INFLUENCER OF THE WEEK: Michelle Krause, Ocoee Innovation Montessori High School

Michelle Krause is the secondary guide in English/language arts and art history at Ocoee Innovation Montessori High School. She guides students through stories, ideas and images and helps them think critically, question deeply and create boldly. She recently completed her Secondary Montessori certification, which is a milestone that grounds her practice more fully in the teaching philosophy she loves. 

What brought you to your school?

When I first toured Innovation Montessori for my daughter, I fell in love with the place. Half-joking, I asked if they might ever open a high school. To my surprise, the principal replied they were adding a ninth grade the next year. The rest unfolded like a story waiting to be written. I feel deeply honored to have helped shape and nurture the secondary program from its very beginning.

What do you love most about your school?

Possibility. Here, education stretches beyond the bounds of traditional academics. We cultivate inquiry and project-based learning but also nourish the whole adolescent. I love how we prioritize community through daily circles, quarterly community day celebrations and even quiet, tech and work-free moments of solo time. There’s a sense that learning here isn’t just about knowledge; it’s about becoming.

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

The privilege of exploring literature and art alongside teenagers every single day. To walk with them over multiple years, watching their intellectual, emotional and social selves unfold, is extraordinary. Literature becomes more than words on a page. It becomes a mirror, a window and a doorway. Guiding students to step through those thresholds is the most rewarding work I could imagine.

What would you be if you weren’t in this profession?

I wouldn’t. Teaching is my calling. But if I allowed myself a flight of imagination, I might be a symbologist unraveling mysteries of the past through art and literature, solving history’s hidden crimes.

Who influences you?

While I could name great thinkers, my truest influences are works of art — novels that probe human nature, films that stir empathy, paintings that challenge perception. In pages, galleries and screens I find reflections that make me pause, reconsider and reimagine who I am, who we are and what society might become.

Who was your favorite teacher when you were in school? Why?

My English and drama teachers mostly. A few social studies teachers, too. They understood the magic of deep questioning, the necessity of thinking critically and the joy of creating. They were humanists, passing on the secrets of how to be fully alive. We need more of them in the world.

What is your favorite children’s book and why?

“The Little Prince.” Though written as a children’s story, I think it offers adults some of the keenest reminders. Too often, we are taught to measure value in terms of wealth or utility rather than in the simple beauties that give life meaning. I love the moment when the narrator notices a rose blooming in the window of a house. It captures the idea that something small, fleeting and delicate can hold infinite worth. The story calls us back to wonder and to the truth that what is essential is often invisible to the eye. It’s beautiful. 

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I must confess that I love lesson planning. But more than that, I cherish time with my daughters or evenings curled up with a good British period drama or mystery. Simplicity is a kind of luxury these days.

If you could dine with any famous person, past or present, who would it be and why?

John Keats. Perhaps I’ve romanticized him too much, but I imagine us enjoying books, French wine, fine weather and a little music played out of doors. Oscar Wilde would be another dazzling dinner guest, and Neil deGrasse Tyson would remind me to keep my eyes lifted to the stars.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

The ability to fly, to time travel or to speak every language. Each one, in its own way, offers a sense of freedom — to transcend barriers of space, time and understanding.

If you could only listen to three bands or artists, who would they be and why?

Patrick Wolf, The Cure and Indigo Girls. Their music has been a soundtrack to different seasons of my life: melancholic, reflective and defiantly hopeful.

What was your go-to lunch and favorite snack as a student?

Pepperoni slices, provolone, olives and fruit.

What is your favorite holiday?

Christmas for the wonder of Christmas morning. 

Who was your best friend when you were in school and why? Are you still in touch?

Susannah. We were drama scene partners and best friends who wore matching hand-painted shoes our senior year. We’re still in touch, though not as often as I’d like.