“The winner of the Excellence Award is Caitlin Gawlowski!” rings over the school intercom at the end of the day. I was out on duty supervising students at dismissal and actually did not hear it the first time. “Why is
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Social Development is More Important Than Ever (Part 2)
In Part 1 of this article, we discussed Dr. Montessori’s theory on the First Plane of Development. In that, we explored the social development of the child between the ages of 0-6 and introduced you to The Casa. The Montessori
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Record and Reflect
Way back in the Fall of 1994, when I started college, I knew I wanted to be a teacher. I took all of the required classes, did my homework, and even had to put in “service hours” in classrooms. I
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Social Development is More Important Than Ever (Part 1)
In a time of redefining normal, I believe we have simultaneously developed a deeper appreciation for the reality-based social development within the child. As a Montessorian, we hold that social development is the adaptive work of the child. It is
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Vacation Homework- 10 Lessons Parents can Teach on Vacation
“Hi Mrs. Mora, we’re going out of town next week and I wanted to see if you could gather my child’s work before we leave to have him do while we are on the trip. Thanks!” Have you gotten this
Read MoreLasting Impressions
Ossie Davis once said, “Any form of art is a form of power; it has impact, it can affect change. It can not only move us, it makes us move.” When I was a fourth grader walking into
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Pat on the Back
Yesterday my students took the ACT. Not only is it a college placement test, the ACT also counts as our state’s required test for the year. It is a lot of pressure on my juniors, but as their English teacher,
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Empowering Teachers: A Strategy For Teacher Retention
I thought I knew what my next professional development cycle would be. Then I reviewed the results of a student survey I gave and realized I needed to go in a different direction for my PD cycle. Our administration seeks
Read MoreA teacher’s Spring Break
Spring Break – the week of extra naps, family time, adventures, and lesson planning. Wait, what?? Lesson planning? Grading papers? On Spring Break? Unfortunately, yes, this is the fate of many of us. One of my coworkers even joked with
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