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Starting a New School Year the Reggio Way - Pt. 1
9 Plays20 days ago
Join Pat and Rafa as we talk about starting the new school year in a Reggio Inspired way.
As always send us your thoughts at this form! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeHPEVVJFChyrRl6_6Gm3vwV0yc0nEjc-OZXS6smugiRXHjmQ/viewform?usp=header
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction to Talking Pedagogy and Reggio Approach
00:00:15
emiraf
Hello, hello. Welcome to Talking Pedagogy with Pat and Rafa. I'm Rafa.
00:00:20
Pat
I'm Pat.
00:00:21
emiraf
And we are we're here to talk about how to start the year in a Reggio-inspired, aligned fashion or way. You were telling me, Pat, a little bit when thinking about a next step for this episode,
00:00:35
emiraf
what What we talk about? And I really loved your idea because we I'm right now starting the school year with my team at Mi Casita. And it's top of mind of how do you in practice set things up in a way that align with Reggio principles. So thank you.
00:00:51
Pat
You're so welcome.
Building Community and Relationships Early On
00:00:53
Pat
i I would say that, yes, right now it's top of mind for me as a coach and somebody who's working with schools and they're getting ready to start the new year.
00:01:04
Pat
how do you hit the reset button and what are some of the things that you really need to think about, especially if you're using the Reggio Emilia approach, when getting ready to open your classroom?
00:01:16
emiraf
Yeah.
00:01:16
Pat
what What are some of those things? And I mean, Rafa, for me, I think one of the most important reminders that I'm giving my teachers and the people that I'm working with, the ah leaders in the schools, is you know you don't know what your community, the children that are going to make up your community.
00:01:35
emiraf
yeah
00:01:35
Pat
And so making a lot of big choices before you've let them come in to become your collaborators and you've gotten to know them would be a mistake.
00:01:46
Pat
And so but the Reggio Emilia approach, I believe, is very minimalistic and it's getting started and it focuses much more on relationships, community building, and with some really rich invitations of loose parts and centers being well-defined so that children can read the room.
00:02:04
Pat
But not a lot of set in stone kind of work goes into setting up your room.
00:02:11
emiraf
Yeah, a lot of it is is is setting up in a way that is comforting, that's homey, right? Some examples that I'm thinking of of what I'm working on with my team is somehow using the furniture or creative creatively using cloth or other materials to divide the space in a meaningful way or with with rugs or mats, whatever one has.
00:02:36
Pat
yes
00:02:36
emiraf
So That's a great way to start the year, I think, because children do find
Creative Classroom Design and Child Autonomy
00:02:41
emiraf
safety and adults find safety in having a sense of what each part of the room is.
00:02:46
emiraf
So maybe the construction area has its own carpet and maybe the art area has its own place for materials and relatedly with materials.
00:02:55
Pat
right
00:02:58
emiraf
having I like the idea of some like rules that ah that it can be fun to plan and frustrating at times, but basically avoiding stacking materials so everything can be seen at once. experimenting, and this is inspired by Montessori, with the idea of trays.
00:03:16
emiraf
trays
00:03:17
Pat
ahuh
00:03:17
emiraf
and seeing where trays can fit in the environment in a way that allows it children to easily move things around and put them back. And so I'll report back once we do more of that this year.
00:03:29
emiraf
That's newer
00:03:29
Pat
Can't wait to hear how that goes. Yeah.
00:03:31
emiraf
Hmm.
00:03:31
Pat
No, that's a great idea. I'm thinking about autonomy and how at the beginning of the year, Reggio Emilia environments and Reggio Emilia communities are building in for children the expectations, which are very clear.
00:03:44
emiraf
me
00:03:45
Pat
about what children's responsibilities are. And because we have a strong image of children, two year olds, three year olds are sweeping the floors with little, you know, brooms the right size for them or helping clean the tables or, you know, and that makes me think about are the design of the classroom needs to support as much autonomy as possible.
00:04:07
Pat
So when you're thinking about your art materials, your easels, if you have a classroom sink, You want your art center to be living very close to that classroom sink so that children can help in cleaning things up and putting things away.
00:04:25
Pat
It's just very important for them to start to have that sense of when they need more water for their watercolors or whatever, they can go to the sink and get those those things that the
Flexibility and Child Participation in Classroom Rules
00:04:35
Pat
that are needed. They can clean the brushes.
00:04:38
Pat
And so in my classroom, I remember when somebody told me that, like, really think about your design as intentionally as you possibly can so that children really from the very beginning understand that, you know, these are some expectations and these are your rights to be able to take out materials that you want to use.
00:04:57
Pat
And layering all of that in from the very beginning of the year is important.
