The Reggio Approach: An Inspiration for Inclusion of Children with "Special Rights"

Norma Morrison, Ed.D.

Home Address: 771 Tiger Creek Road

Roan Mountain, Tennessee 73687

Office Address: P.O. Box 500

Milligan College, Tennessee 37682

Professor of Education, Milligan College

Gamma Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma

Secretary for Local Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma

Council for Exceptional Children, 1983-Present, served as President,

1991-93

Phi Kappa Phi, 1978-Present

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1988-1995

International Reading Association, 1984-Present

Kappa Delta Pi, 1988-Present

Association for Children and Adults with Learning Disabilities, 1984-1995

American Association of Colleges For Teacher Education, 1987-Present

Association For Retarded Citizens, 1984-1995

Delta Kappa Gamma, 1989-Present, secretary, 1994-1996

The Orton Dyslexia Society, Board Member, President, 1994-96

The Eastern Educational Research Association, 1994

South Eastern Children’s Association, 1995

Abstract

The Reggio Approach to early childhood education has become a topic of much interest to teachers desiring a more constructivist classroom for brain based learning. Many researchers have written reports of effective teaching in the pre schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. However, few have addressed the manner in which the needs of children with "special rights" or children in special education have been met. This paper describes the Reggio Community, the Reggio Approach, and full inclusion of children with special rights.

Description of the Reggio Emilia Community

Reggio Emilia is a city located in affluent wine country in Northern Italy. There is very little unemployment due to ‘‘a well-developed and diversified economy with modern industries’’. Families have above adequate financial resources that are supported by ‘‘notable development in the areas of social services and workers’ benefits.’’¹ In contrast, many communities in the United States have unemployment and a myriad of problems that accompany poverty. Whereas Reggio has few broken or single parent homes, the opposite is true in the United States.

Description of the Reggio Approach

Gardner described the Reggio Approach well when he said:

It is a collection of schools for young children in which each child’s intellectual, emotional, social, and moral potentials are carefully cultivated and guided. The principle educational vehicle involves youngsters in long-term engrossing projects, which are carried out in a beautiful, healthy, love-filled setting. Dewey wrote about progressive education for decades but his school lasted a scant four years. In sharp contrast, it is the Reggio community, more so than the philosophy or method, that constitutes Malaguzzi’s central achievement. Nowhere else in the world is there such a seamless and symbiotic relationship between a school’s progressive philosophy and its practices. ²

Background

The foundation for the Reggio Approach started in Reggio Emilia, Italy, at the end of the Fascist dictatorship and the Second World War. According to Gandini, ‘‘it was a moment when the desire to bring change and create a new, more just world, free from oppression was urging women and men to gather their strength and build with their own hands schools for their children.’’ She continued, ‘‘This area has a long history and tradition of cooperative work done in all areas of the economy and organization: agriculture, food processing, unions, entrepreneurship, solution of crisis, and so forth.’’ More specifically, teachers worked to develop new ways of teaching, which would support the new democratic society. The schools they created combined the concept of social services with education, much like our own Headstart programs. Influenced by Dewey, Piaget and Vygotsky, the teachers created schools that were also non-selective and nondiscriminatory that took into account the human desire to ‘‘do nothing without joy.’’³

Loris Malaguzzi, psychologist at the center for National Research in Rome, became the educational leader of 19 schools for young children. ‘‘His complex system pays close attention to individual as well as group interests and potentials,..a form of socioconstructivism.’’⁴ This term is defined and its connection with Reggio was made by Forman in the following way:

The basic premise (of socioconstructivism) is that knowledge is constructed as a system of relations, so that the simple association between two stimuli, or between a stimulus and a response, is insufficient for defining the knowledge-building process. It is only through a process of re-reading, reflection and revisiting that children are able to organize what they have learned from a single experience within a broader system of relations. These processes are individually and socially constructed, and herein lies the image of the child as an active constructor of his or her own knowledge, which is one of the fundamental premises of the philosophy and practice that has come to be known as the ‘Reggio Approach’⁵

Malaguzzi persuaded the city government to assume responsibility for running the schools in 1963. A series of national laws passed between 1968 and 1971 made possible the development of the comprehensive program or Reggio Approach as we know it. The City Council, representing a population of approximately 139,000 people, presently invests 12% of its budget in preschool services.

