Teachers

"The secret of good teaching is to regard the child's intelligence as a fertile field in which seeds may be sown, to grow under the heat of flaming imagination" .- Maria Montessori

Our staff reflects professionalism at all levels. Most hold undergraduate or advanced degrees in education, or Montessori specialization. All are life-long learners. Our students also benefit from parent and community collaborators and specialty teachers in the areas of Music, Spanish, and Dance, and Gymnastics.

Our Toddler and Primary Classes have a lead teacher and an assistant, making the student teacher ratio 8:1. Our Lower and Middle Elementary classes (6-7, 8-9 year olds) have one teacher with a student teacher ratio of 7:1. Our Upper Elementary (10-12 year old class) has two co-teachers and a ratio of varying from 12:1 to 8:1.

Daisy
Daisy is a Montessori trained and certified Directress with fifteen years experience at Montessori facilities.  She received her training and certification with Joan Ellard in White Rock, N.M.  Daisy also has over ten years experience supervising Camps, including being the Director of the YMCA Summer Camp in Los Alamos, N.M.  Daisy is currently training and mentoring junior staff at DMS in the use of Montessori Materials.

Lisa Grogan
Lisa Grogan is thrilled to join the dedicated teaching staff at Desert Montessori School! She recently earned her New Mexico level-three instructional elementary license, has been working as a substitute teacher with the Santa Fe Public Schools, and as a volunteer at The Gentle Nudge Preschool.

Before moving to Santa Fe, Ms.Grogan enjoyed eight years as a lead teacher in first and third grade at John Muir Elementary School in Antioch, CA. As an enthusiastic and energetic teacher, she designed creative hands-one lessons while developing a nurturing learning environment for all children.

In 1997 Ms.Grogan earned a Master of Arts in Teaching from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA where, in 1994, she received a BA in geography and environmental studies. She also received her California professional clear multiple subject teaching credential, and CLAD (cross cultural language and development) certificate. 

As a student, Ms. Grogan spent a semester at the University of Hawaii studying geology and geography (at times getting extremely close to the active Kilauea Volcano). In addition, she completed an internship at The Conservancy in Naples, FL where she worked in environmental land management, conservation and education, and sea turtle protection.  In her free time, Ms. Grogan enjoys ballet, singing, traveling, and spending valuable time with her two little girls, Lily and Gigi.

Susan Murray
Susan Murray Graduated from Austin College. Continued classes at Texas Tech and Sul Ross in Special Education.  Susan has a Texas licensure in Elementary Language and/or Learning Disabilities and a New Mexico Level 2 Professional licensure in K-8th grade. Taught for 19 years. Taught summer school at Dineh College on the Navajo Reservation. Completed training in California Early Literacy Learning in 2002.

Miss Kristen
Miss Kristen has been living in New Mexico since she was 1 and a half years old. She has a great love for New Mexico and knows and respects the community here very well.  4 years ago she was an assistant for one of the Lead Preschool Teachers and had many of the older children that are still here in her class. It was then that she realized she wanted to become a Teacher. She graduated from the University of New Mexico in 2008 with a Bachelor's in Education and Psychology. Kristen will be completing her Montessori Teacher Training with NAMC during the 2010/2011 school year.

Valera Sovcik
Valera Sovcik holds a New Mexico Level Two Professional K-8 Elementary Teaching License, and she has thirty-one years of classroom experience. In addition to teaching Kindergarten through Sixth Grade, Valera has also been a reading and writing tutor, a professional educational consultant, a mentor teacher for Santa Fe Public Schools, and a Performing Arts teacher.

Valera's dedication to her students' well-being and academic excellence has been publicly recognized with several awards and accommodations.
 She was nominated for the Golden Apple Foundation of New Mexico Award and has received the Great Teacher Award from Century Bank, the Muchas Gracias Award from the City of Santa Fe, Teacher of the Month Award from KNYN Radio, the Teacher Who Inspires Award from Partners in Education, and in 2004 Acequia Madre Elementary School named their theater "The Sovcik Theater" in honor of Valera's dedication to the performing arts.

Valera is a dedicated and resourceful educator who establishes a learning atmosphere that is nurturing, calm, and inviting, as well as an educational environment that emphasizes a strong academic curriculum where the students are engaged and active participants.  Valera also values the importance of the arts in a child's education.