The wonders of children's thinking

In the last few weeks of job interviews I've often used the line "My work with children is highly influenced by the work of early childhood educators in Reggio Emilia, Italy", but it usually leads to blanks stares or the response "Reggio what???".  It is easy to print out Wikepedia articles about the approach, and if you'd like to reference the article it is actually fairly accurate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggio_Emilia_approach

However, for me "Reggio Inspiration" is a lot more than an "educational philosophy".  It is an idea that has greatly challenged my thinking of who children are, not just how they learn.  "Reggio" educators view the child as a competent learner,  not "mini adults" (as I sometimes feel Montessori did) and not individuals who can be given complete control of their education (as Sudbury Valley does), but it kind of acts as a middle ground.   In my view of the "Reggio approach" teacher acts as a co-learner, not a director, constantly engaging in a dance of sorts.  You meet the children at their level, seek to understand their thought processes, challenge your way of thinking, plan and review (not quite High/Scope, though I do draw some of that in), challenge your thinking, challenge your thinking some more, meet with the children and challenge their thinking,  link the children with resources and see where they go, then challenge your thinking some more.  

In other words, you challenge your thinking a lot.  

This is an aspect of education I see lacking in many philosophies.   Too often I see teachers going into a "learning moment" with a well thought out (or not so well thought out) plan of how things are going to go.  When the children don't respond there's something wrong with them.  After all, the idea sounds great to the teacher, highly engaging, and presumably teaches some vital skill--so why wouldn't the kids be interested?   The "problem" is kids have minds of their own.   And far too often we, as adults, fail to respect this--viewing this fact as a challenge to overcome, not a marvelous and amazing opportunity for personal growth and rich emotional connections.   Granted, this is often easier said than done.  

The other day I was climbing the stairs at the university, basically oblivious to anything below eye level like most adults, and nearly tripped over a boy, six or seven years of age.  I admit, like most adults I was initially annoyed--what on earth was a child doing sitting in the middle of a busy stairwell?  I stood back & watched as the child stood staring in amazement at a "rainbow", a patch of color on a random stairwell that nobody but this little one had paid any attention.   When I came back a couple hours later the boy was gone, and so was the rainbow, but the sense of wonder remained.  I never did figure out how that rainbow made it into the stairway, for there was no obvious reflective agent  I could identify.  Maybe a child's mind is right on--rainbows may not simply be an effect of light, but a little piece of magic.

We all need a little more magic in our lives.