Gandini wrote, ‘‘cooperation and collaboration [is] the backbone of the system’’. Several examples she gave included ‘‘teachers work[ing] in pairs in each classroom, not as head teacher and assistant but at the same level; they see themselves as researchers gathering information about their work with children by means of continual documentation.’’⁶ According to Rinaldi, the pedagogical director of the infant-toddler centers and preschools of Reggio Emilia, and executive consultant of Reggio Children, the collegiality of teachers as a cohesive unit creates a new force and, as a unit, has a right to particular working conditions: the right to think, to plan, to work, and to interpret together. In fact, a new concept of pedagogical freedom emerges as the right to discuss and challenge ideas [and[ to have an interactive collegial relationship.⁷ The teachers’ work ‘‘should be considered as an educational experience that consists of reflection, practice, and further, careful reflection in a program that is continuously renewed and readjusted.’’⁸ The team of pedagogical coordinators, called pedagogisti, also form a collegial relationship and support the collaboration among all teachers, parents, community members, and city administrators.

The Basic Principles of the Reggio Approach

The Image of the Child

‘‘All children have preparedness, potential, curiosity, and interest in engaging in social interaction, establishing relationships, constructing their learning, and negotiating with everything the environment brings to them.’’¹⁰ As children participate in their activities, it is important for them to make and correct their own errors. This approach provides the necessary opportunity to become practiced at creative problem solving.¹¹ Teachers must have enough respect for children in order to permit these processes to occur.¹² In other words, the children are considered to be competent.¹³ Reggio teachers neither provide solutions nor leave children to their own resources. The child-centered curriculum of Reggio Emilia Schools is based on this image of children as full of life, power, and confidence rather than full of need.

Children’s Relationships and Interactions Within a System

Gandini reminded us that ‘‘education has to focus on each child, not considered in isolation but in relation with the family, other children, the teachers, the environment of the school, the community, and the wider society.’’¹⁴ At the same time, according to the writer’s observations and interviews, teachers believe that children are not all expected to do the same thing because their originality is valued and shared with others.

The Rights of Children, Parents and Teachers

Gandini wrote, ‘‘Children have a right to high quality care and education that support the development of their potentials’’. Parents have the right to be involved in the life of the school; teachers have the right to grow professionally.¹⁵ Rinaldi explained that teachers should be permitted to ‘‘contribute to the definition of the contents, objectives, and practice of education accomplished through a network of collaborators supported by the ideas and competencies of everyone.’’¹⁶

The Value of Relationships and Interactions of Children in Small Groups

Children are afforded the opportunity to be with the teachers and a large group of children, with a small group of children or alone. Teachers usually decide the composition of small groups that work on projects based on many variables such as amount of interest in a topic or problem, the amount of time the children are interested, and even friends that needed to be included in order for a child to joyfully participate. Malaguzzi believed that a more homogeneous age group helps the communication among children as they plan and make decisions. He also suggested that this type of small group favors cognitive conflicts which the Italians think are necessary and desirable as children construct new learning and development.¹⁷

The teachers’ role in the small group work of the children is very significant. According to Bredekamp, ‘‘the educators in Reggio Emilia have gone beyond Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP), at least its current incarnation, especially in their emphasis on the social construction of the teacher’s role as co-constructor with children and documentor of the learning process.’’¹⁸

