I feel that this is exactly what happened to me. I always knew that I didn't believe in traditional education but had no idea what Reggio was when I began my journey. Now that I have overcome that wall, there is no turning back!

What better way to advocate than to show the world what children are truly capable of. It's such a tragedy that people are unable to see it on their own.

I admire how they also respect the autonomy and personality of the teachers as well.

This would be amazing! Especially in a society when individualism is overvalued. I've actually known educators who refuse to work with other educators or have a coteacher because they are "set in their ways".... I don't understand how you can ever grow with this mindset?

This was one of the first elements that drew me to the Reggio Emilia approach. I personally feel that early childhood education and mental health are both undervalued in American society. They are very much intertwined as well. Having a psychology background has helped me so much in developing more authentic relationships with children, parents and teachers. I cannot imagine working in this field without this knowledge or without the guidance of someone with this knowledge.

The inclusion of parents is sooooo important. I wish our culture was more inclusive and collaborative rather than individualistic.

This highlights the co-constructive and every evolving nature of Reggio Emilia schools, they are constantly researching and therefore, they are constantly growing. It's quite beautiful!

My question remains... can you do this without a co-teacher?

This is so important because it helps maintain the child's confidence and exercised her critical thinking!

Just as we spoke about in our zoom. It is critical to question one another, just as the children do among one another and with us.

Yes, yes, yes!! This is similar to what we were talking about in the zoom, in regard to being okay with and open to dissonance. "This is professional, not personal". I've also had issues with competitiveness at my center. I do believe competition can be healthy, but not in the school. I want to find ways to promote this sense of learning and being more open-minded to constructive criticism.

We struggle with this at my center because my teachers seem to always want to jump to a theme, as I mentioned earlier. They try to catch everything and therefore engage in too much, where there is no depth.

I feel like as a 'progressive' and free nation, we are severely lacking in this area, ESPECIALLY in regard to early childhood education. America needs a wake up call in the rights of our youngest citizens.

This is so critical. Reflecting on articles that we've read in both classes, we can see that U.S. public education has remained pretty stagnant in the sense of standards and the classroom environment. Every year, teachers reuse lesson plans, curriculum, etc. but these aren't based off of our children in the classroom in the present. We can't stay in a one-size-fits-all mentality.

This is so important for me personally because prior to taking these courses, I always felt that there was so much I needed to teach parents. Now I feel that there is SO much that they need to teach me... co-construct.

Again, another idea that has left me speechless... why have I never thought of this?!

I have done SO much research on Vygotsky and this question has NEVER occurred to me... wow! Now I'm wondering the same! Even as adults, we often engage in joint problem solving... at least I do with my fiance! Why would this not be the same for children?!

I agree, and it's not just due to time constraints but also due to trial and error. Often when children try something on their own in their quest for autonomy, they do it in a way that is different than how we would do. Teachers have a tendency to want to correct the children and do it for them... this also strips their autonomy.

I love this, "listening to behavior". It gives a whole new meaning to observing.

I love these examples. Also, adults often think that what children say doesn't make sense but they always have a story behind it. I like to either find out or imagine what experiences are influencing what the child is saying... or what they could possibly mean.

Exactly! Children have had and always will have a voice, they use it everyday. It is our responsibility to listen to them, elevate and advocate for these voices so that they don't fall on deaf ears.

I was just wondering how we could gain insight to our youngest citizens... I'm eager to learn more!

This also struck me because I can recall hearing teachers say "soon" or "later" rather than giving a child an exact time. I've also heard teachers and parents lie to children, saying "5 more minutes" because they know their child does not quite understand the concept of time yet (and then it's actually way longer than 5 minutes). How frustrating would this be for an adult? And so disrespectful. I have a lot to reflect on.

This takes me back to Carla Rinaldi's Pedagogy of Listening. The children want to be heard but adults often undervalue their words or don't truly listen to them. I feel that this is a deep injustice, and the children can definitely tell when we aren't listening.

