Morning Address, Sheri Bishop, M.Ed
"Montessori for Social Justice: Mission, Goals, and Collaboration"
Sheri Bishop is a Montessori Elementary Guide committed to social justice and upholding the Montessori ideal that children from all over the world, and from of all socioeconomic levels can exhibit, “a new level of humanity”. She completed her Association of Montessori International (AMI) elementary certification at the Montessori Institute of Atlanta in 2014 and earned her Masters of Education degree in Montessori Elementary Education at Loyola University in Baltimore, MD in 2015.  She currently teaches at Hampton Roads International Montessori School in Newport News, VA.  She was elected as one of the 2017 founding members of the Montessori for Social Justice Board and over the last two years has worked on the organizations’ Strategic Planning, Conference Planning, and Anti-Racist/Anti-Bias Rubric Development Committees.  Sheri also has worked with the Magnolia Montessori for All (MFA) Codification Committee in Austin, Texas, to help guide the development and codification of tools that will support the growth of the Montessori for All Movement.  Prior to being trained as a Montessori guide, Sheri had a long career as a Registered Dietitian and spent the last 15 years of her clinical career practicing in hospital pediatric and neonatal intensive care environments. She is married to Rick Bishop and they have 2 boys that have had lengthy school careers as Montessori students.
2017 Keynote Speaker,  Patricia (Tish) Jennings, M.Ed., Ph.D.
Keynote Talk: "CARE for Teachers: A Mindfulness-based Approach to Enhancing the Prepared Environment"
Dr. Jennings is an Associate Professor of Education at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. She is an internationally recognized leader in the fields of social and emotional learning and mindfulness in education with a specific emphasis on teacher stress and how it impacts the social and emotional context of the classroom. Dr. Jennings led the team that developed CARE for Teachers, a mindfulness-based professional development program shown to significantly improve teacher well-being, emotional supportiveness and sensitivity and classroom productivity in the largest randomized controlled trial of a mindfulness-based intervention designed specifically to address teacher occupational stress. Dr. Jennings is leading the development of the Compassionate Schools Project curriculum, an integrated health education program designed to align with state and national health and physical education standards. She is Co-Principal Investigator on a large randomized controlled trial being conducted in Louisville, KY to evaluate the curriculum’s efficacy. Earlier in her career, Dr. Jennings spent over 22 years as a Montessori teacher, school director and teacher educator. She is the author of Mindfulness for Teachers: Simple Skills for Peace and Productivity in the Classroom part of the Norton Series on the Social Neuroscience of Education.

2017 Conference Program

8:30-9:15am              Registration and Coffee

9:15-9:45am              Welcome, Trisha Willingham and John P. Broome, PhD.
                                    VMA Update, University Hall

9:45-10:15am            Morning Address, Sheri Bishop, MEd
                                    "Montessori for Social Justice: Mission, Goals, and Collaboration"
​
10:15-10:30am          Break
10:30am-12:00pm    Breakout Session 1
​                                    *Pre-Coding and Making:  Open-ended Problem Solving
                                       George Meadows, PhD, (South Building, 109)
                                    *Engaging Families in Literacy Practices
                                       Christy Irish, PhD,  (B252)
                                     *Supporting Learning & Behavioral Differences: The Administrator's Role
                                       Corey Borgman, MFA, (B210)
                                     *Beyond Grace and Courtesy: Where Do We Start?
                                       Sheri Bishop, M.Ed., (B217)

12pm-1pm                 Lunch and Networking 

1:00-2pm                   Welcome, Peter Kelly, PhD, Dean of the College of Education, University of Mary Washington
                                    Keynote Speaker, Patricia Jennings, PhD
                                   "CARE for Teachers: A Mindfulness-based Approach to Enhancing the Prepared Environment"
​                                      (University Hall)
​                       
2:00-2:15pm             Break
2:15-3:45pm             Breakout Session 2
                                    *Reading the Word and Reading the World: Social Justice Teaching through Children’s Literature
                                       Melissa Wells, PhD, (B252)
                                    *New or Re-Newing: Stay focused and Keep your Montessori Practice Fresh
                                       Jocelyn Bell Swanson, M.Ed, (B210)
                                     *Building a Sense of Community for Toddlers--in the Classroom and at Home.
                                       Alissa McKown & Becca Covert, ​(B217)
                                     *Networking Space, (University Hall)

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Online Registration is closed but we welcome you to join us on Saturday!
​
VMA Member Registration $50
Non member Registration $65
Explore VMA Membership Benefits HERE
​***Earn 7 CEUs for Attending***
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The Virginia Montessori Association is a non-profit (501(c)3) that was established in 2015 to bring Montessorians in Virginia together and to offer a community from which we all could benefit.  Administrators, educators, parents and other supporters can connect, inform and communicate in a way that is of value to all.