Cooperation and Collaboration as the Backbone of the System

Collaboration among all adults in the school should include questioning things together, exchanging ideas and trusting each other. The teachers have to look for and find answers in themselves.¹⁹ In order to accomplish this, ‘‘teachers observe and listen to the children closely... They ask questions and discover the children’s ideas, hypotheses, and theories. Then the adults discuss together what they have recorded through their own notes, or audio or visual recordings, and make flexible plans and preparations. Then they are ready to enter again into dialogues with the children and offer them occasions for discovering and also revisiting experiences since they consider learning not as a linear process but as a spiral progression. The role of teachers, therefore, is considered to be one of continual research and learning process, taking place with the children and embedded in team cooperation.’’²⁰ Bruner first used the term ‘spiral curriculum’ to mean that as children re-visit a concept, their understanding becomes more sophisticated.²¹

The research of the teachers is supported by the pedagogical coordinator or pedagogista. Each pedagogista supports 3-4 schools. The team of pedagogisti meet once a week with the director of the whole system.

The Interdependence of Cooperation and Organization

Everything is discussed and organized with precision and care including teachers’ schedules, meetings with families, and children’s diets.²²

The Environment and the Educational Space

Malaguzzi was quoted by Gandini as he talked about the importance of space: ‘‘we value space because of its power to organize, promote pleasant relationships between people of different ages, create a handsome environment, provide changes, promote choices and activity, and its potential for sparking all kinds of social, affective, and cognitive learning. All of this contributes to a sense of well-being and security in children. We also think that the space has to be a sort of aquarium which mirrors the ideas, values, attitudes, and cultures of the people who live within it.’’²³ Based on this power, Rinaldi stated that the environment is the third teacher.²⁴

The appearance of each facility is like that of an excellent, experiential museum for children. Commitment and creativity of teachers and parents are reflected in the attention to detail and design. Intrigue and curiosity result from careful placement of materials and products of children from previous years. Adults and children personalize each school with their message boxes, art, documentation panels, and projects. Many panels convey a sense of history and identity of each school. Efforts are applied with an eye toward beauty even in out of the way places like kitchens, archival rooms, bathrooms, stairways, etc. Color, light, mirrors, shadows, recyclable materials, and natural artifacts including plants are used to enhance the environment and provide discovery opportunities.

Each classroom has a large central area (often with bleacher-type seating) where children and teachers meet for discussions. Each school has a central piazza area where adults can relax and children can work on projects or play dress-up and other dramatic plays in a multiage setting. The piazza is very flexible for adults and children in the building. The kitchen, classrooms for separate age groups and atelier open off the piazza.

The Italian atelier, a studio or workshop, is similar to the resource room for children described by Kneas in the March, 1999 issue of Scholastic Early Childhood Today.²⁵ Both provide opportunities for children to become actively engaged in creating their own projects as part of the curriculum. The children select their own materials, find new uses for objects (frequently recyclable) and do so in a social context. Selection of materials is facilitated by careful organization of supplies in attractive, transparent containers. Much of the personal documentation is generated in the atelier or miniateliers associated with each classroom.

As suggested by Reggio teachers and other researchers,²⁶ children learn more effectively ‘‘when they are able to use a wide variety of materials in a wide range of activities and in cooperation with adults who help them ask good questions.’’²⁷ In addition, it is desirable to provide environmental support that is a real collaboration among school, families and the community.

The Role of Time and the Importance of Continuity

Just as in Montessori schools, ‘‘children’s own sense of time and their personal rhythm is considered in planning and carrying out activities and projects.’’²⁸ Children know that their work will remain intact and in place until they have completed their task. Children have the time and guidance to use the same materials repeatedly until they are pleased with the results. They also know that even though they move to different classrooms each year, they will continue with the same teachers and peers until they change schools.

