Dear Friends of City Garden,
On October 23rd, we held our Community Partner's event - "Wine, Cheese and Montessori." The gathering allowed us to showcase how Montessori differs from traditional methods of teaching. Two of City Garden's exceptional Lower Elementary teachers, Mrs. Darcell Butler and Ms. Anne Lacey, demonstrated how the students absorb abstract mathematics concepts through concrete, sensory-drenched methods. It was a fascinating departure from the memorization exercises that most of the audience recalled as their introduction to mathematics. There was an audible "Aha" moment that wove through the audience as one by one the participants embraced how profoundly this approach could transform the educational landscape.
These are exciting times. There seems to be a bit of an education revolution afoot, and we are somewhat at the epicenter of it. As Simon Sinek would say, we are some of the "early adopters."
It is still sometimes astounding to me that, in the past seven years, we have, in fact: accomplished the following
- Opened our state's only Montessori charter school,
- Opened our state's only neighborhood charter school,
- Acquired and transitioned into a permanent facility,
- Attracted dozens of families into our neighborhoods for the hope of becoming part of the City Garden community,
- Received a 100% on our state evaluation and, most importantly
- Created a school where our kids are flourishing in incredible ways and are actively engaging in the joy of learning in a diverse, nurturing environment.
When asked to give a keynote address at the Missouri Charter Public Schools Association Conference two weeks ago, instead of talking about how great we are and what it is that makes City Garden great (which there is certainly a lot to talk about), I decided to talk about how hard this work is - and the tremendously bumpy road it has been to get where we are now. And, why it is completely, 100% worth it. And, that by putting ourselves completely in the fray of this hard, grueling work, we have the great privilege of helping to determine how it is we will continue to shape this education and cultural revolution.
After spending the past nine months digging in, once again, into some very deep and consuming internal work, establishing new leadership and developing structures that would facilitate our more fully living into our mission, it has been invigorating these past few weeks to, as Montessori calls it, engage in "going out." I've had the privilege of being with colleagues in Jefferson City, Kansas City and Minneapolis and have been able to engage with the wider education reform network. It is always inspiring to hear from colleagues what they are doing that is working, to see other schools and the amazing things happening in other places.
In Building the Pink Tower, a soon-to-be-completed documentary about Montessori education, Steve Hughes, a professor in the medical school at the University of Minnesota, states:
"The task of education in the earliest years is on development in the deepest sense - brain development.
The task during the elementary years is problem solving, social development, how to work with other people.
In the later [adolescent] years, it's really got to be about motivation, mission and purpose. What are your unique abilities, what are your interests? What are you going to bring to the world that makes you something special?"
(To see the trailer of this powerful documentary, click here Building The Pink Tower.)
Perhaps as we continue to move through this adolescent stage of our development, one of our tasks is to continue to refine these differentiators, move more fully and deeply into them and explore how we are being called to leadership in this city and this world that so desperately needs what we have to offer.
What are we going to bring to the world that makes us something special?
Christie Huck
Executive Director
City Garden Montessori School
