Good Idea Guy

Enthusiastic educator of 20 years. Almost all of it as an upper elementary Montessori guide. I've published and presented at conferences on my strengths in storytelling, simulations, and communication. Prior to education, my first career was in computer science. This culminated in a 5 year stint at NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA. Though I've never been directly employed as an artist, my interest in art gets incorporated into everything I do. One of my favorite activities at school is when everything is humming along without need of me, and I can sit down and sketch portraits of students. You should see my interest in science, culture, storytelling, and art in the content and production value of the materials you find here.

I'm an adamant practitioner of the Montessori Method. Which for me is less about the body of lessons found in my albums, and more about understanding the underlying philosophy. By understanding the method, you can create novel content and activity in following the child (such as some of the material found here). My favorite work is to engage students in simulations. We live history, not study it from a distance. I employ referent power, seek connection with my students, try to be fair and am almost always calm, teach skills first instead of make assumptions, and lean on the elders of the three year cohort to model and support our classroom culture values. I think I share this responsibility well, as seen in my best years being when I've had 6th years from the beginning. Practical Life is more than cooking. We celebrate our achievements. Positive discipline is the go word. Students are not problems. Problems are the problems (or challenges, rather), and the teacher with a good relationship can work with the child as a team in addressing these challenges. I should be held accountable to the same expectations I ask of students. My classroom should be a safe place to fail. Most of the personal narratives I share with students regard mistakes I made as a child. I think it takes some of the pressure of students when adults admit they are imperfect, plus a story is a safe place to learn from failure.

When students graduated from Bowman Montessori School, there is a big graduation ceremony the whole student body and families came out to see. The graduates' toddler reading buddies would bring their elder a flower bouquet they made, and we'd all sit back to listen to the graduates make speeches. Most speeches followed a similar pattern; students would share some of their earliest memories from their primary classroom, and then skip ahead to the middle school years they've experienced most recently and are on the top of their minds. Unless, that is, they happened to come through my upper elementary classroom. Then they get into relating the joy they experienced in our simulations, surprise visitors that look an awful like me in a hat and mustache, and accomplishments our class made together as a true team. The fact that the students remember our work together so vividly is the best evidence I can think of that we're doing things right.

Bounced around in my elementary years as our family went on a nomadic journey through life. Dad was a zoo director, and when it came time for new challenges you'd have to travel to get to another big zoo. My undergrad years were spent at SUNY Binghamton, where I graduated with a BS in computer science. Maybe I could have had a minor in art, if I'd stayed on top of the paperwork. The whole time I was working at NASA I took night classes at San Jose State University. I was enrolled in the Critical Research Academy, which went beyond the usual education master's program. There Kristeen Pemberton guided us to consider a critical pedagogy, and how we could enable the successful social change agents of tomorrow. They didn't know it at the time, but they were doing a smack dab excellent job of preparing me for a career in Montessori. Mary Beth Ricks, of Bowman School, sent me to a weekend warrior-type program to get certified for teaching 9-12 Montessori education. It got me my bone fides, but I graduated that program feeling my understanding of the Method was less than stellar. Then Mary Beth generously sent me back into another 9-12 program, this time in New York called CMTE. Now that was a really excellent Montessori education training program, and I highly recommend it for anyone seeking certification. Biff Mayer co-directs the spiritual successor to CMTE called the Montessori Elementary Teacher Training Collaborative.

Big time board gamer! If you've got a gaming group nearby I'd love to receive an invite. I am open to consulting work. For full-time employment, I am interested in being a Montessori Coach, teaching a Montessori classroom from upper elementary on up, or teaching art in an environment that is at least Montessori-friendly. Contact me for a current resume.