Just curious...is anyone here working in a Reggio-Emilia inspired classroom/school? If so, what are your thoughts on it, how does it fit with state requirements, do you have the resources to do things well, etc....?
I worked with I guess what the new buzzword is a PLC for reggio for two or three school years, so I definitely do some Reggioesque things in my room. There are several centers both Chicago Public Schools and other public programs that do Reggio in my area. Since they are all state or federally funded, they have to follow the Illinois early learning standards. I found that in my current situation, I could not do 100 percent Reggio- I have neither the time nor space. However, I incorporate aspects of Reggio, The Project Approach and other Emergent curriculums into my classroom. Art is a large center and I teach the proper use and care of materials and then take a step back and watch what happens.....
What is PLC? I wish I had to lovely environments in the Reggio-esque world. I have Reggio inspired aspects.....as chicagoturtle stated. But not the full on plan.
I'm so jealous that you're in the Chicago area. I have been wanting to visit Chicago Commons and some of the other Reggio-inspired schools there. I used to teach at a 100% Reggio school and am now working somewhere that underwent a 3-year study of the Reggio Approach and is trying to incorporate aspects of it. I'm not able to do everything Reggio like I'd like but I can incorporate many things.
We have a Reggio-inspired program that is slowly taking shape. I'd say that with Reggio and the Project Approach is that you have to be VERY familiar with the state standards and jump at the chance to expand a lesson to include them. Instead of planning in advance, it's more documenting after the fact that the standard was addressed. I feel that in my state the Early Learning Content Standards are pretty right-on with DAP so it's not difficult to get them covered because it's a lot of what I would be doing anyway. It's more of a problem remembering every single one and taking advantage of a standard-based teachable moment. I'd like to add that I've thought a lot about Reggio, because that's the way I've always leaned, and it's always been hard for me because of wanting to be like this program and then knowing how Americans view education. The culture in Reggio Emilia is a lot different than the culture in America and they value different things in education. I am totally about educating parents on best practice, but I also see the need to teach in a manner that goes along with American culture and educational values. So, I'm trying to find a happy medium!
I think the leaders in Reggio Emilia strongly state that they do what works in their country and strongly encourage others to adapt their practices to what works for you. I am influenced by Reggio Emilia and love what I am able to incorporate. I wish I had a team of teachers I could work with to do more, but I do what I can. I see no reason you can't incorporate any standards into this approach. Most schools do a mixture of what children are interested in learning with what teachers believe children need to know. It is easy to incorporate math and literacy and science or anything else into projects. Personally, I started by adapting my environment as much as I could to include natural elements and beautiful objects. I eliminated all worksheets, focused much more on process-oriented art, attempt to have children represent ideas in many different ways, follow their interests rather than pre-planned themes and do as many projects. I listen more, talk less and ask a lot of questions rather than always giving answers. I am not an expert by any means, but I am on the journey of discovery and loving it.
I agree that it's a process. I'm constantly thinking about how I can make the classroom more responsive to the needs/interests of my students and still keep parents happy and meet state requirements. What is frustrating for me is that there are 4 preschool rooms in my building and 3 of them are on board with this process but the classroom right next to mine continues to do a theme-a-week and tons of pre-cut style projects. It's hard to look over there and see what's happening when I have worked so hard to incorporate Reggio into my room (especially since the whole PreK team went through the same 3 year study of Reggio!) Parents also see the difference in this other room and start making comparisons between what I'm doing and what they are doing...so frustrating!
This post got me thinking about a blog post I read which I thought would be pertinent to this discussion about how children write, even in a play-based curriculum: http://progressiveearlychildhoodedu...d:+LetTheChildrenPlay+(let+the+children+play) Her whole website is fabulous!
I worked in a Reggio-inspired center for two years in grad school and got the opportunity to go on a tour to Reggio. It is the Lucy Brock Center on the Appalachian State University campus, and they have a website you can Google. It was fabulous! We had a real community of teachers who had time to plan together and an administration that was supportive. I then worked in Head Start and a public school pre-k. While I tried to incorporate Reggio concepts, it is very hard when you're the only one not doing themes and cookie-cutter art. While I found both standards to be mostly DAP, I was strongly encouraged in both to do themes, because my lesson plans had to be turned in advance. Now that I'm starting a home pre-school, I'm hoping to be able to incorporate more Reggio. (Am starting another post about this.)
