~ 2008 Conference Review ~

What a great start to our day with Jonathon Wolff’s keynote address on "positive psychology" and "social intelligence" to Montessori teaching and school leadership was not only inspiring but also awakening. "Follow the child”, we all know as Montessori directresses but do we actually do it? Do the administration of the schools we work at allow us to do it? Mr. Wolff left us all with something to think about.

Claudie Clark’s workshop on understanding roles and directing character... goals of misbehaviour gave good insight on the causes and consequences of misbehaviour.

Nancy Mortifee spoke on Mindful Education for Children - "I am Kind" with passion overflowing, Nancy shared with us the power of thought and intention. And how do we instill positive thinking in our children? She drove home the importance of affirmations for any age.

Jonathon Wolff spoke on strategies and tools for implementing and integrating "positive psychology" and "social intelligence" into our classrooms and our schools.

In his talk on ‘The Four Aspects of Spiritual Preparation of the Montessori Guide and School Leader”, Jonathon spoke about how Dr. Montessori advised teachers to engage in a process of "spiritual preparation" – by cultivating certain attitudes in the moral order and studying how to purify the heart and render it burning with charity towards the child. Mr. Wolff reminded us all that children need us to be present, positive and perceptive everyday. Our thoughts and feelings affect our behaviour, therefore affecting our classroom, and our community within the school. He gave us tools and strategies to implement this, as well as inspiration to return to the classroom with a new, different and awakened view.

Colleen Keeler and Val had an abundance of practical life ideas for coordinating a classroom with the seasons and the continents.

Isabel Downey, Darcie Esau, Christy Knapfl and Neelofar Nurani spoke on Theme Development and wowed all the participants with a hands-on, make and take workshop that gave ideas on tying in all the areas of the classroom to a theme.

Heather Main’s talk on "What you didn't learn in Montessori Teacher Training!" inspired participants to share some difficulties they may be having on either side of the classroom door. One suggestion was improving Parent/Teacher communication. She touched on the subject of professionalism within our community. She spoke about the core values within one’s teaching team and the importance of identifying them.

The day was a huge success; we had over a hundred and sixty participants, about ten different vendor tables that seemed to be very busy throughout the day and a successful Annual General Meeting. We had a number of door prizes; congratulations to all of you who won a prize. Big congratulations to next year’s conference winner Shazmina Herath!