| The first WISE Montessori Schools Network (MSN) Summit took place virtually on February 8, 2025, welcoming Montessori educators and school leaders from many Islamic Montessori schools around the world. The event’s theme, “The 300 and The 13,” underscored a collective commitment to Islamic integration in the curriculum and designing an upper school program that nurtures an educational environment based on the innate nature of the learners. Event Highlights This year’s summit included five distinguished speakers offered various interactive sessions, making it a comprehensive learning experience for attendees. The sessions focused on the two inter-related themes: 1. What does an ideal Islamic upper school program look like? 2. How do we train Montessori teachers to fully integrate Islamic teachings in their lessons? The event themes were selected by the WISE member school leaders based on the common needs of the schools. The event was designed to address the challenges faced by educators while providing solutions through collaborative discussion and shared experiences. |
Marked Achievements
The summit served as a platform to celebrate the achievements of our Islamic Montessori schools. Schools presented their unique approaches to Islamic integration and shared resources and ideas for further collaboration. A follow up meeting was held on February 23, 2025 to reflect on lessons learned and the way forward. This unique session led to future collaborative projects between schools.
Highlighted Moments and Initiatives
The morning keynote presentation by Sr. Nusaibah Macadam led to a very inspiring and interactive discussion. Her presentation about the cosmic education and the Montessori lessons from an Islamic perspective was very informative. She has developed a training center and offers various workshops and sessions on Islamic integration using the Montessori approach.
The afternoon keynote presentation by Ms. Laurie Ewert-Krocker was a very powerful session that led to a very lively discussion. Laurie is the director of the International Montessori Teacher Institute and was the founding head teacher of Hershey Montessori School’s adolescence community. She answered the many questions asked by the school leaders on planning, designing, implementing, and growing an upper school program.
Collaborative Efforts and Next Steps
This school leaders and educators had a productive discussion on the summit themes and decided on the following next steps:
Schools leaders that are planning for an upper school program will collaborate and share their plans and designs for their upcoming upper schools. The school leaders will further review the application of the elements discussed in the summit related to the development of a Montessori adolescent community.
- A select group of Montessori trained teachers at the primary level will collaborate on creating a database of God-centric age-appropriate resources to be shared with all schools such as stories, books with Muslim characters, senses impressions and celebration of life from an Islamic perspective.
- A select group on Montessori trained teachers at the elementary level will collaborate on documenting areas they have observed that are not aligned with the Islamic values.
- The schools discussed having shared professional developments for their schools and ways they can benefit from the trainers and consultants present in the summit.The school leaders will have further discussion on teacher training needs of the WISE member schools.
Key Sessions
Conclusion
The first WISE MSS Summit was a resounding success, marked by enthusiastic participation, enriching discussions, and significant collaboration opportunities. Two inter-related themes were discussed in detail and each session and conversation contributed to a renewed commitment to excellence in Islamic education.
For more detailed information about the sessions and presenters, attendees are encouraged to explore the videos that are being posted in our YouTube channel.
We appreciate the attendees, the distinguished speakers, program committee members, volunteers, and anyone else who helped make this event successful. May Allah reward their work.