I don't have very many soapbox issues, but the elevation of teacher wages is certainly one of them. Especially in the city I live in, it is becoming increasingly difficult with each passing year to transform the wages of an ECE into a comfortable standard of living. For a few years now, I have been... Continue Reading →
Like all people, preschool teachers are really bad at a lot of things. From the activities we design to the words we say to the way we behave, teachers bungle something on a daily basis. Speaking for myself, I don't dance, which as a preschool teacher, is a pretty big deal. It takes a lot... Continue Reading →
The human animal is, in my opinion, one of the most intricate and complex machines ever to exist. Every time I step back and consider the manner in which the brain rewards certain behaviors and discourages others, and how it regulates and coordinates the behavior of simultaneously functioning systems to accomplish tasks, it boggles my... Continue Reading →
Documentation is one of the most crucial aspects of our experience as Reggio-inspired early childhood educators. It is the foundation upon which best practice, strong pedagogy, and personal relationships are constructed. Taking the time to document the things children say and do is one of the primary ways we show students that we consider them... Continue Reading →
Almost any teacher will tell you that pedagogical documentation is invaluable. Inside and outside the classroom, it has a tremendous number of uses encompassing everything from assessment to curriculum development to perpetuating the cycle of inquiry. In many ways, honest and meticulously collected documentation can become a sort of guidance system for the trajectory of... Continue Reading →
Treating children with respect is one of the most fundamental aspects of teaching in the Reggio Way. While it manifests itself in all kinds of different ways, often times the simplest way to convey respect to children is by really listening to what they say, and also acknowledging that what they say is often exactly... Continue Reading →
Months and months ago, a fellow educator and advocate for outdoor play in Tennessee sent me a few ideas for blog posts. As I am wont to do, I hemmed and hawed over them for a long time, trying to find a way to organize them in my mind. With one of her prompts, she... Continue Reading →
In the United States, we have a tendency to treat "risk" and "safety" as antonyms. Somewhere along the way, educators, administrators, and legislators all agreed that the fastest and most effective way to keep children safe was to eliminate danger from their school environments. My public education was rife with pea gravel, safety scissors, glue... Continue Reading →
The Reggio Way isn't quite like other educational philosophies. While it shares commonalities with many other approaches to learning, it holds the importance of citizenship as one of its core tenants. Facilitating the mental and physical growth of students in a safe and inviting environment is the ultimate goal, but the method by which such... Continue Reading →
My uncle recently returned to the United States from China to visit my family. His jet-lag and our early morning schedule led to quite a few discussions over 5:00 am coffee. During one such conversation, he mentioned that he had recently been appointed the Program Director of a brand new conservation center in Shangri-la, Tibet.... Continue Reading →
Without Windows 