The First Day of Class

When I went to take my Montessori training in Washington DC, the year after I graduated from college, my expectations were low.

I was seated in a chair in the second row for the first lecture. But I really wasn’t. My path had veered.

My passions while in school had swung from art, photography and animal science to literature and creative writing; it all interested me, but how to make a paycheck when being myself continued to elude me. Becoming a teacher seemed a reasonable thing to do, even though I didn’t love the idea of being inside a classroom with children all day. I was 24- I wanted to be outside, working with horses, or writing in a coffee shop, or painting in a studio. But I thought it was time to grow up so I could pay my own rent.

So here I was, getting a one-year graduate degree in something more practical. My mother and sister were Montessori teachers; I figured this would do.

The shock of my life was how instantly my heart was grabbed when the trainer started talking. It was a force of love. The world suddenly looked different. There was light at the far end of the forest, and it was beautiful. Lucky for me, it was also real and completely sane.

This happened as Hildegard Solzbacher, our trainer, started to talk about Maria Montessori’s discovery of how children really learn, what their nature is. Her words moved me almost to tears. Because I realized right then that I had been like the children described: I needed to move in order to learn; I was curious about most things but needed help to focus; this was natural and we all start out this way; this is childhood in its natural state. What conventional schooling had done for me was try to change me, and it hadn’t worked.

It was a moment of transformation. And it was more than a thought; it was a feeling. It was joyful, and I wanted to weep. You know what I mean if you had a transformative moment when you recognized what Montessori means for children. It’s the moment you know that you want to become a Montessori teacher, or start a Montessori school, or get your child or grandchild into a Montessori classroom. It’s a revelation.

Maria Montessori wrote that a personal transformation must happen if one wants to understand children for who they really are. We have to leave behind the old notions and misconceptions that we’ve adopted and see what is truly right in front of us, in each, unique child . And we have to do more than that; we have to become people who embody a new approach to childhood and the learning process. It’s a new way of teaching.

(Photo above: me having fun with my Montessori students!)

I knew, with that first lecture, that I had a purpose and a path in life. This was no longer about acquiring a sensible career where I would get up every morning five days a week and spend my days doing something that earned a paycheck. This was about paying attention to life. About BEING a person who helps children create their own paths and learn with joy, in the place where it too often does not happen: in classrooms. They could become artists! They could become scientists! My gosh, they could become both at once! They could be themselves.

I could give children what I wished I’d had, all the way through school. Starting with their first day of class.