Based on the book ‘Montessori Art: Ms. Nena’s Teaching Method’
Where-as Nena Stowell’s artistic biography was covered in her book ‘Art By Nena: Dreams Precede Reality’, this book is about her teaching biography.
[ Link to the Amazon book here. ]
[cover collage of all mom’s art and classes]
“I teach to give hope to others. That is my forte.” – Ms. Nena
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Nena Stowell kept notes, photos, project papers, letters, and scrap-books; which aided her son Walton in writing this theory book. Nena taught her son and many other students, to write and illustrate books. So Walton told his mother that he wanted to help her publish her curriculum archives after she retired. Nena told Walton it sounded like a good idea. Nena died in 2022, but her teaching legacy can live on through Art education.
Most of the chapters in this book are derived directly from Nena’s lesson and project original documents from Stowell Galleries archives. Much of the text material here is worded exactly as she wrote, while other times her method is explained from memories and interpretations. The essence of Nena’s method is summarized in her public quotes and lesson lists. There is no complete list of her Art projects, either public or private; but this book serves to show her most significant class exhibits.
Chapters
University Art Essays
Introduction to Art Therapy
Teaching Art In Iowa
Montessori Education
Allder Montessori School
Harpers Ferry Montessori School
Banner Art Class
From Private To Public
C.W. Shipley Art Class
Art Lessons & Projects
Balance
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In St. Augustine, Florida, as a little girl Nena remembered telling her mother, “I can do it myself.”
“Giving warmth and faith to young students is as important as teaching that we are here to take care of the planet. Work is fun if you put your heart into it. Many times there is more than one answer to questions or problems in life. Being accepted is an important step for all kids, and we show the child ‘closeness’ as a basis for loving communication.” – Nena 2001
Nena preferred to catch and carry spiders and wasps out of rooms, as she cared about even the smallest lives. Love played an important role in her method, because when you love something you tend to do your best with it. Nena insisted it was her love for her son, that inspired her to start her Montessori school with those first 6 students. However her son insists that no matter how much we love people, it takes a special personality to open a school for children regardless of how disabled, special, or gifted they are; as not everyone desires or is able to sustain that much time with children. Walton was happy to substitute and aid his mother on occasion over the years, but he was also glad to not be responsible for all those kids all the time. Nena taught over 300 students at her home school; each for 1-3 years. One loyal family had their children in the school for 12 years.
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Nena made ‘Lesson Plans’ which included multiple class lessons scheduled to contain many projects during a year. Lessons ranged from art fundamentals to processes. Lessons usually referred to learning and teaching complex topics and individual projects. Projects were the media, material crafts, or created products. No complete list existed for Nena’s lessons or grants, but some examples are provided in the book.
The Stowell Family worked together, usually for free or to assist one member getting paid. Schools and clients often got double or triple the services for half or 1/3 the price. When Walton was an adjunct professor, Shepherd College got Kip for free. Nena and Kip Stowell volunteered for years with the Jefferson County ‘Arts & Humanities Alliance’ (AHA). Kip and Nena hung county art shows for long hours, late into nights in local towns and cities. Kip often helped drive Nena to work, prepare lessons, and exhibit her displays.
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Balance In Life Achieved
Nena Stowell was a wonderful teacher, based on her many admirers and achievements. Balance in Art is like balance in Life, we need light and dark, day and night. Humans usually have a full spectrum of emotions, and experience positive and negative feelings. Nena suffered from negative feelings and could be lazy or stubborn like anyone else; but it was her insistence on focusing intense efforts on creating and sharing Art that made her excel at her career. Nena’s accomplishments allowed her to also relax and retire, which gave her balance ultimately. Nena’s child-like creative mind dominated her awareness for all her life; even with all the responsibilities of an ambitious adult and dedicated parent.