Projects

Katz wrote that systematic instruction and project work have an important place in the curriculum.²⁹ Work by Katz, Chard and the Reggio Approach were the main forces behind America’s renewed interest in doing projects with young children.³⁰ According to Gandini, projects provide the foundation for the learning that takes place in Reggio Emilia schools.³¹ Projects can be based on any relevant topic such as shadows, reflections, amusement park for birds, dinosaurs, rain in the city or travel to Italy from America. Their distinguishing aspects included the following:

1. the teachers’ role is that of both facilitator and partner in learning;

• topic selection is based on student interests and experiences;

• collaboration occurs among students, teachers and parents;

• project content emerges from students’ spiraling understanding;

• multiple experiences occur with the same and different media in order to represent cognition;

• repetition of activities take place for different purposes;

• extended time may be devoted to a project;

• projects are small-group rather than whole-class;

• a project should include a broad range of concepts, such as math, science, art, writing, social studies, music;³²

• project documentation is essential.³³

Observation and Documentation

As the teacher’s role becomes more of an observer and documentor, she becomes a facilitator and co-learner. The way the Reggio teachers facilitate the learning is by asking questions that lead children to other thoughts and further actions. The teacher also provides books and other resources on project topics that children examine in order to make relevant decisions.³⁴ The teachers explain that they learn how to work with children by continuously observing. The teachers do not rely solely on their memory but document interactions and learning by audio or visual taping, writing notes and taking slides or photographs of the children. Slides are favored because of the clarity when sharing with other teachers and parents.

Documentation panels composed of transcriptions of verbal communication, photographs and the children’s work are beautifully arranged by the atelierista and other teachers. These panels are usually sent to the documentation center where the panels are carefully analyzed. In some cases, suggestions are made to the teachers of changes that would enhance the documentation. Finishing touches are made by the highly trained professionals. Finally, panels are returned to the schools for display to the children, parents, other teachers, and the community. Not all panels in the school are finished products. Some are displayed in process and change as projects progress. Some of the panels include audio and video tapes that supplement the visual documentation.

Weissman noted that Reggio teachers do not use checklists of skills, tests or diagnostic evaluations.³⁵ Instead, portfolios are shared with families at the end of each year.

The Hundred Languages of Children

Abramson, Robinson and Ankenmen summarized the meaning of the ‘hundred languages of children’ by comparing this aspect of the Reggio Approaches with Gardner’s theory of ‘multiple intelligences’. They reported that ‘‘Reggio educators believe that children have the capacity for representing ideas in a wide variety of symbolic and graphic modes.’’³⁶ Furthermore, Houk added that children need to develop the tools to investigate and make sense of an object about which they are curious.³⁷ Reggio teachers greatly emphasize various visual and expressive arts as symbolic tools or languages of the children that should be cultivated.

Malaguzzi believed that ‘‘visual training through active learning strategies is important from a very early age". He suggested that this instruction should "be included as part of every educational project and saw a wealth of benefits from giving children tools that empower them to think for themselves in both creative and rational ways; help them develop emotional maturity and sensitivity to the world around them; and free them from the limitations of passive perception, encouraged by television...’’³⁸ Katz added that ‘‘many of us in the United States seriously underestimate preprimary school children’s graphical capabilities and the quality of intellectual effort and growth it can stimulate.’’³⁹

Pretend play is included as another manifestation of the symbolic functioning essential to children’s development.⁴⁰ Good sociodramatic play has been linked to later social and academic competence.⁴¹

Hendrick, explained a further dimension of this principle as teachers support the children in the expression of their thinking through the various languages. She said, ‘‘the intriguing challenge is that the children are sometimes expected to translate their ideas from one language (one symbolic system) into another one.’’⁴² One example taken from the literature⁴³ and from this writer’s observations was music being translated into written expression and back to performance.

Music is always present in the background as children play and work on projects. Field- trips often focus on musical performances. Teachers reported on their efforts to address the language of music to a greater degree than they had in the past. They explained how they support the children in their efforts to ‘write’ their musical composition they had created so that the three year old class could play the music of the older children. The researcher was fortunate to observe one teacher as she guided the children to draw symbolic representations of music that was being played (a developmental stage of this process).

