by separating the disciplines and fields of knowledge,

relationships

The hair study took place from late fall 2001 thoughApril 2002.

Weoften ask for validation of our conversations by asking,“Is this correct? Did you want to say something else?”

How do we extend or facilitate learning, andwhat does this mean

we must step back and ask ourselves:What is the child’s intent? What is he or she interest-ed in pursuing? What is our intent or agenda, as theadult? Is that interfering with our understanding ofthe child’s intent?

be that he is interested in the movement and motionof the wheels. Or it could mean that he’s interested inwhat trucks carry. Or he could have a relative who is atruck driver and want to be like that person. If teach-ers respond too quickly and immediately to follow asurface interest,

This documentation is the foundation for the planningand reflecting that should occur in every meeting.

Weask all of our teams to bring documentation to theweekly meetings.

Extensive ongoing staff develop-ment time is used to reflect, share different perspec-tives, plan and revisit ideas. Weekly team meetingsoccur with the teachers, family workers, site directors,and education and studio coordinators. Monthlyagency-wide meetings also occur, and there is at leastone three-day in-service annually.

A minimum of three and ahalf hours per week is dedicated to planning, gather-ing, interpreting, designing and displaying documen-tation.

Some of our staff has beenwith the agency for less than a year while others havebeen with us for more than 20 years.

I don’tbelieve that educators can know each day where theyare going and where they would like to go.

of maps are composed of fragments of personalstories.

Childrenstrongly need to leave traces on paper.

We can write in English, too; otherwise, they won’tunderstand it. Everyone speaks their own language. If I write ‘biblioteca’ (library) and then somebody fromRome comes, he can read it because he’s Italian, so heunderstands it. But if a Chinese person comes, hecan’t!!!”“So we can write ‘biblioteca’ in lots of languages ordraw a book. If you make a drawing of a book, they’llunderstand it for sure!

They have to be optimistic interpretations,which credit the child with ability. T

We asked them to tryto tell the story of the city from the perspective of people of different ages: that of a young child, an ado-lescent, a young couple, and as parents with a family.

to change their point of viewand their way of seeing through the eyes of anotherperson.

Even in the very tiny gestures that occur in theschool everyday, we see this re-launching, this givingback and participating. When you visit the preschools,you can see the signs of this desire, this need and pridethat the children have in participating, in leaving tracesof themselves for others.

Great minds, people who produce the culture of ourtime, do not work in isolation. Most original work isdone through the opportunity of exchange with otherpeople.

It’s also important to offer children theopportunity to think on their own.

Young children have a natural impulse to share whatthey know with someone else.

eing sensitive to the possiblethoughts, needs and desires of others meant changingtheir point of view and putting themselves in someoneelse’s shoes.

Wecollected all of the conversations from all of theschools. We often record and transcribe our experi-ences with the children

During a meeting with our colleagues from the infant-toddler centers and schools working on the guide,

we risked imposing our images and conceptualstructure on those of the children.

Do you know what a city is?What do you think cities are for?Why, in your opinion, were they built?Can you tell where a city starts? And can you tell when it ends?Do you think a city has a shape?Are there people who don’t live in the city? In that case,where do you think they live?

Theexpression of each child must find a place.

Beginning with this broad question, we opened aninvestigation with all of the children in the 20 munici-pal schools in Reggio.

If a school is a place of life, if we want our school to be in touchwith life, it has to be a place that collects differentpoints of view and a place where those points of viewcan be expressed.

a period of two years

Documentation hasrefined our styles of observation so that the processes of children’s learning becomethe basis of our dialogue with families

n fact, in our schools and infant-toddler centers, there also mini-ate-liersin each classroom. In the mini-ateliers, children and teachers can encounterand experiment daily, as a part of their normal experience, with the expressive lan-guages.

The atelier is not the only space where the languages of expression areintroduced.

We recognize that a child is a constructor and co-author of these lanugages and participates in contributing to their historical and cultural variations.

We recognize that all expressive, cognitive and communicative languages that are formed through reciprocity are born and develop through experience.

, a teacher with preparation from an art school,

The atelier had to be a place for researching motivations and th eories of children from scribbles on up, a place for exploring variations in tools, techniques, and materials with which to work.

we also rescued our teachers, who had been humiliated by the narrowness of their preparatory schools, by working with them on their professional development.

right

t also was intended as a reaction against the concept of the education of young children based mainly on words and simpleminded rituals

we can directly see how his language is rich, complex, and dense; it is poetic as well and thus invites careful re flection because it offers many layers of meaning.

bathrooms

atelieristi, cooks, andauxiliary personnel

An atelier and an atelierista in each preschool and each infant/toddlercenter

Participation by parents to infant/toddler centers and preschools forchildren with special needs

This connected with the existing free public education for children from the age of 6 to 18. In 1971 a national law established infant/toddler centers for children from 3 months to 3 years of age

Once a week we would transport the school, (the children and our tools,) to town .... The children were happy. The people saw; they were surprised and they asked questions."

atelier, " which evoked the idea of a laboratory for many types of transformations, constructions, and visual expressions. Therefore the teacher working with children on visual expression was named atelierista, rather than "art teacher."

