Montessori in Action Podcast

"Are you more curious to know or to understand concepts?” This is the question that opens the research done by  A group of 5 researchers including Montessorian, Solange Denervaud  Our final episode for this season is a conversation with Solange who helps us unpack the findings of Learning by Heart or with Heart: Brain Asymmetry Reflects Pedagogical Practices. This research shows that how children...

Episode eight of this season is a conversation with Antria Goss. Antria is the first Montessori Coach to serve in the Cincinnati Public School District. Antria works in the public Montessori schools in Cincinnati as a Montessori Coach to the teachers. In our conversation, she shares about her role, the work she does and the support she receives from the district.

Our next episode of Montessori in Action features Guest Host, Genevieve D’Cruz. In this conversation, Genevieve speaks with two Montessorians- Elena Gonzalez. and  Jamila Ford  who were Assistants in Genevieve’s classroom when she was a Primary Guide. Both of these educators went on to take their Montessori training and are now leading classrooms of their own. In reminiscing about their time toget...

This episode brings together three Montessorians from three different Montessori organizations for a conversation about social justice. Maati Wafford, the Director of Equity and Engagement for the American Montessori Society (AMS), Jacqui Miller, the Human Rights and Social Justice Committee chair for the Association Montessori International United States of America (AMI USA) and Cindy Acker leade...

Our first episode for this calendar year is with two authors who are coming out with a new book. Junnifa Uzodike  and Simone Davies are co-authors of the book The Montessori Baby which came out in 2021. They are now about to release their new book The Montessori Child which will be available for purchase March 5, 2024. They last spoke with Montessori in Action in Season 2 for Episode 2 about their...

Season four continues with a conversation with Sheri Bishop. Sheri will be giving a talk in January entitled: Are Montessori Educators Barely Awake, Woke, or Too Woke for Our Time and Place? In this episode, she discusses the history of the term woke as well as her thoughts on the topic of awakening.

Sankofa Montessori is a new charter public school in Georgia that just opened its doors this school year. Our episode this month features two of their five-member leadership team- Jasmine See, who is the Manager of Student Culture and Family Engagement, and Chantille Chelich who is the Associate Director of Academics. This conversation explores their experience opening a public school as they shar...

Recently a systematic review of Montessori research was released that found that relative to traditional education, Montessori education has a positive effect on children’s academic and non-academic outcomes. The review looked at 32 rigorous studies from 8 countries around the world, focused on children from early childhood through to high school. As the plain summary concludes “Across a wide rang...

To launch Season 4 of the Montessori in Action Podcast, our topic is dual language and Montessori. We have two guests who have recently written articles about this unique combination. Gabriela Iturrald Espejo, the biliteracy coordinator at Montessori del Mundo, wrote The Science of Reading for Bilingual Children which appeared in Montessori Public’s recent issue. Sally Ness, the Director of Admiss...

For the final episode of Season Three we will be featuring a summer read. The Bloomsbury Handbook of Montessori Education is a brand new  accessible resource tracing Montessori education from its historical roots to current scholarship and contemporary issues of culture, social justice, and environmentalism. It is offered in six sections covering a range of topics related to Maria Montessori and M...

Veronica Sias is the Montessori District Coordinator in Dallas for the Dallas Independent School District. In her first year in the position, she developed a district-wide professional development day to serve all the Montessori schools. Gathering for a day, and rotating through a variety of workshops and speakers, the staff of the schools learned together, connected and felt the power of their co...

Dr. Montessori writes in Citizen of the World “What is most wanted is no patronizing charity for humanity, but a reverent consciousness of its dignity and worth.” This next conversation with professor, consultant, and author Donna Hicks explores her most recent book Leading with Dignity: How to Create a Culture That Brings Out the Best in People, which was published by Yale University Press in Aug...

In this episode we learn about the Black Wildflowers Fund, a new entity and sister organization of Wildflower Schools that will be co-led by our guests Maia Blankenship and Dr. Erika McDowell. This fund has been created so more Wildflower Schools led by proven black educators can flourish in neighborhoods across the country.

This episode features two Montessori trainers who talked with us about the experience of serving their communities.  Isabel Arce Garcia works at the Instituto Nueva Escuela in Puerto Rico and Khairieh Al Kalam works at the Sharjah Education Academy in the  United Arab Emirates.

Our next episode is a conversation with Victoria Johnson, who shares the results of her research, Education Anywhere: A Constructivist Grounded Theory study of Montessori Around the World. In this study, Victoria spent multiple years exploring the experiences of individuals and communities connected with diverse Montessori environments across the globe. Her research has produced some insightful th...

As times change, the preparation of Montessori educators must also. In this conversation, primary trainer, Uma Ramani shares ways in which she has shifted both the course and content to address the needs of the adult learner and in pursuit of reaching all learners.

This month is a conversation with Vonnie Brown, the new Chief Operating Officer at Association Montessori International- USA. Her Montessori connection began through the doorway of a Wôpanâak language cultural immersion Montessori school founded on her tribal land. She joins the team at AMI USA with a vision of greater access for all learners and an interest in inclusivity.

Our next episode features the emergence of public Montessori in Ukraine. Anna Volokhova and Viktoriia Shcherbyna and talk about their Montessori journeys, the impact of the war in Ukraine and their work together to support Montessori schools during this time. Anna is the CEO of Montessori UA, an organization founded this past spring in response to the war in Ukraine with a goal of bringing people...

Our next episode is a conversation with Trisha Moquino and Marcus Trujillo, the creators of new Montessori material coming out through Montessori Services. This material offers Montessori classrooms nomenclature cards created by Indigenous educators that represent Indigenous people across the land. Trisha is the author and Marcus is the illustrator of this new work created to reach children and ed...

Rungano Montessori on Wheels is a mobile learning incubator whose mission is to create Montessori-based learning environments within Black, Indigenous and People of Color communities.    In this episode we hear from Tatenda Blessing Muchiriri, the Founder and executive director of Rungano Montessori on Wheels as he shares the inspiration for and journey of actualizing this project.

Welcome to Season Three! Last season we launched with an episode about summer reads- Montessori-related books to explore. Our premier episode for this season will do the same as we discuss The Future of Smart: How Our Education System Needs to Change to Help all Young People Thrive. The author, Dr. Ulcca Joshi Hansen, shares her inspiration for the book and how Montessori schools play a role in ch...

Our final episode for this season is a conversation with two passionate Montessorians exploring the intersection of high quality Montessori implementation and special education. This interesting discussion exposes some of the tensions that exists between prevailing thoughts in special education when interacting with the Montessori philosophy. Ideas of language choice, structures and systems, and o...

Our next episode is a conversation with two Montessori educators who are working on a project called ‘Renewing the Montessori Curriculum’. This is a group of Montessori practitioners who are working to renew the Montessori curriculum - thinking and talking about how Dr. Montessori's liberatory principles would be applied with a lens of equity, in a way that is culturally responsive, and what curre...

Our next episode is a conversation with Sarah Harvey, the founder of Sankofa Montessori , a proposed culturally responsive, child and family-centered tuition-free Montessori charter school opening in Atlanta, Georgia in August of 2023. Sarah lives in Atlanta with her daughter Yaa and husband, Tyler. 

Amira Mogaji, EdD, is the president of the AMS Board of Directors and a founding board member of Montessori for Social Justice. Her special interests lie in Montessori public school education and anti-bias, antiracist education. Previously, she has worked as chief academic officer for City Garden Montessori School in St. Louis, MO; principal of Northglade Montessori Magnet School in Kalamazoo, MI;...