by Kristina Wright and Michael Waski, NAMTA Montessori Orientation to Adolescent Studies

I will attempt to explain pedagogy of place, in respect to my school, using the concentric circles approach which I have illustrated above.  I will begin with the immediate school community.  My school is called Northstar Montessori Private School and is located in Mississauga, Ontario, just outside of Toronto.  We have approximately 230 to 240 students, ranging in age from sixteen months to grade six, currently.  We will be starting up our adolescent program in September of 2009, with three grade six students and three grade seven students.  The families in our school are mostly middle to upper class, with a large ethnic diversity, predominantly East Indian, Chinese and Filipino.  I am hoping to use the families within the school community as a resource for Ethnic Studies and specialties (depending on parent’s occupations), etc.  Also, with the school, the adolescent students will be able to assist in other classrooms as reading buddies, supervision, developing a compost program, and other... please click here to see the whole essay in its original form in pdf format.