"Reggio pedigogy" or learning theory based on community in Reggio Italy and how community created learnings, schools, play after WWII.
Gyroscope focuses a lot on Reggio builds - lists our play and learn islands and new i.d.e.a. museum is a reggio build and advertised in their exhibit floor space.
This session really hit home for me about what we do in libraries. Children have a right to be respected, have a space, that serves their needs and what they want, they have a right to be a part of that space and use it in a way that supports their learning, and we have a duty and obligation to help children, make them feel valued, and let them lead their learning.
Attending this session gives even more background about why the i.d.e.a. space last night seemed so much more appealing and "right" for children!
I'm excited to look at how we can incorporate more documentation into in our services for children's services to support their learning and make play more visible to families.
I can also see Reggio practices at work when do our children's displays and using children's art work, our cultural arts nights murals, etc.
Notes:
Accomplish: bring home ideas, share perspectives that will help children (3 perspectives), engage in conversation, highlight big ideas.
View of ALL children as strong, capable, active agents in environment. Parents as partners and co-learners. Learn from and with environment "the third teacher". About beauty and rich materials, light, reflect children's ideas and immediate community. 100 languages - way in which children experience the world. Documentation - tool in museums (lots of media) to understand children. Learn with and from community.
6 days in Reggio, conscientious city intent on teaching children, re-enforced ideas, concepts under way.
Children's museums will have better and higher experiences, thoughtful and mindful ways.
Reggio not a kit, unique to space. Museums can adapt for use here.
Q. How see children as capable?
A. Julia (SDSU grad student, South Dakota Museum)
How engage parents / families? Discussions of power what we saw, words of kids mouths through documentation. Observation, documentation how use in museum programming?
Process Driven Experiences
Make process visible
Pedigogical documentation
Reflective thinking
Classroom culture
Professional development tool
Children thought more about what doing and felt contributed to process. Make process visible (Series of photos on wall - kids can come back and look at their experiences). "Wall of Fame" Children share what they want to show visitors of their experiences.
Reflective thinking - constantly looking closely at what we are doing and thinking.
Culture - ok to make mistake, slow down try again, think deeper.
Professional - more valuable that classes designed so that he can learn and bring his passion with it (mario) super mario brought in to nature, duct tape wallet, pumpkin carving, painting, gumba leaf, painted mario world, 3D interactive mario level, functioning pinball machine with mario.
To get families to see - show documentation, get involved on the floor with the kids. What do we want to observe / document (ah ha moments), built in recording equipment, train play guides help gathering information, permission forms, invite families to participate (chose families that came on regular basis), schools.
Discoveries: value of parent perspective (they observe child at museum),ownership of props claim museum space as theirs and lead the way, new use for props, creativity, imagination,collaboration, citizens in their play.
Next speaker- Louisiana Children's Museum
What does the city look like?
City has been around since Roman times, devastated in WWII drive community leaders to think of children.
Traces of children in ray eggio, bicycle mural by children in subway = bicycles important in reggio.
Fruit market, clothing market in piazzas (filled with children), cheese, gellato.
Training room in reggio center, pedogistas - what they saw / document, spaces for children (LIMITED photography allowed) - reggio protective.
All cameras down, promote children's rights, political process (50% of budget from city).
Clay people - many projects become books showing entire process from beginning to end. Children observed city people and created them.
Documentation: art, photos, quotes, text of the process. Better explain and advocate process.
Malaguzzi center, open galleries, rooms, materials, area to eat - context of community and materials worked with, seeing the loose parts that were offered for exploration. 90 minutes playing with $10 of equipment. Only technology slide carousel and overhead projector.
Remida recyling center, schools use recylced materials, only pencils and brushes store bought, beautifully arranged and stored. Art and respect interwoven. Maybe 60 companies contribute to recycling area.
What does this mean for our community and profession?
Maker space - use children 7-11 and look at how they worked, provide a variety of experiences. How does an idea get out of your brain, document the process. It was more about process than product. Worked in many ways. Try over and over again, brainstorm and then make something better - children's outlook.