The first was by means of research, through reading and discussing with teachers writings by John Dewey, Lev S. Vygotsky, Erik Erikson, and other philosophers of education, whose works had only recently been translated into Italian.

Children are born with many resources and extraordinary potentials, which never cease to amaze us.

Observation, documentation and interpretation are woven together into what I would define as a "spiral movement,"

This is where the school comes in; it should first and foremost be a "context of multiple listening,"

sometimes, suffering.

rom the beginning, children demonstrate that they have a voice,

Listening should welcome and be open todifferences, recognizing the value of the other's point of view and inte

It is a time full of silences.

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.

Our understanding andour own being are a small part of a broader, inte-grated knowledge that holds the universe together

Listening is fundamental to the world famous municipal early childhood centers in Reggio Emilia, Italy, which serve children aged zero to six years. It is the basis for the programs pedagogical approach and for its political approach, which involves a democratic dialogue with the families, the town and culture. This article explores what listening to children means in Reggio Emilia.

We should listen to the children so that their wordsgive us the courage for the future and help us to find a new way to dialogue with the children and with ourselves.

During these days, it has been 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.

istening is not easy. It requires a deep awareness and a suspension of our judgementsand prejudices.

Listening is emotion. It is generated by emotions; it is influenced by the emotions of others; and it stimulates emotions.

every "truth" i so only if we are aware of its limits and its possible falsification

But we cannot live without meaning; it would preclude any sense of identity

ne of the first que lions we ask ourselve a educa-tors is: "How can we help children find meaning in what they do, what they encounter, what they experience? And how can we do this for ourselves?"

Listening plays an important part in achieving an objective that has always characterized our experi-ence in Reggio: the search for meaning.

Many things happen every day; only some can be seized on.

to become a producer of research

Reggio educators believe in shared control between teachers and children.

The metaphor of “catching the ball that the children throw us, and then tossing it back to continue the game” is a favorite one in Reggio Emilia.

the act of “listening” at the heart of education

bearing the right to be listened to and to participate, to be part of the group and take action alongside others on the basis of their own particular experiences and level of consciousness

powerful, active, competent protagonists

The role of the adult as teacher complements the role of the child as learner;

In fact, the role of the teacher in Reggio Emilia is com-plex, multifaceted, and necessarily fluid, responsive to the changing times and needs of children, families, and societ

W]e need a teacher who is sometimes the director, sometimes the set designer, sometimes the curtain and the backdrop, and sometimes the prompter. A teacher who is both sweet and stern, who is the electrician, who dispenses the paints, and who is even the audience—the audience who watches, sometimes claps, some-times remains silent, full of emotion, who sometimes judges with skepticism, and at other times applauds with enthusiasm. (Loris Malaguzzi, quoted in Rinaldi, 2006, p. 89)

Charter on Children's Rights.

The authors believe that young children are far more competent than most adults imagine.

"Would you enjoy deciding when you eat your lunch at school and why?"

His classmates shared his excitement. 'Take a picture of my finger next:

Patience not only opens opportunities for children to exercise their competen-cies, it also demonstrates a respect for children's agendas.

children up until about seven years of age communicate with each other more adequately by play than in speech,

adults must attend closely to their play.

languages, including drawing, painting, clay work, wire sculpting, photography, and manipulations of natural materials and blocks.

listening' to very young children does not necessarily mean taking all their utterances at face value, but it does mean observing the nuances"

research

Listening to young children means appreciating that they com-municate using a wide array of languages. If children do indeed speak using 100 languages, then in order to understand what children are saying, adults must lis-ten with all of their creativity. Rinaldi (2001) proposed "listening not just with our ears but with all our senses (sight, touch, smell, taste, orientation). Listening to the hundred, the thousand languages"

Children's Rights should dispel any notion of young children as empty vessels waiting to be filled with adult ideas, including ideas about their rights.

Children have a right to play all day

They arranged an initial meeting of a small group of 4-year-olds and asked, "What is a right?

declared, "l, 2, 3, 4 ... we don't want your muddy war."

derstand how young children think about children's rights

ur goal is to build an amiable school, wherechildren, teachers and families feel at home. Such aschool requires careful thinking and planning con-cerning procedures, motivations and interests. Itmust embody ways of getting along together, ofintensifying relationships.”

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

It is also important for the teachers to enjoy beingwith the other teachers,

pose questions

The quality and quantity of relationships among youas adults and educators also reflects your image ofthe child.

mage of thechild that directs you as you begin to relate to a child

Your Image of the Child:Where Teaching Begins

160,000 inhabitants

education and care

Teachers and children as partners in learning.

The role of space: amiable schools​.

Children with special rights

The image of the child​

cooperative work

Young children, their care and their education have long been a public concern atvarious levels of Italian society.