Like everyone this year, the METTC staff had to adapt to the reality of COVID-19 restrictions. For us, this meant that normal in-person training could not take place this summer. Faced with this constraint, we reimagined and reconfigured our courses to an online format that retained the quality and sense of community that has always been our primary focus. We were confident that we could provide high-fidelity Montessori Elementary training even under these conditions. The online program ran from June 22 to August 7. Based on feedback from the participants, this year’s training was well received and gained high marks from the adult learners who attended.

The two cohorts this summer:

A returning group that had begun training in the summer of 2019 and are in the rmiddle of their studies. Their instruction included a focus on Classroom Management and Curriculum Design.
A new group just beginning this summer. Their curriculum included an immersion in Montessori philosophy that is the foundation for the coursework now and for future development.

We asked the participants to rate the course content, assignments, readings, resources, and the quality discussions in forums and live sessions. The average score was 8.56 out of a possible 10. A selection of comments from the respondents is at the end of this newsletter.

METTC Fall Seminar Going Online

With adult learners coming from 10 states and two foreign countries, METTC will be holding its fall seminar online instead of in-person to ensure health and safety during the continuing Covid-19 pandemic.

While the fall seminar normally includes five four-hour sessions over two and a half days, the online sessions will be spread out over five weeks to adjust to the nature of online learning. This also will allow our adult learners to spread out the work at their own pace and on their own time.

We hope to be able to hold our spring seminar on-site in Lexington, MA, especially since it is the last period of training for our 2019 6-9 cohort.

And speaking of Distance Learning..........

One of our newest faculty members, Michael Silverstone, recently co-authored a book for The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) entitled Teaching to Empower: Taking Action to Foster Student Agency, Self-Confidence and Collaboration.

In a webinar presented by ASCD June 25 live to over 1,300 global participants with 650 additional on-demand views to date, Michael and Dr. Debbie Zacarian discussed strategies for fostering a culture of agency, self-confidence, and collaboration that gives students the opportunity, responsibility, and tools to be active learners, thoughtful collaborators, and engaged citizens.

“In co-writing Teaching to Empower, I drew heavily on my experience as a Montessori guide, and from the philosophy and from ideas of the Autonomous Learner and Intrinsic Motivation that are the core of both METTC and Montessori Education and Philosophy,” Michael said. “I can’t emphasize enough how instrumental and life-changing my METTC training has been in terms of bringing these ideas to life for me for my students, and being able to communicate them to a wider audience of educators.”

Insights and quotes from METTC members Robyn Breiman, Sheila Reid, Biff Maier, and D’Neil and Michael Duffy, are featured in the book.For additional information, go to http://www.ascd.org/Publications/Books/Overview/Teaching-to-Empower.aspx

It takes a village....

Finally, we're all in uncharted territory this school year. How to teach well and safely? How to balance the needs of all the stakeholders in our schools? There are many creative ideas out there and we would love to hear yours. If you can share with the larger community, please email any thoughts, concerns, solutions, tips, etc. on how you are handling the crisis to Michael Duffy. With your permission, we'd like to pass them along to the larger community of Montessorians.

Verbatim Comments from the participants

The online course was really amazing. The staff was very helpful and the slideshows and discussions really helped me feel so much more confident going into the new school year.
The wealth of experience and expertise is incredible and so welcome. Thank you everyone
I gained an incredible amount of knowledge each week
This was a wonderful beginning to my Montessori journey. I am now confident that leaving the traditional classroom was the right choice.
I found the content provided in this course to be extremely valuable, inspiring and helpful. I am impressed with the visible commitment, knowledge, and warmth expressed by every single instructor.
I really felt how much love and care and effort the METTC staff put in.
As the weeks went on, distance learning, socially distanced lessons and materials making for distance learning became a larger part of the conversation, and I think we will all be able to navigate the Fall so much better having had time to collaborate with METTC faculty and my cohort.
Thank you for making the live sessions interactive and informative.
Most noteworthy -- the collaboration!! The ability of METTC to pivot and present a worthwhile course online. Kudos!