00:05:02
emiraf
I think the layering, that word, is really important because layering to me connotes taking things step by step. So part of that is explicitly teaching the expectations.
00:05:10
Pat
Yes.
00:05:13
emiraf
So how do you clean the brushes? And whenever putting materials out, considering do I want to present this material in the circle time first and then put it up? Or will I put it up and then bring their attention to it? There's different ways to do it right.
00:05:26
emiraf
But I think the big thing there is being, back to your word, intentional. about why, like why am i presenting this material first of all, and also how am i going to present it?
00:05:37
emiraf
And oftentimes explicitly directly presenting it is a great idea. i think there can be a misconception that you don't teach children how to use materials ever.
00:05:43
Pat
Wonderful idea.
00:05:48
emiraf
I think it needs to be very thoughtfully done because yes, we can show children how to use materials in a way that constrains their thinking. But also if we don't teach them some different ways of using them, that can also constrain their thinking when they don't know where to start.
00:05:56
Pat
Yeah.
00:06:04
emiraf
So I'm a fan of the balance of
00:06:04
Pat
Yeah.
00:06:08
Pat
Mm-hmm.
00:06:08
emiraf
especially when has to do with safety or especially when it has to do with state what it means to take care of a material.
00:06:16
Pat
Yeah.
00:06:16
emiraf
I mean, for example, crayons. Yes, crayons break. Yes, you can remake crayons mean when when they're broken. They're not lost, right? I still personally think there's a value in showing children that there are ways to work with crayons. That means we can keep using the crayons in the way that we we enjoy.
00:06:36
emiraf
But if children are also at the same time very interested in breaking the crayons and seeing what happens, transforming them, that can also be another direction. So it really just depends on what one is aiming to do.
00:06:46
Pat
But you know what, Rafa, you bring up something very, might reminds me of the word flexibility. And I think that the the environment has to really always have that flexibility in a Reggio-inspired classroom because, for example,
00:07:04
Pat
do you have a hard and fast rule in your classroom of if this is something in the dramatic play center, it has to stay in the dramatic play area or but can blocks move about the room?
00:07:17
Pat
And I would say that that is one of the things that, that I like to really promote in teachers thinking is when you make those kinds of rules, a lot of other thinking can't happen when children don't have the freedom.
00:07:31
Pat
Now, Going back to expectations of the environment, and there does need to be some agreements made for order, right? Because it can become very chaotic if those agreements are not in place. So if children want to take things to other places in the room, they also need to have a plan for that. And teachers need to as the researcher and architect helping support their play, you need to be checking in and noticing that.
00:07:58
Pat
So tell me more about that. Where is this going? And and tell me more of what is your plan? I'm wondering. I'm curious. And so that is another thing that I try and inspire teachers to promote in the thinking of children is it's okay if you need to take something someplace that it's not living.
00:08:19
Pat
But just remember, it does live in another place and to take it back when you're done.
Involving Children in Planning and Leadership
00:08:23
Pat
And also, tell me your plan. I'm excited. Like I want to know more. So that, that is another thing as well as making sure that furniture can move. If you, if you haven't bought all of your furniture or you're getting a budget to, and I, gosh, congratulations right now when we're talking about budgets, they've been cut a lot. But if you're somebody who's lucky enough to have extra money this year, get new furniture pieces that have wheels that can lock because it gives you so much more ease in changing the environment to meet the needs of whatever project is happening.
00:08:59
Pat
Wouldn't you say?
00:09:00
emiraf
and Wheels help a lot, absolutely. And it helps children partake more easily in moving things around the classroom.
00:09:08
Pat
Yeah. Yeah.
00:09:09
emiraf
I think that this...
00:09:09
Pat
Did I tell you that story, Rafa I don't mean to interrupt you, but did I tell you that story? I think I did. I know I have about my our good friend Jennifer's experience with letting the children help they were ready to change the room for a project, having them sit down and really, and these were three-year-olds, sit down and really plan with her, like,
00:09:25
emiraf
Yeah.
00:09:30
Pat
what the changes should be. And they made those decisions together and created maps about changing the room that, you know, things that would need to be supported. And then the children actually helped change the room. So I just love that.
Documenting Learning and Communication with Parents
00:09:44
Pat
And also maybe at the beginning of the year in a regio classroom, in your meetings saying, how does the environment feel to you?
00:09:52
Pat
You know, talking about each part of the environment and saying, you know, what's working? Is there anything we want to change as a community? You know, that's that's really the way we like to let children know this really is your environment and my environment, but we're working together as collaborators.
00:10:12
Pat
So anyway, I was just thinking about her wonderful story where the little girl was like brilliant at spatial understanding and showed up as a leader at three years old about how to to do certain changes.
00:10:20
emiraf
me
00:10:25
Pat
And it was really exciting for them.
