The Invisible Load of the Lead Teacher

 

There are parts of leading a classroom that no one sees.

Not because they are hidden.
But because they are assumed.

This week I was running a small group lesson with paint.

If you have ever led a paint lesson with young children, you know it requires your full attention. Water cups tip. Sleeves dip. Colors mix faster than you can redirect them. You are watching hands, faces, posture, tone.

While I was mid-lesson, something I had previously delegated was not done.

It was small.
It was simple.
It had been clearly assigned.

And so I did what lead teachers often do.

I carried it.

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The Work Beneath the Work

When people talk about teaching, they often talk about what is visible:

• The lesson.

• The materials.

• The bulletin board.

• The child who reads their first word.

But the true weight of leading is rarely in the visible work.

It is in the mental map.

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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

 

 

What Parents Told Me After 6 Months in Montessori (I Wasn’t Expecting This)

 

This week I had parent teacher conferences — and for the first time, something shifted. Many of these families didn’t choose Montessori. They didn’t come in knowing what it meant or what to expect.

But six months later… they are seeing it.

In this video, I share: what parents are noticing now how children have changed since the beginning of the year the reality of building a Montessori classroom from the ground up and the parts of this work that are much harder than people realize There are moments in teaching where you realize something is working — even when everything around it feels uncertain.

This was one of those weeks.

 If you’re a teacher, especially in a non-traditional Montessori setting, I think you’ll understand this one.

✨ 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

 

I Thought I Would Change the World.

 

I have spent most of my adult life believing that I would change the world.

Not in a loud way.
Not in a platform-building, headline-making way.
But in the kind of way where you find the right organization, the right team, the right shared mission — and together you build something that shifts the culture.

I have chased that feeling more than once.

You join a school.
You believe in the philosophy.
You see what could be.
You imagine that if everyone just aligned — if everyone just held the same standard — something extraordinary would happen.

And then you get inside.

And there are competing agendas.
Competing personalities.
Competing tolerances for chaos.
Competing definitions of excellence.

You realize that systems are not built on shared ideals.
They are built on compromise.

And if you are someone who feels called — deeply called — to the work, compromise can feel like erosion.

This year I am 58.

I have been in enough classrooms now to know the pattern.
I have trained assistants.
I have built environments from scratch.
I have walked into rooms that were not Montessori and quietly shifted them toward something more respectful, more ordered, more intentional.

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