Do not ask your childrento strive for extraordinary lives. Such striving may seem admirable, but it is the way of foolishness. Help them instead to find the wonderand the marvel of an ordinary life. Show them the joy of tastingtomatoes, apples and pears. Show them how to crywhen pets and people die. Show them the infinite pleasurein the touch of a hand. And make the ordinary come alive for them. The extraordinary will take care of itself. William Martin, The Parent's Tao

Classroom management can be the most difficult thing for any new teacher to learn; it’s so often the missing piece in many teacher training programs. Nelsen and DeLorenzo have written the definitive manual for handling those prickly social-emotional situations that can, and do, come up in every Montessori classroom. Jane Nelsen has said that in the 40 years since the publication of the first edition of her first book, Montessorians have been the group that have embraced her a

Do you find yourself coming up against familiar behaviour challenges time after time, as if the same child in a different body is following you everywhere you go? Do you sometimes ignore misbehaviour because you don’t know what to do, or because you just want students to like you…only to turn into that controlling and rigid teacher you promised yourself you would never become, when you can’t stand their behaviour anymore? Classroom management can be the most difficult thing f

Many centres and schools hold regular parent information evenings, and there are good reasons for this practice. Parents who’ve had positive face-to-face interactions with their child’s educators feel more comfortable communicating with them, and visa versa when difficult conversations are called for. Giving parents insight into the inner workings of their child’s classroom builds trust and helps them know how best to support learning at home. Educators often spend a lot of t