The taking over of the school by the atelier and by the atelierista, a teacher with preparation from an art school, as organizer, interpreter, co-organizer, and collaborator (a role to be continually reinvented en route), intentionally created a disturbance for the dated model of school for young children.
I wonder how placing value in art would change the direction and scope of traditional schools and is this something that we could do?
child had the right to a school that was more aware and more focused, a school made up of professional teachers.
This is also a concept that floors me. A large majority of teachers in ECE programs do not have a lot of education and who receive little to no professional development support.
An atelier and an atelierista in each preschool and each infant/toddlercenter
This is an amazing resource. At the school I work at art is an activity that is done once a day or less. There isn't value placed on creativity and exploration rather it is placed on compliance and conformity.
seek public support for educational reform. He needed to make a statement to the citizens of Reggio Emilia about the importance of preschools, and offer proof of his beliefs
We are going through this now with Biden's Build Back Better Plan. There isn't a value on early childhood education even though is is such a vital part of our community and the education of children.
atelierista, rather than "art teacher."
I love this.
visiting other preschools that progressive city governments were opening in Italy
The idea of co-construction feels so alien in traditional US schools. I remember when I began teaching 11 years ago I wanted to collaborate with other teachers in my school and it took a year of persistence to make this happen.
Documentation can be seen as visible listening
This is another thing that keeps playing in my mind. "Documentation makes learning visible".
only if, children have the opportunity to make these shifts in a group context - with others - and if they have the chance to listen and be listened to by others, to express their differences and be receptive to the differences of the others.
Co-construction right? This is why early childhood experiences are so important.
children cannot bear to be anonymous
yes!
Listening is generated by curiosity, desire, doubtand uncertainty.
Uncertainty has definitely been present in my listening as of late. And being ok and comfortable with that uncertainty rather than trying to have an answer has been uncomfortable but good.
Listening should be open and sensitive to theneed to listen and be listened to, and the need to listen with oil our senses, not just with our ears.
I have found that I am only just now beginning to listen with more than just my ears.
ow can we help children find meaning in what they do, what they encounter, what they experience?
This is also a foreign concept to me as someone who was taught in a more traditional setting. I was not taught that I was there to help children find meaning, rather I was there to "teach" children concepts.
their wisdom gives us comfort,
This is so profound. How often do adults consider children to be wise?
strongly suggested to listen to children. This word "listening," this concept, seems to have become more acknowledged, shared, and practiced. But this attitude cannot be limited only to this emergency; we have to listen to chil-dren not only because we can help them but also because they can help us.
I remember the 9/11 attacks. I was a senior in high school and we watched the news for most of the morning before our humanities teacher turned it off and told us he wanted to listen to what we were feeling. This whole phrase feels profound. We can help children, but they can help us too. I think that we are out of touch with this concept. Teachers believe that they are there to "help" their students but don't see how their students can teach them in return.
mall group is the most favorable learning context
This makes me think about classrooms that cannot or perhaps will not support small group learning.
invites
I love that these are "invitations" not assignments. In the school I work at all children are made to participate in the same activities.
ccepted once and for all, but instead constantly undergoes revision
Has the traditional American teacher role been revised? It doesn't seem to have changed since I was a young child. If anything it feels as though it has drifted to a place where children do not bring any knowledge to the table and therefore must be taught to meet high test score goals.
the competent child.
This as well really speaks to me. Children being seen as capable not as deficient or needing to be taught.
co-constructor of knowledge.
This is what stands out to me. Teachers work with children in their education.
A teacher
This is so true. Teachers need to be so many things to truly be good teachers. I've felt this in my practice as a teacher and can always spot someone who won't work as a strong teacher when they refuse other roles.
constrained by concerns for safety.
I want to learn more about how schools like Boulder Journey School manage injuries. This week I had two very difficult interactions with parents who thought that their children had been injured at our center. How do we let children have the right to show us they are capable but manage parents who see their children as fragile or incapable?
willingness to learn from and be changed by what the other says.
So often I feel like people say "I'm listening" but really they are not willing to learn from or change due to what is being said. What a great statement and something I hope I can begin to truly practice.
working together in pairs and small groups
I would love to observe the infant classroom at Boulder Journey School at some point. We have 1 infant classroom in our program and I feel like there are some ways we could make it a very strong program with some guidance!
a respect for children's agendas.
Respect. I feel like this is a world that isn't used very often in ECE settings.
climbing into car seats, putting on socks and shoes, or washing their hands.
