I’d never heard of a coulee before I visited Monica Huebner’s classroom on my recent trip to Eric Harvie School in Calgary. “They’re a kind of land formation,” she told me, and I found myself struggling to process this. I’d just spent the better part of a week exploring Banff National Park, the Canadian Badlands, and the prairies in between with my husband, who joined me on this particular trip. Alberta’s quickly shifting landscapes–from snow-covered…
Dr. Diane Kashin was the first to challenge my thinking about pre-cut materials and activities. My study tour of Reggio Emilia schools deepened my understandings as well. This week, I’m reflecting on center-based learning. A staple of the primary and elementary classroom, I’m familiar with many middle and high school teachers who use centers to engage learners and differentiate instruction as well. I was one of those teachers, and I support many more. I’ve also wondered how…
My visit to Reggio reminded me that learning is a social construct. It’s not an accumulation of knowledge, but a construction of meaning that emerges from learners’ interpretation of the world. Materials matter, which is why several of my previous posts in this series focused on their thoughtful use. As I listened and learned more throughout my tour, it was increasingly evident that the way we construct the learning environment matters as well. In fact, it…
This is the third in a series of reflections made upon my return from a study tour of Reggio Emilia schools. You may find the other posts here, as I complete them. Print is one language, but there are so many others, and when we offer children the option to learn and communicate with them, the understandings and theories they share expand far beyond the boundaries that print creates. And it does. I can’t tell…
This post is the second in a set of reflections upon returning from a study tour of Reggio Emilia schools. I’m linking all of the posts to this anchor page as they are published. My tour of the Loris Malaguzzi Center and Reggio Emilia schools included the investigation of dozens of diverse ateliers, or studios. Many were outfitted with the kinds of loose parts I’ve grown accustomed to seeing and working with in my own…
This was one of the first provocations that emerged from our morning conversations at the Loris Malaguzzi Center on that very first day in Reggio Emilia: How might we help learners create compositions that depend less on the hand and more on the power of conceptual understanding? Composition: The word and how they used it struck me. Like so many others, it assumed a richer and far more complex meaning in that space. I know…
A few weeks ago, I was invited to join Lorella Lamonaca and her colleagues for a study tour of Reggio Emilia schools. Planning this trip to Italy was a bit frenzied, as the invitation came on the heels of two quick professional learning sessions that I hosted for Heathcote Elementary School teachers in Scarsdale, New York. This event took place just weeks before their tour was scheduled, and I never imagined what would come out…
Tomorrow, I begin a study tour of Reggio Emilia Schools in Italy, thanks to a generous invitation from Lorella Lamonaca, a teacher I’ve met through my work with Scarsdale Public Schools. “Your book reminds me of Reggio,” she told me, and my heart soared when she did. It’s not often that American teachers recognize the Reggio in my work, but those who know me well and especially, those who were close to my work with…