The Montessori Way - Morning Glory Montessori

MACMH Podcast Series - The Montessori Way
Episode 4 features special guests from Morning Glory Montessori.
About the podcast: The Minnesota Association for Children’s Mental Health has a mission to promote and pursue optimal mental health from infancy to young adulthood. Every topic of this podcast is approached with an open and critical mind exploring opportunities to view circumstances through a different lens. Being in this space means we advocate for all children to have equal access and opportunities to develop the skills to nourish their lives.
We are centering our conversations around IEC principles used by Minnesota’s Montessori family, how they nurture and support children’s mental health as well as the staff serving their students, and their distinctive connections to the community.
About the guests:
Jessica Lynn Jackson, J.D. “Pastor Jess” is the Founder/Head of School & AMI-Trained Lead Guide, Morning Glory Montessori & Lead Pastor, Impact Living Ministry. Jessica Lynn Jackson is a visionary servant leader, problem-solving institution-builder, passionate educator, social entrepreneur and seasoned professional. Her vocational and professional journey reads like a dynamic mosaic reflecting her various passions, God-given talents, and decades of service to community as an employment discrimination attorney, professor, mediator, Circle facilitator/trainer, executive leadership coach, organizational development consultant, and ordained minister.
Affectionately known in her community as “Pastor Jess,” she is a serious student and prophetic teacher of the Word of God. Ordained in 2009, Pastor Jess serves alongside her husband, Rev. Dr. Timothy P. Jackson, as Lead Pastor of IMPACT LIVING Ministry (ILM), a non-denominational church in South Minneapolis, MN.
In her heart and at her core, Pastor Jess is an educator. In May 2019, she graduated from the Montessori Training Center of MN with a globally recognized Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) Casa dei Bambini (Primary) Diploma. Her Montessori training serves her well as Founder/Head of School and Lead Guide for Morning Glory Montessori (MGM), an all boys, faith-informed, Afrocentric, Montessori school for ages 3-6 years. (morningglory.org). MGM’s mission is to be a safe, nurturing environment that affirms, inspires and empowers Black boys to become who God designed them to be. MGM will be the first school in the country with its unique curricular confluence of faith, African American culture/history, and Montessori pedagogy (morningglory.org). Pastor Jess is also working to complete her first book - a memoir on race, faith, and healing.
Rev. Dr. Timothy Phillip Jackson, “Dr. Jackson” is the Founder & Senior Pastor, Impact Living Ministry Director of Faith Pedagogy & AMI-Trained Assistant, Morning Glory Montessori. Pastor Tim is a true people person, passionate orator, and transparent servant leader. After giving his life to Christ at the tender age of 15, he has never looked back or lost his zeal for the Word of God. As a teenager, the Lord charged him to “Preach My Word with boldness” and that’s exactly what he does. From preaching his first revival at 16 years old to evangelizing on street corners in North Minneapolis to ministering to young boys at the Hennepin County Home School, Pastor Tim has spent his entire adult life meditating on God’s Word and sharing the love and hope of Christ.
In 2014, Pastor Tim embarked on what became a 10-year formal educational journey. In 2017, he graduated from Bethel University with honors in Organizational Leadership and Christian Ministry. In 2021, he received his Master of Divinity degree with a concentration in Justice and Reconciliation from Luther Seminary, serving as a Dr. Richard Wallace Scholar for three years, a Page Education Foundation Scholar for six years, and class commencement speaker. In May 2024, Pastor Tim’s “blue collar to scholar” journey of academic achievement culminated in a doctorate from Wesley Theological Seminary (Washington D.C.) in the inaugural Howard Thurman prophetic witness track. In addition to leading ILM, Rev. Dr. Jackson serves as Director of Faith Pedagogy at Morning Glory Montessori (MGM), an all-boys, faith-informed, Afrocentric, Montessori school for ages 3-6 years - the first of its kind in the country. Dr. Jackson’s innovative dissertation focus, “Howard Thurman’s Spiritual Disciplines for African American Montessori Educators: Mitigating Against Anti-Blackness and the Adultification of Black Boys in Early Childhood Education,” informs his work at MGM.
Learn more about Morning Glory Montessori on their website:
www.morningglory.org
Follow Morning Glory Montessori on Social Media:
Facebook - profile.php?...
LinkedIn - / jessicalynnjackson
Twitter - x.com/MGMBlackboys