that they learn the pleasure of reactivating them, regenerating them, and multiplying them with the maximum amount of personal and creative intervention.
This is powerful. This is such a good goal to have for working with children. To help them gain, or rather not diminish their natural ability to find pleasure in learning and creating.
we wonder what support and understanding these propositions might reeive in the current cultural and educational approach toward children's learning of today
I wonder what it would take to get more recognition of how children learn and exist, in the United States. What would it take to do right by the children and over haul how the public schools are run? I also wonder how the RE schools in Italy function today. How have things changed?
produces questions, not answer
I love this so much. As a teacher and parent something that I always have struggled with on an existential level was the idea that there was an expectation that I know the answers to everything. We do not have to have all the answers.
needy
I think that in some ways, children can become seen as needy because our society is lacking in community support. Mothers for example have so many pressures and expectations put on them that they are stretched too thin to be able to be there for their children in every aspect that the child would benefit from them being able to be there. Mothers do not want to view their child as needy, it is not the child they are mad at, but many times it is the child who suffers from the lack of community support. The same can be said for teachers. They are asked to do too much and it takes away from their ability to listen and see the child as capable. Care taker do not consciously choose to see those in their care a burden or as incapable, it is the external stressors that blind them.
hese are the key questions that children constantly ask, both in and out of chool
I love that working with children means that you are constantly having to reexamine why, how, and what? If we listen and question with them then we grow together.
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
I can really relate to this part. It is something that as a a parent of a teenager I have struggled with. How can I ask my son to buy into a system that I do not believe in? I have had to reevaluate what I find important, why, and listen to what he thinks is important.
non-violent,
I really like this part. As adults we need to look to children more to find non-violent solutions to our problems. They are caring, empathetic, and we can learn so much from them if we listen.
Personally, I think we have debated very much [in our small groups], but I never felt that I was inadequate, or felt diminished when I was discussing.
Having this attitude about debating is helpful for personal and professional growth. Viewing disagreements, debate, and feedback as an opportunity to learn and grow rather than a personal attack is something to continue to aspire to.
where a small work group—composed perhaps of teacher(s), mentor teacher, pedagogista, and atelierista—observe and document a group of children together, then meet for lengthy discussion, analysis, and comparison of perspec-tives on what they were seeing
This sounds amazing! Having the input of a whole team of people through discussion and analysis would be so helpful.
the confidence and sense of security that their approach to teaching, developed collectively over the past 50 years in Reggio Emilia, is the way they should be working.
How amazing and validating to be part of something that you believe in and feel is truly benefiting the families and children in your community. I do not feel that this is something that a majority of the teachers in the USA would feel. We are part of a system that we see is underserving the children and families in our communities and in many cases providing a disservice to. Teachers in the US could better serve the students if they were heard by the system that they operate within. I love the idea of being part of a community with such a rich history and deeply rooted beliefs about doing their best for the circumstances, students, and community.
They prefer not to leave children to always work on their own but try instead to cooperate with the children’s goals
I look forward to reading more about how they do this. How do the children react to the teachers requests to add to or complete something?
We must be able to be amazed and to enjoy, like the children often do. We must be able to catch the ball that the children throw us, and toss it back to them in a way that makes the children want to continue the game with us, developing, perhaps, other games as we go along.
This is something that I so enjoy about teaching. Being able to engage in play with the students and follow where they lead you in their game play. It can be a struggle to remain engaged in this sort of dynamic if you feel a lot of external stressors placed on you as a teacher. I do believe that it is a beneficial dynamic to have between teacher and student.
any definitions of the teacher’s role can never be accepted once and for all, but instead constantly undergoes revision—as circumstances, parents, and children change;
I love thinking about teaching from this prospective. The circumstances in which we teach are ever changing and so are we as people. Having the ability to think of our role as teacher in this way will serve ourselves and our students better than having a fixed mindset.
facilitating play
I like this shift. Being a facilitator of play places the teacher in a position of power where being in a relationship that is based on an exchange of ideas or understandings puts the teacher and student in a more egalitarian relationship.
co-constructor of knowledge.
