Working daily over a long period of time with young children may account for frequent and almost automatic use of phrases that are warm and kind and positive, but that do not really take children seriously. I often observe busy and certainly well-meaning teachers saying to children every other minute: "Awesome;' "Super;' "Well done;' and many other positive, but empty phrases. Research on this 'over-justification effect' indicates that frequent praise lacking in content does not increase the desired behavior as well as does occasional, but informative, feedback.

what standards of experience should we provide for our young children?

at the end of which out come identical shoes or cups or pencils or whatever else is being manufactured.

These outcomes are rationalized as ways to get children 'ready for school, ready to 'succeed' in school, and to perform well on test of academic skills.

We recognize that all the languages that are already co-existent in the mind and in the activity of the child have the power to be generative of other languages, other actions and other potentials that are in turn generative.

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

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. A second way was through visiting other preschools that progressive city governments were opening in Italy and keeping informed about educational experiments taking place abroad.

Listening should be sensitive to the patternsthat conne t us to others. Our understanding andour own being are a small part of a broader, inte-grated knowledge that holds the universe together.

One 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?" In the search for meaning, we must a k: "why?" "how?" and "what?" These are the key questions that children constantly ask, both in and out of chool.

theycanhelpus.

In contrast to a system in which concern for hurt feelings or ownership of ideas prevents extended examination and argumentation, in Reggio Emilia intellectual conflict is considered pleasurable for both adults and children.

so that the teacher can pick up an idea and return it to the group,

In many discussions, she has highlighted how a teacher’s work should be grounded in politi-cal beliefs and advocacy. This perspective is rooted in Rinaldi’s political philoso-phy, a leftist progressivism and idealism common among people in her city and region of Italy.

dispenser of occasions; and it is very important for us that the child should feel the teacher to be, not a judge, but a resource to whom he can go when he needs to borrow a gesture, a word.

must act in such a way as to persuade children that they deeply share this image.

involves parallel expectations and possi-bilities for adults. Teachers are likewise protagonists—participants with children and parents in singular moments of time and history.

The role of teacher as curriculum planner changes to the role of the teacher as a co-constructor of knowledge.• The role of the teacher as program planner emphasizes the role of creator of the environment as a third teacher.• The role of the teacher in facilitating play changes to the role of the teacher as an exchanger of understandings.• The role of providing guidance changes to the role of the teacher as a supporter of the competent child.• The role of the teacher as an observer is extended to documenter andresearcher.• The role of the teacher as parent educator changes to the role of the teacher as a partner with parents.• The role of communicator with outside audiences changes to the role of the teacher as listener, provocateur, and negotiator of meaning

photographs still de-picted adults carrying infants from place to place.

contrasted their persistence in trying to obtain the horses with their lack of persistence in obtaining desired objects to which the children did not feel entitled, such as classmates' bottles.

I would like it if I could climb in my bed without my daddy picking me up ..

verbal language proves to be a source of misunderstanding, as well as understanding.

Children have a right to paint their fingernails, boys and girls, with their moms

Children have a right to say, 'No!' or 'Stop it!' when people are tickling them without asking •Children have a right to say, 'Yes!' when people tickle them, too

Children have a right to eat grapes whichever way they choose, like peeling them first, if they want

Both children and adults need to feel active andimportant

magine the school as an enormoushot air balloon. The hot air balloon is on the groundwhen the parents bring their children in themorning. Some parents think the balloon is going torise up and fly around during the day. Otherswould really prefer that the balloon remain on theground because that way they are sure their childrenare safe and protected. But the children want to goup and fly and travel everywhere in a hot airballoon, to see in this different way, to look at thingsfrom above. Our problem is that to make the hot airballoon fly we have to make sure that parentsunderstand the importance of what the teachers andchildren are doing in the hot air balloon. Flyingthrough the air, seeing the world in a different way,adds to the wealth of all of us, particularly th

teachers learning about children.

findingpossiblewaystoconstructchange.

CooperationatalllevelsintheschoolsisthepowerfulmodeofworkingthatmakespossibletheachievementofthecomplexgoalsthatReggioeducatorshavesetforthemselves

specialrights(ratherthanusingthetermspecialneeds)

guidedanddirectedtheenergiesofthoseparents

Suchparticipationbyparentshasallalongremainedanessentialpartofthewayofworkingoneducationinthatcity.

educationandcare

especiallywomen