Working in the Reggio Way: A Beginner's Guide for American Teachers

The book opens with the poem by Loris Malaguzzi - no way - the hundred is there and a quote about open mind. a brief history of Reggio, a look at the author, Julianne's personal experience, and an overview of the purpose and history behind the creation of this book. Julianne was called to write this book because of what she saw from her unique perspective: "My work as an interpreter...gave me the opportunity to eavesdrop on conversations between the Reggio teachers and their visitors from around the world. I realized there was a gap between the information that was sought and the information that was provided. It resulted from a mixture of things: Language, different working situations, professional development experiences, and, most important, culture....While I had the opportunity over time to move past initial impressions and...questions, the teachers touring the school did not...many American teachers who wanted to work in the Reggio way were challenged...From the perspective of an American in Reggio, I was able to investigate many questions that other teachers have posed but have not had the time or opportunity to explore in the same manner... This book offers a tour of the Reggio approach through the eyes of a foreigner with one foot in both cultures... It is a practical guide to help reshape your thinking towards working with young children... in Reggio ways..." (p. 4-5)

The first three chapters are divided into three factors for teachers to examine regarding their beliefs and values and whether these are congruent with their actual practice. This is accomplished in a workbook-esque way, by offering a series of questions an provocations to the reader, and the expectation that they take a notebook and do the exercises. Chapter one speaks to Vision, meaning the image we hold of a child, and our beliefs and values about showing respect to children, their capacities, and their competencies. Chapter Two looks at an examination of the physical environment, complete with an assignment to draw and examine the current floor plan. Chapter 3 describes the Italian approach to scheduling and time, and shows the reader some examples of American and Italian center schedules, with ability to comment on and suggest changes in each. Each chapter contains a personal story from the author's experience detailing the main theme of the chapter, and is either used to articulate more clearly the Italian perspective, or to illustrate the contrast between Italian and American teaching practices and values on the same subject.

Chapter 4 is entitled Progettazione, which the author explains, "cannot fully be understood with the term project approach or with emergent curriculum....[so she chooses to] use the Italian term throughout this chapter to emphasize and respect the complexity of the work done in Reggio schools. Projects are ways of doing work with children that in effect simulate real life...My life is filled with projects - big and small. Your life is similarly filled with projects. These projects may be orchestrating a wedding for 250 people or dinner for a family seven nights a week, but either way, they are projects...Each requires thought, planning, preparation, and execution, the four pieces of any project in life...Imagine if we had begun to get the swing of conceptualizing and executing projects when we were just young children? By high school we would have had the follow-through persistence, and organizational skills that many struggle to develop in adult life...[one of the author's fellow teachers] paraphrased one of Loris Malaguzzi's sayings: There is no pre-school, just as there is no pre-life. Our students are at school and are learning things that will serve them throughout their lives." (p. 68)

Given this framework, Julianne launches an educative section on the origin, intent, and development of projects, using text from Carlina Rinaldi, articulation of the life cycle and involvement levels, and a chart of project types, descriptions, and examples. She details thematic, environmental, daily life, and self-managed projects and gives examples of each from actual classwork. She then asks readers to "Reflect...on Your Curriculum"(p.82), asks a number of questions, and elaborates the role of questions in development of a project and working with children. Then she elaborates the life cycle of some Reggio Projettazione, with stories of actual projects at each stage of development to which her experience and observations were relevant. In so doing, she reveals her own difficulties with understanding and participating in this process, and offers useful suggestions and thoughts for teachers willing to revisit their interactions with children; "In Reggio, teachers are often groomed not to answer the questions the children pose. Paola [a fellow teacher] told me, `Never directly answer a child's question, but ask them what they think first.'"(p.84) She adds that, "The Brazilian educator and author Paulo Freire talks about a drive-through education in which, when children ask us something, we hand them neatly packaged answers that fit our understanding of both the question and what we think they need to know as the answer. In both Friere's view and the Reggio view, such an education is not education at all. If we believe that learning is building, de-construction, and ultimately re-building knowledge over time, handing the child or the learner a correct answer, while perhaps easier in the moment, does not aid in this process."(p.85)

Toward the end of the chapter, the author lists a number of suggestions and thought-provoking ideas for teachers to use in their observations and assist in creation of their own child-generated projects. The remaining chapters 5 and 6 discuss observation, documentation, and family involvement. There are practical suggestions exercises and questions here as well.