I love this.
Perhaps itwas our previous lack of skill that made us fall.
The prospect of having to prove that what we are doing is valuable is both daunting and exciting.
this is fortunate for the child, because thenthe teacher will have to invent new words
What a sense of power and pride this would instill within a child, to know that who they are, how they think or behave, has caused growth within an adult.
Children get toknow each other through all their senses
This is a concept that I feel is shied away from in American schools. Teachers are afraid to let children interact with each through touch. It is something that has become problematic in our society. How can this be addressed so that teachers can become more comfortable "letting" children interact in this natural way.
It’s a constant value for the children to know that theadult is there, attentive and helpful, a guide for thechild.
The pressures that are put upon teachers, in many situations, make it difficult for the teacher to be fully engaged, focused, and available to the child.
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.
I love this imagery. This is of profound importance to come to terms with as teachers.
Each one of us needs to be able to play with thethings that are coming out of the world of children
As a beginning teacher, I taught in a private school and was allotted a lot of freedom within the classroom to follow the children's interests. I loved it! What caused me stress was the expectations of adults. Expecting to see "learning" in a different way then was the child's natural inclination.
sometimes schools function as if they were; these areschools with no joy
This is so true for what I have seen of most public schools in the USA. Children are treated as if they must behave and learn in a very defined way and if they do not, they are treated as if they are defective or need to be molded to fit what the system wants. Some children rebel and some children have their spirit trampled and may never know why.
you will behavedifferently in your interactions with each of them
Gender stereotypes are always at the forefront of my mind. I aim to notice my own in my interactions with individuals and especially children. I notice when adults treat children or talk to children in a noticeably gender biased manner or say things are perpetuating gender stereotypes. Learning how to recognize and address these gender stereotypes in a socially appropriate (acceptable?) way, is of great interest to me.
They understandwhether the adults are working together in a trulycollaborative way or if they are separated in someway from each other
I have worked in this situation, where the other adults and I did not agree in fundamental ways on how the children should be interreacted and we had drastically different core values. Despite having discussions and team trainings it was impossible to rectify the differences in our core values. How can situations such as this come to an accord? I think in some situations a resolution can not be reached if one person sees that the other is treating the child in a way that they find detrimental or harmful to others. In this situation, my hope is that children can see me as an advocate and someone that will speak out against unjust treatment and in turn see the power that their voice can have.
thus promoting their professional growth
Having this built-in professional development of sorts is of great value for teachers.
resource for them
This is part of what is so appealing to me about the Reggio approach. I like the idea of the teacher following the student's interests and acting as a resource for them. The teacher aiding the students in their pursuit of knowledge about what interests them is empowering for the children.
they are seen as learners
I love this! When teachers are treated as learners as well it sets a good example for kids to become lifelong learners. It also takes the pressure off of the teacher to already know everything which would be an unrealistic expectation.
lay-out of physical space fosters encounters, communication, and relationships.Children learn a great deal in exchanges and negotiations with their peers
Encouraging communication and exchanges between peers through layout of the environment is a valuable element of education that I would love to see included more in US classrooms.
tradition of cooperative work is firmly rooted in the Emilia Romagnaregion
This is intriguing. Where did this tradition of cooperation in the region stem from?
curiosity
Sadly, in the US public school system children's natural curiosity can easily become stifled. Children are treated as passive participants rather than the pilots of their own education/ learning.
Infant-toddler programs have developed muchless in quantity but the quality of these services in those municipalities that haveinvested seriously in them has been generally outstanding
Investing in the quality of infant-toddler programs rather than quantity is amazing. Even with this emphasis on quality over quantity, 95% of preschoolers are being served. This should make this model intriguing for US preschool systems.