Smash Notes

Back to 3: the Montessori Method.

What Is a Typical Day in Benedicte Bossute's Montessori Classroom?

Benedicte Bossute tells Jennifer Gonzalez on The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast that a typical day starts with morning group time, then a three-hour block of independent work. Three hours is the number she treats as essential. Children get a weekly agenda and choose which activities to do. The items are suggestions for the week, not a lockstep daily list. Some children rush the work they dislike and others postpone it, and that changes week to week if the teacher has made the task look less impossible. Her job, she says, is to keep offering the work and to remove the obstacle. Some children never join the lesson and learn by watching from the side.

3: the Montessori Method ·

The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast

More from this episode

  1. What Did Benedicte Bossute Say Montessori Really Is?Montessori is focused on functional independence such as potty training, holding onto things, washing hands, etc.
  2. Where Do Benedicte Bossute's Montessori Standards Come From?Jennifer Gonzalez asks Benedicte Bossute, lead teacher at the Montessori Elementary School of Bowling Green, where her standards come from.
  3. How Is a Student's Agenda Set UpThe teacher has suggested tasks laid out as well as repeated tasks.
  4. What Is the Ideal Classroom Size25 students.
  5. What Is a Daily Schedule Like at Ms. Bossute's SchoolThere is morning group time as a class followed by 3 hours of independent work time.
  6. How Do You Approach a Montessori Child Who Won't Work?It is important to reiterate to them to keep working at it and invite them to engage in the process.
  7. What Does Ms. Bossute Do When She Loses Patience?If she feels that way, she removes herself from the situation.
  8. Does Ms. Bussette Rarely Face Discipline Problems?She rarely has an issues. Some children and more apt to respond to situations with frustration than others.
  9. How Does Benedicte Bossute Assess Children in a Montessori Class?Benedicte Bossute tells Cult of Pedagogy host Jennifer Gonzalez that Montessori assessment is not only watching.
  10. How Would a Teacher Handle a Situation With a Student Who Comes From a Background Where Learning Wasn't Seen as a PriorityIn the Montessori environment, you rarely see children who aren't motivated to learn something.
  11. What Kind of Experience Is Learning According to MontessoriFirst and foremost, it is an emotional experience.
  12. How Can a Public-school Teacher Start Using Montessori Methods?Asked what a third-grade teacher could steal first, Benedicte Bossute tells Jennifer Gonzalez on Cult of Pedagogy to build a few explorative stations in the…

More answers like this

The other side

Related episodes

Plays from this note through the rest of the episode.

Note

Weekly highlights

One letter a week.

The notes worth hearing, with the minute they were said.