing. The limit is they are asked to stay in the circle and join in if they feel called.
*2. Teaching children to read in the Montessori 3-6 environment: Aligning current research with your existing language curriculum.
Early Childhood 3-6 years
Holly James
Research is suggesting that the Science of Reading approach to language development is closely aligned with the Montessori approach to systematically and explicitly teach children how to read. What is the Science of Reading and how can you implement these practices on a daily basis when your time is already so limited? Many teachers feel overwhelmed and unprepared when faced with so many options on how best to help a child progress into fluent and energetic readers. This session will provide tips and tools for guides to implement oral language and phonemic awareness activities organically throughout their school day to support later reading success. Gain perspective, confidence and a deeper understanding of your early literacy efforts with your students and enjoy all the hidden language development opportunities already in your classroom!
*3. Think About it! Using Critical Thinking Skills to Examine Montessori Education
Infant/ Toddler (birth to 36 months), Early Childhood 3-6 years, Lower Elementary 6-9 years, Upper Elementary 9-12 years
Adolescent/High School 12-18 years old, Administration
Heather Gerker & Laura Saylor
Montessori teachers must apply critical thinking strategies in their daily practice. Yet, we often take Dr. Montessori’s words and writings as infallible. Rather than simply following what we learned during our Montessori teacher preparation, we must use critical thinking skills to contextualize the Montessori Method in our school communities. In this session, we will work together using textual analysis to review the underlying ideological and cultural assumptions of Dr. Montessori’s writings. Textual analysis is qualitative research focusing on a text’s underlying ideological and cultural assumptions. Through a curated selection of Dr. Montessori’s writings, we will lead participants through the steps and procedures of textual analysis. In doing so, we will improve our teaching and be better prepared to advocate for Montessori education.
4. Digging Deeper into DOK
Lower Elementary 6-9 years, Upper Elementary 9-12 years,
Adolescent/High School 12-18 years old
Melanie Brown & Katey Dodd
With this presentation, we will review the four Depth of Knowledge (DOK) areas and examine them within the Montessori lessons. We will connect DOK to state testing and look at how to keep authentic Montessori lessons while meeting the demands of today. We will not only show how to strengthen Montessori lessons; we will also provide a method of teaching where students feel valorized.
*5. Maintaining Limits: 3 Tools to Build Cooperation and Mutual Respect
Early Childhood 3-6 years, Lower Elementary 6-9 years, Upper Elementary 9-12 years, Adolescent/High School 12-18 years old, Parents, Families, Guardians
Chip DeLorenzo
One of the most important principles in Montessori education is treating one another with dignity and respect. Creating a social-emotional climate that supports this idea is not always easy. Setting and maintaining limits in the classroom is a challenge for everyone. Join us as we deconstruct why children test pre-established limits, how adults invite misbehavior, and most importantly how we can change our own perceptions and interactions to develop cooperative and mutually respectful relationships with the children in our classrooms.
*6. Empowering Young Minds to Say “Why Not?” Instead of “Why?”
Infant/ Toddler, Early Childhood 3-6, Lower Elementary 6-9, Upper Elementary 9-12, Adolescent/ High School 12-18, Administration, Parents, Families, Guardians
Namita Prasad
After the pandemic, we saw a 25% increase in mental illnesses nationwide. It is clear that our children need to learn how to build their self-esteem now more than ever. A Confident Mindset™’s workshop gives educators the tools to instill confidence in their students using a proactive and systematic approach, resulting in an unstoppable, lifelong “why not” attitude. Confidence is a mindset, a teachable approach to life. With the right mindset, anyone can become confident! Our outcomes include: measurable improvements in the mental health and wellness of students and staff, a supportive environment of kindness, gratitude, respect, and responsibility, and reinforcement of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and 21st Century Skills.
7. Creating an Authentic Community Immersion Curriculum for the Montessori Adolescent
Upper Elementary 9-12 years, Adolescent/High School 12-18 years old, Administration
Randy Kelly
This presentation focuses on peace building through community immersion and the way in which it has been successfully implemented in the TMA adolescent program. The workshop will share community engagement that includes a curriculum of instructional presentations, academic work and hands-on learning. Immersive field studies allow students to gain a personal understanding of the work of the heart. This is an essential component to a developmentally appropriate curriculum for the adolescent. Meaningful community engagement is essential in guiding the adolescent to develop a sense of stewardship and compassion leading toward an awareness of social justice. Just as the adult creates a safe haven for the infant’s “absorbent mind,” for adolescents the adult creates an environment for the social newborn in which the potential for valorization, or development of character, is optimized. Montessori saw children as more than simply scholars. In her view, each child is a full and complete human being. At The Montessori Academy, we design social communities and purposeful work that cultivate students’ sense of independence, self-respect, love of peace, passion for work done well, and the value of all life. To this end, a meaningful community engagement curriculum is essential for a complete Montessori education and development of the understanding that “service” should not focus on doing for but rather, being with. The workshop will focus on the partnership between The Montessori Academy and the South Bend Center for the Homeless and will emphasize the notion that relationship building is transformative. TMA students spend one morning of every week at the Center. They participate in presentations to start the morning, work alongside and form relationships with guests and staff of the Center, as well as with the students in our Early Childhood classrooms there, the only such classroom of its kind in the country. The workshop will also provide information about how participants’ schools can develop immersion programs in their communities.
8. Retelling and Re-storying the Great Lessons
Lower Elementary 6-9 years, Upper Elementary 9-12 years, Administration
Luz Casquejo Johnston
The Great Lessons and Cosmic Education were developed during Dr. Montessori and Mario’s time in India. They echo a time when humans gathered around campfires to share stories from their daily lives as well as to share the history of their people. Storytelling and the oral tradition are the cornerstone of the method and a vital part of supporting the sensitive period for wonder and awe of the child in the second plane. In addition, research in the field of education shows that there is a significant increase in motivation and engagement when children see themselves in the curriculum. So, the problem of practice for storytelling is to create stories that strike imagination, awe and wonder for all. This session seeks to offer participants an opportunity to re-engage with the Montessori oral tradition as well as apply ABAR principles and practice.