Light and color were emphasized by Malaguzzi as foci for instruction. He articulated the goals of using these complex concepts by stating, ‘‘our task is to help children ‘materialize’ and ‘dematerialize’ light and color until they feel these elements inside and outside themselves. This involves learning to blend colors together and to distinguish them, to appreciate the relationships between them and the effects they create. Light and color offer children not only opportunities to experience physical and psychological well- being and happiness, but also extraordinary ranges of sensory and perceptive interactions: visual, olfactory, auditory, linguistic, imaginative, and fantastic.’’⁴⁴

What did Malaguzzi have to say about children using computers? He thought, ‘‘the meeting of two ‘intelligences’ that need to get to know each other’’, should happen. He further listed potentials for learning:

• the existence of a plurality of symbolic signs of communication to which one can respond using appropriate codes;

• the compatibility of procedures by trial and error;

• the power of reflection, the flexibility of reasoning, the value of conjecture and planning together with peers;

• the usefulness of the logical and temporal breaking down of a complex action;

• the need to strengthen your control of spatial movements;

• the joy of verifying your success;

• the pleasurable sensation of touching the keyboard in order to enter into a working relationship with the machine;

• the growth of an awareness that is gratified by active participation and the achievement of results.⁴⁶

In other words, Malaguzzi accepted computer literacy as another of the ‘hundred languages of children’. The children of Reggio use computers. In some schools, teachers investigate the effectiveness of specific software on the learning of the children.

The Atelierista, trained in the arts, supports these hundred languages by working with other teachers and children in every preprimary school and visiting the infant-toddler centers. His/her room, the atelier, contains tools, resource materials and historical documentation. In addition to the atelier, smaller spaces called mini-ateliers are set up in or adjoining each classroom.

Parents’ Involvement in the Life of the School

In Reggio schools, ‘‘the parents’ participation is expected and supported and takes many forms: day-to-day interaction, work in the schools, discussions of educational and psychological issues, special events, excursions, and celebrations. Parents are an active part of their children’s learning experience and; at the same time, help ensure the welfare of all children in the school.’’⁴⁷

Spaggiari stated that the key requirements for maintaining effective participation of parents are having many different types of activities and a focus on the classroom. Each school has an Advisory Council composed of elected parents, educators, and town’s people. This council elects representatives to the Municipal Board on Infant-Toddler and Preprimary Education which work with the Administrative Director of Early Education, the team of Pedagogisti, the elected city official in charge of education, and the Mayor. One of the many functions of the Advisory Council is to study and implement strategies to maximize parental participation.⁴⁸

The Emergent Curriculum

Reggio teachers are trained on the job to ‘‘express general goals and make hypotheses about what direction activities and projects might take; ..make appropriate preparations ..then, after observing children in action, [the teachers] compare, discuss, and interpret together their observations and make choices that they share with the children about what to offer and how to sustain the children in their exploration and learning.’’⁴⁹ The children are active in the planning, integration, and adaptation as the curriculum emerges. Discussion usually starts a new investigation or problem; many questions are generated; research often includes field trips; planning; implementation and presentation. The process repeats itself continuously and is recorded through documentation.⁵⁰

Full Inclusion of Children with Special Rights

Children with special rights (not ‘needs’) have first priority for enrollment into the schools beginning at three months of age. Generally, there can be one to two children with special rights in each classroom, or three to four children in each school of 75-100 children. However, if the child’s neighborhood school is full, he/she has to go to another municipal school. An additional teacher is added to each class that has a child with special rights. These teachers do not have to be trained in special education but the teachers with special training and/or experience are preferred. The schools have the technical support of a psychologist who trains and offers professional development when needed to the teachers. There is no special support for children with ADHD because it is not needed. Sometimes children with special rights stay an extra year. If possible, sign language is used in the classrooms.

As teachers provide opportunities for projects and recognize the multiple ways that children have of expressing themselves, they create an environment that is conducive for learning by children with special rights (Abramson, S., Robinson, R. and Ankenman, K., 1995). Furthermore, Reggio schools offer a broad selection of media and activities that increase the likelihood that children will be able to fully participate with other children.