My thoughts on this book, were I to structure this as a critical review, is that it fulfills exactly what she sets out to do: creates a number of thought-provoking exercises to help teachers re-examine and deconstruct the way they teach by introducing questions that inform the Reggio educators' own learning and practice, and by explaining the how and why of interactions with children, projects, environment, and documentation. I am, however, in a class where we all desire to learn about Reggio Emilia principles and practice, and we are reading other materials on the subject. We are the target audience, and so this book is a good fit, and can become a great tool for us and others like us. I would recommend it for anyone looking to incorporate more of this work into their existing classroom. However, in that situation, the author is preaching to the converted. My criticism, for lack of a better word, although I mean it more in the form of a reservation, lies in the possibility that this would be the first book someone who knew nothing of Reggio would pick up asking, "What is the Reggio Way?". I don't think that this would serve well to be that first book for the reasons stated in the following paragraph.

In the very first paragraph, the author states that, "The municipal early childhood programs of Reggio Emilia, Italy, have created an educational reality that many other educators strive to achieve." They have been "identified ...as the best early childhood programs in the world...and thrust...into the international spotlight...widely recognized as the best early childhood has to offer."(p.1) This is followed by a brief history which includes a weblink to Reggio Children, the organization that conducts tours to Italy. When instructing readers, "How to Use This Book", Julianne Wurm says that, "Unlike many other American books on the Reggio Approach to early childhood education, this book is neither my personal story of applying Reggio principles in the United States, nor a theoretical look at those principles. It is a practical guide to help reshape your thinking towards working with young children."(p.5) As far as one can produce a structured guide to stimulate thought in new directions, new questions, and hopefully learning that can potentially reshape thinking on the part of the reader, this book functions as intended and in my opinion is well done. I just wish that somehow, the caveat I quoted could come with some specific recommendations for other introductory books (as she does with books about spaces later, on page 31) and a note to put this one down and come back later when you're ready, or a number of testimonials of how teachers were impressed, or some of the initial impressions of what the feeling of entering into a Reggio-Emilia-inspired classroom were, to encourage such a beginner reader to continue and want to do the work recommended in the book.

In the aesthetic sense, the cover art, the format, and the inclusion of poetry and callout quotes, the book is very accessible and I do think that it does represent the feel of Reggio Philosophy inasmuch as a book designed for non-Reggio learners can. It is clearly written, well-organized, and direct in both tone and instructions for how to perform the exercises or suggested activities to promote learning in the reader. The exercises are challenging on a philosophical, emotional, and logistical level, although simple and clearly explained - it's the actual work and reshaping of thought that is hard, and I wonder if there is an intermediary sell point that would allow those uninitiated to be willing to undergo such self-examination and participate fully, to the level required by the content. As for the academic nature of the book, clearly this is well-researched, and targeted toward educators, but her use of quotes relies heavily on one of Carla Rinaldi's works from 1994, and not many others. In addition, I couldn't find where she actually references which Rinaldi publication. My guess it that the 1994 Rinaldi publication is Reflections on the Reggio Emilia Approach, but there is a 2005 book In Dialogue with Reggio Emilia that is a collection of Carla Rinaldi's most important articles, lectures, and interviews from 1994 to the present day, which could also apply. In addition, while she refers to the Brazilian educator and author Paulo Freire through paraphrase (see quote from p. 85 above), she does not reference which of Friere's works or speeches she summarized. Lastly, the link to the CBS news story she gave had a typo in it that did not take me directly to the article, but I did get there.

If the audience for this book is not on-board before reading it, I'm not sure they will be after, but I would hope so. The most compelling portion, and the one most applicable to the general populace regardless of educational philosophy is the last chapter discussing family and parent involvement in the school and the school's involvement in the lives of the children. Julianne presents the cultural differences in the Italian and American approach (although I think she could go even further with it) and shows the wonderful interaction between children, families, and community that has led Reggio Emilia to be a model for the world. If she put this first, maybe it would pull in more of the potential readers who may be non-believers to work harder to create Reggio Emilia-inspired learning as a model for their own students and their own school. Overall an excellent book.

This is a picture free fantastic read that inspires thinking and practice. I have used it with the team I work with and we often refer to it for reminders about why we do what we do.

Wonderful book very easy to read to gain the concept of the philosophy of Reggio Emilia!

wonderful book for an early childhood teacher.

love the reggio way of teaching

Interesting approach.

Wonderful Resource for Reggio Emilia Inspired Programs!

Great book, a little slow to read at certain parts. Overall a helpful book for early childhood educators.

This is a great book for those beginning the study of the Reggio Emilia Approach to learning.

Was what I wanted