This week's summary is Everything Parents Need to Knoe About the Reggio Emilia Approach, and it’s follow up to last week's article on Maria Montessori.
Reggio Emilia pedagogy (so named for the town in Italy it originated from and where a number of our Early Learners’ teachers will visit this summer) began after World War II in the mid-1940s.
A Reggio Emilia approach, primarily in the preschool years, has become especially popular over the past 20-25 years.
As you’ll see in the article, the qualities of a Reggio Emilia classroom are time-tested pedagogy that, similar to the Montessori approach, respect children as innate, inquisitive, learners.
Some of the key aspects of a Reggio Emilia classrooms are as follows:
- Trust the child as a capable and motivated learner
- Utilize project-based learning activities to give children opportunities to be critical and creative thinkers and problem solvers
- Document the students’ process of learning
- Provide a classroom environment that is rich and stimulating and that encourages exploration and discovery
- Involve children, teachers, and parents as partners in a child’s learning process
This article is a reminder of the educational values we esteem at Trinity. As you read the article, even if you teach upper elementary grades, look for the parallels in your classroom, i.e., emphasis on child-directed learning, creativity, and collaboration, and see to what extent you provide similar experiences for your students.
Joe
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Anyone researching alternative schools and/or non-traditional curriculums will come across the concept of the Reggio Emilia approach or schools inspired by the philosophy, as it continues to become more and more popular across the US.
But, what is the Reggio Emilia Approach, exactly and what makes this model different from others?
Reggio Emilia is not a person, it is a city in Italy where this educational philosophy and pedagogy originated after World War II and is most commonly used in preschool and early elementary classrooms.
Unlike in traditional-model schools where lessons are teacher-led, educators that follow the Reggio Emilia approach let the students lead the way and offer guidance, knowledge, and direction as needed. Teachers closely observe children to help them in planning and offering learning opportunities that will connect to their interests or questions. This shows the children that their ideas, thoughts, passions, experiences, and preferences are valued.
Even though they aren’t leading a class in the traditional sense, teachers are still observing the students’ academic growth and evolving their classrooms as needed to ensure students have the tools they require to master benchmark skills. Teachers are consistently documenting the learning and making it visible to children, parents, and the community. Documentation provides the opportunity for children to reflect and revisit learning experiences and reflecting with the children allows them to make meaning of the work and helps plan for future learning experiences.
Reggio Emilia-inspired curriculum is hands-on, collaborative, and taught through projects, exploration, and play. Because of this, the classroom’s setup is very important. The environment is set up as the ‘3rd teacher’ so children can independently engage and learn in a space that has been intentionally set up to be beautiful, engaging, encourage investigation, and promote relationship building. Materials are carefully chosen based on sensory elements and kept within reach of the students, and learning spaces are set up so that there is enough room for multiple kids to work together.
The Reggio Emilia approach falls somewhere between Montessori and traditional classrooms, in that there are still daily routines (like the traditional model) but the actual learning is student-led (like Montessori), so it’s the best of both worlds. However, unlike traditional and Montessori schools, this approach gives kids the freedom of demonstrating their knowledge through various methods. Children tell the teacher what they know as they build, dance, draw, paint, sculpt, create, explore, read, write, observe, investigate, experiment, garden, dream, engineer, talk, act, cook, etc., which illustrates that there are many ways for children to express themselves outside of writing and speaking.
Other benefits of the Reggio Emilia approach include:
- A relaxed learning environment that encourages exploration
- Teacher-student relationships that are rooted in respect
- Students build social skills through a collaborative environment
- A student-led approach allows consistent opportunities for problem-solving
- Kids develop a strong sense of community
- Emphasis on creativity and artistic expression
- Adaptive curriculum means lesson plans are created based on what the students need to master a skill (as opposed to standard curriculum that continuously moves forward and can leave some students behind)
All of that being said, the most important benefit is that children are shown that learning is a joyful experience.
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