ERIC Number: EJ913835
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010
Pages: 3
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0164-8527
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Are We Doing Things Just Because We've Always Done Them This Way?
Turner, Kim
Exchange: The Early Childhood Leaders' Magazine Since 1978, n194 p45-47 Jul-Aug 2010
At one of the first preschools the author taught at after graduating from college, every classroom environment stayed the same from year to year. Whatever furniture was in the classroom when a new teacher moved in stayed there, and the furniture never moved around the classroom. The classroom materials rarely changed. Change was not valued. Further, uniqueness and variety in classrooms materials were not a priority. Individual classrooms were not particularly suited to the children in them. Then the author came to work at Boulder Journey School, where she currently teaches. Boulder Journey School is a preschool in Boulder, Colorado, that welcomes children ages 6 weeks to 6 years. The learning community at Boulder Journey School has been studying the pedagogy of the schools for young children in Reggio Emilia, Italy, since 1995. Inspired by the schools in Reggio Emilia, the environments at Boulder Journey School change all the time--throughout the school year. The school's culture supports fluid classroom design that encourages teachers to tailor the classrooms to the children. Avoiding the monotony of having the same classroom set-up from year to year ensures that every classroom of children feels at home in an environment organized specifically for them. In this article, the author looks back at when she first started teaching and realizes she was doing the same things year after year because she hadn't yet been provoked to question or think even more deeply about her classroom design choices, as Amelia Gambetti, Reggio Children International Network Coordinator and Liaison for Consultancy in Schools, provoked her and her colleagues to do at Boulder Journey School.
Descriptors: Classroom Design, Classroom Environment, Reggio Emilia Approach, Preschool Education, Preschool Children, Educational Improvement, School Culture, Personal Autonomy
Exchange Press, Inc. P.O. Box 3249, Redmond, WA 98073-3249. Tel: 800-221-2864; Fax: 425-867-5217; e-mail: info@ChildCareExchange.com; Web site: http://www.childcareexchange.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Preschool Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Colorado
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A