FOR EDUCATORS

Montessori is a team sport. It’s time to expand your team.

Mariana provides thoughtful, practical, and deeply pedagogical guidance for Montessori guides, assistants, and school leaders

As educators who were often raised in oppressive, conventional classrooms with oppressive, conventional parenting styles, it can be hard to truly imagine, let alone implement, the liberatory Montessori Method in our classrooms. Most particularly, it is hard to get out of the rewards and punishments based systems that are so often used in educational spaces.

But, you can with support.

There are five pillars to Mariana’s coaching and support:

  • Developmental context: Mariana is well-researched about child development and always leads with grounding in the child’s development

  • Montessori pedagogy: Mariana has a deep understanding of Montessori theory and has a knack for explaining it in simple, understandable terms.

  • Montessori Curriculum: Mariana is a systems-thinker and has spent many years understanding and sequencing the Montessori materials and classroom in the First Plane of Development (0-6 years).

  • Observation: During Mariana’s 10 years in the classroom, her filled notebook after notebook of observational notes about the children and their activity in the prepared environment.

  • Systems: As someone who likes creating systems that work, Mariana uses a systems approach to support classrooms and schools so that practical advice actually sticks!

“I spent 30 days with Ms. Mariana and I call them 30 days of transformation because this course changed my thinking.

Concepts that seemed very familiar in Montessori, under her teaching seem entirely new. I just listened and wrote about 50 pages of notes every time she spoke.”

— Montessori Theory Course participant

.

THE PEACE PROGRAM

Online Programs for Educators

MENTORSHIP YEAR WITH MARIANA

Spend the year with Mariana and get live coaching support bi-monthly and a private online community of educators working 0-6 environments. The Mentorship Year (formerly the PEACE Scholarship) is designed for educators who are currently in Montessori teacher training or have already graduated. Cohorts begin each year in September and wrap up in May.

Through this program, participants:

  • Get a strong grasp of development

  • Feel more confident in implementing Montessori at their level

  • Have calmer transitions

  • Feel empowered managing behavior

  • Feel connected to a community

  • and so much more!

Offered as a cohort year at a sliding scale.

PEACE FACILITATION WITH MARIANA

Join our team of facilitators! Each year, Mariana collaborates with Montessori trained educators from around the world to put on our podcast and annual conference. Mariana’s team is a multilingual, multicultural group of Montessori trained guides from around the world. Some work in classrooms, others are administrators, some own schools, and a few are full-time parent-educators. They have come together on a single platform to support families with high-quality parenting support in an accessible, practical, and inclusive way.

THE MONTESSORI MASTERCLASS AND OTHER ONLINE COURSES

Mariana’s signature online course, the Montessori Masterclass is self-paced and focuses on equipping you with the basics of Montessori and child development from birth to six. This is a perfect course for parents, families, grandparents, educators, school leaders, nannies, and caregivers who are looking to unpack the fundamentals of Montessori with practical, doable ways to begin or continue this at home.

In addition, Mariana offers more online courses, including:

THE PEACEFUL PARENTING PODCAST WITH THE PEACE TEAM

Join us for conversation with Mariana and her Montessori trained Facilitation Team! We are a team of multilingual, multicultural Montessori trained guides from around the world. Some of us work in classrooms, others are administrators, some own schools, and a few of us are full-time parent-educators. We have come together on a single platform to support families with high-quality parenting support in an accessible, practical, and inclusive way.

The PEACEful Parenting Podcast let's you be a fly on the wall in conversations between Montessori educators as we talk about all things Montessori, parenting, and child development.

Check Out Past Seasons:

THE PEACE SUMMIT ONLINE CONFERENCE WITH THE PEACE TEAM

As Montessori practitioners, we are grounded in the liberation of the child from the oppressive systems that constrain their ability to develop as they are trying to do. Constraints to their movement, speech, and choice are of particular concern as they are primary features of the child’s inherent development and markers of a free society.

