150 Years: The Power of a Story, Part 3

Meagan Ledendecker • November 2, 2020

picture of Dr. Philip Snow Gang sitting in front of a side table with books on it

This article is part of a series that we will share throughout the 2020-2021 school year to celebrate the 150th birthday of Dr. Maria Montessori. Check back often for more posts that reflect on the past, present, and future of Montessori education.

Over the past several months we have shared interviews about different people’s Montessori journeys. You have heard about the journey of Shawnaly Tabor, who was a Montessori child, then parent, and now teacher. Most recently we shared the perspective of two adolescent siblings, Emet and Neshima Vitale-Penniman, who attended Montessori schools through eighth grade. Today we bring you the story of a leader in the Montessori world: Dr. Philip Snow Gang.

Phil (as his students call him in the interest of breaking down traditional hierarchical boundaries), began his career as an engineer. Along the way, he became a Montessori educator, a global advocate for holistic education, and the co-founder of The Institute for Educational Studies (TIES). TIES is a master’s degree program that is truly an opportunity for adults to experience a Montessori education for themselves. Our long-time adolescent guide and program director, Julie Haagenson, completed her Masters of Education specializing in Montessori Integrative Learning from TIES and now serves as an adjunct faculty for the program. As Julie can attest, Phil’s Montessori journey is an inspiration.

How did you initially become aware of Montessori education? Many of us feel a profound internal shift when we begin our Montessori journey. What was that like for you?

Well, it was through my children. When they were born we were interested in finding an appropriate environment for them. The Montessori school was very close to our house. Our neighbor across the street was the librarian at the school. We started reading about it and it captured my attention. I was always taken back by the serenity of my children after spending the day at school. I remember when my son was four, I said to the guide, “Warren is very sensitive,” and she responded with, “The world needs sensitive people.” And I sat with that, because up to that moment I was looking at sensitivity not as an asset.

Then the thought of hanging out at school; helping them do odd jobs, fixing furniture. There was something about being in that environment that was attractive: an embodiment of something you wouldn’t find in ordinary school. It not only came from the way the environment looked, but it came from the heart of the teacher and her attitude toward the children (or his).

We had one of the teacher’s to the house for dinner on a Sunday afternoon and I said, “You know one day I might like to be a Montessori teacher.” And he said, “Why not now?” At that moment I just laughed - not a joke laugh but an internal ‘could I do that?’ Six weeks later my whole family was in Italy studying Montessori. That’s how I jumped in.

You co-founded The Institute for Educational Studies (TIES) with your wife, Marsha Snow Morgan. TIES is currently affiliated with Endicott College and is widely regarded as “Montessori for Adults”. What inspired you both to create the program?

TIES was actually created before Marsha and I were together. There was an organization created in 1987 to promote holistic education in the world. In 1989 I along with seven other people met to see if we could bring together holistic education organizations from all different paradigms and we had a meeting in Chicago. Out of that came the Global Alliance for Transforming Education with ten principles.

I was the executive director and given that role I began traveling around the world giving lectures and presentations on those ten principles. Wherever I went people would say, “Where can I get an education that embodies those principles?” In the early ‘90s I was on the faculty in one of the first online programs in the country, and one of my students said, “Phil, you really ought to start a master’s program, because that’s where it’s really needed, so teachers can have access to this information.” So between that inspiration and by then Marsha and I were together and had worked on some courses together, we started planning for this program. I wanted, right from the get go, for it to be an online program. I knew there were people around the world who were interested in this. We’ve been doing it that way now for 23 years.

Dr. Montessori laid forth her ideas for the four planes of development, which examine the developmental markers of humans from birth through age 24. What are your thoughts on the possibility of additional planes of development? In what ways might we further explore the relevance of Montessori philosophy in how it relates to the lives of adults?

I have this suspicion because of what happened in my own life, that something happens to people between 24 and 30 that sets them on a different course in their life. It may not happen straight away but the seeds are planted. So I began asking people to talk about anything that happened in their life between 24 and 30. I asked enough people that I have a general feeling that there is something during that stage of development that is a calling forth within our psyche to do our Great Work (or as Montessori called it, our Cosmic Task).

