Getting Started
At Home With the Reggio Approach
Reggio Children
At Home With the Reggio Approach is a resource developed during the pandemic of 2020 and 2021. Teachers and parents will enjoy the ideas and insights of this initiative.
Articles
Your Image of the Child: Where Teaching Begins
Loris Malaguzzi
There are hundreds of different images of the child. Each one of you has inside yourself an image of the child that directs you as you begin to relate to a child. This theory within you pushes you to behave in certain ways; it orients you as you talk to the child, listen to the child, observe the child. It is very difficult for you to act contrary to this internal image. For example, if your image is that boys and girls are very different from one another, you will behave differently in your interactions with each of them.
Malaguzzi, L. (1994). Your image of the child: Where teaching begins. Child Care Information Exchange, 96, 52–56 (Reprint permission granted by Exchange Press).
For An Education Based on Relationships
Loris Malaguzzi
Although (from our experience in Reggio Emilia) we know how strongly children represent the center of our educational system, we continue to be convinced that without attention to the central importance of teachers and families, our view of children is incomplete; therefore, our proposition is to consider a triad at the center of education—children, teachers, and families. To think of a dyad of only a teacher and a child is to create an artificial world that does not reflect reality.
Malaguzzi, L. (1993). For an education based on relationships. Young Children, 49(1), 9–12 (Reprint permission granted by NAEYC).
Fundamentals of the Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education
Lella Gandini
In Italy both municipal and national programs for young children have been in place for about 25 years, since the enactment of a law establishing that children between the ages of 3 and 6 are entitled to free education. This law was followed in 1971 by a law establishing infant/toddler centers that also receive parental financial contributions. In each case, women were especially active and effective advocates for the legislation.
Gandini, L. (1993). Fundamentals of the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education. Young Children, 49(1), 4–8 (Reprint permission granted by NAEYC, www.naeyc.org).
Reflections on Reggio Emilia
Sue Bredekamp
Inspired by the early childhood schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy, this article offers six challenges to American educators to reclaim the image of the competent child, promote conceptual integrity of programs for children, refine the definition of developmental appropriateness, balance standard-setting with questioning, reflect on professional development, and expand teacher roles.
Bredekamp, S. (1993). Reflection on Reggio Emilia. Young Children, 49(1), 13–17 (Reprint permission granted by NAEYC, www.naeyc.org).
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