Thoughts on Attention

Pause beside a busy playground on a sunny afternoon and listen.   “Look at me!” children shout as they run and swing, climb, slide, and hang from monkey bars.  For kids, knowing someone is watching is affirming, motivating, and restorative.  Observation is the foundation of Maria Montessori’s educational method, an essential habit of good teachers and parents. 

We Shall Overcome

The first years of my teaching career passed quickly in a Montessori classroom just outside Atlanta, Georgia.  The school was near of Emory University, the King Center for Social Justice, Georgia State University, The Centers for Disease Control, Eggleston Children’s Hospital, and Agnes Scott College.  Culturally and economically, it was an extraordinarily diverse population.  Some

Summer Reading

The year our daughter turned six, she celebrated the first day of summer with our neighbor.  It was a hot day, so they set the sprinkler in the sun, found last-year’s bathing suits, and ran the afternoon away; back and forth through the cold water, laughing.  When they finally stopped for popsicles, they decided they

Building a Pond

A few summers ago, we built a pond. Our sons were then 16 and 12, and our daughter was 10. They grew up in Montessori classrooms that were beautiful, carefully prepared communities where they learned to concentrate, read, collaborate, and master difficult tasks. Their teachers instilled a deep reverence for the natural world. They were