In order to get people to be excited and to care about children and their education, we need to show them just how exciting and important it is! In my personal experience, I did not want to be a teacher until a few years because I thought school was extremely boring. It wasn't until I was interning at the UCLA Lab School that I saw how exciting and engaging education and classrooms could be! And now, here I am at BJS studying to be a teacher!

It's really interesting to me how people trained in the arts were chosen for these schools because their mindset and profession is to value expression. What is this saying about what teachers were/are known to value?

I feel like when I talk something out, I have a better idea of what I'm trying to understand! I think as adults, we can forget(?) that some things relevant to us are also relevant to children. For example, adults can get uncomfortable sitting in one position for an extended amount of time; however, we forget/don't realize that children can as well and yet, changing sitting positions or even standing up when one feels is not typically encouraged in the classroom. We need to remember that children are human as well and that they need the things that adults need too.

I find this to be a very interesting description for as to what school should be: a place for multiple listening. How could a "context of multiple listening" be brought to other spaces? How would this change the way we understand the world?

I wonder in what cases listening produces answers? Is there ever a time in which this happens?

Asking children questions is important, try not to take over! Concept of children as protagonists in their learning and teachers as support!

The role of the teacher!: upholding children's rights, supporting their learning experiences, and loving them!

I really love this aspect of Reggio Emilia! Often times, teachers are responsive only to the curriculum, state standards, and themselves. This can be seen in the classroom activities and classroom "expectations" (which in my experience are usually more like "unnecessary demands") typically created and enforced solely by the teachers. This can also be seen in the physical classroom environment when the school year is started with minimal wall space for children and no plan of switching the space around because the teacher has designed the space for themselves. A third way this can be seen is in the interactions with families, which are usually met with dread and annoyance instead of seriousness and appreciation. I assume most/all teachers chose this profession because they love children. Loving children does not equal controlling them and refusing to take what they want or need into consideration.

This is very interesting and helpful to me! Immediate contexts help dialogue and knowledge-making.

I admit I can be very impatient. For example, I have a student who takes very small and slow steps and I often want to ask them to walk a little faster or I grab their hand so we can walk faster together, but I need to stop doing this because children have a right to walk as fast or slow as they want. They also have a right to walk by themselves and to take their time if they need it.

Interesting connection! I always hear "playing is for outside and the playground, not the classroom," but this is how they communicate and learn! It's so unfortunate that children are not allowed to play more at school, we are literally stifling their voices!

How can we show our students that we are observing their processes without praising/giving rewards (this is related to the Kohn article we read for Contextual Curriculum this past week)? I know you do not necessarily have to praise when you're observing your students, but when I think of the times I observe their work, I tend to just walk around and compliment/bring attention to their creativity, their knowledge, etc.. I think documenting their process would be a cool way to show our kids that we're paying attention without necessarily giving praise/rewards, but how else?

This is so important and definitely something I need to remind myself constantly! Children are even constantly teaching ME things haha!

I really appreciate how this describes the mutual respect and value that adults and children should have for each other. In my experience, the class comes up with classroom community guidelines, but I've noticed that the rules are mainly for students. I think it is so important to ask our students what they expect from us because we are also part of the classroom community.

This is kind of hard for me to fully grasp. I'm trying to think of past examples and I believe I have one, but when I try to think of something that I can do in the future, it's difficult for me to imagine it. I'm hoping that what will interest my students will be something that they thought of so not only will it be easier for me (since I won't have to come up with something), but it will also align better with contextual curriculum and student-led learning!

This is so important! I remember going to school when I was younger and being so disinterested in what we would be taught because I often wondered when I would actually use those skills. Kids want to use the skills they learn but often, we don't give them opportunities to do so, especially after the lesson is over and done with. Learning doesn't work this way however.

This is something I need to work on. I try to be specific when I praise (e.g. "Look at all those beautiful details! You used so many colors!") but I often just say "good job" and "awesome" because it's easier. I need to work on this so that students know what exactly they're doing that is receiving praise so they can keep doing those things in the future.

This reminds me of the contextual curriculum video of this week where the importance of time was talked about. Life isn't scheduled minute-by-minute and no one really functions that way either so we shouldn't force our children to live this way. Learning experiences cannot start and stop in one hour, they happen over long periods of time and they connect with other learning experiences.

This is sad. So many people see education as a way to just a get a job as an adult but it is so much more than that. Schools are supposed to support children in developing critical thinking, problem-solving skills, empathy, cooperation, democracy, and other important skills that we need to navigate life.

I wonder how this can be incorporated into traditional schools. I know there’s back to school night and classroom volunteer opportunities, but that’s not as deeply engaging as planning together with them and hearing their input. Would having an open-door policy with coming into the classroom be a good idea? Would inviting families during planning time be effective or even possible?

I remember when watching the video of the Reggio Emilia school in Italy and thinking how cool it was that parents were able to come into the classroom and actually work with the teachers a bit on planning. I feel like typically, when families try to be more involved in the classroom (in regards to learning material for example), it is not really received well by teachers. It’s unfortunate that it’s this way because families can offer so much insight into what their child is interested in and how their child can be more engaged. I wonder if this separation from family is also a part of the white supremacy ideology embedded in schools because of how individualism is seen as better than collectivism and community…