Montessori thought that if a child were educated in a Montessori environment from birth to 18 they would be ready to, as she put it, go to a university. She was thinking of university in a kind of a medieval sense where the ‘new human’ would be established. My sense is that happens later in life, when we really get in touch with what our inner calling is. For me, it was the epoch of my children being born, there were peace demonstrations, civil rights demonstrations, and it was my introduction to Montessori. That was between 24 and 30 and I acted on it when I was 32.

What has your Montessori journey offered you, personally, as a learner?

I think it has changed over time. In the beginning my focus was how do I take all of what I’ve learned and convey that to the children? Montessori’s vision unfolded through observation. She didn't’ go about creating a method of education seeing how that would work with children. She observed children in a natural, prepared environment and she created materials and lessons to meet their needs. She added psychological preparation for the teacher so the teacher could step out of their own conditioning and observe, without coming with conditioning from your own education or your own parent upbringing, but looking at the children at every moment and saying, “What need is being displayed? What do I need to give that child to satisfy that need?”

It has taught me, in essence, it has seeded my own personal development towards cosmic consciousness through self- and other-awareness. Montessori spent the years from ‘69/’70-’77 in India, and that dramatically shifted her consciousness. She was embedded in a very sacred environment with all the great religions there, and she met with many different spiritual people. She connected this idea of cosmic education...she had been talking about it in terms of how everything in the world is integrated. Everything in the universe is integrated. At first she taught this to her teachers just for their own understanding, but eventually she found a way to present this idea of cosmic education to children so that they can understand that each entity in the cosmos including human beings has a cosmic task, and part of that is giving back.

Another educator we interviewed encouraged parents to expect discomfort and to accept and sit with it as they move through the process. This sounds a lot like your ideas that we must explore unconditioning and normalizing. We must unlearn our past conditioning and work ourselves into a new way of being. In your book you say: “At moments that trigger stress, sometimes binding, emotional memory overcomes practice.” What might you say to parents who are just beginning their Montessori journey? What might unconditioning and normalizing look like for them?

The most immediate words that come to me are ‘trust the process’. But, you know that wasn’t my reaction as a parent. I didn’t have any doubts about what they were doing. I just saw my child and the transformation in what was happening and I had total trust in the process. It was magic to me. As a matter of fact I wished I had had that in my life. I remember early on, when I was still an engineer, the teacher recommended I read The Secret of Childhood, because that was a good beginning book. I read it, and I’m driving home from work, and I actually had this internal disembodiment, and I had to pull over on the side of the road. I realized that nobody knew who I was as a child. If I had been educated like this as a child my whole life would have been different. So my parents raised me the way they had been raised. They were children of immigrants, so they were raised with old country ways in the new country, and all of us want a better world for our children.

Here’s how it works to me: When I get some kind of message that something feels uncomfortable, I kind of pause for a moment and ask myself where the discomfort is coming from. It didn’t originate in this moment. It came from something else. You have to take a moment to think about why that moment comes up for you. And if it still comes up for you, you have to talk to the teacher.

You are an advocate for using dialogue to “help catalyze a non-hierarchical, non-adversarial community of learners” between faculty and students in the TIES program. How might school communities (teachers, administrators, parents, community members) attempt something similar?

The first step is understanding it’s not about defending positions and views, but about listening and hearing each other. So often you’re thinking of what to say while the other person is talking. In the online environment, you get a chance to read what the other person is saying, pause, reflect, and then respond to what the person is saying. So how can we pause our thinking and reflect in a school environment without thinking, “I’ve gotta get my question answered. I’ve gotta raise my hand.” It’s the art of listening.

To learn more about Phil’s journey, as well as his forthcoming book entitled Educating for Right-Action and Love: Extending and Expanding the Montessori Vision, visit his website here.

< Older Post

Newer Post >

Image of a toddler sitting at a table with arms raised in celebration while a smiling adult looks on

The Power of Presence: How Adults Shape Learning in the Early Years

By Megan Ledendecker • March 16, 2026

For children in the first three years of life, adults are not simply caregivers or teachers. We are models of movement, language, emotional regulation, and relationships. Learn more in this post.

Close up image of a child's hands holding a small green square card printed with the word

Language Revealed: The Montessori Journey to Understanding Pronouns

By Meagan Ledendecker • March 9, 2026

In this blog post, learn more about how Montessori classrooms help children bring to consciousness language they already use every day by learning about how language functions and how meaning is carried when words stand in for each other.