Blog Article based on the book ‘Ms. Nena’s Teaching Method’
The Jefferson County public school on ‘school house ridge’ between Harpers Ferry and Charles Town on Route 340, was opened in 1972 and named for Charles Waldron Shipley who was the first principal. Charles Shipley was from Shepherds-town WV, but the original public elementary school was located a block from Nena Stowell’s house in Harpers Ferry. The old Harpers Ferry Public School (all grades) was retired when Shipley’s school was built and the building became used by the NPS Design Center for museum conservation.
Shipley Elementary School was K-6 class grades when Nena’s son Walton went to school, but had changed to K-5 by the time Nena taught there. The art teacher when Walton attended Shipley was Ms. Seibert, who was friends with Nena and went on family trips with the Stowells. Nena was sad when her friend who she kept in touch with died, but she was able to honor Libby’s memory by carrying on her work of teaching art in the same room she did.
Shipley School Art Classroom
River Gap Album
This white bordered standard paper size binder was mostly a photo album with notes. On the cover was a pastel landscape scene resembling our local river gap, with winding water between green and blue steep hills, and white fades and tree silhouettes.
Nena’s first yellow sticky note on the cover listed chores she completed: “My classroom: cleaned closet; did stenciling; did window with gallery glass showing the drawing of the gap; did painting supply closet with the mascot Ranger Raccoon.
Student Art files (mainly tests and grades) were stored in filing cabinets. Files were color coded by class eventually. Decorated class trays held projects in progress. Each year Nena taught she became more organized in her lesson planning and class public displays.
On a note shaped and printed like an artist’s palette and brush, Nena wrote: “A teacher entrusted with a child is like a gardener entrusted with a unique and delicate plant. The gardener cannot force the plant to grow by pushing, shouting, or punishing. Gardeners don’t need to tell the plant to be 2” taller by next Monday. A gardener can be successful simply by cultivating basic needs (sun – courage, water – inspiration, soil – skills). Gardeners learn the nature of plants by practicing methods of cultivation, and discover secrets that help them provide the most favorable conditions for growth.”
The River Gap stained glass effect that Nena painted on the window, made the classroom the most beautiful to be in.
Other Shipley School classroom photos similar to those in the ‘River Gap Album’ were located in green photo folders (thick stacks), the Pink Folder, Blue Journals, and the Black Velvet Journal. Nena’s journals were small books which contained mostly memoirs, personal notes to herself, and sometimes sketches and teaching information and media.
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Art Lessons & Projects
Ms. Nena made ‘Lesson Plans’ which included multiple class lessons scheduled to contain many projects during a year. Lessons ranged from art fundamentals to processes. Lessons usually referred to learning and teaching complex topics and individual projects. Projects were the media, material crafts, or created products.
Nena Stowell secured several grants for projects over her years at Shipley from WV State, Jefferson County, and other sources. She became so successful at getting grants every year, that if she missed getting a grant for a year, she felt like a failure. One year they told her that she should have hired a professional film company, instead of her son who wanted to work with his mother during an economic recession. Walton was a military veteran, architect, photographer, and artist with years of film experience shooting and studying film. After the family was disappointed by the official response, Walton told his mother to not base her happiness on getting grants. Her husband Mayor Kip Stowell had based his happiness on winning elections, so when he eventually lost it was not fun; and so the family learned to rely on each-other more than unreliable prizes temporarily granted by unknown unloyal variables.
Nena and Kip Stowell volunteered for years with the Jefferson County ‘Arts & Humanities Alliance’ (AHA). Kip and Nena hung county art shows for long hours, late into nights in local towns and cities. No complete list existed for Nena’s lessons or grants, but some examples are provided here.
[ list of lessons and projects , and more in the book ‘Ms. Nena’s Teaching Method’]
Blog article based on the book ‘Ms. Nena’s Teaching Method’
After completing her Montessori training and assistant teaching at the Allder Montessori School in Purcellville VA, Nena opened her own school in her main street home on the first floor (at least 3 rooms) in the Map Room, Back Hall, and Music Room. There were some local day-cares in homes, like the one Walton went to in Bakerton (see book for more details). Nena’s was the first local Montessori school in the Harpers Ferry WV town area, as there seems to have been no others within the 30 minute drive it took to get to Allder near Purcellville. The Allder Montessori School was run by women, and the main teacher had an English accent (more in the book including photos). That school may have closed, but the road is now named after the school, and since 1997 there are 2 current Leesburg area Montessori schools. There also have been other Montessori related schools in the area, years after Nena opened hers.
