By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. I have been an ardent proponent of emergent curriculum in early childhood education well before I became Reggio inspired. In the early nineties I became aware of the work of Elizabeth Jones and John Nimmo and used their textbook, Emergent Curriculum as the foundation for the curriculum courses that I taught to … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. I am fortunate to have colleagues and critical friends in my life that motivate me to think. As an early childhood educator and teacher of teachers, thinking about practice and theory, leads to new knowledge and understandings about the way children learn, the way adults learn and the way I learn. … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. I have recently been delving into “How Does Learning Happen?” Ontario’s Pedagogy for the Early Years (2014) and thinking deeply about how I can use this document to guide my practice. This is a document that asks educators to challenge the status quo. It suggests we engage in critical reflection because as … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. It is heartening to see that there is much interest in the Reggio Emilia Approach and a genuine desire expressed by many to begin the process of becoming Reggio inspired. Thinking about our practice as a journey has me pondering. Metaphors are a useful tool to promote reflective thinking about … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. On January 10th, I had the honour of co-moderating an international #ReggioPLC chat with Suzanne Axelsson, a friend from across the globe. Educators from Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, Turkey across the United States and Canada joined in a fast paced hour of professional collaboration on the topic of listening. A Twitter … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. Play is an experience that includes the ability to bend or invent reality that has a strong internally based motivation. Children use the process of play to discover and learn about their world in many ways. The complex process of play and learning is most beneficial to children when they … Continue reading
We began the 5-day session by joining in a circle in the open concept eating, gathering room at Tawingo College, a beautiful 150-acre campus that also has an Outdoor Kindergarten. We were invited to introduce ourselves by stating our name, followed by an animal and then a sound associated with this animal. Shortly after this … Continue reading
Our next Twitter chat is coming up! Please join us on Saturday February 15th for our second International #ReggioPLC chat at 4 pm (EST). We will be discussing the philosophical parallels between Loris Malaguzzi and David Hawkins. Below are a few quotes from both of these giants. Diane and I and Rose from Acorn School … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. I am thrilled, that thanks to fellow Reggio inspired educators our Twitter chats at #ReggioPLC have become a dynamic time to connect and collaborate with others from around the world. Our plan when we started the chat was to work through Reggio principles. For Loris Malaguzzi, the central notion for … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. Embracing Reggio principles in practice, I am committed to research. I see research as an opportunity to act upon our knowledge in a way that is collaborative, creative and critical. Collaboration can be rich. When I have the opportunity to write, co-facilitate professional learning and together with others, mess about … Continue reading
Technology Rich Inquiry Based Research 