A Week in the Life of a Montessori Teacher | Hard Moments, Small Wins & Finding My Calling

 

This week was a reminder that teaching is never just about the classroom. In this video I’m sharing a real week in my life as a Montessori teacher — the good, the difficult, and the moments that make you pause and reflect on why you do this work in the first place.

We talk about:

 • staying consistent with the gym and getting back into running

• classroom challenges with dysregulated children

 • handling difficult incidents with honesty and accountability

• the difference a supportive assistant teacher can make

• small classroom joys like a Lunar New Year dragon craft

• revamping our outdoor Montessori environment

• reselling finds from the Goodwill outlet

• discovering a beautiful small business candle company

• books I’m reading and reflections on calling, purpose, and vocation

Teaching young children is meaningful work — but it’s also complex, exhausting, and deeply human. I committed to sharing the good, the bad, and the messy middle, and this week definitely had all three.

 Toward the end of the video I also reflect on something that has followed me for years: Why do I keep coming back to teaching when it’s so difficult?

A passage from Joan Chittister’s writing helped me understand the idea of calling in a new way, and I share that reflection here.

If you're a teacher, educator, or someone trying to understand your own path in life, I hope this conversation encourages you. Sometimes purpose doesn’t look easy — but it can still be real.

📚 Books Mentioned

• The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake — Amy Bender

• Following the Path — Joan Chittister

 🕯 Small Business Mentioned Mbur Candle Company (woodwick beeswax candles)

If you enjoy thoughtful teacher life content, Montessori reflections, and honest conversations about work and purpose, feel free to subscribe. Let me know in the comments: What keeps you going when your work gets hard?

If you’re a teacher navigating invisible labor, aesthetic standards, and trying to build a life outside of work… you’re not alone. ✨ I write more deeply about Montessori leadership and teacher sustainability on Substack: 👉 https://creativityandwonder.substack....

Are you needing some support with how to structure your classroom? As a Montessori teacher, I understand that feeling of overwhelm! I have created a detailed lesson plan to 'hold your hand' through each day.  These lesson plans can either be used to jump start how to create the rhythm of the classroom (monthly) or I have a full year plan that can then be used for a 3 year cycle.

Montessori Daily Lesson Plans 

Montessori INSPIRED Lesson Plans 

 

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When Monday Is Too Loud

 

There are Mondays when I invite the children into the classroom and I can feel it before a single lesson begins.

The room is louder.

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The bodies are faster.

The nervous systems are not settled.

It is not misbehavior, exactly.

It is something more subtle — a kind of overstimulation that lingers from the weekend.

Children come in bright-eyed and buzzing. They haven’t seen each other for three days. They have been on devices. They have been off routine. They have gone to bed late. They have lived in environments that move faster than a Montessori classroom ever intends to.

And then they arrive.

And we ask them to slow down.

We ask them to choose one work.
To sit.
To focus.
To regulate.

That is not a small ask.

I have learned not to treat Mondays like Tuesdays.

On Mondays, I loosen the grip slightly.

I allow a little more conversation.

 READ MORE

Are you needing some support with how to structure your classroom? As a Montessori teacher, I understand that feeling of overwhelm! I have created a detailed lesson plan to 'hold your hand' through each day.  These lesson plans can either be used to jump start how to create the rhythm of the classroom (monthly) or I have a full year plan that can then be used for a 3 year cycle.

Montessori Daily Lesson Plans 

Montessori INSPIRED Lesson Plans 

 

LOOKING FOR ART LESSONS FEATURING DIFFERENT ARTISTS? 

Link to my FREEBIES

 

The Invisible Labor of Teaching | Montessori Prep, Side Hustles & Work-Life Balance

 

There is so much work in teaching that no one ever sees.

In this vlog, I take you behind the scenes of real teacher life — from researching the perfect Montessori practical life clothing rack (no plastic, no cutesy aesthetics), to navigating the invisible labor of preparation, to managing work-life balance outside the classroom. In this video I share:

• The research process behind creating a practical life hanging activity

• Why Montessori aesthetics take more time than people realize

• The emotional labor teachers carry quietly

• Running into parents outside of school (and why I keep boundaries)

• Reselling systems for eBay & Poshmark

• Car clutter = mental bandwidth?

• Weight training week 18 update

• Building side income while still teaching

• Trying new places (Rebel Surf Company)

 • Creating a “puzzle station” for work-life balance

This year has quietly become my year of trying new things — and protecting my sustainability while still fully showing up for my classroom.

If you’re a teacher navigating invisible labor, aesthetic standards, side hustles, and trying to build a life outside of work… you’re not alone. ✨ I write more deeply about Montessori leadership and teacher sustainability on Substack: 👉 https://creativityandwonder.substack....

Are you needing some support with how to structure your classroom? As a Montessori teacher, I understand that feeling of overwhelm! I have created a detailed lesson plan to 'hold your hand' through each day.  These lesson plans can either be used to jump start how to create the rhythm of the classroom (monthly) or I have a full year plan that can then be used for a 3 year cycle.

Montessori Daily Lesson Plans 

Montessori INSPIRED Lesson Plans 

 

LOOKING FOR ART LESSONS FEATURING DIFFERENT ARTISTS? 

Link to my FREEBIES