Ideas = "you can make anything you can imagine" "A big idea causes something important" "explore with materials and you can make anything you can imagine".
The children made comments about wishing they could learn like this in school. Hilarious comments about how it would be fun, dangerous, awesome.
Q. Reggio as child centered city. How can Tacoma be an advocate for city?
Element of Reggio success - deeply embedded child centeredness of city. Children have right to education and are capable citizens of community.
NO direct services mean luxury to be more aspirational in how children are served.
Create an early learning center. Preschool based on social justice, schools families and communities must work seamlessly, children are capable citizens with rights. Administration and support needed from community. Rally partners. Symposium fro community planned to answer questions (Sept.-power of play annual luncheon same day).
Children at the center of the community will be integrated into our daily life.
Questions:
One woman teaches at a reggio inspired school - said some parents backlash saying that children won't be ready for real world.
Jerry from Boston Museum - they spoke with schools, children need to know how to have fundamental competence skills - go how to bathroom, hold pencil, think for themselves, solve a problem, bring what they are thinking into action, building a foundation for children.
Connect the dots for parents - drawing of bicycles, what children create - see in their children's thinking they have evidence of skills that children are learning them in what schools are looking for.
Build relationships with parents, invite parents to check in with gut instincts - thank you for challenging me.
Size of vocabulary and background knowledge are really what children need - TX library.
Table mates:
Pasadena Kids Space
Mary Ann Viviano
Chief Operations
Imagination Playground (scotch guard pieces)
Outdoor space needs to close for 3 months adding new elements, garden, water.
Peter P.
NAEYC
They support Reggio and Montessori. 3 considerations in developmental practice - birth through age 8, each child's needs and strengths.
All others avoided eye contact
Seriously, Jeri at Boston Children's Museum was incredibly insightful in the school readiness workshop (I will blog about that later) and it seems interesting that professionals in the children's museum world are still asking the question about how to explain "Play" to parents.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it is our leadership at Rancho that ensured we are prepared to justify why we do what we do.
This talk reminds me of the Mother Goose on the Loose training by Dr. Betsy Diamant-Cohen (the founder of the program) who talked about a possible scenario where a child is born into a family where perhaps the parents works often and doesn't have much time for their children, where a child is told to be quiet and behave themselves (this child's parent may say "be quiet" while shopping instead of a parent hearing what a child has to say...that child might have a question perhaps, a comment of what they think a piece of fruit is, an attempt to make sense of the world around them). This child is taught to stay quiet and follow directions, taught that their ideas are not valid, their perceptions of the world are not worth hearing. When this child grows up they are not equipped with the confidence to ask questions, to be confident that what they say matters.
Take this same child and place them in a home where the parent listens to the child and encourages questions. The parent explains things to the child, has the child help them pick-out fruit, lets the child express themselves...the child gains a voice, gains self confidence, learns to ask "why".
Take both and place them in their first year of school. Who do you think will be more capable? Will take the effort to understand why, will ask questions instead of guessing quietly.
One message that seems to keep emerging throughout the various workshops is "honoring the child". By allowing them to explore, play and make sense of the world around them through talking, art, pretend play we are encouraging children to be wondrous, active members of our community and all the research shows that if children have these fundamental abilities and skills, if they have the dexterity to use a pencil when it comes time to practice writing, if they have the ability recognize symbols and have heard the vocabulary, have the ability to (as limited as that may be) carry a conversation or dialogue, then they will be better prepared to read, have better literacy skills and if all this comes together by third grade they have a better chance of graduating high school, of getting a better job, of becoming a lifelong learner, of being a civic minded member of society.
One thing that was mentioned is that Developmentally Appropriate Practices encouraged by the NAEYC is an American ideal and perplexing to Italians.
AND
The Reggio model recognizes what children are capable of given the environment and conditions.
Someone also commented:
The idea of culturally appropriate and individually appropriate need to be kept in mind.
DAP is a part of expectations which are based on the social and cultural context of the child's circumstances
To me it seems that both ideas try to enable children to put their ideas into action and these are the foundational skills that will help children be ready for school, help them take the idea of a letter and put pencil to paper.