Module 2 - A Thoughtful Start in September Sets the Stage for Everything That Follows, Creating the Conditions for Children to Flourish Throughout the Year.
Â
Ten sessions exploring the practical architecture of the Montessori year and the observation systems that allow the guide to follow each child with precision. Together, these structures create the conditions for a calm, purposeful, and increasingly autonomous community in which children can engage deeply in their own development.
Module 2 takes us into the daily realities of Montessori practice.
Having established in Module 1 who the guide must be and what they must see, we explore how thoughtful preparation, systematic observation, and reflective analysis enable the guide to respond with increasing precision to the needs of each child.
As theory and practice come together, observation becomes more than record-keeping. It becomes a way of seeing that allows the child to illuminate the path forward.”
Running alongside the six-week September programme is a complete observation system. These are the tools that allow the guide to see what is actually unfolding for each child. Through systematic observation, careful analysis, and thoughtful reflection, you will learn how to translate what you observe into a bespoke pedagogical response.
As observation deepens, the guide begins to recognise the conditions that support attention, concentration, independence, and purposeful work.
At the heart of this module is a complete observation system developed through decades of Montessori practice, enabling guides to move beyond observation and towards thoughtful pedagogical decision-making.
WHAT YOU WILL WALK AWAY WITH
By the End of Module 2 You Will Be Able to:
TEN SESSIONS COVERINGÂ
A Complete Arc, Session by Session.
The six-week September structure
The loving scaffold that provides safety before freedom expands, including the WOW framework (Who, What, When) and Mrs Patell’s Lucky Seven questions as a weekly reflection tool. Karen's framework for understanding the qualities, relationships, and responsibilities that define the Montessori guide's role, and what makes Montessori fundamentally different as an educational approach.
Managing the first weeks
From parent handover through directed, suggested, and free choice to the three-hour work cycle
Group work
Response games, the mirror game, and storytelling as indirect preparation
Walking on the line
A six-week progressive programme from first presentation to sustained meditative movement
The complete observation system
The observation sheet, work curve, observation key, and work states framework
Analysing a work curve
The three lenses of analysis and the carry-through sheet in practice
Practical Life presentations
Pouring, including preparation of the environment, the presentation itself, and the points of consciousness that support the child’s journey towards engagement.
Practical Life presentations
The Zip Frame, including re-presentations and the guide’s role in supporting attention and the emergence of concentration.
The pedagogical meeting
Reading a child's week as a team and building a bespoke programme from the evidence
Work curve case study
A guided analysis of Naomi's week, putting the complete observation system into practice with a real child and translating the evidence into a bespoke programme
WHAT’S INCLUDED
This Module Comes With the Following
Â
Recorded Videos
10 pre-recorded sessions with a total of approximately 10 hours of Karen coaching a small group of guides.
Key Learning Points
Consolidate the key ideas for every session; useful in team conversations and mentor meetings.
Guide Resources
Copies of slides and depending upon the content, templates, case studies and examples.
Weekly Community Mentoring with Karen
Join our optional live Zoom sessions every Tuesday, 5:00–6:00pm, or Wednesday, 4:30–5:30pm UK time.
Bring your questions, observations and reflections from the programme, and explore how Montessori principles can be applied within your everyday practice. Listen to the experiences of guides around the world, share in open dialogue and deepen your understanding together.
Â
This is your opportunity to feel part of a global community and to have Karen alongside you as an ongoing mentor—following and supporting your development, just as we follow the development of the child.
FROM THE COMMUNITY
What Guides Are Saying.
It was amazing working by Karen on observation. After participating in this session, I genuinely feel that observation is indeed a form of artistry. Very well explained. Thank you so much!Thank you so much Karen for the amazing workshop. I learned so much about observation from you.
Karen was a sweet and very humble person, her anecdotes made the session lively and relatable. She provided us with a great tool for observation, looking forward to putting them into practice. Thanks Montessori Institute Prague for hosting this.loved the way you planned and presented the sessions. Thanks for patiently answering all our questions.
Karen you are deeply inspiring and it was a pleasure spending those hours learning from you. I am deeply touched and feel like I'm ready to transform my environment ahahahah. Thank you so much, and I would have loved to take the year-long course if only the time difference allowed.
ABOUT KAREN
Karen Pearce
Co-Founder & Director of Pedagogy, The Montessori Place
Karen Pearce is a Co-Founder and Director of Pedagogy at The Montessori Place in Brighton, UK, where she mentors the Children's House guides.
Karen trained at the Maria Montessori Institute (MMI) in London in 1989. She went on to lead one of their model children's houses for 18 years before becoming Head of School, lecturer, and Course Leader in the post diploma course in Observation. Throughout her years with the MMI she was extremely privileged to be mentored for 23 years by world renowned trainer Mrs Hilla Patell.
She has 38 years of Children's House experience and she lectures and runs workshops across Europe and Asia. Karen also offers a weekly online mentorship programme, Montessori Unwrapped, to support guides in putting theory into practice.
FAQs
Enrol Now
ÂŁ300
One time payment
- Lifetime access to progamme content
- 10 hours of pre-recorded video sessions
- Downloadable resources
- Join 16 group coaching calls over two months
- Immediate access
PART OF SOMETHING LARGER
Module 2 is the second of six.
Taken together, Open Monteversity is 60 hours of coaching with Karen Pearce. A complete professional development journey for Montessori guides and assistants working in the 3–6 environment.
Each module is available individually at ÂŁ300. The full six-module programme is available as a single enrolment. Many guides begin with one module and later choose to continue their journey through the remaining modules. If you already know that deepening your practice is a long-term commitment, it is worth exploring the complete Open Monteversity programme.
Â
View full programme details