Faculty and Staff

Laurel Leavesley

Certified Teacher

Email address: laurel@montessoricenter.org

Laurel was born in Tallahassee, Florida. From two weeks of age, she grew up in a Montessori atmosphere with her mother as head teacher and director of the school.

Those early years of working in a hands-on, diverse environment left a very strong impression on her. This solidified Laurel’s idea of what school was for her — a fun place to look forward to each day, full of friends young and old who worked together to learn and play.

After nine years in this progressive community, Laurel transferred into public school where assigned desks, blackboards, and textbooks with tests were foreign to her. She then attended a project-based, private middle school and later graduated from a traditional public high school where she sang in a competitive choir and learned American Sign Language. Today, she actively incorporates ASL into her teaching.

Before graduating from Florida State with a B.S. in child and family sciences and a minor in education, she also earned her AMS certification for three to six-year-olds. She felt honored to complete this at her godmother’s Montessori school that was started with her mother before she was born.

From 2004 to 2011, Laurel was lucky enough to teach alongside her mother at Seminole Montessori School in Tallahassee. In 2011, she moved to Woodbridge, Virginia, just outside of Washington D.C., to work at Cardinal Montessori School. Here she received her AMS certifications in lower and upper elementary at the Barrie School where she met her husband Lionel, who had taught for many years in London. They visit Washington often and now enjoy introducing their young son London to all the adventures the city has to offer in and around it.

While creating a cohesive learning community for her classroom, Laurel takes grace and courtesy very seriously and enjoys instilling these qualities into her young learners in both conflict resolution and classroom stewardship. She also loves to incorporate movement, dance, yoga, singing, music, and nature into learning whenever possible.

She enjoys living in the state she used to vacation in each summer on Asheville camping trips. Laurel embraces being part of a large Montessori community and delights in working alongside so many talented teachers and enthusiastic Montessorians.