Workshop 2025 Overview

4:00 – 4:15 PM Eastern Time

Welcome!

4:15 - 5:15 PM
Eastern Time

Centro Educativo Montessori Macadeamia -Travel, Grow, and Learn: How trips Engages Adolescents in Developmental Work (Adolescents Presenting)

Students will discuss a school trip. They will go through the planning phase, which involved a presentation with cities to go, the community decision, things to do in the city, budget, raising money, and itinerary. They will discuss how they raised money money raising, and what they learned from the trip.

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Kristy Yager and Lisa McKenzie - Rise Up: Helping Teens Thrive in a World That's Failing to Prepare Them

Today's teens are growing up in a world that often avoids discomfort, shields them from struggle, and prioritizes ease over growth--leaving many unprepared for life's inevitable challenges. This session explores why resilience is declining among adolescents and how we can reverse the trend.

Participants will:

*Identify key psychological, social, and emotional barriers that hinder resilience in teens today, including overprotection, fear of failure, and disconnection.

*Gain practical tools and strategies to help adolescents develop inner strength, emotional flexibility, and a growth mindset.

*Learn how to foster a classroom and community culture that encourages risk-taking, embraces challenges, and supports the development of true adaptability.

Rooted in Montessori principles and relevant to the realities of modern adolescence, this session empowers educators to rise up and prepare students—not just to survive—but to thrive

5:15 - 5:45 PM Eastern Time

Break

5:45 -7:15 PM Eastern Time

Jen Savage - Screens and Stillness: A Call to Screen Time Stewardship for Adolescents and Their Guides

In an age of constant connectivity, both educators and students are navigating unprecedented levels of digital saturation. This presentation invites participants to explore screen time stewardship—a mindful, values-driven approach to technology use that honors both individual well-being and collective responsibility. Drawing from Montessori principles, trauma-informed practice, and current research on digital wellness, Jen Iamele Savage offers a framework for cultivating stillness, agency, and reflection in screen-saturated environments.

Through personal narrative, classroom strategies, and practical tools, attendees will examine how screen habits shape identity, attention, and relationships—and how intentional shifts can restore balance. Whether you're guiding adolescents through digital dilemmas or reimagining your own tech boundaries, this session offers language, insight, and actionable steps to foster healthier digital ecosystems. Participants will leave with a renewed sense of possibility: that stewardship begins not with restriction, but with awareness, connection, and choice.

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Bodeene Amyot - Cairdeas, Rachel Elkey, Kimberly Palmer-Davis, Dr. Paige M. Bray and NIMBLE Adolescents - NIMBLE as a Community Inquiry and Stance Towards Knowledge Justice

Join our journey as we seek knowledge equity through an intergenerational community inquiry!  This interactive session invites you to listen to NIMBLE adolescents' experience with Montessori as a mechanism for one’s own personal nourishment as well as a way to support fellow humans flourishing. During the 2025 Nee Intergenerational Montessori Belonging & Learner-centered Education (NIMBLE) Youth summer community initiative in Hartford, young children, youth and adults forged a prepared environment that honored each person as a knowledge creator, problem-solver and contributor to systemic solutions. Literally being nimble enough to meet the ever-changing learning edges was supported by a coach, a facilitator and learning resources in a digital platform. To be curious enough to listen, observe, ask questions and take the community lead was the superpower of the NIMBLE youth. This place-based knowledge justice initiative is paired with the knowledge equity work happening in virtual space- the Montessori Glossary Community Project-  connecting youth to Montessori ideas and literature. Our approach integrates participatory design methodologies with systems change frameworks, engaging youth, practitioners, researchers, families, and community stakeholders. 

7:30 - 8:30 PM Eastern Time

Samson Foster - Supporting Trans and Genderqueer Youth When Their Rights are in Jeopardy

Our schools house so many non-traditional students and families, many of whom are struggling right now to be seen, cared for, and respected in the broader society. Let's talk about how we can make these kids and families feel safe in our school (and ideally in the larger community). Presentation will be given by a trans teacher and foster parent of many trans kids. We will have many opportunities to share our successes, frustrations, ideas, and questions on this topic that is so challenging right now!

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Dr. Tyecia Powell she/her - WE: Wellness as an Enterprise

This session discusses the intersection of ones internal environment (self) with the external environment (community -family, school, society) while unpacking the Montessori concepts of work of the hands and community impact. Montessori education emphasize fostering a sense of belonging, responsibility, and social awareness and this is typically seen through activities that encourage contributing to the wider community, however we have to first sow love and grace into self before we can sow into others. WE are our own enterprise, business, project, and most valuable undertaking first and that requires effort. Join me in a lecture and a self reflection activity that dives into the I within the We!

