First questions posed

Here are the two questions posed by the teachers during our meeting. 
The first is as infant-toddler teachers how do you know what is a suitable topic for Infants and Toddlers, especially when there is such a wide age and developmental range?  There were some resources on infant toddler projects to help support this, but any responses would be valued.
The second is how do you get all support staff to understand the Project Approach and be on the same page? 

Image of the Child

Malaguzzi (1994) wrote "there are hundreds of different images of the child. Each one of you has inside yourself an image of the child that directs you as you begin to relate to a child. This theory within you pushes you to behave in certain ways; it orients you as you talk to the child, listen to the child, observe the child. It is very difficult for you to act contrary to this internal image" (52). The image of the child and Malaguzzi's article "Your image of the child: Where teaching begins" provided the context for our discussion at our June 9th meeting. We read, reflected and webbed images in teams of teachers. Present were 3 teams of infant-toddler teachers and 2 teams of preschool teachers. To begin with the task was to web as a team an image of the child with the challenge of coming up with at least 100 words. This challenge encouraged us to go deeper into all of the components of a child, from gender and temperament to children as learners and their interests. The webs showed some common threads such as temperament, but each was unique to the teams and the children with whom they work.  Teachers working with infant-toddlers saw from this developmental perspective just as the preschool teachers did, allowing for some rich discussions and understandings among the different teams of teachers.

This was followed with reading Malaguzzi's article (1994), small group and large group discussions.  Through our dialogue we discussed many pertinent topics which included:  the importance of relationships with the children as well as with families and colleagues; the understanding that children should be able to question and that teachers respond to questions; the point that early childhood is unpredictable; addressing the child who doesn't seem to engage socially with others and letting them learn in their own way; changing the role of the teacher to that of facilitator and waiting on the child; the constant value for the child to know he/she is being observed and is honored to be observed; teachers seeing themselves as researchers; the need to have an alliance with our families; and understanding that it is a child's right to be recognized for their strengths.  This rich discussion really provided the space to begin our summer investigation of the Project Approach as teachers.

We then moved into a discussion of the Project Approach with an introduction to The Project Approach study guide written by Sylvia Chard.  All of us on the study group had attended a conference in May with Sylvia Chard and so some discussion was related to this conference and what was for some an introduction to this curricular approach.  We then began work on webbing project ideas where some worked on webs for projects they would like to begin or had done some preliminary work on which included 2 garden projects; one investigation into a creek in connection to working in the garden; one project thinking about water (an infant toddler classroom where they know water is of great interest of the children and one with which they know the children have experience).  One infant-toddler teacher has been taking walks around the center with her children and so she webbed the surround area of the building and campus on which they are housed, generating ideas on where the project could go.  These were webbed and then each teacher worked with art materials to do a preliminary or anticipatory drawing connected to their project ideas.

 

 

We left with a web on our project ideas, resources such as the study guide to support our understanding and implementation of phase 1 and tasks to write reflective journals to bring back.  We also have project portfolios that have a space for resources, reflections, but also a section to document Phase 1, 2 and 3 with descriptions and elements of the phases as a way to guide our work and documentation.   Each team also had examples of projects in relation to infant toddler and preschool classrooms to become more familiar with how other teachers and classrooms engage in the Project Approach.

There were also two questions posed by the teachers to which we should all respond and investigate, find above in the following post.

Introducing Project Study Group

My name is Stacey Pistorova and I am currently a doctoral student in early childhood education with a bachelor’s in the Visual Arts. It is just this combination that led me to the Project Approach which I found made most visible in the schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. The potential of young children are seen throughout the entire curriculum and most powerfully in the images that emerge out of these approaches; images evoking the power of their words carefully dictated by the teachers, photos taken of children deeply engaged in the process of investigation and learning, and the intentionality and beauty of the children’s drawings.


While I was energized by an approach to education that supported young children and embraced the concept of that children are capable and competent and have multiple means of making sense of the world around them, I felt I was faced an ever increasing field where children and teachers were forced to conform to a system that discredits creativity and investigation for the apparent sake of accountability. While I would never oppose the concept that we are accountable to young children, the question is whether our current educational practices are supporting young children or discrediting and harming them. And in addition, how does the current push for proficiency and an academic, push down model of education affect the role of the teacher and his/her understanding of child development, individualization and curriculum development?

The Project Approach and the Reggio Approach provide an alternative, for teachers as well as students to actively engage in the process of learning. And this is just what a group of teachers and I are investigating within the context of a study group, where we go deeper into the questions pertaining specifically to the Project Approach, but which also leads to many questions to investigate relevant to teaching and the education of young children. And so, here we are, trying to further our dialogue through Project Study Group, an online component of our ongoing dialogue. The hope is that we will: discuss our image of the child in connection to teaching and curriculum development; engage in dialogue around the barriers, joys and issues pertaining to implementing the Project Approach; respond and comment on readings that further our understanding; and post ongoing projects, the phases and questions related to implementing project work in the classroom.

We welcome anyone who would like to join us in this journey as we pose good questions and engage in good conversations about teaching and learning as the means of maintaining and in some cases finding again the energy to teach and joy in the incredibly important work we do, educating young children.