Welcome readers, visitors, and classmates to my blog. Thank you for joining me as I document my learning throughout my MEd Degree in Early Childhood Education, offered through the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Victoria.

The organization with which I am currently employed, is inspired by the pedagogical practices exhibited in the early learning centres of Reggio Emilia, a town in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy. In addition, their early learning environments, educators, coordinators, pedagogista, work closely with students and educators from the Department of Early Childhood Care and Education at Capiliano University.

Working in an environment inspired by the early learning-teaching practices of Reggio Emilia (see Rinaldi 2006), guided by the BC Early Learning Framework (2019), and working in conjunction with predagogical research and inquiry produced through Capilano University, my work often impels and prompts me into experiential, sensory, material-rich inquiry with children. Cognizant of, and influenced by, these philosophies of education, I recognize and value children as creative, engaged citizens who produce, rather than consume, knowledge and resources (Pelo, 2008). Instead of drawing on inspiration from lesson plans and/or following explicit curricular guidlines, my work with children relies on observation, documentation, and an intentional environment. It requires me to seek out the unexpected, to collaborate, think, wonder, and learn together with children, educators, families, community, more-than-human-others, to allow curricular pathways to emerge, be shaped and developed, from the collective encounters, curiousities, needs, values of educators, children, families, community, and to regulary pause, step-back, reconsider, and reflect on, my practice as an educator.

It is through the above lens of understanding, and situated within the above context, that I begin my journey into gradute studies and delve into pedagogy connected to interactive, multimedia learning and drama education.

I hope you enjoy and/or are inspired by the articulation of my experiences. Happy reading!

 

References

About the collective. (2020). http://commonworlds.net

Ministry of Education (2019). British Columbia early learning framework. Victoria, B.C. Retrieved from https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/early-learning/teach/early-learning-framework

Rinaldi, C. (2006). In dialogue with Reggio Emilia: Listening, researching and learning. Routledge.

Pacini-Ketchabaw, V., Kind, S., & Kocher, Laurie L. M. (2017). Encounters with materials in early childhood education. Routledge.

Pelo, A. (2008) Rethinking early childhood education. Rethinking Schools Ltd.