I can think of multiple instances today where I rushed my two daughters because I didn't give us enough time to get to school etc. Slowing down and being more aware of not violating their autonomy is something I will definitely be thinking about tomorrow morning (I'm happy that they have a late start day!).
"children up until about seven years of age communicate with each other more adequately by play than in speech, an argument can certainly be made that their childhood right to play is the same as our adult First Amendment right to free speech"
I wish that Traditional American Preschools supported these rights. I feel like play and pretending are slowly disappearing from school days. Parents have high expectations of what children "should" be learning in preschool and play isn't part of that idea.
sense of smallness that children often experience in the world of adults.
Prior to choosing the Reggio Emilia approach as my focus for study I was fascinated with Montessori programs. One aspect I love about these programs is that all furniture and tools are small versions of adult tools and furniture. I wonder if children in Montessori programs and growing up in Montessori homes have this sense of smallness?
right to be angry and sad as well as happy. Children's unfamiliarity
Currently my 5 year old daughter has become very vocal about her emotions. She will loudly state, "I'm sad and angry and THAT IS OK." While she is at a comfortable place with this I do feel like many children do not feel they have the right to have these strong emotions, especially when they're at school. So many schools have "cozy corners" for children to go when they are feeling strong emotions but I wonder if we are just teaching children that they need to confine and hide those emotions?
"listening not just with our ears but with all our senses (sight, touch, smell, taste, orientation). Listening to the hundred, the thousand languages"
I wonder if parent of children with disabilities are better "listeners". I was a special education teacher for 8 years and I know that those 8 years taught me to really appreciate and look for all forms of communication not just verbal or written. Some of the most profound experiences I had as a special education teacher were moments of "non-traditional" communication.
it does not depend on the age of the teller, but on the sensitivity of the listener.
I love this quote. I think that adults far too often fail to listen. And this becomes far more profound with our youngest children who are preverbal.
Children have a right to be listened to
Another one which feels like it is constantly being violated.
Children have a right to never, never go to jail
I feel a lot of things about this statement. How many young black boys are in jail right now just because they are black boys?
have a right to play all day
Yes. Yes. Yes. I feel sad that playtime is slowly being stolen from children.
right to sing,
Another part of preschool that I feel has started to vanish. Children singing is more common outside on the playground at my school...
pretend
I feel like the idea of pretending is slowly being taken away from children. I know that in many traditional preschools "playtime" has become shorter and shorter as "academic" learning has become "more important".
The teachers began to wonder what children thought about rights. They arranged an initial meeting of a small group of 4-year-olds and asked,
Wow. I don't think in all of my years as a teacher I ever had this type of discussion with any of my students.
t’s necessary that we believe that the child is veryintelligent, that the child is strong and beautiful andhas very ambitious desires and requests. This is theimage of the child that we need to hold.
I love this statement. How do we make sure that we believe all of these things all of the time?
We must forge strong alliances with the families ofour children.
This keeps coming up. I want to learn how to make this better during the time we are living in. When the world has almost gone completely virtual how to we build these true, strong relationships with the families at our schools?
Childrenlearn a lot from other children, and adults learnfrom children being with children.
I see so much learning when I am outside during our unstructured playtime. The teachers take a step back and the children really learn from each other. I feel like these moments are hugely overlooked because the children are "just playing". Rather, the shift should be to observe what they are learning while playing.
What childrenwant is to be observed while engaged, they do notwant the focus of the observation to be on the finalproduct.
Yes! Process not product.
What the child doesn’t want is an observation fromthe adult who isn’t really there, who is distracted
This statement makes me think about all of the times my daughter has said "Mom, watch me!" and then "Mommy, you're not really paying attention! Look at me!" She knows when I'm distracted or not fully present.
how to wait for the child.
This also feels so foreign in traditional schools. I'm excited to learn more about how I can implement these ideas in my school.
We need to producesituations in which children learn by themselves, inwhich children can take advantage of their ownknowledge and resources autonomously, and inwhich we guarantee the intervention of the adult aslittle as possible.
This idea that children can learn by themselves and should have as little intervention from adults as possible seems so foreign in traditional US schools.
All of this is a great forest. Inside the forest is thechild. The forest is beautiful, fascinating, green, andfull of hopes; there are no paths. Although it isn’teasy, we have to make our own paths, as teachersand children and families, in the forest. Sometimeswe find ourselves together within the forest, some-times we may get lost from each other, sometimeswe’ll greet each other from far away across the forest;but it’s living together in this forest that is important.And this living together is not easy.
I love this statement so much. Education is a journey. Sometimes it is hard and then things get easier but they may get hard again. Being aware and ok with this is essential.