Black Notebook
I – Dept. of Education Application
A typed letter with ‘Harpers Ferry Montessori School’ logo drawn by Nena at the top of the page.
Sept. 7, 1984
Harpers Ferry Montessori School
PO Box 603
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia 25425
Dear Dr. Sogard,
At this time I wish to apply for Private Kindergarten status with the WV Department of Education. My preschool starts September 10 and 14, and I am wondering if it is possible to attain credit for this school year. I have been working half the summer on philosophy and administrative materials as well as finishing the physical part of the school in attempting to meet Health and Fire codes. We seem to be very close to meeting inspection requirements.
I still have many questions and I thank you for any help you may give. Sincerely yours, Nena Stowell (signed)
Nena Stowell, Directress
Harpers Ferry Montessori School
[ photo of school ]
Nena made notes in the margins of this publication, summarized here –
Standards For Approved Public And Private Kindergartens
Daniel B. Taylor, State Superintendent of Schools
Revised 1970, Reprinted 1975
II – Staff
Approved Kindergarten – The teacher(s) shall hold a Professional Certificate endorsed for Kindergarten or ‘Early Childhood Education’ (E.C.E.). see statement under II on following page
Persons who expect to qualify for an endorsement in E.C.E. by attending a WV institution, shall consult with the Dean of an approved E.C.E. program. Dr. Thorton (phone number)
One teacher and an aide shall be provided for each 20 children.
My aides are Bonnie Carroll and Mary Ann Stambaugh (sub). The aides are trained to guide and observe. They do not teach. They must understand some theory and materials to be effective. See plan of ‘Professional Improvement’ statement II A.
Latest School Attended: Mary Mount College, NY and Widener University, PA
My professional training is as a Montessori teacher at the graduate level for 2.5 to 7 year-olds by the St. Nicholas Training Center in London. My diploma was awarded in 1983. I have completed a year of intership at Allder Montessori School in Purcelville, Virginia (1981-1982). For the past 3 years in my home I have been directress for preschool, teaching small scale in Harpers Ferry WV
while training an aide. This past year we built a log school house (31’x31′) for 20 children. In 1968 I graduated from Florida State University with a Bachelor of Science in Art Education (K-12). I taught for 3 years at Lincoln High School in Iowa.
A. Plans for Professional Improvement
This year for improvement I am holding workshops for my 2 aides where they must work with the apparatus and present lessons to me. I am requiring that they read certain Montessori books and complete a quiz. They must attend the 2 parent nights and visit 2 other Montessori classrooms.
For my own professional growth, I have visited two classrooms this summer. One of the directresses is over-seeing my administrative training and helping to coordinate my program. I have written the philosophy and objectives of the school. Also the parent reports or grading cards have been improved. I am completing county health and fire inspections, and wish to be recognized by the State educators of West Virginia by applying for Preschool-Kindergarten status.
After I reach these goals, I will visit more Montessori classrooms and will write to my peers for more information. I also intend to send my blueprints and correspond with the St. Nicholas Coordinator in Tennessee. In February I will present a slide show to the Harpers Ferry Woman’s Club with the intention of visiting the classroom after the meeting (parents are invited). I hope to present this slide show to my parents and future parents, eventually photographing their children involved in work or at play, showing the joy and beauty and ease of the program. We have lined up a feature story with the Martinsburg Journal and I am certain to have more publicity. I plan to paint a sign next summer.
In the future are trips to Ireland and England to see my professors and to visit schools. Next summer, I wish to visit my professors and the HQ for AMS in New York City. There are conventions to attend and professional organizations to join. The American Montessori Society (AMS) is my affiliate presently. After two to three years of talking and visiting, I would hope to obtain certain knowledge about where other university courses are taught and which have the very best professors.
