Your Key to a Career in Montessori
Trained Montessori teachers are in demand: AMI-affiliated Montessori schools typically have long waiting lists, and the critical lack of trained Montessori teachers is a significant factor limiting the growth and development of both new and established Montessori schools.
A career in Montessori education also offers many opportunities for ongoing professional development, expanding or shifting roles, and leadership. The Montessori community conducts regular refresher courses across the country for trained teachers as well as special courses for administrators. Experienced Montessori-trained teachers often take on leadership roles in Montessori schools, or open their own schools as entrepreneurs. Others choose to pursue more than one Montessori diploma (for example, Montessori for infants and toddlers, elementary-aged children, or adolescents) and teach various age groups during their careers, or become Montessori teacher trainers themselves.
Whatever path your career takes, AMI training is your key to opening doors, locally and worldwide.
ONLINE TRAINING
Blended Learning
Learning how to be an AMI teacher has never been more accessible! Classes are currently offered in a blended format, with lectures accessible through Zoom, videos and content in our online classroom, and practice with materials available at our training center.
OUR SETTING
The Phoenix Community
If you opt to attend courses locally, the Phoenix Metropolitan area is home to a robust and respected Montessori community, allowing student teachers the opportunity to observe and practice teach in real schools while forming enduring relationships with experienced Montessori practitioners.
While attending training, you’ll enjoy great weather, a low cost of living in Phoenix and down-to-earth culture in a thriving city.
Paddle the Salt River past wild mustangs and blue herons. Hike the trails of South Mountain Park and Preserve. Explore the Heard Museum or the Phoenix Art Museum. Wander in America’s largest butterfly conservatory. Dine or dance the night away in downtown Phoenix. Take in a music or theater performance at the Herberger Theater Center or the historic Orpheum Theater. There’s something for everyone in Phoenix. It’s a place to explore your passion, while sticking to your budget.
OUR AMI PARTNERSHIP
Internationally-Recognized Training
The Association Montessori Internationale training is the gold standard in Montessori teacher education, recognized for excellence in over 110 countries. AMI-trained Montessori teachers are in high demand worldwide: Montessori schools and other employers know that AMI training is the best available.
AMI was founded by Dr. Maria Montessori during her lifetime. Today, AMI continues to offer the highest quality, most authentic and comprehensive Montessori training through affiliated training centers on five continents. SIMS is the AMI-affiliated training center in Mesa, and is proud to offer courses of study certifying teachers of children ages birth through 12 that meet AMI’s rigorous standards of quality and authenticity.
Graduates of AMI training courses, such as our training course at SIMS, must demonstrate understanding of educational theory, child development, observation techniques, and use and presentation of the Montessori materials. No other Montessori training comes close to providing such a systematic, rigorous course of study. It pays off: you will find yourself achieving a depth of knowledge, both practical and theoretical, that is sought after and valued by Montessori schools worldwide.
OUR INTERNATIONAL APPEAL
Spanish Language Options
Though our teacher training courses are delivered in English, SIMS trainers Maria Luisa Del Riego, Gaby Lopez, Ann Velasco, and Gabriela Velazquez are fluent in Spanish. Students enrolled in our Infant and Toddler, Early Childhood, and Elementary classes can complete their coursework (including albums), communicate with the trainer, and request to complete oral and written exams in Spanish. This is especially valuable if you work in a bilingual or immersion classroom setting, or if your first language is Spanish. If there is a significant cohort of Spanish speakers in a course, a translator may be provided.
Indigenous Land Acknowledgement
The Southwest Institute of Montessori Studies is located in modern-day Phoenix/Mesa, Arizona, which is on the ancestral lands of the Akimel O’odham tribe and before that the Hohokam people. This place where we live and work has been and continues to be the home of indigenous peoples since time immemorial. We honor the elders of both past and present, as well as future generations, of the Hohokam peoples and the Akimel O’odham nation. We express gratitude for their stewardship of the land we currently occupy.
Prehistorically, the Hohokam people inhabited a large part of central and southern Arizona. Their descendants, the Akimel O’odham tribe (River People) is also known as the Upper Pima, and today is part of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.
Indigenous ancestors of these groups developed the most advanced canal system in North America to provide irrigation water to villages and agricultural lands here in the harsh Sonoran Desert environment. Hundreds of miles of canals were engineered and dug by hand. These systems allowed them to engage in canal farming and produce an ample supply of food. Some of these historic canal courses are still utilized in the Phoenix Valley today. We acknowledge this important infrastructure that early colonizers and modern day populations have benefitted from.
As educators we acknowledge and assume the responsibility to share this important aspect of our local history with our students. We must help them to develop an appreciation for those who came before us and whose territory we now occupy. We must encourage our students, and ourselves, to pursue a journey of learning to better know and understand our current modern-day indigenous neighbors, with the goal of developing an understanding of how we can be better allies.
