Some of these words may seem foreign to you. Some may be your jam. I am going to share with you the approaches that speak to me and help me inform every aspect of my pedagogical style.
I believe combining all of these approaches, coming from all of my different experiences, is what helps to make me a unique teacher. Am I the only one who does this?? No way! My Pre-K counterpart at my school teaches in a VERY similar way as me. However, we are different people and have led different lives, so therefore we are unique. As are all teachers, same, same, but different – also known as one of my go to books for talking about diversity with young children. Find it here.
As I have developed my pedagogy over the past 14 years, actually…wait…longer. I started this teacher journey in my undergrad, so over the past 20 years, I have had ups and downs and have come a LONG way. I have not been perfect, nor am I now, but I have learned so much in an ever changing field and have worked really hard to develop a practice that is truly focused on the child. The following teaching approaches are what have greatly influenced my style up to date. The following definitions are my interpretations of the approaches based on my experience, learning, and research. They are also only little tidbits about each as I could write post after post on each one individually, which may happen at a later time.
Reggio Emilia Approach
The Reggio Emilia Approach is like champagne. You can only call yourself a Reggio teacher if you are teaching in the Reggio Emilia region of Italy. Here in the US, especially in NYC, there are many Reggio inspired schools. What makes the approach unique is that it is all about the child and their relationships to people and materials and exploring learning in the lens of these relationships. It is all about the integration of all developmental areas and small moments that turn into big learning. In a Reggio inspired classroom you will see a clean minimal look with many natural materials and a beautiful aesthetic. Light and loose parts play a large role in this very open ended approach. At the heart of Reggio is the child and the child’s interests. Studies and learning emerge from the child’s ideas and play. You will find there is a big focus on process instead of product. Teachers facilitate and document activities in the classroom and build from there. The teachers would build upon their observations by laying out provocations to provoke the children’s learning. For example when learning about stick bugs a photo and the colors in the photo and paper or paint would be laid out on the table. Or those materials were set up near the stick bug tank.
My study of Reggio has been ongoing since working for one wonderful year in a Reggio inspired toddler classroom. It was one of the most wonderful experiences. It helped mold my teaching in a big way. My goals now are to bring this approach more into the public school space.And talk about bucket list professional development, am I right?!?!
Play-Based Approach
Play-based learning, I feel, has turned into a bit of a buzzword. You want to sound like you know what you are doing? Say Play-based. Do you want people to think you are on trend with curriculum? Say play-based. You want to be seen as child centered? Say play-based. Now of course you can be all of those things and run a play-based program. However, to me, a truly play-based approach is not just setting up time for children to free play or play in premeditated centers. Truly play based will look a lot like the Reggio approach in it is flexible and led by the child and is very open ended. Preplanned choices? Sure the kids play and have a choice, but is it child led? I had the opportunity to teach in a truly play-based school and upon walking in you did not see “centers” there was no “science center” or “dramatic play center” or “art center” yet the children engaged in all of these types of activities. There was minimal furniture and nothing except children’s work on the walls. The children literally played and explored from the minute they walked in the door only pausing to transition to outdoor play, to eat lunch, and to rest. Even then, there were plenty of opportunities for play. The children chose from materials that were all within reach and the teachers sat near a child and mostly interacted when the child came to them. The teacher’s role (besides the obvious safety & help) was to observe and wait to be invited into their play. There was almost no structure besides simple routines (bathroom, lunch, arrival) in this room, and it was peaceful and lovely. It always had the “calm buzz”. There were also no real studies, it was more about developing children’s interests. If one child was often playing airport, suddenly materials to help make plane tickets or chairs to make rows were more available to explore.
For a great guide on incorporating play in the classroom check out the book Purposeful Play: A Teacher’s Guide to Igniting Deep & Joyful Learning Across the Day by Kristine Mraz, Allison Porcelli, Cheryl Tyler. This book supports the open-endedness and flexibility in play, but helps to bring it into more structured classrooms like public school.
Emergent Curriculum
The emergent curriculum is basically the Reggio approach, but not as stylistic. While Reggio focuses on the relationships a child develops, EC is more of a way to present and dig deep into learning. The emergent curriculum is based on observation of the children and facilitating learning based on these discoveries. It then develops into meaningful learning opportunities which may be visiting a marina when studying boats. When implementing an emergent curriculum the focus is on the process, but there is the goal of completing an in depth exploration study of a topic. You can work the emergent curriculum into a more structured classroom or an more open ended classroom.The role of the teacher is to observe and facilitate bringing in materials and activities to support children’s ideas and interest to spark more in depth learning of an idea.
A great book with more ideas on this is the creator of blocks that are used in classrooms across the world. I Learn From Children: A Adventure in Progressive Education by Caroline Pratt.
Project Based Learning
Project based learning again is very similar to the above approaches but again has a focus on the project. REal hands on learning the enge and interest children more. PBL is about being personally meaningful and diving deep into a topic by doing a project. Something like learning about cars by building a car. To build a car you need to learn all the parts, think about how to put it together, and so much more. The end project is the goal, but there is a flexible discovery process along the way. PBL is one of those approaches that can span across all grades as well. This could be a whole conversation in itself, but the above approaches are often exclusive to early childhood as it is more developmentally appropriate and suits the type of learning young children do. However, that does not mean they cannot be implemented in a 5th grade classroom. I digress, PBL is definitely something that a high schooler or a Pre-Ker can do.
I hope you are now reflecting and thinking about your approach and how you can define what you do. In my next post, I will explain how I’ve melded all these together to work on creating my ideal early childhood teaching practice. Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave a comment!