You cannot turn off the kind of educational excitement which Montessorians possess! The sharing and love of mankind is very near and real. One of my favorite peers is a Canadian and I hope to visit her school one summer. I would love to write articles as I do in my newsletters; to help others to start schools, and help the public school systems set up Montessori materials and methods. I am planning a workshop for the gifted class. I feel it is so needed in today’s world. I plan to open an afternoon class to help 5-year-olds mainly, as many other states have done this already.
I plan to have evaluations of my staff and of myself by peers and ourselves; and to set growth charts for them. I would hope to have them complete diplomas in the St. Nicholas system.
III – Program
Desirable Characteristics of the Kindergarten Program
1. Observable Behaviors – see ‘Purpose Philosophy 3’
2. Minimum 36 weeks with daily 2.5 hours of education – yes
3. Warm friendly contact – communication and parties
11:15-12:00 Play (outside when possible), Bell, good-byes pick-up
Note – Special events include: field trips, theme days, show & tell
[ Kindergarten was added later in the afternoons ]
Snack Schedule weeks – parents take turns, keep food simple and ready to serve, no fixings, no using sink for dishes or food (health code), no sweets, small portions, drinks are only juice or milk
IV – Boundaries and Ground Rules
Limits are established at the start of the year.
1. No hitting or throwing
2. No running inside
3. No loud voices inside (singing exceptions)
4. No biting or spitting
5. No stick weapons or threats
6. No unsafe climbing
We do not emphasize negative behaviors or control through fear of punishment, but rather adults lead by example. We show students how to walk, talk, and ‘hold silence’. Authority is maintained by relations of respect. Practicing respect with lesson projects is key whether using tables or mats. Meditation of method is taught to students initially, then they become more capable to complete projects independently.
Using the center floor geometries (red square, blue circle, green triangle) helps to focus students on community and shared trust of respect for equality, whether taking turns or collective expressions or actions. Safe spaces for privacy are represented by tables and mats. Patience and sharing allow for flow of function, as deliberate graceful movements practices gentle care and permission to join others is often voluntary. Projects must be put away properly before another project can be used.
Outside we walk the property boundaries to show students ground limits and special cases. Those who break the rules can be removed from others by teachers and cuddled or made to sit aside for time-outs. The more problems, the more the time-outs.
V – Explanation of Child Evaluation
An evaluation report permits the teacher to share impressions of how well children make progress in school. Reports chart personal progress in comparison to other children. Individual notes are made for special interests or problems. Current circumstances should be considered temporary as children grow and change.
The ‘inner discipline’ is the child’s self-control despite internal and external problems. Dr. Montessori noted that many so-called undisciplined children were really frustrated by lack of proper stimulation, and would become happier with more inner discipline after enough time in Montessori schools. “Bad behavior” is due to scattered chaotic forces in a child’s life; externally or internally. Formative “good behavior” by adults is needed for proper influence on children.
Directors and directresses of Montessori schools are teachers who guide and wait for students, who happen to be children, to hear their inner voice and see their own way to accomplish tasks. Children are people too, although they are growing and will take years to mature into adults. Many adults never mature in many ways, so we should remember to have respect for others for a general sense of equality, despite any failings that we might perceive in others. The will of our conscious life-forces is to push out and motivate to action, tempered by our sub-conscious and more introverted thought process or inner discipline self-control.
Student autonomy can be achieved to various degrees during their schooling. Maria Montessori believed that lesson project materials correspond to the needs of development which must be discovered and explored as the child is ready. Experience through their senses at their own pace builds initiative to learn and master skills.
Montessori schools have a climate of order and boundaries without dwelling on rules, through ample supplies of learning materials or apparati. Lesson projects are designed to allow students to rearrange and test their own knowledge. We train children to observe in silence, make comparisons, and form judgments. Love of knowledge and wisdom can grow endlessly as we reach new horizons and transcend limits even as adults.
