MANZ Conference 2014

The conference is over for another year. Thanks to our international speakers Uma Ramani and Jamie Rue, to Nicki Dowling and Karen MacKay from Massey University and to all the New Zealand teachers who presented at the Montessori Journey to Excellence BusStop.

Feedback has been amazing, and here are some comments from delegates

Different speakers, different styles, yet similar content and strong messages. It felt consistent. Very inspiring keynotes and workshops. It has refreshed my vision for Montessori education once again.

Uma and Jamie were both great choices… so difficult to choose between their workshops, though!

When I first saw the programme, my reaction was, “what no workshop choices” but the conference structure this year really nurtured the process of deepening your exploration as each workshop extended the learning of the previous workshop. Well done!

I really enjoyed the energy and enthusiasm Jamie Rue shared with our group. She had wonderful and practical tips, which I feel I can immediately put into practice, and I am excited to go back and re-read my albums.

Just awesome. Uma Ramani, particularly for our age group, needs to be physically bottled and sold.

The bus stop was the most insightful, relevant learning I have ever had at a MANZ conference in 14 years. It was definitely worthwhile having MANZ invest in the Montessori Journey to Excellence Pilot.

Montessori Journey to Excellence is an amazing initiative that is obviously yielding positive results for those schools participating. I think those involved have shown extraordinary commitment to Montessori education by taking this on, on top of their teaching workload, and all of us stand to benefit from their learnings.

I LOVED some of the (pilot programme) ideas, identified with the common themes of their processes, e.g. recognising that staff come from different training programmes, different age/experience bases and how to bring them together before anything else can happen. I feel inspired to follow through with some of their ideas, e.g. documentation which allows for ease of planning. Lots to think about!