Image of a toddler sleeping face down on a mat with a brightly colored blanket

Sleep as a Skill: A Montessori Reflection for Baby Sleep Day

By Meagan Ledendecker • March 2, 2026

March 1 marks Baby Sleep Day, so we thought we’d take a moment to reflect on the alignment between Montessori philosophy and modern sleep science. In Montessori, we focus on independence as a path toward self-sufficiency. This is a gradual, mindful process of becoming capable. For our youngest children, this journey begins with mastery of the most fundamental human needs: eating, toileting, and sleeping. These areas matter deeply because they are ultimately under a child’s control. No one can make a child eat, use the toilet, or sleep. Our role, then, is not to force outcomes but to remove obstacles. As adults, we can provide thoughtful structure and support children as they develop the skills that build confidence and trust in their own bodies. Language Shapes Our Intentions In Montessori, our language reflects our values. For example, we don’t talk about “toilet training.” Instead, we focus on “toilet learning” because children are learning how to care for their bodies within the cultural norms. We are not training behavior. We are supporting development. The same is true for sleep. Rather than “sleep training,” Montessori invites us to think in terms of supporting independent sleep skills. We help children learn how to settle their bodies, self-soothe, and eventually fall asleep independently, all skills they will rely on for the rest of their lives. Why Sleep Matters So Much Research continues to affirm that sleep is foundational. Healthy sleep supports brain development and learning, emotional regulation, physical growth and immune function, and memory and attention. During sleep, children’s bodies perform essential functions, including muscle growth, tissue repair, protein synthesis, and the release of growth hormones. Deep sleep stages are when the most restorative processes occur. How Sleep Works Two systems guide sleep: circadian rhythm and sleep pressure. Circadian rhythm is the body’s internal 24-hour clock, regulated by light and darkness. When it’s dark, the brain releases melatonin (the sleep hormone). When it’s light, melatonin decreases, and cortisol helps us wake. This is why darkness supports sleep, blue light from screens disrupts it, and consistent bedtimes matter. Newborns are not born with a mature circadian rhythm. It begins developing around six weeks and becomes more established around three months, which explains why early baby sleep can feel unpredictable. The other factor is sleep pressure. The longer we’re awake, the stronger the drive to sleep. This pressure builds during the day and resets after a long stretch of rest. When children miss their sleep window and become overtired, stress hormones (adrenaline and cortisol) kick in, creating that familiar “second wind.” Suddenly, a child who desperately needs sleep seems wired and alert. Understanding sleep pressure helps us time sleep before children tip into exhaustion. A Montessori Framework for Healthy Sleep To support both healthy attachment and independence, Montessori encourages clear, loving boundaries. Sleep is no different. We can focus on four key factors: a prepared sleep environment, predictable and respectful routines, healthy sleep associations, and limits with flexibility. A Prepared Sleep Environment Just as we prepare our Montessori classrooms, we want to be intentional about preparing our child’s sleep space at home. Key components include ensuring that the space is: Dark (blackout curtains help melatonin production) Quiet and calm Free of stimulating toys Slightly cool A good question to ask ourselves is: Would I easily fall asleep here? Predictable, Respectful Routines Children feel secure when they know what comes next. A simple home routine might include: The final feeding Putting on pajamas Toileting/diapering Tooth brushing A short story or song A hug and kiss goodnight Long baths or extended reading are best before the sleep window, not during it. Healthy Sleep Associations Children form associations with the conditions present when they fall asleep. If a child falls asleep being rocked, fed, or held, they will often need that same support during natural night wakings. Instead, we want to place a child in bed drowsy but awake, so they can practice falling asleep independently. Comfort objects, such as a small blanket or stuffed animal, can support this process. Limits with Flexibility Sleep needs change as children grow. Consistency matters, but we don’t want to be unnecessarily rigid. It’s important to keep in mind, though, that older children may test boundaries, delay routines, or negotiate endlessly. Calm, consistent follow-through reassures children that the structure is dependable. And just as importantly, adults need support, too! Holding limits is much harder when we are sleep-deprived, so self-care is essential. Why Independent Sleep Is an Act of Care Babies naturally cycle through light and deep sleep many times each night. When they wake briefly between cycles, a child who knows how to self-settle can drift back to sleep without distress. Independent sleep skills: Reduce frequent night wakings Support early morning sleep Improve mood and learning Protect parents’ well-being Plus, poor sleep in infancy is linked to challenges later in childhood, including difficulties with emotional regulation and health concerns. Supporting sleep early is preventative care. A Closing Thought for Baby Sleep Day Supporting sleep is not about forcing independence. It’s about preparing the conditions so independence can emerge naturally, with confidence and trust. If you’re navigating sleep challenges, please know this: you don’t have to do it alone. Sleep is learned, supported, and refined over time (just like every other human skill!). We want to honor sleep not as a struggle to overcome, but as a vital rhythm to protect, for both our children and ourselves. If you are interested in learning more, schedule a visit here in Lenox today!

