Hopeful Montessori Teacher here - advise me! (Austin: credit, how much)

[michaelarey]

I'm looking for insights, advice, and experience from Montessori teachers, administrators and parents out there.

I'm considering a career move into Montessori because I love the philosophy and have admired it for a number of years. I have experience working with children and especially enjoy the above-toddler set. I know Montessori has a strong emphasis in early *early* childhood and I admire it. My gifts just happen to be with age 5 and up. I'm *especially* interested in working with upper elementary and middle school age groups. I'm researching training facilities in Texas, and the tuition, systems, location, and all of that.

These are the things I need first-hand advice about.

1) Is there a "bias" to which kind of Montessori accreditation is "better" - I'm seeing AMI, AMS, MACTE, etc. I don't want to get an accreditation that will not serve in the long run. Is oldest (AMI) really best? I know some quality Montessori schools have multiply-accredited teachers from different training centers. How do the in-groups, the teachers and parents, understand the differences? And is there a salary difference?

2) What is the best way to go about making the move into Montessori teaching? I'm coming out of a traditional and soul-killing office environment and that is the primary reason I want to make the move : to do life affirming work I believe in with people I share values with. I am great with children and believe in the Montessori philosophy. But I'm in my 30's. Do I knock on school administrator's doors in the area? How do I find out about the kind of openings that will get me in the door? Or can I get right into teacher training? Most of the teacher training courses run during the summers with required internship service hours through the year. Is this a paid internship, and if so, in what role? Do I need a school to accept me and sponsor me before going to training? How does it all "fit" together?

Thanks for any and all advice, tips, biases, beliefs, rants and raves! Austin looks like a valuable and supportive community and I can tell how much this city values Montessori education.

[michaelarey]

My screen name is ambiguous - I am female!

[sandyallen]

We had our son in a Montessori school for a year (he's three now) and he blossomed! I don't think that we consider the flavor of certification when we looked at schools - I think it is more a matter of fitting into the environment for the teacher. We went by reputation and interviewing the teacher - the accreditation was never even brought up.

Most schools have "assistant" opportunities that would allow you to work with the teachers - and most importantly get to know the administrators.

[aspirantmom]

Hi there!
Let me introduce myself. I'm a mom of 2 kids, who went to Montessori schools for 2 years each. Since they are in the public elementary school now, I'm pursuing this as my career now. I'm doing it from a community college in Texas.
What I understand in this field is, while a lot of Montessori schools do hire certified people from a community college, there are these really established schools (those in existence for around 2 decades) with AMI/AMS affiliations which are particular to take even the interns from AMI/AMS training centers only. Whether an intern gets paid or not depends on the opening in the school. Typically, if you have a good no. of M. schools in your city, they take you as a volunteer intern (without pay) because they don't want to "crowd" the classrooms.
I have a long way to go, so I still have to figure out if there is any difference in the salary range between someone trained from a c. college or AMI/AMS certification. Although, there is a huge difference in the tuition costs. ( diff. of about $5K).
Hope this helps....All the best for your new career move!

[kikismom]

I'm not sure if you're questions were answered but I will go ahead and respond. I am a Director at a Montessori School in the DFW area. I would recommend the AMI certification even though my school has currently both AMI and AMS. The reason is that AMI (Association Montessori Internationale) was established by Maria Montessori herself to serve and a continuing of the philosophy founded by her. The training is intense and very detailed, but, in my opinion, brings forth a very good understanding of how Montessori should be done. It is also recognized all around the world, whereas other certifications are not. AMI is the most respected certification. I have also found that because of this, the pay is also usually better, but some schools are small and may desire an AMI but have a limited salary amt. I would DEF not do some other community college course for your certification unless it is AMI or AMS unless you want to a) be limited as to who will hire you b) settle for schools who may not embrace the philosophy wholeheartedly c) get less pay d) not gain the full richness, intensity and fine tuning required to be an excellent Montessori teacher

Secondly, you can find course information on the MINT website if you do a google search "MINT Montessori". There are courses coming up soon. You will need to take your vacation time to do observations. I had to give me teachers who I sponsored time off to do their observations.

You could get a job as an asst and get paid and perhaps do your internship this way, that way you would not be without any pay.

[Helenabox]

Hi Kikismom,

Just wanted to say thank you for your response. I am in a smilar situation to michaelarey the original poster and had the same question about which accreditation would be the best and most respected. Thanks for answering!

[txkywildcat]

Does anyone know of how one can obtain funding to attend the the training? To be honest I simply can't afford almost $6k and is there grants or scholorships avail? Thanks