December 22, 2004
Greenspire School takes root at Grand Traverse Commons
Late Dr. Karen Gilhooley motivating force behind proposed Montessori junior high school to be located in former greenhouse
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Roaming their 50-plus acre 'playground' last Wednesday, students in the Greenspire School discussed with their teachers the approaching winter solstice.
Looking to measure shadows, the two seventh-grade students discussed the angle of the sun relative to a shadow cast by a pole. The students observed that this created a triangle - tying nature to geometry - and prompted them to explore and measure this shape.
As the discussions raced on, leaping with the students' imagination and excitement, the teachers discerned that they needed to review square roots. They determined that the next morning's math lesson would include triangles, the Pythagorean theorem and square roots.
After settling in Thursday morning to their schoolroom at the Village at Grand Traverse Commons, the students made color-coded guide squares. These squares are a tool that will help them unlock the concept of square roots for large numbers.
"They tend to be fascinated with really large numbers so they extended the need to calculate the square roots of reasonable numbers into the desire to calculate the square roots of really large numbers," said Bonnie Deigh, a teacher at the school, which opened this fall. "That's the preparation for algebra."
By facilitating education as an organic process, teachers Deigh and Tony Lasasso honor the students' natural desire to learn, explore and master information - a foundation of educator Maria Montessori's philosophy.
While the Greenspire instructors have specific lesson plans and goals for their students, they often weave individual student interests into the lessons. They relish the chance to explore the tangent less traveled.
"The content of their lesson is established either by the lesson or by their need," noted Deigh, a Montessori teacher for 14 years. "What happened [with triangles] is typically not really tidy, we started in one direction and went off into something else."
Being one of two students is not a problem to Leland Ursu, 12. Formerly homeschooled and a student in the Grand Traverse Area Catholic Schools, Ursu noted that his homeschooling experience was influenced by Montessori.
"I like the quiet but I'm looking forward to having more students," said Ursu.
Greenspire School is a parent-inspired Montessori junior high that will have a capacity for 30 junior high students. While the school is now renting space in the Yoga for Health Education studio, the three-month renovation of a former greenhouse on the former State Hospital grounds will begin in January.
While the Montessori philosophy and approach may be a familiar one for preschool and elementary age students, leaders in the Montessori community have been focusing on the early adolescent years in the last decade.
"There are only a couple hundred [Montessori junior highs] and this is the leading edge, what our mentors are doing," noted Deigh, of the burgeoning movement nationwide.
Locating in Traverse City's 'Central Park' is a natural fit for a Montessori junior high school.
"Montessori's vision for the adolescent has a lot to do with place, the pedagogy of place," Deigh said. "And this being a particularly interesting place we are embarking on a study of history of the place and using the resources of the place."
The late Dr. Karen Gilhooly, who died in early November along with her daughter and two other girls, was the motivating force behind the Greenspire School. The teachers, students and board are determined to fulfill her vision of a vibrant 7-9th grade facility.
"It adds more steam to our boiler, because of the vision that Karen had, to make sure it happens," said Lasasso, a Montessori teacher for 11 years. "It is also energizing to see how much general interest the community has in it and the support in light of what's happened in the last month and a half."
A parent information night, featuring the philosophy of Montessori education at the junior high level, will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m., Thursday, January 13 at Montessori Children's House, 5363 N. Long Lake Road. For more information, call the Montessori Children's House at 929-9325.
Donations or memorials to Greenspire School, a new Montessori junior high school, can be made via the Karen L. Gilhooly and Rowan Gilhooly-Sanford Educational Foundation, P.O. Box 543, Traverse City, MI 49684.