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| Ray of Light Studios continue to inspire |
In
November 2013, 50 participants
from 11 museums with partners from higher ed, libraries, community
organizations, early childhood, and preschools traveled to Reggio Emilia in
northern Italy for a study tour of the city’s schools. Over the course of a
week, the group was immersed in the pedagogy of the municipal schools with presentations
by early childhood specialists, educators, and studio teachers; visits to
infant-toddler centers and preschools; and tours of documentation and
recycle centers.
Returning from the
November 2013 Museums Study Tour Reggio participants shared their experiences
with colleagues and area teachers. One group of participants organized a full
day pre-conference for InterActivity 2014 in Phoenix. Attended by more than 30
the conference was followed by a set of articles, Adopting/Adapting: Reggio in Children’s Museums, in the spring 2014
issue of Hand To Hand.
Since then participants
have been active in exploring these ideas more deeply, engaging in and adapting
Reggio-inspired practice to museum and school settings. Work ranges from events
with visibility like Tacoma Children’s Museum’s annual co-sponsorship of
Symposium on Our Youngest Citizens to personal acts of rereading notebooks and
journals from the weeklong visit. In some of the groups such as South Dakota
Children’s Museum and Opal School, Reggio practices are foundational, embedded
into the work, and supported by the shared experience of several study tour
participants. In other cases individuals intently and patiently have looked for
opportunities to weave these ideas into existing “duties as assigned.”
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| Our group: November 2013 |
Recently I proposed to
the study tour participants that we look back at this remarkable opportunity
and share our reflections with one another. A dozen study tour participants,
approximately one-quarter of the group, wrote and talked about their experience
in Reggio and its presence in their work now. A continuing energy and
appreciation for the roomy ideas we were able to explore comes through all of
the reflections. The opportunity to visit schools, observe children, and listen
to seasoned Reggio educators over the week added depth and dimension to
understanding this complex pedagogy and increased awareness of the rigor that
guides it. Moments stand out, shifting perspectives on existing practice were
noted, and new questions have emerged. Yet, these reflections also indicate the
challenging, on-going, and some times lonely nature of this work, work
variously described as a life-long journey and a struggle to weave learning
from Reggio into daily work.
As I
reflected on connections between the study tour and what these participants have been
doing, thinking, and wondering about, several threads emerged. They are, hopefully,
invitations to further reflections, questions, and explorations.
• Moments from
the 2013 study tour still stand out vividly 4 years later. Illuminated moments around the
relationship between aesthetics and ethics; children as citizens now; and the
child’s agency have become touchstones and provocations for continued thinking
and
further exploration.
• Consistent with Reggio philosophy, relationship and collaboration
characterize on-going work among study tour participants. Participants were encouraged to apply with museum, school, or
community colleagues and many pairs and groups did so. Hence, it’s not
surprising that relationships among participants have grown and are active. Less
predictable, however, is that the study tour group has become a kind of
Reggio-inspired network for its participants, building on pre-existing
relationships, strengthening connections, and offering new associations.
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| Adapting Reggio to the museum: from the final reflection |
• The complexity of Reggio
ideas combined with the challenge of translating them into new contexts invites
collaboration around projects. Appreciation of the challenge of translating practices into another
culture and contexts in meaningful ways is very apparent. This challenge points
to the importance, or perhaps necessity, of thinking together about these rich,
complex ideas. Projects have been instrumental in adapting Reggio ideas and
practices to other settings.
• Four years
after the study tour, the hopes and possibilities of Reggio-inspired
connections, conversations, small experiments, and projects are coming to
fruition in some of our museums and
schools. This is encouraging in several ways. In museums such a time frame
is typical, even short, for major projects, re-imagining a museum, or
changing course. Learning, adapting, and meaningful change take time. Undoubtedly,
promising connections and new projects that will emerge in perhaps 4-5 years
are incubating now.
Looking Back
Four
years after the museums study tour, 16 years after my first study tour, and 24+
years after first being introduced to Reggio, I am as drawn to the question of
how one transforms thinking and practice as I am to the hardworking principles
of Reggio pedagogy itself. The principles of the child as a born thinker, doer,
and planner; the 100 Languages of children (or learning); the environment as the third teacher; and the
role of pedagogical documentation continue to be compelling. They bring an
aesthetic to thinking and learning that is powerful. I am keen to explore these
ideas with others more knowledgeable than I am and I want to share them with
others who indicate the slightest interest in related ideas such as exploring
materials, asking new questions, or children as citizens.
Because I
don’t work in a museum, school, or a firm with others, I have “borrowed” the
participants on the 2013 study tour and their museums, schools, and firms to serve
as a kind of community of learners for me. I check in on-line, meet-up at
conferences, and stay in touch via email with these colleagues. I follow
activities like the Children’s Museum of Tacoma’s annual Symposium on Our
Youngest Citizens and read the Opal School blog.
Opal’s thoughtful posts help shape an image for me of a culture of following
ideas and connections and creating movement in thinking for children and
teachers.
Diving
into these ideas in various ways–through reading, writing, and talking;
trying out small experiments; and folding them into my museum planning practice–keeps
them present, active, and evolving. Members of the local MN Reggio-inspired network are a great
source of Reggio-inspired, related, and connected blogs that are local,
national, and international.
Exploring Reggio-inspired ideas on my Museum Notes blog pushes me to dig into,
unpack, and rethink documentation, the image of the child, the environment as
teacher, learning together, etc.
New Starting
Points
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| Strong, capable agents in thinking, doing, and connecting |
My planning work with museums most readily lends itself to advancing an image
of the child as strong, capable, and an active agent in their thinking
and learning. While not an easy shift from how we as a culture view children, I have found this to be an accessible entry point for a team or
museum. It does not require a deep understanding or commitment to the Reggio pedagogy yet
it goes to the core of a transformative view of children. It also resonates personally
with a desire in each of us to be viewed as capable and appreciated for our
strengths. This can lower resistance to a new idea.
With an
image of the “rich” child as an organizational value, at the center of learning
frameworks, or in experience planning, a museum is poised to make a
fundamental shift. Here is an opening for other practices, perhaps
developing a shared vocabulary around the strong child, the possibility of a
child-driven experience planning process, or the use of documentation to make thinking
visible. It may prompt new questions about children’s–and adults’–capabilities
and how parents, caregivers, and staff can support, extend, and deepen explorations.
Along
with this work, a few museum planning projects have offered opportunities to
explore Reggio ideas in the context of museums with like-minded colleagues.
Time together with Maeryta Medrano and Julia Bland on the study tour further
inspired and grounded approaches to exhibit design, caregiver engagement,
graphics and text for the “new” Louisiana Children’s Museum. In a collaborative
project between Minnesota Children’s Museum and the Reggio-inspired Network of
MN, teachers, parents, and caregivers documented children’s questions and
thinking about places that make up communities as part of the
redesign of MCM’s Our World gallery.
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| Reflections from Reggio |
I am fortunate that the Twin Cities has an active, robust Reggio-inspired network I
can draw on in this work. Since its founding in 2000, the Network has grown and
now offers varied entry points and activities, encouraging self-forming groups:
monthly materials explorations, a book study group, and documentation lab. A group around big body play is active.
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