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By Jill Smith SUMMARY - Discussions of the successful Reggio Emilia model,
pioneered in Italy, are open to anyone who's interested.
While school is out, the Creative Children's Center on Southwest
185th Avenue, in Beaverton, Oregon, is sponsoring summer discussions on new ways to approach and appreciate children.
The discussions are based on the Reggio Emilia teaching philosophy that started in Reggio Emilia, Italy, just after World War II.
A 1991 issue of Newsweek highlighted the town as having the "best early childhood program" in the world.
Lucy Chaille, director and owner of Creative Children's Center, a preschool and kindergarten attended by about 180 children, visited Reggio Emilia
schools in Italy in 2000 and again last March. Inspired by the emphasis on
listening deeply to children, following their ideas, using the classroom environment itself as a teacher and collaborating
with parents and community members, she started the Reggio Inspiration Network in May.
Discussions are open to parents, teachers and community members. A
connection with Creative Children's Center is not required.
The next meeting will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 24, and will feature "Portrait of a Lion," a 20-minute video that shows the stages children
go through while investigating a subject. Kim Strelchun of Hillsboro has enjoyed the discussions.
"I'm learning how to be a better parent," she said. Her daughter, Ali, 6, just
graduated from the Center and her 3-year-old son will be attending next year.
Strelchun said the Reggio Emilia approach has taught her to slow down and
listen to her children rather than directing their activities all the time.
If they've got a problem, she said, she doesn't rush to fix it anymore.
She got to practice that approach at the school last year when, while working
as a volunteer, she encountered a boy who was trying to figure out how to attach
an aluminum foil microphone to a bamboo stand. Strelchun stifled her natural
impulse to grab some tape and help him out.
"I literally sat on my hands and watched," she remembers. "I certainly
could have shown him a faster way to fix the problem, but I helped his
self-esteem by letting him do it by himself." The summer discussions are
being transcribed, as are daily classroom discussions during the year, documentation
that reflects the Reggio emphasis on truly listening to children. "It takes an
incredible amount of time to teach this way," Chaille said. But when teachers
study the transcripts later, they see patterns and interests they might otherwise have missed.
Last year, classroom musical instruments and a visit to Wat'z Up Hillsboro
Music led to a discussion of sound waves and, ultimately, how sounds get onto
a car radio. That led to a tour of the Z100 radio station (a disc jockey there
has a child at the center) and a meeting with the news team. The children
designed a radio station for their classroom, including a sound booth, microphones
to interview one another, a radio tower and more. They also created their own newspaper.
All that might not have happened if the teachers hadn't followed
the children's interests, Chaille said. "If we don't cut them short and say
'OK, we're done with this,' they will continue to show us how to go deeper
and deeper into a subject."
-- Jill Smith
The Reggio Inspiration Network continues to meet monthly.
If you are interested in joining the discussions, please email us at
info@creativechildrenscenter.com.
Novel Teaching Method Inspires School's Director
The Oregonian - July 17th, 2003