Montessori Teacher Educators Day
Thursday, March 16, 2023, Boston, MA
Our community needs you—the instructors and directors of AMS-affiliated teacher education programs—to continue to thrive in your essential role in preparing the Montessori teachers of tomorrow. With the demand for high-quality Montessori teachers continuously growing, it is more important than ever that AMS provide you with the information, inspiration, and organization you need to excel in your work.
Montessori Teacher Educators Day offers a full lineup of professional growth at The Montessori Event in Boston. We look forward to you joining us to connect with your peers and get to the heart of what it means to be a Montessori teacher educator.
Each AMS-affiliated TEP receives one complimentary registration voucher. Additional registrations are $70 USD and includes all programming, the keynote luncheon, and a networking reception. Register now.
Featuring Jamil Zaki
The War for Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured World
Jamil Zaki is a professor of psychology at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. Using tools from psychology and neuroscience, he and his colleagues examine how empathy works and how people can learn to empathize more effectively. His writing on these topics has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, and the Atlantic.
In his groundbreaking book, The War for Kindness, Jamil Zaki shares cutting-edge research, including experiments from his own lab, showing that empathy is not a fixed trait—something we’re born with or not—but rather a skill that can be strengthened through effort. He also tells the stories of people who embody this new perspective, fighting for kindness in the most difficult of circumstances: a former neo-Nazi who is now helping to extract people from hate groups; ex-prisoners discussing novels with the judge who sentenced them; Washington police officers changing their culture to decrease violence among their ranks; and NICU nurses fine-tuning their empathy so that they don’t succumb to burnout.
With clarity and passion, Zaki offers us an inspiring call to action. The future may depend on whether we accept the challenge.
Schedule at a Glance
All times listed below are in the Eastern Time Zone.
| 8:00 – 8:30 AM | Registration & Welcome |
| 8:30 – 9:30 AM | Teacher Education Annual Meeting |
| 9:45 – 10:30 AM | Instructor Academy Presentations |
| 10:45 – 11:45 AM | Intentional Design of a Teacher Education Program |
| 12:00 – 1:30 PM | Keynote & Luncheon: Jamil Zaki |
| 1:45 – 2:45 PM | Marketing AMS Teacher Education |
| 3:00 – 4:15 PM | Succession Planning: Preparing for the Future |
| 4:15 PM | Wrap Up & Close |
Pricing
This event is for AMS Teacher Education staff (including TEP directors, instructors, administrators, & field consultants) only.
AMS-affiliated teacher education programs receive 1 complimentary registration for Teacher Educators Day
To receive your TEP's complimentary registration, please have your TEP director or administrator email tes@amshq.org to get started.
Schedule & Sessions
Session 1: AMS Teacher Education Annual Meeting
8:30 – 9:30 AM (ET)
Join for an overview of the state of AMS Teacher Education.
Presenters:
Hilary Green
Vice President of the AMS Board and Chair of the Teacher Education Section
Michele Mohar
Chair Teacher Education Action Committee
Gina Lofquist
AMS Senior Director of Education and Strategic Initiatives
Melina Papadimitriou
AMS Director of Teacher Education
Session 2: Instructor Academy
9:45 – 10:30 AM (ET)
Join current Instructor Academy Candidates as they present their Deep Dive Projects. These presentations are based on an assignment in which candidates choose a topic of interest to further inform and enhance their instruction of adult learners. We will also be celebrating the graduates of the first cohort of the program.
Session 3: Intentional Design of a Teacher Education Program
Presenters
Teresa Ripple
Associate Professor for Early Childhood and Montessori Programs at St. Catherine University, St. Paul, MN
Sarah Hassebroek
Program Director of the Early Childhood and Montessori Program at St. Catherine University, St. Paul, MN
10:45 – 11:45 AM (ET)
In this workshop, we will share the tools we created and used to inform a teacher preparation program to intentionally weave Anti-Bias, Anti-Racist foundations, and Developmentally Appropriate Practices in a Teacher Education Program (TEP). In 2021 – 2022, we had our first group of graduates and began a deep dive into an evaluation of program goals. In this workshop, we will share the process, answer questions, and make time to brainstorm how learning can be shared across current and future TEP settings.
Session 4: Keynote & Luncheon with Jamil Zaki
Presenter
Jamil Zaki
Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and the Director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab
12:00 – 1:30 PM (ET)
It doesn’t have to be this way. In his groundbreaking book, The War for Kindness, Jamil Zaki shares cutting-edge research, including experiments from his own lab, showing that empathy is not a fixed trait—something we’re born with or not—but rather a skill that can be strengthened through effort. He also tells the stories of people who embody this new perspective, fighting for kindness in the most difficult of circumstances: a former neo-Nazi who is now helping to extract people from hate groups; ex-prisoners discussing novels with the judge who sentenced them; Washington police officers changing their culture to decrease violence among their ranks; and NICU nurses fine-tuning their empathy so that they don’t succumb to burnout.
With clarity and passion, Zaki offers us an inspiring call to action. The future may depend on whether we accept the challenge.
Session 5: Marketing AMS Teacher Education
Presenters
Munir Shivji
AMS Executive Director
Jason Roth
AMS Senior Director of Marketing
1:45 – 2:45 PM (ET)
Join Munir Shivji, AMS executive director, and Jason Roth, AMS senior director of marketing, as they share exciting information about enhanced marketing for AMS teacher education programs.
Session 6: Succession Planning: Preparing for the Future
Presenters
Hilary Green
Vice President of the AMS Board and Chair of the Teacher Education Section
Gina Lofquist
AMS Senior Director of Education and Strategic Initiatives
3:00 – 4:15 PM (ET)
Succession planning for instructors and directors of teacher education programs is critical for the longevity of the program. Join Hilary Green and Gina Lofquist for a panel discussion about how to plan for this necessary step in the life cycle of your TEP. Participants will engage in collaborative activities to support their understanding.