Yesterday a group from the LSU Childhood Collaborative made up of faculty and students from LSU set out for Italy! This isn't a trip for leisure, but an amazing opportunity to learn more about the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education and see the programs in person. We hope to have some updates on their travels- so check back during the next couple of weeks!
In this season of Thanksgiving, we wanted to take a moment to remember the reasons why we are thankful that we are an early childhood professional. At a recent meeting, several of the early childhood collaborative working in the LSU PK-3 program shared reasons they are thankful.
“Thankful that I experience the joy of childhood everyday.” “That I can influence early childhood practice in classrooms across time and place.” “Thankful to see the light of imagination and the potential of children reflected in their play.” “Thankful for the opportunity to regularly see the world through children’s eyes.” Please share your reasons for being thankful to be a part of early childhood in the comments below. We at the LSU Early Childhood Collaborative wish you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving. The author of this blog post is Dr. Cynthia DiCarlo. Cyndi DiCarlo is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at LSU. She conducts intervention studies focused on social behavior in young children and enjoys mentoring students in conducting research.
We’ve all seen it…you walk into an early childhood classroom or on a playground and there are several children, usually boys, lined up against the fence or the wall. Usually for some stated ‘aggressive’ act. What do children actually learn in time out anyway…? Research suggests that rough and tumble play is important for physical, social and cognitive development, yet is often perceived as aggression and generally stopped by preschool teachers. Rough and tumble play refers to vigorous behaviors, such as wrestling, grapping, kicking, tumbling, and play fighting, which appears aggrieve except for the playful framework. As children develop, they learn how to manage their emotions in different social contexts. Rough and tumble play provides children with the opportunity to make judgments, learn limits in play, and adjust their play to the abilities of other players. Even in the research literature, rough and tumble play has been confused and combined with aggression when the two behaviors are defined. With this confusion, it is not surprising that caregivers who work with young children are also confused. So what is the answer? Education. A recent research study sampled 94 preschool teachers’ perception of aggression in preschool-aged boys and found that child care providers with less education reported more aggressive behavior than those with a four-year degree. Additionally, those childcare teachers with less experience also reported more aggression that teachers with more experience. What can we do? Develop specific guidelines on acceptable rough and tumble play behavior. Sit down as a program and talk through scenarios and decide what rough and tumble play looks like and how it is different from aggression. Increase the education of your work force. NAEYC has developed several resources that will help teachers/caregivers understand the importance of rough and tumble play, such as this short article, handbook, as well as this resource you can share with parents. Work to retain child care employees. Research suggests that there is a relationship between job stress/job satisfaction and teacher turnover. One recommendation is to provide teachers with training opportunities, which provide chances for providers to access support and allow for interaction with other providers, to offer personal support and decrease isolation. This blog post was written by Cate Heroman. Cate Heroman is an author of The Creative Curriculum for Preschool and a friend of the LSU Early Childhood Collaborative. As the LSU Early Childhood Collaborative prepares its first trip to Italy and Reggio Emilia this spring, we asked Cate to share her experience with us.
Italy. It’s famous for so many things…pasta, gelato, wine, architecture, fashion, beautiful scenery and warm, friendly people. But to those of us in the early childhood world, the municipality of Reggio Emilia is known for its high-quality, innovative approach to educating young children. Reggio is not a prescribed curriculum with lesson plans and activities to follow. There are no international training programs to become a Reggio teacher. Outside of the town of Reggio Emilia, programs that adapt the approach to their community are referred to as Reggio-inspired. Last spring Dr. Sallee Beneke invited me to join her group from St. Ambrose College on a study tour of the schools of Reggio Emilia. Dr. Beneke is a co-author with Dr. Lilian Katz on many publications about the project approach. Since I am an author of The Creative Curriculum for Preschool, I knew it would be fascinating to reflect with Dr. Beneke on what these three approaches have in common and how they are different. Each day of the trip about 200 U.S. early childhood educators gathered at the Loris Malaguzzi International Center to hear presentations and gain a deeper understanding of the schools of Reggio Emilia. The International Center also has exhibits to explore about light, digital landscapes, paper-making, and more. It has a documentation center where you can examine the different long-term projects that have taken place in the schools. For me, the highlight of each day was going into the schools and observing them first hand. After an orientation, we were free to wander in and out the classrooms at our own pace. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures. Each school usually had photo booklets of project documentation for sale. After the classroom visits, we gathered to ask more questions and to talk to the pedagogista, the atelierista, and to parents. One of the schools I visited was 8 Marzo, a preschool for children ages 3-5. The layout of the school was similar to the layout of the town. There was a central piazza or meeting place and all classrooms surrounded it. The environments are breathtakingly beautiful. You won’t see bright primary colors, plastic furnishings, cheap toys or commercial bulletin boards displays! Natural materials, “loose parts”, and interesting displays provoke curiosity and wonder. Documentation of children’s learning is everywhere. Each classroom had its own atelier (art studio) where children were free to use materials to represent their thinking. The flow of the day was seamless. Children were deeply engaged in finding answers to their questions, solving problems, and representing their ideas through the arts. Teachers would observe, document, and help children clarify their thinking. 8 Marzo was involved in a school-wide project about a nearby park. Each classroom investigated a different aspect of the park. The three year olds studied the animals and insects of the park. They referred to photographs as they recreated them with clay and other art materials. The four year olds investigated the animals that flew over the park. The five year olds created maps of the park and were studying different types of maps. A small group looked at their observational drawing of a park bench and then used clay to recreate it. A mixed-aged class created a 3-D digital landscape of the park. The teacher projected a photograph of the park on one wall of the classroom. The children used art materials to create animals and scenery and positioned them in front of the photo backdrop of the park. They problem-solved as they figured out how to make them stand or suspend them in the air. The children then played in this digital landscape they recreated. Simply amazing! My memories of this study trip are filled with beautiful images and lots of questions. What impressed me most about Reggio Emilia was that children were a priority in their community. It was clear that they were viewed as capable, competent individuals. Teachers took time to really listen to and observe children. They used that information to follow children’s interests and guide learning. They were open to learning along side of children and investigating real-life projects. The parents and community were active participants in planning and carrying out the long-term projects. For those of you who are traveling to Reggio Emilia, I hope that you will be inspired by their approach. Learn from their example about what is possible when a school is built around genuine respect, careful listening, and thoughtfully responding to children’s ideas. |