By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. Expertise on emergent curriculum is difficult to attain. It is like a utopian position that can never be realized. Learning about emergent curriculum is ongoing. I remind myself often that I will never get to the point in my professional career where I can say that I have reached the … Continue reading
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Reggio inspired Practice: Considering Context and Finding Balance
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. It was in the early nineties that I first heard about the infant-toddler and preschool centres of Reggio Emilia. I was at a professional conference and attended a workshop about this unique approach to early learning. I remember being overwhelmed and feeling uneasy. I was experiencing cognitive dissonance as I reflected … Continue reading
Early Childhood Education Environmental Inquiry: Puddles of Opportunity
By Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. I have been doing a lot of thinking about inquiry lately. In my capacity as the chair of the York Region Nature Collaborative I was invited to take part in a pilot environmental inquiry project with the York Region District School Board, which involves two different full day kindergarten classes. The … Continue reading
Creativity and 21st Century Teaching and Learning: Inspiration from Reggio Emilia
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. In 2012, I ventured into the unknown when a group of students encouraged me to enter the world of social media for the purposes of professional learning, communication and collaboration. Previous to that I was not aware of what the significance of the passage of one century into another would have … Continue reading
Emergent Curriculum, Reggio, and Inquiry: Coming to Terms with Terms
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
Play is learning: Thoughts about the importance of play in the lives of children
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