Heyyy everyone!
This time, I am sharing a simplified outlook of my current workplace and the educational philosophy and principles behind it. It is quite a heavy teacher-post from me, but I know you will somehow gain new insights from my post here! First and foremost, I consider myself as a Reggio-inspired teacher. You must be wondering what this is all about. Why not just a teacher? What is so special about being and doing the 'Reggio' way? Well, here is a quick summary about what I do, and why I do what I do.
Values and Principles of Being and Doing Reggio
Children's 'language' is of paramount importance. We believe that the curiosity in children is ought to be nurtured and developed so that they can express themselves through different modes of expressions or 'languages'. You will hear and read a lot about the hundred languages of children whenever it is Reggio-related. 100 ways of communicating. 100 ways of thinking. 100 ways of playing. 100 ways of laughing. 100 ways of discovering. 100 ways of loving. And the list goes on...
The powerful image or representation of the children invites teachers to value their learning potential and skills from a very young age. We constructively respond to their distinct talents and capabilities as well as provide space for them to make mistakes and develop problem-solving skills, rather than giving the immediate solutions. It is as simple as finding solutions to water spills, dirty hands and putting shoes on the wrong feet. On top of that, children's sense of time is equally significant especially when they are deeply engaged in learning discussions and negotiations.
Introducing to you, the third teacher. THE ENVIRONMENT. In every space in Reggio-inspired schools, we want our seemingly in-explicit third teacher demonstrates its crucial role in the teaching and learning journey of the children. The third teacher is comprised of several aspects to convey a message or an invitation for children to learn, explore, play and collaborate. We need to consider the COLOUR, LINE, BALANCE, TEXTURE, NATURE, LIGHTING, and a big dose of sensible CREATIVITY when building the third teacher. You can see a whole lot of examples from my pictures below.
Asking, listening and reflecting. This is one of my favourite mantras in my teaching (and personal) life. If you are a teacher, you know that we wear different hats every single... moment. However, there is one hat that we will never take it off and that is the hat of a FACILITATOR. Even during the weekends (well, at least for me). We facilitate children's' dialogue and social interactions. We facilitate them to use their prior knowledge to develop new understandings and make learning connections. We facilitate them to discover, review and reflect on their thinkings, hypotheses, and setbacks. Most importantly, we facilitate them to be the best version of themselves.
Classroom and school-wide documentation and displays are extensively and thoughtfully laid out to add value to the third teacher. It is not about putting up anything that looks pretty and colourful. It is about providing evidences that exhibit their learning journey that cannot be equated with tests and quizzes. It is about creating a huge, meaningful learning archive of their learning investigations and experiences. It is also about celebrating every little success and how we became stronger through our mistakes all year round.
Enough said. Time for some pictures! :)
The pictures are taken in different classes, including mine. We have cooking area, gardening area, sand play area, motor skills area, role-play area, numeracy area, literacy area, projects area, art and crafts area and light exploration area. We are a big fan of using natural objects like wood, leaves, flowers, potted plants, and sand in our classrooms, and as much as we can, we minimize the use of plastics. You can also see the natural-looking colour palette of our classroom documentation and displays. All of these ultimately create the wonderful third teacher that we aim for.
I hope you enjoyed this little sneak peek into my workplace. Thank you for reading my post today, and let me know your thoughts about my workplace in the comments section below! :)