THE PRESENTERS

Martha Monahan is the founder and Director of Rising Stars. Martha is also the Executive Director of Northeast Montessori Institute and has been involved in teacher training since the inception of NMI in 1984. Martha conducts Early Childhood courses in Massachusetts, as well as in Beijing, China, where she established the first AMS affiliated certification course in 1999. Martha holds an AMI Early Childhood certificate from the Toronto Montessori Institute along with a Bachelor’s Degree in Child Development and Elementary Education and a Master’s Degree in Holistic Education.

Linda Seeley has two great interests and commitments in her life that are second only to her family. These are her commitment to the Montessori professional field, and her dedication to and support of Peace and Earth Education. Linda is extremely active in these areas and has presented workshops to Montessori schools in both the private and public sectors. Linda is a founding instructor for NMI and was a Co-chair of the AMS National Conference. She is a founder of the Stoneridge Children’s Montessori School in Beverly, MA, which serves children from Toddler through Middle School, and she continues to be a Head Teacher in a Children’s House classroom there.

MissE Carolan earned her AMI certification from the Montessori Institute of Atlanta in 1978. She has made it a mission to introduce the Montessori philosophy into a variety of educational settings. She holds a BA in psychology and a MS in Applied Behavior Analysis from the University of Southern Maine. Her teaching experience ranges from working in a large Montessori school to a home-based Montessori preschool to working as a behavior technician at a center for children with autism, and, more recently, to working as a clinical specialist with elementary through high school students in a day treatment program for children with behavioral and emotional disorders. Misse is a consultant with New England Early Childhood Association (NEECA), and has been an instructor with Northeast Montessori Institute since 1992. She resides in southern Maine.

Donald Monahan has been involved in Montessori education for over thirty years and holds both an AMI Primary Certificate and an elementary 6-12 certificate (AMS). Donald received his Bachelor’s in Elementary Education from Lesley College in Cambridge, MA. Donald was the founding teacher of the Lexington Montessori School’s elementary program in Lexington, MA. He has also taught Montessori elementary classrooms in Rockport, Maine (now of Camden) and Beijing, China. Donald is the Assistant Director for Northeast Montessori Institute. He enjoys the opportunity to consult with and support new Montessori teachers, both at the Early Childhood and Elementary level.

Louise Marsh holds a BA in History from the University of North Carolina, a Masters Degree in Young Children with Special Needs from Lesley College, and a Massachusetts Teacher’s Certification, K-3. She received her Early Childhood Montessori Certification from Northeast Montessori Institute. She worked as an Educational Consultant in Head Start programs in Gloucester, MA. Subsequently, she set up a Montessori bilingual program for native-born Chinese students in the city of Nanhai, Guangdong Province, China. Presently Louise heads the Learning Skills Program* at Stoneridge Children’s Montessori School in Beverly, MA.

Celia Soltis received her BA in Psychology and BS in Animal Science from Purdue University. She received her Early Childhood Montessori Certification from Northeast Montessori Institute. She is a teacher in the three to six program at Stoneridge Children’s Montessori School in Beverly, MA and a consultant for the Learning Skills Program*. Celia is also a member of the tri-town Special Education Parent Advisory Council in the Topsfield, MA public school system.

Cameron Sesto received a degree in Photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology. She has been teaching art at Stoneridge Children’s Montessori School since l999. She follows an innovated curriculum based on the principles of “Teaching for Artistic Behavior”, which supports children’s authentic ideas and creative expression. She is a self-taught oil painter, print maker and sculptor. She is the author of three books: Sticks (2008), which describes what she has learned from her students at Stoneridge, One End Open (1999), a compilation of prose, poetry and painting, and Simply Great (1989), an illustrated cooking manual for non readers.

*The Learning Skills Program at Stoneridge Children’s Montessori School was developed in 2007 to provide extra services for struggling students. Its goals are to identify and monitor students who need tutoring or specific curriculum accommodations. The staff takes a holistic view of each student’s learning style and coordinates services with the student’s classroom teacher, parents, and tutor.