Montessori Children's House Staff

Megan Durkin

With great joy Megan opened Montessori Children’s House of Northfield in the fall of 2007—one hundred years after the first Casa dei Bambini was opened in Rome by Dr. Maria Montessori. She entered this new venture from a career of varied teaching experiences: working in her mother’s Montessori classroom as a girl, teaching kindergarten and first grade at the Taipei American School, teaching at a bilingual preschool in Taiwan, training teachers at Montessori schools in Hong Kong, and opening her own Montessori preschool in the village of Sai Kung in Hong Kong. She holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and in Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She received her AMS Montessori Teaching Degree from New York University and Midwest Montessori Teacher Training Course in Chicago.

Megan, her husband Tom, and their three children have lived in Northfield since 1998. She taught at Prairie Creek Community School beginning with a pre-K classroom, which she led for three years. In 2000 she also started teaching Spanish. The World Languages Program at Prairie Creek developed under her guidance to include Spanish, French and Chinese with a strong emphasis on world cultures and peace education.

Megan’s goal, besides making the world a better and friendlier place, is to bring her love of learning to her role as a teacher and to develop that lifelong passion in the students at Montessori Children’s House.

With the creation of the new school on a beautiful two-acre site at the southern end of Northfield, came an opportunity to create a special place for children in nature. Megan hopes to grow this aspect of the school property to include students from nearby schools and all children from the community in an “Edible Schoolyard” program. When she is not in school she likes to garden, write and to dream about all the places left to visit on earth.

Shana Hodel

After spending the inaugural year of MCH as an Assistant Teacher in 2007, Shana received her Montessori Preprimary Teaching Certificate from the Montessori Teaching Academy at Indiana University South Bend in 2009. Shana has been a Montessori parent and enthusiastic follower of the Montessori Method for many years. She is now the Teacher for Classroom Two and the music teacher for our Extended Day program. Shana is an accomplished musician and piano accompanist for several youth programs in Northfield and beyond. She has been involved in numerous children's arts programs at the NAG and with the Northfield Youth Choirs. This summer she led half of the summer program in June and continues our  summer music program in August. Shana has an Interdisciplinary BA. From Goshen College in Indiana with three areas of study: music with a specialty of piano pedagogy, sociology and ESL (teaching English as a second language). She also studied Chinese music and performance in Chengdu, China. In 2006 Shana and her family spent half of the year living in Germany and travelling throughout Europe.

Shana, along with her husband Martin, and their three children, call Northfield home. The children at MCH benefit greatly from Shana's talents and her nurturing and fun loving enthusiasm. Her contributions as a Teacher on the MCH staff give us all something to sing about.

Danielle Pedretti

Danielle begins her fourth school year at MCH. She will assist children in Classroom Two with Shana and supervise lunch.  Danielle has a degree in elementary education with K-6 certification from Winona State University. She was a lead teacher at ECFE in Northfield and has over ten years of experience working with young children. Danielle, her husband, John, and their children (youngest, Juliet, is a MCH alumnus) live on a hobby farm in Nerstrand along with a wonderful menagerie of mammals and fowl. Danielle brings her miniature horse, Dandelion, to the family picnic each year and is known affectionately at school as our resident "Dr. Dolittle" and favorite lunch-bunch songstress. Her keen abilities to guide the child and her sincere dedication to the Montessori method make her an invaluable asset to our school.

Patricia Rogne

Pat has an extensive background in early childhood education teaching at Northfield Nursery School, Hand in Hand Preschool with the Northfield Public School District and ECFE. Amazingly, she is able to find time to join our team at Montessori Children's House every afternoon to give our full day students a warm and wonderful experience. Pat has a BA in Elementary Education from Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD and a Pre-primary Specialization from MN State University, Mankato. She has been an early childhood educator working with young children for over thirty years. She and her husband, Barry, raised their children in Northfield and call it home. We feel quite fortunate to have Pat at school and continue to welcome her wisdom and gentle nature in guiding the children in her care.

Lourdes Harris

Luli joins the MCH staff this year as Assistant in Classroom One with Megan. She is an experienced early childhood educator with Montessori training. She has a degree in design from Ecuador's University of Azuay. Although her heart lies with the education of the young child, Luli has taught design and fashion technology at the college level. When her two children attended Montessori school in Virginia, she decided to become a trained guide. They have now made their home in Northfield complete with a new puppy. We couldn't be happier to welcome Luli to MCH and appreciate her learned support immensely.

Angie Ekern

 Angie joins us this year to lead art class for the Extended Day students. She will meet with them once a week for fun and creative explorations in the world of art. Angie is the art teacher at Prairie Creek Community School and also leads preschool arts at the Northfield Arts Guild. She and her husband Chris have joined our community as parents, too. Their son, Elias, is a new half day student with us this year. We are so happy to welcome them all to MCH!

Emma Kleese

 Emma is the Assistant in Classroom One this year. She has been working at MCH for three years starting as a classroom volunteer during her senior year of high school. Emma is also our summer school Assistant and most likely knows each child who has attended our school in any program. We are so lucky to have her here to work with the children in the Practical Life and Art areas. Her gentle and helpful nature shines through in everything she does.