Reaching for the word that best describes her philosophy of teaching, Montessori Assistant Berengée Russell chooses the word respect: respect for children and their independence, for supporting their interests and discoveries; and believing in what they are able to do.  She discovered these tenets as she was finishing a Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education at George Mason University and teaching in preschool programs full time. Entering a Montessori classroom felt like a homecoming, she remembers.  “I saw what was happening there; all the theories about promoting children’s learning were alive in that classroom,” she says, adding, “I decided to steep myself in the Montessori method.”

After receiving Montessori training and teaching in Montessori classrooms for ten years, Ms. Russell came to Green Hedges as substitute Montessori teacher and guide in the summer camp program. She felt welcomed as a colleague and supported by the palpable sense of community.  “It is something to which many places aspire, but here, I actually feel it,” she says, adding that in her teaching role she, in turn, seeks to help children, parents, and families feel welcomed and supported.  One particular joy of her current position working with the two- and three-year old children, she says, is that “I’ll be a long-time part of their lives now.” 

Ms. Russell’s volunteer experiences include teaching in an adapted aquatics program, participating in Read Aloud Virginia, being a conversation partner to non-native English speakers, and working at the Hope and Serenity Farm Sanctuary in Nokesville.  She enjoys reading the classics, mysteries, and Gothic literature like the Brontes, as well as spending time with her husband and their rescue cats, Edgar and Charlotte.