Traditional love and praise is enough, without needing too many gold stars or other such prizes or rewards which can antagonize collective learning. Excessive competition can stifle those slower or confused students who can benefit from support rather than punishment from punitive grading or verbal abuse that labels them as failures in a subject which affects their educational ability and desire until such negative cycles are broken. While it is true not everyone can be good at everything, encouragement allows more of us to advance further with whatever subjects we can.
‘Perfect performances’ are not artificially pushed on students, in favor of more organic expressions of experience. In this way we believe Montessori methods to be more natural than conventional educational standards or practices. Math is one of the most obvious subjects in which Montessori materials or teaching tools clearly cover more physical explanations and applications.
The child’s main purpose is “to conduct themself” eventually without the need of a superior. The goal is for the student to earn liberty in tasks without needing orders to conduct them. The student becomes more conscious of their own powers as they progress in Montessori school. While still dependent on dictated rules and a bell schedule, Montessori students are more independent in their learning abilities and free in their thought, than students who excel in more authoritarian systems of education.
If children are too co-dependent with adults, a wild chaotic child can control a weaker willed adult, by willful persuasion that may be destructive to both. Stoically compassionate but sometimes stern adult attitudes maintain authority without abusing the child. Desire for good attention should be fostered, to establish respectful relations. Without desire for good attention, bad attention too often takes its place in society. Good attention from adults to children must not only be abundantly available, but should also be explained and proved to be better than upsetting others. Manipulation or unwanted control means that self-control needs more attention, perhaps with alternative programming or special lesson planning.
Early Childhood Checklist
1. Versatility
2. Strengths
3. Weaknesses
4. Development – Age Levels and School Goals
Physical activity or movement is significant in promoting healthy intellectual development. Maria Montessori’s observations showed that the child grows through personal effort and environmental engagement. Muscles, mind, and senses should be balanced by the project lessons. Touching of objects is one of the ways Maria believed integrated experience happens for learning.
Practical life exercises like rolling up mats. brushing shoes, washing chairs, carrying, opening, and closing boxes are critical. Returning things to proper locations is essential to respecting memory. The more mind and body can work together, the more balanced or well-rounded a student will be.
In a large class the children learn independence as teachers cannot micro-manage or meet special needs. Children help teach each-other as Montessori teachers and aids facilitate. Adults should foster love of nature and technology. Enthusiastic adult involvement in the lives of children makes learning fun for everyone, so we can all grow creatively in life regardless of age.
Sensorial education refines the senses by translating symbols and analyzing exterior input. Our perceptions of the world, or our impressions from our senses are refined with knowledge and wisdom over the years. Results may vary as some adults become ‘none the wiser’ with age. Adults can lose sensorial attitudes like wonder, language acquisition, and creative drive. Those who lose their child-like will power feel boredom and weariness, and childish resentment and critical lack of responsibility for happiness. Joy should come with success, but also frustrations of failure can excite us with the possibilities of problem solving.
Discriminate less and appreciate more. Critical distinctions help in decisions making and differentiating between contrasting aspects of things, but comparing similarities helps us to cooperate and respect others which is ultimately more important in society. Less crime happens when people are more content and happier in general.
Sensorial activities with materials such as tablets with contrasting textures, i.e. rough and smooth gradients are about environmental awareness and abstract consciousness. Sensorial materials are designed to provide the child with recognition concepts of dimension, sight color, shape, sound tone, touch, taste, temperature, weight, and smell. By matching or pairing similar objects, and division of contrasts, cognitive discrimination becomes evident. Examples of sensorial apparati are sets of cylinders that vary in height and diameter, colored tablets that match colors but vary in tints and shades, fabrics that very in textures, containers with differing sounds to be ordered or paired by scales of similarity.
The third category in the classroom is the advanced apparati. The movable alphabet, red and blue counting rods, decimal math materials, and geographic maps are advanced apparati. We believe what the child learns through senses at this age is absorbed into the unconscious intuition.
It is known perfectly,…
[ more continued in the book ‘Ms. Nena’s Teaching Method’ ]
Walton D. Stowell II 