Come Mariana and her international, Montessori-trained team for workshops and discussion about how we use the Montessori Method toward the liberation of the child in our classrooms, homes, and everywhere in-between.

Past PEACE Summits:

  • Amazing session! Really great take-aways I can surely implement! Thank you!

    Syleste

  • Thank you, Mariana, for an extremely practical and insightful presentation. One of my big complaints of Montessori conferences I have attended in the past was the lack of useful tricks, tips, and recipes that can be used in the classroom or home setting.

    Mary

  • You hit this presentation out of the park, providing me and so many others exactly what we have been looking for in a Montessori conference. A million times, thank you!

    Mary

  • I found this really useful. I work alone and would love a space like this as my weekly staff meeting.

    Syleste

  • In Mariana's Masterclass, I really enjoyed hearing her intentions behind the pedagogy and loved that she created it with the idea of child development and actual those with special needs at the forefront.

    Taressa

  • Very insightful and a great refresher on freedoms and limits/self-discipline.

    Helena

  • As someone new to Montessori, the concept of the triad was new to me. It helped me learn that I can step in less.

    Kylie

  • I thoroughly enjoyed learning the woman behind Montessori education and the challenges she faced. I feel very connected to the person vs. the name, finding similarities between her and myself. My biggest takeaway is thinking about obstacles and the impact these have on children's futures.

    Queenie

  • I am just continually grateful for Mariana and the support she provides for parents and our children. She has made the Montessori approach feel possible for our family.

    Tanya

  • Mariana has an incredible amount of expertise that I am sure has helped so many parents get through what is a lonely and difficult period.

    Sheila

  • I am grateful for Mariana and her program's places emphasis on reaching BIPOC families- thank you!

    Hana

  • The PEACE Summit presentation were fantastic. They were all so clear, insightful, and practical. Really excellent conference!

    Shawna

  • I LOVE the examples Mariana gives as they help me connect to the big ideas so easily.

    Shraddha

  • The open-mindedness and compassion that Mariana brings to her work is invaluable.

    Sheila

  • I spent 30 days with Ms. Mariana and I call them 30 days of transformation because this course changed my thinking. Concepts that seemed very familiar in Montessori, under her teaching seem entirely new. I just listened and wrote about 50 pages of notes every time she spoke.

PODCAST & CONFERENCE

The PEACE Team

EACH YEAR, MARIANA COLLABORATES WITH MONTESSORI TRAINED EDUCATORS FROM AROUND THE WORLD TO PUT ON OUR PODCAST AND ANNUAL CONFERENCE.

Mariana started The PEACE Program in 2016 with a free, drop-in play group for families in her local area to be with their babies and learn a thing or two about the child's development. The success of the program led Mariana to serve over 1200 families in the first three years of the program alone! However, Mariana was the only facilitator available to families. 

In response to listening to and learning from Black and Brown activists in 2020, Mariana recognized that she would not always be the right parent-educator for all familie. To address this, Mariana created a Scholarship Program (now called PEACE Mentorship) where she supported four aspiring Montessori teachers during their training with mentorship and financial assistance. 100% of the PEACE Scholars were Black and/or Indigenous. From that program and in pursuit of supporting more teachers, Mariana began building a team of Facilitators to help her deliver parenting education in addition to supporting the mentorship of upcoming Montessori teachers.

About the 24/25 PEACE Facilitation Team:

  • 67% of 24/25 PEACE Facilitators are Black, Indigenous, or of the Global Majority.

  • 100% are multilingual

  • 89% are experienced classroom teachers and are parents themselves

  • 44% are experienced parent-educators and are cross trained in 0-3 and 3-6

  • 54% live outside the United States (including Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America)

PEACE Facilitators work closely with Mariana and share responsibility for contributing to a culture based on our communal values of self-reflection, self-care, responsiveness to being/becoming Anti-Bias / Anti-Racist and a deep commitment to the whole child within the whole family.