Both parts
I completely agree with this. I have seen many teachers who enjoy being with children but who do not enjoy being with other teachers. In the end those teachers do not succeed as they isolate themselves from the rest of the school community.
curiosity,
I feel like curiosity is something that has been sucked out of a lot of "traditional" schools. We are taught to follow the norms not to be curious.
you alwayscome with pieces of the world attached to you.
I find that this statement really resonates with me. I think that many of us have heard "leave your drama at the door" (or something to that extent), but our "drama" doesn't just say "oh yeah, I'll wait here" it comes with us and is a part of the experiences we then have with those in our environment.
We cannot separatethis child from a particular reality.
This is a powerful statement. Often we thing that children come to us as clean slates ready to be written upon, when really they bear the marks of several other contexts that make up their reality.
Children are very sensitive and can see andsense very quickly the spirit of what is going onamong the adults in their world.
This is so true. I'm currently a director so not in the classrooms every moment of the day but there have been several times when a child has passed by my office and stated "Teacher M is sad." or "Why don't Teacher M isn't happy.". They are so intuitive and even when the teachers believe that they are keeping their private emotions private children can tell that something is amiss.
boys and girls arevery different from one another,
I see this so often and have to be very aware of my thinking because as much as I like to think that I don't let that inner voice impact my interactions I know it does.
Educators in Reggio Emilia have no intention of suggesting that their programshould be looked at as a model to be copied in other countrie
I love this.
They can last from a fe
Projects aren't given a limited time. They are given as much time that is felt necessary.
learning bydoing
Yes. We learn by doing. Not by sitting and listening to someone tell us what to do.
Atelierista and atelier
The value of art is so clearly depicted in the video and readings. Art is disappearing in US schools. I love this sentence "...the children's use of many media is not a separate part of the curriculum but an inseparable, integral art of the whole cognitive/symbolic expression involved in the process of learning." It is inseparable. Children do not just attend art class and move on. It is an interwoven part of learning.
The power of documentation
Documentation isn't just used to prove that a child has mastered some area of learning. It is used to show what children are learning, to predict where they are going and to reflect as a teacher on their own work. Powerful stuff.
Not a pre-set curriculum but a process of inviting and sustaining learning.
I feel that pre-set curriculum is a "value" here in schools. Children go through the motions of set learning, they don't have a say in what they are learning. If children are not interested in a set task there isn't another option. I love that Reggio Emilia schools have prepared environments that teachers then observe children in to make decisions as a team on what to do next.
Teachers are not considered protectivebaby-sitters, teaching basic skills to children but rather they are seen as learnersalong with the children. They are supported, valued for their experience and theirideas, and seen as researchers
This whole statement really speaks to me. Teachers are not baby-sitters. They are supported, valued and seen as researchers. I don't know many parents here in the US who feel this way about their children's teacher.
therefore teachers organize spaces that support the engagement of small groups
The structure of the classroom in the video really stood out to me that many of the children were working in small groups and really negotiating what was occurring between themselves- teachers were not acting as mediators.
Parents are an essential component of the program; acompetent and active part of their children's learning experience.
This statement really speaks to me. I feel like most preschools here in the US are seen as "daycare". Children are taken care of as a service and parents do not see themselves as a participant in the school or their child's learning experience. Participation is not expected and most teachers are uncomfortable asking for support from parents. I've heard many times "I pay for this so why are you asking me for materials/support etc."
activated and supported.
Schools help nurture, activate and support all of the relationships in the child's world.
Children with special rights (rather than using the term specialneeds) have precedence in becoming part of an infant/toddler center or a preschool.
Children with special needs are valued and have priorities in schools. This is so far from what children with special needs experience here in the US.
An examination of the features of this philosophy soon reveals that the educatorshave been serious readers of John Dewey, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, DavidHawkins, Jerome Bruner, Howard Gardner and other world renowned scientistsand philosophers.
Most ECE teachers here are high school graduates with very little post-high school education. The fact that teachers in Reggio Emilia schools remain current in research and development and are well-read sets these programs apart.
cooperative work
"Cooperative work"- education isn't just left to teachers. It's a partnership between the community and the schools. This is something that really feels lacking here in the United States, especially in private, for-profit preschools.
literally groups of parents built them with their ownhands at the end of World War II.
The fact that the schools were built by parents is amazing. It also reiterates that education is valued by the community.
serve about 95%of the children between 3 and 6.
The fact that preschools in Italy serve about 95% of children between 3 and 6 is amazing. There has been talk of "Universal Preschool" in the United States for a long time but it still hasn't happened. It shows that education is valued in Italy.