always learning

This has been a week of reflection for me. Every year as we near spring this is sort of where my mind goes. The year is far from over but there's a lot to think about in terms of how we have all grown (the children and myself) as a community of learners. I committed myself to understanding and incorporating the Reggio philosophy into the class this year and it's been through reading books and blogs. I have definitely reached the point where I want and need professional support to understand the philosophy on a deeper level and better my practice. That's a long introduction to explain that I am REALLY looking forward to this week, where there will be a two day workshop on the Reggio Approach. Infusing the Reggio Approach in a New York City Public School: New Perspectives for Building Meaningful Learning Together at P.S. 69 Lella Gandini will actually be one of the presenters and not to sound star struck...but I am a little star struck.

I was reading bit of The Hundred Languages of Children today online, in honor of this upcoming week of learning and this quote resonated with me about teacher education.

'Teachers - like children and everyone else - feel the need to grow in their competences; they want to transform experiences into thoughts, thoughts into reflections, and reflections into new thoughts and new actions. They also feel a need to make predictions, to try things out, and to interpret them. The act of interpretation is most important. Teachers must learn to interpret ongoing processes rather than wait to evaluate results. In the same way, their role as educators must include understanding children as producers, not as consumers. They must learn to teach nothing to children except what children can by themselves.' - Loris Malaguzzi

Reflection is important for us all. It's how we grow as students, as teachers, as parents, as communities. I'm looking forward to sharing reflections on this week's workshop - stay tuned.