00:10:27
emiraf
yeah and all that relates to believing in children's ability to do that in the first place which relates to having a strong image of children and so it's always interesting to me for people to think back to their reactions to what you're saying for example and are there any reactions is the reaction oh yeah or is actions like i don't know
00:10:34
Pat
Yeah.
00:10:45
emiraf
And any of those reactions are an invitation to consider like, what what's that about?
00:10:50
Pat
Yeah.
00:10:50
emiraf
What does that say about my image of children in this moment? Because we have so many images of children inside of us.
00:10:53
Pat
Yeah.
00:10:55
emiraf
So it's okay to have weaker image of children that live inside of me. It's more a question of realizing when you're pulling from one image of a child than another and choosing to go with the stronger image of the child that you have inside of you as well.
00:11:01
Pat
yeah
00:11:08
Pat
Yes.
00:11:08
emiraf
So as you're talking about children taking part in developing space, having conversations, teachers taking seriously the ideas and being very curious and excited about what children are doing and at the same time, holding children accountable to putting things back in their place, that's all part of being in a community
00:11:20
Pat
Mm-hmm.
00:11:27
Pat
That's right. That responsibility to one another. But I really believe that in Reggio, you know, we talk about documentation and some of the most important documentation is documenting in the beginning of the year, you know, just what's happening as your community is coming together.
00:11:46
Pat
So that parents understand how you approach the work as well as the children understand the importance of, you know, we're documenting the learning that's happening as we begin to to form these strong attachments, trust and relationships amongst all of
Planning for Developmental Milestones and Expectations
00:12:00
Pat
us.
00:12:02
Pat
I just, yeah, that kind of documentation is a great way to start.
00:12:07
emiraf
Yeah, documenting, it depends where we all are too. Like with my team, I know that documentation is still relatively new. and it grew a lot last year.
00:12:15
Pat
Yeah.
00:12:17
emiraf
At the same time, they're also growing in how they start the year to set up the environment and the routines and procedures to really be able to focus on the deeper document.
00:12:28
emiraf
I don't wanna say even say deeper, but the different more variety of things we can document
00:12:32
Pat
Right.
00:12:33
emiraf
at times we would get overwhelmed with some of the behaviors in the classroom. And so in reflection, we thought about how how can we further, better layer, going to the word layer, and this school year, what we expect of children.
00:12:40
Pat
Mm-hmm.
00:12:49
emiraf
i work with two to five-year-olds, as I remember, mostly two and three-year-olds, some four-year-olds. And as a range of development, so we're really going back to learning about some of the milestones in each of those years typically and and what to tend to expect so we can better plan proactively for what's
00:13:08
Pat
Right.
00:13:09
emiraf
Because the conversations, for example, at the circle depends on your group of little ones, probably requires a lot of explicit modeling of how do you have a conversation.
00:13:19
emiraf
and also some three-year-olds are really able to latch on, some three-year-olds are not quite interested
00:13:20
Pat
That's right, yeah.
00:13:27
emiraf
or latching onto that, even though they're processing the conversations, they're not necessarily participating back and forth in a way that's visible to to me at least, right?
Show-and-Tell for Communication Skills
00:13:35
emiraf
So and it's it's like all those different things to layer when thinking about the beginning of the school year.
00:13:36
Pat
Okay.
00:13:40
Pat
And one of the things we used as a scaffold when I was teaching four young children to help them in the conversation skills was letting children bring something from home that they wanted to share with the group and letting them be the leader then in sharing and calling on their friends
00:13:44
emiraf
Hmm.
00:13:53
emiraf
Hmm.
00:14:02
Pat
who, you know, would raise their hand and say they wanted to know something about the item. And then that that child who was sharing had that responsibility to decide who he was going to pick on and how he was going to answer the question. And this was for children as young as three.
00:14:21
Pat
So it was really exciting to kind of give them that platform and to see them step into it and recognize that children can hold court with their peers um given some of those kind of scaffolders scaffolded opportunities.
Conclusion: Creating a Community of Trust and Safety
00:14:38
Pat
And so Rafa, I'm thinking right now that we've really covered a lot about... You know, just some of the thinking about starting the beginning of the year in this Reggio-inspired influenced way.
00:14:56
Pat
It's going to be different for some of you who are not Reggio that we hope are still listening to us, even though we're talking today about the Reggio Emilia approach. But all things considered, the beginning of the year really is all about creating an environment of trust, respect, and safety for young children.
00:15:17
Pat
So that's really what we're we're hoping that everybody's engaging in when thinking about the beginning of the year and how to really set yourself up for success in building that community.
00:15:40
emiraf
Yeah, I
00:15:40
Pat
Yeah.