Regina Dyson
Board Chair, Montessori for Social Justice | Community Outreach Coordinator, Oneness-Family High School

Regina Dyson is a lifelong Montessorian, educator, and advocate with over 33 years of experience in community engagement, education, and nonprofit leadership. She serves as Board Chair of Montessori for Social Justice and is the Community Outreach Coordinator at Oneness-Family High School, where her youngest child graduated.

Since beginning her Montessori journey in 1992 at an Afro-centered school in Atlanta, Regina has held diverse roles including executive director, classroom assistant, afterschool coordinator, and organizational consultant. Her work focuses on justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging (JEDIB), with a strong commitment to intergenerational coalition building, adolescent leadership, restorative justice, and parents as partners.

Regina also brings deep expertise as a project manager, developmental coach, and organizational transition specialist, and remains a fierce advocate for Montessori for all—across generations and communities.

Andrew Faulstich

After working in schools around the world, Andrew is convinced that the education status quo must be disrupted. He is the Co-Founder of Developing Education, which operates three sub-divisions: Breaking the Paradigm, First Intention, and The Enlightened Educator Project. Additionally, Andrew is the Montessori Curriculum and Pedagogy Coordinator and Humanities Guide at the Oneness-Family Montessori High School and an Affiliate Instructor of Montessori Teacher Education at the graduate level at Loyola University. He holds a Masters in International Educational Development from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, a Bachelors in Anthropology from the University of Rochester, an AMI Montessori Adolescent Diploma, a Teaching for Equity Micro-Certification from Embracing Equity, and a certificate from the Phillips Exeter Humanities Institute.   

In this webinar, we will focus on a key component of the Montessori approach for people living with dementia: Practical Life. All too often, older adults living with dementia lose access to many of the roles and responsibilities they previously enjoyed, which impacts their sense of purpose and self-worth. It becomes essential then that care partners get to know each person deeply, so that we can discover what roles each person would enjoy and find ways for them to step back into those roles. In Montessori communities and homes, you will see people living with dementia setting the table, watering plants, sweeping the floor, preparing food, folding laundry, filling the birdfeeder, and so much more. We will discuss ways to prepare the environment and design materials that enable independence with these roles, and how to establish them as routines for people living with dementia. (Yes, people living with dementia can learn new routines with consistent practice!)  There will be lots of examples given and an opportunity to brainstorm and collaborate as a group. If you know someone living with dementia and would like to learn more, please join us!

Participants will…

• Receive a brief introduction to the Montessori philosophy of care for people living with dementia

• Understand the importance of meaningful roles in maintaining a sense of purpose and self-worth

• Brainstorm and create a list of potential roles for people living with dementia

• Learn to design dementia-friendly roles, including planning, making materials, and preparing the environment

• Learn to build routines around these roles, including introducing a new role, consistent practice, and training other care partners

• Be introduced to ways to learn more about the Montessori for Aging and Dementia movement

Margaret Jarrell

Margaret began her Montessori journey at age three at a small Montessori school in Washington, D.C. She fell in love with the Montessori Method and went on to pursue a Masters Degree in Education and her Elementary Montessori certification. Margaret was a Lower Elementary Guide for 12 years. She is now the Director of the Greenspring Center for Lifelong Learning, a non-profit organization that supports Montessori teachers, leaders, and schools.

Margaret is also an AMI Trainer in Montessori for Dementia & Aging and co-author of Montessori for Elder and Dementia Care (Second Edition) with Jennifer Brush. For Brush Development, Margaret develops curriculum, teaches workshops, and provides coaching for both Montessori educators and healthcare professionals adopting the Montessori philosophy of care.

Margaret lives in St. Petersburg, Florida with her family and daughter, a Montessori Elementary student.

Session 2: Phonological Awareness and Phonics:

Children with dyslexia often have particular difficulty separating the individual sounds in words. They need consistent and intentional practice with phonological awareness, which is the ability to recognize and manipulate the sounds in spoken language. Phonics, the skill of connecting those sounds to letters, builds on this foundation. This session will focus on both phonological awareness and phonics, which are essential components of reading development. We will look at how to support extended practice of these skills using the materials and lessons from your albums.

Gina Polly Applegate is a 6-12 AMI-trained guide with over 20 years of experience working in AMI schools as both a lower el guide and upper el guide as well as an administrator. She is a Certified Structured Literacy Dyslexia Specialist (C-SLDS) through the Center for Effective Reading, an affiliate of the International Dyslexia Association as well as a Fellow-in-Training with The Orton-Gillingham Academy (FIT/OGA). She currently works at Austin Montessori School as the Director of Inclusion and Support and is an elementary consultant for AMI/USA. She became passionate about supporting children with dyslexia in Montessori after her youngest son was diagnosed with dyslexia.

Session 3: Spelling, Writing, Editing

To sound out a word in order to spell it accurately, a child needs to have had practice with phonological awareness and phonics. Additionally, the need to work with PuzzleWords does not end in Children’s House. Elementary children also need much practice with high frequency, non-phonetic words both for reading and spelling. In this session, we will explore ways to support organic and independent spelling practice, guide dyslexic children in sentence expansion and later paragraph expansion, incorporate dictation across the different areas of the classroom, and help students learn to edit their own written work.

Gina Polly Applegate is a 6-12 AMI-trained guide with over 20 years of experience working in AMI schools as both a lower el guide and upper el guide as well as an administrator. She is a Certified Structured Literacy Dyslexia Specialist (C-SLDS) through the Center for Effective Reading, an affiliate of the International Dyslexia Association as well as a Fellow-in-Training with The Orton-Gillingham Academy (FIT/OGA). She currently works at Austin Montessori School as the Director of Inclusion and Support and is an elementary consultant for AMI/USA. She became passionate about supporting children with dyslexia in Montessori after her youngest son was diagnosed with dyslexia.

Session 4: Morphology and Oral Reading Fluency

With a strong phonics foundation, children can begin to decode longer words. However, multisyllabic words can be more challenging, as it becomes harder to hold all the sounds in memory while making meaning. This session explores the progression toward reading multisyllabic words and how recognizing common prefixes, roots, and suffixes can support vocabulary growth and reading comprehension. It will also address oral reading fluency, including ways to help students build accuracy and expression through repeated reading.

Gina Polly Applegate is a 6-12 AMI-trained guide with over 20 years of experience working in AMI schools as both a lower el guide and upper el guide as well as an administrator. She is a Certified Structured Literacy Dyslexia Specialist (C-SLDS) through the Center for Effective Reading, an affiliate of the International Dyslexia Association as well as a Fellow-in-Training with The Orton-Gillingham Academy (FIT/OGA). She currently works at Austin Montessori School as the Director of Inclusion and Support and is an elementary consultant for AMI/USA. She became passionate about supporting children with dyslexia in Montessori after her youngest son was diagnosed with dyslexia.