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What led you to become a Montessori Teacher, and how long have you been at Springmont? This may seem like a fairytale, but it's a true story! After college, I spent a year in France teaching English. One weekend I visited Bergamo, a picturesque city in the Italian Alps and, unbeknownst to me at the time, an important center for Montessori teacher training. In Bergamo’s città alta (“upper town”), there is a ruined fortress atop a tall hill, where I planned a midday break and picnic. I found the ruins under restoration, and in the central keep was a small room with an elderly Italiana who kindly offered me green grapes and a cup of champagne. Her grandson, a young teenager, sat across from her with a trifold board describing his research project: the benefits of using local craftsmen and local materials to reconstruct the fortress. In perfect English, he told me how his Montessori school allowed him the freedom to undertake such an ambitious project. When I returned to the U.S., I began my career as a Montessori educator on the west coast, later moved to Atlanta, and have been at Springmont for four years.  

Do you have a favorite area of the classroom?  Is there a particular lesson you like to give to new students and why? My favorite area of the classroom is the outdoors—the gardens, trails, parks, and wild places. For a science teacher, the possibilities are endless. I particularly enjoy camping with students for the first time in their lives as it offers so many opportunities for independent challenges and life lessons. 

What is a special interest you bring into the classroom? I am interested in food science, which always has a special appeal to adolescents. We are currently testing how to properly process acorns into edible flour using a Native American technique.