8:30 - 9:00 PM Eastern Time

Closing Remarks & Opportunity to Network

Eastern Time (EDT)

Saturday - October 11, 2025

Please use the timezone converter to check your availability.

10:00 - 10:15 AM Eastern Time

Welcome!

10:15 - 11:15 AM Eastern Time

Annika Cordero & Dennis Gonzalez (he/him) - Entalablado: Star on Stage (Adolescent Presentation)

Entalablado: Star on Stage is an adolescent-led presentation of Entalablado Repertory from Temple Hill International School (THIS), a non-profit Montessori school under the Philippine Montessori Center. Entalablado Repertory — made by students, for students — aims to create a safe space for adolescents to express and discover themselves through the many avenues of theatre arts. This presentation endeavors to provide insights on the formation of the club, demonstrate its impact in the eventual school performances, and encourage discussion on similar student-led programs. The adolescent club members will present interactive slides, pictures, and videos that show the experiences, achievements, and challenges of the club in its founding year.

11:15 - 11:45 AM Eastern Time

Break - Talk to a Trainer

11:45 - 1:15 PM Eastern Time

Andrew Faulstich and Kelly Jonelis - Who is Your “Inner Adolescent?”: How Transforming Ourselves Can Transform Our Environments

Adolescents are the most misunderstood age in our modern society. What does it take to truly serve their needs? In our work with adolescent practitioners across the country, one need has presented itself time and time again: Practitioners must examine their own experiences as an adolescent in order to truly see their students, understand their needs, and create ideal prepared environments. This engaging and collaborative session invites any adult who works with adolescents to sit with their “inner adolescent,” reflect on their experiences from these formative moments, and consider how those experiences shape the way they see adolescents. Then, participants will turn to the present: How can an understanding of themselves transform how they relate to their students and transform their practice? What actionable steps will truly serve their adolescents in their unique contexts? The goal for this session is to lead participants toward “productive discomfort” through reflection and discussion which pushes them to see themselves and their students in a new way. Through this practice, we can move ourselves toward Montessori’s call to “see [the adolescent] who is not yet there.”

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Leah Williams - Belonging in Montessori

This session offers adults an opportunity to work through how adultification bias shows up even within the progressive Montessori pedagogy, and how we can navigate what is ours to do in identifying and dismantling this bias in academic spaces. We will use the work of researchers, authors, and activists like Monique (Morris) Couvson, Ed.D., Dr. Moya Bailey, Dr. Christopher Emdin, and other Black education experts to continue to challenge the narrative that classifies and limits Black and other racialized children.

1:15 - 1:30 PM Eastern Time

Break - Talk to a Trainer

1:30 -2:30 PM Eastern Time

Rebecca Few - Reading is Lit, Fam!

This session is about fanning the flames of reading passion in your adolescent community with practical strategies that can be implemented immediately resulting in reading joy for your scholars. Methods shared during this session are simple enough to be applied without much preplanning from the guide and can be adapted to any setting. The presenter has over twenty years of experience honing the craft of reading instruction and has seen students fall in love with books in both traditional and Montessori settings using the strategies described here. If you want to see your students develop the identity of a reader and set them on a path of life-long readership, you won't want to miss this session!

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Jorien van der Woude - Using AI-tools responsibly in Montessori Secondary (writing) education

How can students learn to use AI tools responsibly in (project-based) writing education while maintaining the Montessori core values of freedom within limits and giving and receiving trust? This presentation explores research conducted at Metis Montessori Lyceum Amsterdam – a Montessori School 12-18 in Amsterdam - examining the integration of AI tools in secondary writing education through a Montessori lens. While the majority of students already use AI tools like ChatGPT for schoolwork, the question is no longer whether AI belongs in education, but how we can harness its potential while preserving the pedagogical principles that make Montessori education.

The research demonstrates how Maria Montessori's timeless principles of "freedom within limits" and "giving and receiving trust" can provide a framework for AI integration. Rather than banning these tools out of fear, we can guide students toward responsible use that enhances rather than replaces their cognitive development.

2:30 -3:00 PM Eastern Time

Closing Remarks & Opportunity to Network

Eastern Time (EDT)

Sunday - October 12, 2025

Please use the timezone converter to check your availability.

