The Program
Montessori preparation built around working educators.
The planned Primary track combines largely virtual learning, live cohort support, in-person intensives, and a supervised practicum year. Primary is planned for the initial launch; Elementary is also in development. Program delivery remains subject to Illinois authorization. The submitted design includes two 40-hour Primary intensives (80 hours total) and three 40-hour Elementary I–II intensives (120 hours total). Intensives are planned for summer or school breaks, subject to host-school availability and authorization. Session dates, the instructional venue, and a start date are not confirmed.
The Arc
Two phases, one continuous formation.
Phase One · Planned academic study
The academic phase
Largely virtual study with live cohort support. The final schedule remains to be confirmed. The planned academic work helps you complete the full curriculum, build your album, and take strand exams. It ends with your first oral exam and capstone.
Phase Two · The practicum year
Paid supervised practice
The planned model includes paid work as a guide or assistant guide, supervised teaching, formal observations, continued seminars, and a midpoint check-in with Hannah. Employment and placements are not guaranteed. The planned phase ends with your second oral exam and your credential.
What You Study
Five curriculum areas, plus behavior support.
Every lesson carries an equity aim and a neurodivergence section as standard structure. Equity is the curriculum, not a module bolted onto it.
Theory
The developmental and philosophical foundation, woven through every month rather than front-loaded. Includes the program’s equity and justice work as core content, not an add-on.
Practical Life
Care of self, care of the environment, grace and courtesy, and the work cycle. Where independence and concentration begin.
Sensorial
The education of the senses: visual, tactile, thermic, baric, stereognostic, and auditory discrimination, and the geometric foundations that lead toward mathematics.
Language
Spoken language, phonemic awareness, the moveable alphabet, phonograms, reading, and grammar, integrated with structured-literacy research.
Mathematics
Concrete number, the decimal system, linear counting, the four operations, fractions, and the path from the material to abstraction.
Behavior Support
A dedicated strand covering trauma-informed practice, neurodivergent profiles, restorative approaches, and family partnership, so residents are prepared for the classrooms that actually exist.
The Weekly Rhythm
The planned learning rhythm.
A new weekly bundle unlocks: the theme, an introductory slide deck, the reading assignment with a focus question, and four to six lessons, each opening with a short script that orients you before the full presentation sequence.
You study asynchronously, whenever your life allows, and write your album entry: your own version of each lesson presentation, held to a standard and reviewed by your Cohort Guide.
A live seminar meets. You submit a short reflection beforehand; your Cohort Guide has read every resident’s before the session begins. It is a conversation, not a lecture, 60 to 90 minutes.
Planned observation visits at a Montessori site, with an observation focus tied to what you are studying, followed by hands-on time with the materials and real feedback.
Scheduling updates will be published on the program calendar.
What You Produce
A documented practice, not a stack of assignments.
Curriculum album
Your written record of every strand and presentation across all 224 Primary lessons. It belongs to you as evidence of a practitioner who has inhabited the material.
Strand demonstration videos
Recordings of you presenting materials without children present. Proof of physical precision the way written work cannot be.
Written and oral exams
A written exam at the end of each strand, plus two oral exams, one at the end of the academic phase and one at the completion of the practicum year.
Practicum logs and observations
Detailed logs across the practicum year plus six formal observations, four from your Site Mentor and two from your Cohort Guide, each with written feedback.
Capstone reflection
A 2,000-word honest account of who you became across the program, presented in the final seminar of the year.