Ep 218: (Pt 3) Black Folks in Montessori Education

On Episode 218 we’re sharing snippets from our Feel Trip recap with Amelia Allen Sherwood (Montessori and Anti-bias | Anti-racism Educator at Elm City Montessori School and founder of Sankofa Learning Center) and fellow unschooling organizer,  Tiersa McQueen. Amelia shares her perspective on the Montessori method and describes it as a tool in which we can decolonize processes and honor our children. We discuss the need to continue to question everything related to schooling, and to nurture ideas that improve autonomy-building, community care, partnership and trust-building. Listen and watch the full conversation here.

In case you haven’t listened to the previous components of this three-part flow, here’s Episode 216: Exploring Black Lived Montessori Experiences, and Episode 217: Black folks in Montessori (Pt 2) where our listeners shared their feedback.  Make sure you don’t miss any of our feel trip invitations by joining our podcast village.

As you listen, you’ll hear Akilah notes the reality that most educational models focus only on the becoming (the eventual “success”) and forget about the human (the person experiencing life today, right now), and Amelia agrees with that, and notes that her center is called Sankofa because it was about a type of returning, in that it centers the learner, not the thing they’re supposed to do. Akilah sees that as a rehumanizing of learning, as does Amelia, and she (Amelia) talks about the ways that we can use Montessori tools to create environments that are supportive of our authentic selves, and how communal spaces can help us to understand how to trust learning and children.

We talk about the importance of naming our internalized racial oppression in order to heal both as an individual and as a collective, being aware of the commitment that involves community care. By being present we honor the connection within ourselves and our body, going back to our intuition.

Amelia talks about her vision of the African-centered Montessori program in New Haven, Connecticut, Sankofa Learning Center, and shares her gratitude for the community that has been showing up in different ways for this collective dream.

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