10:00 - 10:15 AM Eastern Time

Welcome!

10:15 - 11:15 AM Eastern Time

Caitlyn Pelkey & Emma Soderberg - Great Goats! Using Goats in a Montessori Adolescent Program (Adolescent Presentation)

This session will be all about goats! This year, Butler Montessori added two Pygora fiber goats named Bernard and Bartholomew to their farm. A small group of students researched and found a farm from which to purchase the goats, built a fence and house for them, and got everything they needed including food, hay, straw, mats, buckets, and more. They finally picked them up, took them to their first vet visit, and learned how to care for them! In this presentation, audience members will be able to see pictures and videos of the goats, view a timeline of the process, and ask questions about how to get goats for their own programs.

11:15 - 11:45 AM Eastern Time

Break - Talk to a Trainer

11:45 - 1:15 PM Eastern Time

Anders Benson - Culinary Occupation Jam Sesh: Best Methods for Getting Students Into the Kitchen!

This session will focus on helping guides look at their occupational work with students and see how cooking and the culinary arts can contribute to their program of work and study. Anders is passionate about helping students and guides across scientific disciplines through cooking (physics, chemistry, energy/waves) and wants to help you do the same. In this session, you will see examples of this occupational work in action, and get resources to help you start to plan your own structures, lessons, and spaces to make it happen in your school program. With a combination of real-life examples, standards-aligned curriculum, and time to ask questions and brainstorm, you'll be able to start getting students into the kitchen and excited about this meaningful work.

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Nikki Conyers - Beyond Peace Education: Teaching for Social Justice

Montessori education has long embraced peace education as a cornerstone of its philosophy, but what does teaching for peace look like at the adolescent level? As these "social newborns" begin to grapple with questions of identity, fairness, and responsibility, they are uniquely poised to extend Montessori's vision of peace into active engagement with social justice.

Drawing from inspiration from Dr. Montessori's own advocacy for children's rights and human dignity, while connecting her legacy to contemporary approaches in anti-bias, anti-racist (ABAR) and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work, participants will explore how adolescent classrooms can move beyond abstract ideals of peace and harmony to cultivate critical thinking, empathy, and the skills needed to recognize and challenge inequity.

Through practical examples of curriculum structure and discussion, this session considers how to create a curriculum and classroom environment that moves beyond peace education where adolescents feel empowered to question injustice, engage in brave conversations, and take action in their communities.

1:15 - 1:30 PM Eastern Time

Break - Talk to a Trainer

1:30 -2:30 PM Eastern Time

Emma Rodwin - Hidden Lives: Using Rainforest Communities as Models for Montessori Adolescent Communities

While at first glance it may seem like a somewhat superficial or tangential connection, upon further examination, tropical rainforests have very much in common with Montessori adolescent communities. Montessori education aims to create an environment that allows children and adolescents to flourish, naturally moving from plane to plane of development. Rainforests, too, pass through natural cycles and share many of the same important developmental characteristics. The characteristics that both communities share highlight key intersections that make the rainforest an ideal place not only for adolescent exploration, but also a deepening of authentic Montessori pedagogy for adolescent practitioners.

This session will explore the unique qualities of rainforest ecosystems, connect those same qualities to the characteristics of Montessori adolescent programs, and show pictures and videos from the Children's Eternal Rainforest in Costa Rica to illustrate the parallels.

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Isabella Moyana & Daniel Franco - The Montessori Bridge: Linking Two Worlds, One Path To Success! (Adolescent Presentation)

In an inspiring fusion of creativity, teamwork, and empathy, two adolescent groups from vastly different socioeconomic backgrounds - one from a wealthy Montessori school, the other from an underprivileged one - joined forces to bring their dream of a transformative living experience to life. United by Montessori method, which emphasizes self-directed learning and collaboration, these students devised and executed a multifaceted plan to raise funds for a trip outside the city.

Through collective efforts, they organized a successful production of The Phantom of the Opera, participated in a community fair, and sold custom t-shirts. Over the course of several months, they not only raised the funds they needed but also built strong bonds across their differences. The trip was more than just a getaway - it was a powerful demonstration of the potential for equal opportunities when young people work together, embracing both their diverse backgrounds and shared values.

This session will explore the transformative impact of the Montessori method in fostering collaboration, bridging social divides, and empowering students to achieve common goals. Join us to discover how education can be a powerful force for unity and change.

2:30 -3:00 PM Eastern Time

Closing Remarks & Opportunity to Network