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| Photo: kylieparry.blogspot.com |
The deepest
roots of this session reach into an educational experiment in Reggio Emilia in
northern Italy that has been evolving over 70 years. For more than 25 years, Reggio’s
infant, toddler, preschool and elementary schools have inspired children’s
museums, and for good reason. Reggio pedagogy shares foundational ideas with
children’s museums: parent engagement, strong community connections, and the
environment and materials as teachers. The Reggio experience also rests on an image
of the child as strong, competent, curious, and full of potential.
With
increasing diligence, children’s museums have been weaving these ideas into
their cultures and experiences. In November 2013 50
participants from 11 museums and partners from community organizations, early
childhood and preschools, and higher ed participated in a week-long study tour
in Reggio. A pre-conference at InterActivity 2014 offered an opportunity to
reflect on and share that remarkable experience with more museum colleagues.
Following
the pre-conference which included Kay Cutler, professor at SDSU and trustee at
the South Dakota Children’s Museum, exploring
a “strong image of the child,” a participant approached me with two questions. How
can we find staff with a strong image of the child? How do we become a museum
that shares that value in every way?
Those
questions inspired the 2015 session and are worth revisiting here for those not
able to attend the session–and maybe for anyone interested in these questions.
That children are full of potential, are empathetic, and have powerful natural
learning strategies is an empty slogan unless supported fully, authentically,
and regularly. This is ambitious but important work to which three colleagues brought
invaluable perspectives.
• Susan Harris MacKay, Director of Teaching and Learning, Museum Center for
Learning and Opal School of the Portland Children’s Museum • Holly Bamford Hunt, Children’s Museum of Tacoma trustee and early childhood educator
• Blake Ward, Minnesota Children’s Museum Programs Manager
Dimensions
of becoming a museum with a strong image
of the child highlighted below reflect the long-term, broad scope, and collaborative
nature of this work.
• Popular images of
children as cute, messy, and not ready undermine viewing them as capable, competent, and
compassionate.• Children’s strengths and strategies unfold from their earliest days, in relationship to others, and in response to opportunities.
• Vision and direction around a strong image of the child should occur at every level of the museum. Yes, every level–trustees, staff, and volunteers.
• The museum’s voice can promote a strong image of the child in the community.
• Daily, shared, and integrated practices support staff in noticing and extending children’s capabilities and natural strategies.
A Strong Image of the Child?
Even the firmest beliefs in children as capable and competent encounter contrary forces, images, and messages about children. Sometimes unwittingly or in service to another objective or gain, ads, products, and humor focus on children's limitations.
Even the firmest beliefs in children as capable and competent encounter contrary forces, images, and messages about children. Sometimes unwittingly or in service to another objective or gain, ads, products, and humor focus on children's limitations.
What does a
photo of a toddler wearing this t-shirt
on a children’s museum’s FaceBook page say about children? Also from FaceBook is this book cover scrawled with blue marker. I see the marks indicating a toddler’s interest in making meaningful
marks. The comment that followed, however, assumes very different intentions. “After drawing this lovely blue picture the toddler
probably hit her mother over the head with it and then bit her.”
Expanded
Thinking
Becoming a museum with a strong image of the child depends on more than a list of positive qualities to repeat to like-minded colleagues. Being this museum is a function of expanded thinking about children’s capabilities. Susan began by suggesting a larger context for seeing children, one that considers this moment and the future, and childhood flowing into adulthood.
Becoming a museum with a strong image of the child depends on more than a list of positive qualities to repeat to like-minded colleagues. Being this museum is a function of expanded thinking about children’s capabilities. Susan began by suggesting a larger context for seeing children, one that considers this moment and the future, and childhood flowing into adulthood.
To see
more of what is possible we must go beyond narrow expectations and small images.
When we pay attention to what children are
doing we begin to see and appreciate what they are capable of from their
earliest days. When we see children in the moment authoring their learning and
expressing their ideas, it’s “… as as if we are opening a window and getting a
fresh view…,” Malaguzzi says.
Everyday
children use strategies–telling stories, asking questions, helping, tinkering, testing
ideas, developing hypotheses and theories–that show us what they are capable of
doing. In looking closely we can find how to invite, extend, and develop children’s
strengths and strategies for the future in the experiences, environments, and materials
we offer in our museums and in childhood.
A Community
Voice
Returning from the 2013 Reggio study tour, the Children’s Museum of Tacoma’s (CMT) contingent of 14 staff,
trustees, and community partners worked in earnest on a long-term goal to
internalize these ideas across the museum and become a voice in the community.
Returning from the 2013 Reggio study tour, the Children’s Museum of Tacoma’s (CMT) contingent of 14 staff,
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| Photo: Children's Museum of Tacoma |
Holly described how staff
and trustees have set a vision and a course for CMT around a strong image of
the child. CMT’s new vision, mission, and strategic plan center on an image of
the child: “Everything we do begins with our image of the child. We believe
children are: compassionate, capable, inquisitive, creative, valuable,
contributing, and dreamers.”
Recognizing
that their work must also be community based, CMT publicly posed a major
question, “What if we created a child-centered community?” Its Symposium On Our Youngest Citizens
co-hosted with the University of Washington Tacoma in September 2014 invited
300 community-minded adults to listen to thought leaders, Ben Mardell
and Alfie Kohn.
CMT then engaged participants in exploring their own image of the child and how
it is reflected in their actions, creating a platform for continuing work on becoming a museum with a strong image of the
child.
Supporting Staff
Blake’s experienced programmatic perspective on becoming a museum with a strong image of the child addresses critical and practical concerns. How do we find and support staff who see children as capable and possessing natural learning strategies?
Just as we all carry our own image of the child, museum staff do as well. This image invisibly directs them as they approach, talk, and engage the child. Working with staff is an opportunity to support them in seeing children as the protagonists of their own lives and learning. Blake focuses on experiences that support staff in expanding their thinking about children’s natural capacities and noticing the natural learning they use in investigating materials, asking questions, acting out stories, and expressing ideas.
Blake’s experienced programmatic perspective on becoming a museum with a strong image of the child addresses critical and practical concerns. How do we find and support staff who see children as capable and possessing natural learning strategies?
Just as we all carry our own image of the child, museum staff do as well. This image invisibly directs them as they approach, talk, and engage the child. Working with staff is an opportunity to support them in seeing children as the protagonists of their own lives and learning. Blake focuses on experiences that support staff in expanding their thinking about children’s natural capacities and noticing the natural learning they use in investigating materials, asking questions, acting out stories, and expressing ideas.
These
practices include engaging staff regularly in formal and informal dialogue and providing
opportunities for self reflection and reflection with others about their work. Along
with playful inquiry and opportunities for risk taking and failure, these
experiences encourage a growth mindset, develop creative confidence, and cultivate
a culture of relationships and listening.
Equally
important as supporting staff is hiring for a strong image of the child. In a
thoughtful and competitive interview process, Blake looks for candidates who
are playful, innovative, flexible, and reflective; with passion for
possibilities; and an interest in pedagogy and a growth mindset.
In the Spirit of Becoming
In the Spirit of Becoming
We often
talk often about what we put in our museums–our exhibits, programs, a climber, and special events. While important, becoming a museum with a strong image of the
child requires thinking about who is in our museums and how we view
them:
… Children who are
resourceful, capable of making choices, with many ways of expressing their
ideas;… Staff who are alert to children’s remarkable capacities and create opportunities that are responsive to and engage children’s potential–and who are full of potential themselves; and
… Trustees whose image of the child as capable and strong provides direction for the museum and its role in the community.
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