MTA Moments

Failure. The word sounds so bitter and sad, doesn’t it? Kinda makes you think of a wilted flower falling short of full potential bloomability*. Avoid it at all costs, no? No 🙅. A resounding no. In the words of author Seth Godin, “If I fail more than you, I win.” Why? If we’re not failing, […]

A student came into the office the other day. She was trying to make a photocopy of her artwork to share with her classmates.“It’s not working,” she said and asked if I could help her fix it. After flexing my (minimal) IT skills 👨‍💻, neither one of us could really figure out what was wrong.“Can I […]

Now what? Chanuka is over and behind us. It’s cold outside. There are no Jewish holidays in our direct line of sight. And last I checked, even though daylight is officially starting to get longer (hurray 🥳!) it still seems dark outside for an unfair proportion of each 24-hour period. So now what? What energy […]

“Communication.”  Sounds like such a simple word, right?  Yet, the ability to communicate (or lack thereof) with others has been the driving force behind the creation and destruction of ideas, families, communities, and even nations throughout the ages. Effective communication is what turns decent people into extraordinary ones. It’s what sets great leaders apart from mediocre ones. And it’s […]

Sooooooooo….. I’m about to expose insider information here and let you in on one of the biggest secrets to Montessori’s success. Once you know what I’m about to share, you are hereby ready to start your own Montessori program*. The secret sauce? Self-correction. When a work is self-correcting, a student gets clear, instant feedback on […]

“All children are born artists. The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up”. -Pablo Picasso I was listening to a fascinating TED talk the other day by Sir Ken Robinson. The topic that’s near and dear to his heart? Do Schools Kill Creativity? Sir Robinson deep-dives into how the schooling system we’ve […]

One way MTA is noticeably different from a traditional educational environment is our mixed age group classrooms.

What if knowledge wasn’t viewed as a competitive battle for the prized “front seat”? What if it was something students learned to share with one another? How awesome would it be if there were a school where students asked each other for help?

Let’s face it. 📚 Math is a hard, cumulative subject. Miss the foundations, and you’ll run into trouble at higher levels.

👷 Over the summer, we’ve been hard at work, tearing down walls and building new ones to accommodate our larger Elementary cohort. The finished product is a gorgeous large classroom, with plenty of space for each child, in true Montessori style.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Moments with some wonderful news! Mazel Tov to our very own Rabbi and Mrs. Shmuel and Hinda Meyers on the birth of a new baby daughter 👶,

how is this all practically implemented in a mixed-age environment?  How can different kids learn different materials in the same classroom? How can they all focus and grow? So I decided to do an impromptu showing to him…