This is incredibly insightful. I agree whole heartedly... and I also do not believe that they should be forced to give hugs.

This is everything. As I've mentioned, I've really been looking into nature as a human right and this includes clean air. Even the air we breathe is subject to systemic racism due to the location of factories, pollution, highways (noise pollution), etc.

The bird debate is making me laugh!

This gave me chills reading because I was just in a debate with someone this past weekend about this exact issue. I had stated that it didn't seem fair that only higher and middle class individuals have access to the ski resorts here (you can't even snowboard). He told me that poor people didn't need to ski.... mind you, this did not go well given that I come from a lower SES family. My point is, children have more humanity and morality that most adults.

Yes! And we as adults have zero right to strip them of their magic and imagination by telling them that they are wrong or constantly producing "correct" answers for them.

This made my heart burst... children as young activist!

The fact that the teacher and school allowed the child to bring this sign in, speaks volumes. I wish with all my heart that my school would operate in such a progressive manner. So many of our families are highly conservative. I'm wondering where the line is that respects the rights of children without crossing the rights of families?

This is an area that I really need to work on. I find myself wondering why parents don't value the things that we are trying to do in our setting, but in reality, I'm not sure that we've done a great job in trying to convince them of this value, in advocating for the children. I will certainly be brainstorming with my team about this one.

I know that we are trying to steer clear of COVID conversation, but I wonder how this applies to children who are in quarantine. I wonder how this will affect them.

Exactly what we discussed in the Pedagogy of listening! It is a way for us to connect and to find meaning in life. This is critical.

This reminds me of what we read from Rinaldi in The Pedagogy of Listening, "Don't steal their "why".

I feel like this has become American culture... there are so many parents who are overprotective or worried for their children that they refuse to allow creativity or critical thinking...it's can be difficult to work with these children sometimes because they refuse to try things that have always been done for them.

We struggle with this at my center because we are required to have lesson plans to ensure that we are meeting standards. It is so difficult to encourage my teachers to stray away from their lesson plans while also teaching standards... I would love other people's feedback on this.

Beautifully put, and I feel that this can be good or bad. It's difficult to put everything aside sometimes.... we are all human. Again, the importance of checking in with ourselves is highlighted here. This is also true for the children. If we know more about their life and experiences, what is going on, then we can better understand their behaviors and responses.

This highlights why it is important to check ourselves for potential biases. Even if we don't mean to treat children differently, we do and we will continue to if we remain unaware of our beliefs that influence this behavior. I think this can even extend to the civil unrest going on in America right now... people are just unaware of their bias and they refuse to examine it...

We are implementing parts of the Project-approach to our classrooms this year and I'm excited!

This collaboration is so vital. We have a difficult time doing this because we don't have enough teachers to cover the classrooms if more than two teachers come together. I would love to learn more solutions to this issue.

This entire paragraph touched me because ECE teachers are often viewed as babysitters. It saddens me because we are sometimes looked down on or taken for granted. Apart from colleagues and educated professionals in early childhood, I've never met an average person/parent that views us a researchers.... because they don't understand.

This is everything! I feel that parents are often viewed as consumers at private childcare centers. They often view the center as a 'daycare'.... but that couldn't be further from the truth. We are a school... a system of relationships. I want to learn more about this and how to encourage the parents to become more involved.

At a time like this, I feel that we need this connection with the community more than ever. Where my school is located, the town is divided due to politics and other injustices. It's so difficult to figure out how to involve our community when they do not understand, or have the desire to learn about, our philosophy and image of the children.

This is something that my school is trying to work on. Either our parents are too busy to participate or the teacher doesn't know how to reach out. We suffer from a lack of this important relationship, the caregiver and teacher. Since COVID, we are beginning to try new ways of reaching out and asking for parent involvement.

I feel that this is what is lacking in regard to ECE in America... our politics and government don't seem to value (at least in certain states) the importance and necessity of quality early childhood education. They certainly don't make it a priority to ensure proper education of teachers nor funding. This lack involvement also contributes to unequal access to quality ECE.