The Most Important Montessori Practice You Rarely Hear About

By Meagan Ledendecker • February 23, 2026

One of the quieter, less visible practices in a Montessori elementary classroom is the Child-Guide conference. You may never see it listed on a schedule or mentioned in a weekly update, yet it plays a profound role in children’s experience at school. Relationship Comes First The primary purpose of these conferences is to establish, maintain, and strengthen the relationship between the adult and each child. This focus shifts the dynamic from a teacher looking for faults or scolding about unfinished work. Rather, it’s a collegial conversation that enables children to take an active and engaged role in their own education. These connective conversations are grounded in relationship-building because when children feel emotionally safe and genuinely respected, they are far more willing to reflect, stretch themselves, and take responsibility for their growth. Every Child, as Often as They Need Montessori Guides aim to meet regularly with every child, but what “regularly” looks like can vary based on individual needs. Some children benefit from a longer, more formal conference every few weeks. Others need brief, frequent check-ins, sometimes lasting only a minute or two. These short moments might look like a quick conversation at the beginning of the morning, a gentle pause beside a table, or a quiet walk across the room together. The length of the meeting is not what matters. What is important is the message it sends: “I see you. I know your work. I care about how this is going for you.” What Happens in a Child-Guide Conference? While conferences vary based on each individual and the moment, they often include: The child bringing their learning journal or work (finished and unfinished) The guide bringing observational records A shared look at what has been accomplished Gentle reflection on what still feels unfinished Planning for what might come next Scheduling new lessons or presentations Support with larger projects: breaking them into steps, mapping timelines, imagining the finished product This collaborative time also provides an opportunity to experiment with new strategies (“Would you like to try creating a prioritized list?”), celebrate successes (“You worked so hard on your presentation! How did it feel to share your work?”), and reflect upon challenges (“It seems like you’ve been feeling a bit stuck in your research project. Tell me more about what is going on.”). Learning to Define “Finished” One of the most freeing lessons children learn in Montessori is that not every piece of work must be finished to an adult’s standard. Sometimes children accomplish exactly what they set out to do, and continuing would add nothing meaningful. Other times, interest has naturally ended, and letting go is healthy. This is not about lowering expectations. It is about honoring children’s internal sense of completion and learning when to release what no longer serves a purpose. Trusting Children’s Self-Assessment A cornerstone of these conferences is trust. Guides listen carefully to how children assess their own work and articulate their goals. When an adult truly accepts children’s self-assessment, something powerful happens: children begin to see themselves as capable, thoughtful, and worthy of being taken seriously. Children often receive more from the tone and sentiment of these meetings than from the actual content discussed. The Whole Child Matters Because Montessori education is concerned with the whole child, conferences may naturally move beyond academics. A Guide might gently offer support with social dynamics or ask about recent struggles during outdoor time. These moments provide a safe space for children to reflect on their own social, emotional, and physical development, and to recognize that there is a network of support. When Relationships Need Repair Even in the most thoughtful classrooms, relationships can become strained. What matters is how adults respond. It is never too late for a Guide to sit with a child and say, honestly: “I’ve been thinking about how we’ve been interacting recently, and I’d love to brainstorm with you about what I could do differently.” When an adult takes responsibility, without demanding the child do the same, something shifts. Trust begins to rebuild. Real dialogue becomes possible. Children learn from this modeling. In time, after they feel safe, they often step forward to take responsibility themselves. What Children Are Really Learning Through these quiet, intentional meetings, children learn that: their thoughts and feelings matter, adults can be trusted, mistakes are part of growth, reflection leads to independence, and relationships can be repaired. And while these conferences may happen quietly in a corner of the classroom, their impact echoes far beyond it. This is true preparation for life. To learn more about the long-term benefits of Montessori, visit us here in Lenox, MA!