Teacher Bios
Lael Sheahan, Director/Teacher
Montessori Background:
1971–AMI preschool diploma from the Montessori Institute in Los Angeles
1976–AMI elementary diploma from Sion Hill College, Ireland
Experience:
Lael has over 32 years of Montessori teaching experience: 3 years of preschool and 29 years in the elementary classroom. Her teaching experience includes the Southwest (Santa Fe, Dallas) and the Northwest. She spent 10 years teaching elementary education as director and head teacher of a one classroom AMI elementary program (Montessori Learning Center) in Corvallis, Oregon.
She taught at Franciscan Montessori in Portland, Oregon before opening Zia Montessori Elementary School in Portland in 2000. The school relocated to Spokane in the fall of 2003 with a name change becoming Southside Montessori Elementary School. Southside is beginning its 7th year in the Fall 2009.
Knowledge:
Along with her vast teaching experience, Lael has consulted for various schools and given workshops in Sweden, Canada and the United States. She pursued her interest in public relations and parent education. She developed two Montessori slide shows that were distributed for 23 years both nationally and internationally by the North American Montessori Teacher Association. The slide shows were used for parent education and in education classes at colleges, universities, and Montessori training institutes.
Lael has served as editor of the AMI magazine, Family Life. She also served as Assistant editor and member of the advisory board of Montessori Explorer, a Magazine for elementary children.
Life Experience:
Four years of volunteer work with the Dallas Museum of Natural History, including on-site digging and the eventual reconstruction of a 75 million year old mosasaur (a swimming reptile), combined with several years of world travel have enriched the life experiences she brings to the classroom.
Lael enjoys sharing her experiences, enthusiasm, love of learning, and humor with her students. Her passion for teaching is apparent in the lives of the hundreds of students she has touched. Many of her students are now pursuing their own careers and raising Montessori children and several stay in touch with her to this day. This, she says, is the real benefit of her profession.