Cassi Mackey joins the Voices in Montessori podcast, hosted by Tamara Sheesley Balis, to discuss creating and living our values as an organization. As Montessorians, we live from a strong pedagogy, but embodying these values consistently can be challenging. Do our choices, actions, words, and interactions align with our Montessori values, especially in moments of stress, conflict, or uncertainty?

Cassi explains that operationalizing and socializing the community's values is critical so there is a strong understand of "what we do at this school." How do we show up, what do our words sounds like, what do our actions look like, and how do we hold ourselves accountable? These values are created through consensus; they become a shared agreement or "a promise to each other." Cassi walks us through the process of how a school staff creates their shared values.

Next Cassi talks about how to operationalize these values, which involves identifying your desired outcomes and defining how these values translate into observable behaviors. Cassi explains that we further reinforce these values by embedding them into the strategic direction, staff evaluations, staff meetings, and more.

This work can change the culture of your school. Cassi has so many specific examples and practical suggestions - you don't want to miss this!