Educators from around the country continue to come together to share big dreams of creating tiny schools with their communities. During the June gathering for Teacher Leader Stories, educators Jill Evans of Goldenrod Montessori (Cleveland, OH) and Eric Oglesbee of River Montessori High School (South Bend, IN) shared their unique entrepreneurial advice for emerging Teacher Leaders.
Wildflower Schools – Minnesota hosted a virtual town hall with a panel of Black and Indigenous education leaders and institution-builders from around the United States. The panelists shared the life experiences, spiritual preparation, and practical skills they build upon to use Montessori education as a tool for racial justice and liberation.
We hold the Uvalde community in our hearts as we mourn the devastating loss of 19 children and 2 teachers – so soon after 10 people in Buffalo were viciously gunned down in an act of racial terror, another person was killed in a house of worship, and after so many others have died due to gun violence.
Wildflower Teacher Leaders Britni Haynie and Kanan Patel share a passion for reflecting Wildflower’s foundational commitments to practice anti-bias anti-racism and unity in their schools and their work with emerging Teacher Leaders around the country.
More than 80 people gathered together to hear the stories of two Wildflower Teacher Leaders from Puerto Rico, the visions that sparked their schools, and their experiences with Wildflower’s School Startup Journey. They included parents, interested Montessorians from around the world, and educators with dreams of creating education environments for their communities.
For those who are eager to learn more about the lived experience of Wildflower Teacher Leaders in designing and operating liberatory microschools with their communities, we invite you to join the next Teacher Leader Stories conversation
As we begin 2022, we know educators are working harder than ever to serve children and families. For those who are eager to learn more about the lived experience of Wildflower Teacher Leaders in designing and operating liberatory microschools with their communities, we invite you to join the next Teacher Leader Stories conversation.
How do you bring an affordable Montessori education to communities that historically haven’t had access to it?
It’s a question at the heart of Wildflower, and one that innovative Teacher Leaders grapple with regularly. Through the years, Wildflower schools have addressed the tension by embracing strategies such as city and state-subsidized tuition vouchers, creating tuition-free public charter schools, and pursuing school district partnerships. But recently, various teachers across the network have unlocked a piece of the puzzle that they hope will pave the way for an even greater number of students to access a Wildflower education. They are co-locating their schools in the epicenters of the communities that need them most: affordable housing complexes, shelters for women and children, and transitional housing.
Every year, a new group of Wildflower schools peeks through the soil for the first time. But what a year this has been. In the best of times, the challenges, uncertainty, and personal growth of designing and launching a new school are immensely demanding. Yet Wildflower Teacher Leaders rose to meet the storm of challenges this year with resiliency, grounded in purpose, experience, and love for the families they serve.
We are outraged by the senseless killing of another Black man at the hands of the police.
Black Lives Matter.
Daunte Wright’s life mattered.