Cam was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota and his professional career has been divided between work in childhood education and in city government as an elected official.
He has a wealth of experience in Montessori education and has worked as a Montessorian at the toddler to middle school levels in both the public and private sectors. He is a past contributing editor of Public School Montessorian and past president of the Minnesota Alliance of Montessorians.
Cam taught at Ramsey Action Head Start, Northern Lights Montessori School, Child Garden Montessori School, River’s Edge Children’s House, Seward Montessori School and The College of St. Catherine’s Early Childhood Center and Montessori School where he helped start the college’s first “toddler” program, first full day child care program and supervised and helped train teachers, assistants, student teachers and interns.
After over 15 years in the classroom, Cam started World Song, a music education company that provided music education programs and community-building entertainment services to preschool and elementary Montessori and non-Montessori programs. World Song produced children’s stories and music recordings, including The Magic Carpet Ride. In the late 1990s he merged that company to also co-own and co-operate a small child care facility, River’s Edge Children’s House, that served children from birth to age 12.
In 2005 he was elected as a Green Party member to the Minneapolis City Council where he served as a full-time policymaker for 16 years representing the residents of the Second Ward. On the council he was Minority Leader, and chaired the Health, Energy, Environment and Housing Committees as well as the Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board. Among the large body of work done as Council Member, he is most often recognized for leadership on issues of racial equity, housing, civic participation, public health, environmental sustainability, transportation, clean energy, violence prevention and youth development.
Since retiring from the council, Cam has been doing freelance writing for local newspapers and other publications. He is regularly published in the Longfellow Nokomis Messenger, Southwest Connector and has a monthly column, Cam’s Corner, in Southside Pride.
He republished an updated 5th edition of “Together with Montessori” through the his company, River’s Edge and has recently started facilitating professional development and parent education workshops on Montessori philosophy and practice.
Welcome
My first experience with Montessori education was as a new assistant thrust into a Montessori environment with little more than a few preconceived notions to guide me. In time I became a Montessori teacher with my own classroom, responsible for the training and supervision of assistants and for working with resource teachers, parents and support staff—all of whom had notions of their own and little, if any, Montessori experience themselves.
I am also a parent. All my sons and daughters were enrolled in a variety of Montessori schools including one of the first Montessori public schools in Minnesota. As both a parent and a teacher I have been part of public and private Montessori school communities struggling to maintain integrity and consistency with administrators and staff from a variety of backgrounds not always familiar with Montessori.
Throughout the past, I have experienced how Montessorians ourselves sometimes create barriers. Too often we keep out our most important allies—parents, administrators, assistants, support staff and resource teachers. Through our special, often isolated, teacher preparation programs, and through the Montessori mystique we create, we alienate others. Through the richly metaphorical and unique terminology we use and through our preoccupation with the classroom, “Montessori” literature and colleagues, and the children for whom we work, we risk building walls around us and excluding others.
In my roles of assistant, classroom teacher, resource teacher, parent and administrator I have felt the need for a tool to help introduce people to Montessori history, philosophy and practice.
The book, Together with Montessori, is intended to be such a tool.
I hope that, as a tool, my book will help open the doors to the world of Montessori education to a wide variety of people. It is written for parents and staff in public and private schools throughout North America so that they may better work together for themselves and the children in their schools.
A tool serves no worthy purpose unless it is used well. I recommend that Montessori certified and non-certified personnel both become familiar with this book and that they use it as part of a larger orientation program that includes demonstration of materials, observations in Montessori environments and discussions. I hope that it is used as a reference to find out about areas that interest you, as a background, and as a starting place from which to form questions for your observations, for your colleagues and for future readings. Most importantly, I hope that you use it in a way that works for you.
As you do, be advised that the book, this website and my blog, represent my own interpretation of what I have been exposed to and my own choices about what to emphasize and what to exclude. The choices have been very difficult and I have done my best to base them on accepted and tested Montessori theory and practice. I encourage you to find out what others think. Consult and learn from the Montessorians in your midst. Read the writings of Maria Montessori. Read the works of others as well.
Something or someone has brought you to the Montessori educational approach. I hope this is the beginning of a fruitful journey.
Contact Cam or River’s Edge at riversedgechildrenshouse@gmail.com for more information about:
Montessori workshops or presentations
How to purchase Together with Montessori
“Meet the Author” events to enhance your training or parent education program
Exploring other ways to collaborate
Educational Background
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
- Bachelor of Science, Graduated with Distinction, 1977
- Graduate studies 1986-91
College of St Catherine, St. Paul MN
- Montessori (AMS) Certification, Level I – 1983, Level 2 – 1991
- Prekindergarten Licensure, 1986
Professional Experience
Teacher and Administrator, 1980 – 2005
- Taught at Ramsey Action Head Start, Northern Lights Montessori School, Child Garden Montessori School, River’s Edge Children’s House, Seward Montessori School and The College of St. Catherine’s Early Childhood Center and Montessori School as administrator and teacher where I helped start the college’s first “toddler” program, first full-day child care program and supervised and helped train teachers, assistants, student teachers and interns.
Small Business Owner and Director, 1991 – 2005
- Owned and operated a music education, and early childhood education company, first operating as World Song and later as River’s Edge Children’s House.
- Produced children’s stories and music recordings, including The Magic Carpet Ride.
Minneapolis City Council Member, 2006 – 2021
- Minority Leader, Chaired the Health, Energy, Environment and Housing Committees as well as the Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board.
- Among the large body of work done as Council Member, most often recognized for leadership on issues of racial equity, housing, civic participation, public health, environmental sustainability, transportation, clean energy, violence prevention and youth development.
Author and Journalist, 1993 – present
- Wrote and edited for Public School Montessorian, the Seward Profile and Jola Education Monthly.
- Currently freelance writing for local newspapers and other publications.
- Author of “Together with Montessori” now out in its fifth edition.
Together With Montessori 