Tell me about the Reggio Philosophy

Re: Tell me about the Reggio Philosophy

• moroccojade member

  August 2010

  I have some good articles if you'd like links...

  But as for personal experience, our daughter has been at a Reggio Emilia-inspired school for a year now.  We love it.  I honestly have nothing bad to say about the philosophy at all.  The things that really stand out to us?  

  ~the documentation.  It's amazing to see her classes blog updated every day.  Pictures, videos, word-for-word conversations written, and descriptions of what the kids are up to.  It's fun (and funny) to see what they do on a day to day basis

  ~the group/team work aspect.   They are really forming a solid little community there.  Not just with the kids, but we as parents have been pulled in, too.  Some of our best friends are now DD's classmate's parents.  The kids really care about their school, one another, and their neighbourhood.  They really work together and help one another out.  They don't want to succeed on their own just for their own glory, they want the whole group to succeed and thrive.  No one gets left in the dust.  And when things don't work out?  They sympathize with one another and do what they can to make each other feel better.
  

  ~the projects.  They are truly child-led.  Some start simply -- but then you see what kinds of crazy shenanigans it all grows into.  And *anything* goes.  If the kids are interested in something and have an idea as to how to learn more about it/experience it?  The teachers really help make it happen.  ("Help" is a key word.  The kids do most of the real work.  Even asking the sales people for advice at Home Depot, paying for stuff, then bringing it back to school and actually using power tools to construct whatever they've dreamt up, for example.) 
  

  ~The classroom and outdoor environment is truly a teacher.  Our school is right in the middle of organic farms and hiking trails.  It's beautiful.  

  ~The way the kids handle conflict resolution.  Teachers are there to facilitate if necessary, but after a couple of months, the kids were solving their own scuffles easily.  I rarely see teachers intervening with DD's class.
  

  ~That discipline is never an issue.  At a parent's meeting the other night a new family was there.  During Q&A time the mom asked "How do you discipline the children?"   And honestly?  They don't have to.  Here's what was written in the minutes of that meeting.  (The directress's words...)

   Actually, we don?t.  We find that usually children act out because they are bored, they don?t have the communication skills needed to achieve their goal, or they are settling into a routine.  (Exceptions?  Feeling sick,  over tired, and home changes, such as one parent travelling a lot.  All of these require a lot of cuddles and a bit of teacher ?ignoring the behaviour?.) We help the child to explain how they are feeling and direct them to communicate with friends to get teamwork, to problem solve, or to get some hugs.  We don?t expect children to listen to us because we are the teachers.  If anything, we should be listening to them.

  I've seen the above in action and it's impressive.  The 3 teachers present that night were stumped to think of a time when a student needed to be disciplined.  They just couldn't do it.  One of the funny Dads say "So you're not going to tell them about The Cage?"  We all laughed since discipline just isn't an issue there.  The kids are truly thriving in this environment.

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  Anyway, I can't say enough good things about our experience.  The topics they encompass 'by accident' on any given week is staggering.  It's not about reading and art and learning to tie their shoes.  These kids get heavy into considerable concepts of geography, botany, zoology, engineering, ecology, economics, horticulture, anthropology, culture etc etc etc.  And they get into those things because they truly want to. 

  One project group was very serious about the Civil War of all things last year (4 year olds).  The pictures up in an area of their classroom were gruesome, but the kids were riveted with the history and implications of such a thing.  They ended up giving rise to discussions on life, dying and death.  It all got pretty philosophical.  It was really amazing to watch.  Some schools wouldn't let preschoolers touch those things with a 10 foot pole, but at a RE-inspired school, pretty much anything goes if the kids really are into it.
  

   

  Let us know how things go next week!
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

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• juniper19 member

  August 2010

  DD went to an Reggio Emilia school.  PP articulated the philosophy well, so I won't go into it all again.

  I guess I wasn't so blown away by it.  In theory I like it a lot.  In practice I found that it was a little lacking.  It wasn't great for the kids that are interested in more concrete academic lessons.  DD was really into reading and basic arithmetic toward the end of her 4s year, but it wasn't encouraged at all.  

  It also wasn't great for kids with real discipline problems.  Not all kids respond to modeling appropriate behaviors, and when there was trouble with a girl was very physically and socially aggressive with her classmates, the director was too hands-off for my taste and the parents did nothing either, so it went on like that for the whole year.  I also had 2 friends whose sons had behavioral problems - they were more concerned than the girls' parents but the director was still very resistant to their pleas for a structured intervention.

  It was fine, and I prefer it to a rigid, traditional preschool approach, but I think that when carried it to its extreme it isn't ideal.
  

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