Red Maple Montessori

A reminder for the educators whose minds are beginning to wander back to classrooms, schedules, materials, new students and everything that needs to be done:

You don’t need to have September figured out in August.

Some of the most important decisions you’ll make this year will come after the children arrive.

After you’ve observed.

After you’ve listened.

After you’ve learned who they are.

Prepare what you can.

Leave room for what you don’t know yet.

The children will give you the rest of the information.

We know how much thought goes into preparing an environment for children.

But preparation for a new school year happens at more than one level.

Leadership prepares an environment too.

Through the way time is protected.

Through the expectations that are communicated.

Through opportunities for educators to connect and collaborate.

Through the relationships built with families.

Through the support that remains available after the first day of school has come and gone.

The beginning of a school year asks a great deal of educators. If we want them to create calm, connected, responsive environments for children, we need to consider the conditions we are creating for them too.

The prepared environment doesn’t stop at the classroom door.

As September approaches, what is your school doing to help educators and families begin the year feeling supported, connected and ready?

🍁 Leadership is an Intervention

“But I’ve seen them do it before.”

I’ve heard some version of this sentence countless times.

And it makes sense.

When we know a child can organize their materials, manage a transition, begin independently, remember the routine, or sustain attention sometimes, it’s easy to assume they should be able to do it consistently.

But executive function doesn’t work that way.

Capacity changes with context.

Stress. Fatigue. Interest. Sensory load. Emotional state. Task demands. Relationships. The environment.

So when a child succeeds sometimes and struggles at others, I don’t think the most useful question is:

“Why aren’t they doing it now?”

I want to know:

“What was different when they could?”

That shift matters.

Because observation isn’t only about noticing where children struggle.

It’s about becoming curious about the conditions in which they succeed—and then asking what we can learn from them.

Don’t just observe the struggle.
Observe the conditions for success.

That’s where some of our most useful information lives.

🍁 What changes have you noticed in a child’s ability to access a skill depending on the context?

We often talk about preparing the environment before September.

And we should.

The prepared environment is one of Montessori’s greatest gifts.

But there is another environment we prepare just as intentionally.

The environment of relationships.

One of the most powerful relationships in a school is the one between the classroom educator and the family.

Trust doesn’t appear the first time a difficult conversation is needed.

It is built in the ordinary moments.

A warm welcome at the beginning of the year.

A conversation at morning arrival.

Sharing something wonderful that happened during the day at dismissal.

Learning siblings’ names.

Remembering family stories.

Showing parents, through small daily interactions, that their child is genuinely known.

These moments are not incidental.

They are part of the work.

As school leaders prepare for September, I think there’s an important question to ask:

What systems have we intentionally created to help classroom educators build trusting relationships with families?

Not just administrators.

Not just newsletters.

Not just curriculum nights.

The classroom educator.

Because the educator who knows the child best should also have meaningful opportunities to know the family.

Leadership isn’t only about vision.

It’s about designing systems that make those relationships possible.

🍁 Leadership is an Intervention is a new Red Maple series exploring how the systems we create shape school culture, educator capacity, and children’s sense of belonging.

I’d love to hear from you:

What has your school intentionally put in place to help educators and families build strong relationships before September?

Every child deserves to experience school as a place where they belong.

I’m honoured to be offering Every Mind Belongs once again in partnership with the Foundation for Montessori Education.

Now in its second year, this six-week professional learning experience brings together educators who want to deepen their understanding of neurodiversity and create classrooms where every child can thrive.

This isn’t a course about diagnoses.

It’s about learning to see differently. To look beyond behaviour and understand the child, then translate those observations into meaningful changes that increase access, participation, and belonging.

Together, we’ll explore topics including:

🍁 Behaviour as communication
🍁 Neuroaffirming Montessori practice
🍁 ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and anxiety through a Montessori lens
🍁 Observation before intervention
🍁 Practical, classroom-ready strategies you can use immediately

Who is this course for?

Every Mind Belongs is designed for classroom educators, teaching assistants, learning support staff, and school leaders who want to build more inclusive, neuroaffirming learning environments.

No previous Montessori training is required.

Because learning is grounded in practice, participants will complete a case study throughout the course by observing and reflecting on one child in their own educational setting. Participants should therefore have access to a classroom where they can observe the same child over the six weeks.

Registration is now open.

The link to register is in my bio.

I look forward to learning alongside educators from across the Montessori community as we continue building schools where every mind belongs.

Thank you to the Foundation for Montessori Education for once again partnering to bring this learning to the Montessori community.

Before September asks more of you… practice the pause.

As educators, we spend countless hours preparing our environments, refining our lessons, and thinking about the children who will soon walk through our classroom doors.

Those things matter.

But they aren’t the only preparation that matters.

The Prepared Adult isn’t created by reading one more book or attending one more workshop.

It’s developed in the quiet moments when we slow down enough to notice our own assumptions, remain curious, and choose to respond thoughtfully rather than react automatically.

That pause is where observation begins.

That pause is where relationships are protected.

That pause is where professional judgment grows.

Before September asks more of you…

Practice the pause.

🍁 Red Maple Reflection

What helps you create that pause?

What if your most challenging student is your most valuable source of information?

One of the biggest shifts in my own practice happened when I stopped viewing challenging behaviour as something to manage and started viewing it as something to understand.

The child who struggles with transitions may be telling us something about predictability.

The child who avoids writing may be telling us something about motor planning, language, confidence, or cognitive load.

The child who constantly seeks movement may be telling us something about regulation—not motivation.

None of this means we lower expectations.

It means we become more curious before we become more corrective.

Observation changes the questions we ask.

Instead of asking,

“How do I change this child?”

we begin asking,

“What is this child helping me understand about their experience?”

Our most challenging students often reveal where the next opportunity for growth lies—not only for themselves, but for us as educators.

Some of the most important things I’ve learned about teaching have come from the children who challenged my assumptions the most.

🍁 Red Maple Reflection

What has one child taught you that no workshop or book ever could?

Every child deserves to experience themselves as a capable learner.

That sentence has stayed with me because it shifts our focus.

Instead of asking,

“How do we build confidence?”

we begin asking,

“What experiences help children discover that they are capable?”

Confidence doesn’t grow from constant praise.

It grows from meaningful opportunities to struggle, persist, succeed, and gradually become more independent.

Sometimes that means mastering a new skill.

Sometimes it means asking for help.

Sometimes it means discovering that mistakes are part of learning, not evidence of failure.

As educators, we prepare those experiences intentionally.

We observe carefully.

We adjust the environment.

We scaffold when needed.

Then we step back so children can experience the satisfaction of doing something they couldn’t do yesterday.

Every child deserves to experience themselves as a capable learner.

Because that belief often shapes how they approach every new challenge that follows.

🍁 Red Maple Reflection

What experience in your classroom has helped a child discover what they were capable of?

Every child deserves to return to a school that has prepared for them—not simply a classroom that has been prepared.

Montessori educators understand the importance of the prepared environment.

But preparing for children involves far more than arranging materials beautifully.

It means preparing adults who can observe carefully, remain curious, and respond thoughtfully.

It means creating environments that provide access to movement, communication, regulation, participation, and belonging.

It means building instructional systems so support does not depend on one educator carrying everything alone.

It means developing relationships with families before concerns become crises.

And it means asking a deeper question than, “What lesson comes next?”

What conditions will help this child experience themselves as a capable learner?

Every child deserves more than a place in the classroom.

Every child deserves the conditions in which they can belong, participate, and learn.

🍁 Red Maple Reflection

What does your school prepare for beyond the physical environment?