The documentation aspect of the Reggio Approach serves to inform parents of what their children can do and how other children react to their children. If parents have special requests that are against the philosophy of the school, the teachers compromise, try to include other children in the activity for socialization, document as usual and gain the trust of the parents. This practice enables them to progress to a more developmentally appropriate level for the child.

This writer’s observations, interviews and participation in a seminar in Italy on this topic of children with special rights indicated that teachers have as their goal to know the child within the disabled child. Teachers believe that best practice for children with special rights is best practice for all children. Their thirty years of development in observing, listening to and researching children has enabled them to be creative problem solvers for these children and their parents. More analysis and synthesis of the research data the teachers have on children with special rights and all other children would be timely and useful to those of us who prepare teachers to include all children in their classrooms.

References

1. Gandini, Lella. Foundations of the Reggio Emilia Approach. In J. Hendrick (Ed.), First Steps Toward Teaching the Reggio Way. Columbus, Ohio: Merrill/Prentice-Hall, 1997.

2. Gardner, Howard. Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books, 1985.

3. Gandini, Lella. The Reggio Emilia story: History and Organization. In J. Hendrick (Ed.). First Steps Toward Teaching the Reggio Way. Columbus, Ohio: Merrill/Prentice-Hall, 1997.

4. Gandini, 1997.

5. Forman, George. The Amusement Park for Birds and the Fountains. In G. Piazza (Ed.), The Fountains. Reggio Emilia, Italy: Reggio Children s. rl., 1995.

6. Gandini, 1997.

7. Rinaldi, Carlina. Staff Development in Reggio Emilia. In Lillian. G. Katz & B. Cesarone (Eds.). Reflections on the Reggio Emilia Approach. Urbana, IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education, 1994.

8. Gandini, 1997.

• Sheldon-Harsh, L., with Gandini, L. The Model Early Learning Center: An Interview with Teachers Inspired by the Reggio Approach.

Innovations in Early Education: The International Reggio Exchange, 3(1), 3, 1995.

• Gandini, 1997.

11. Edwards, Carolyn. The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1993; Kim, Sonja. From Prop Box to Resource Room. NYSAEYC Reporter 39 (3, Spr/Sum): 1-5, 1993.

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13. Bredekamp, Sue. Reflections on Reggio Emilia. Young Children, 49 (1), 13-17, 1993.

14. Gandini, 1997.

• Gandini, Lella. Teachers and Children Together: Constructing New Learning. Child Care Information Exchange, 3/96, 43-46, 1996.

16. Rinaldi, Carlina. Staff Development in Reggio Emilia. In L. G. Katz & Bernard Cesarone (Eds.). Reflections on the Reggio Emilia Approach. Urbana, IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education, 1994.

17. Rinaldi, 1994.

18. Bredekamp, 1993.

• Gandini, 1994.

• Gandini, 1997.

• Bruner, Jerome. S. The Process of Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963.

• Gandini, 1997.

• Gandini, Lella. Designing Indoor Spaces. Beginnings: The Magazine for Teachers of Young Children.1, 1984.

• Rinaldi, Carlina. Social constructivism in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Paper Presented at the Summer Institute, Images of the Child: An International Exchange with Leading Educators from Reggio Emilia, Italy, Newton, MA, 1992.

• Kim, 1993.

• Kim, 1993; Duckworth, Eleanor. The Having of Wonderful Ideas. NY: Teachers College Press, Columbia University, 1987.

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• Gandini, 1997.

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33. Edwards, 1993; Gandini, L. Fundamentals of the Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education. Young Children, 49 (1), 4-8, 1993; Katz, L. What Can We Learn from Reggio Emilia. In C. Edwards, L. Gandini, & G. Forman (Eds.). The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1993; Rankin, Baji. Curriculum Development in Reggio Emilia: A Long-Term Curriculum Project About Dinosaurs. In C. Edwards, L. Gandini, & G. Forman (Eds.). The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1993; New, R. Excellent Early Education: A City in Italy Has It! Young Children, 45(6), 4-6, 1990.

34. Kim, 1993; Edwards, 1993.

35. Weissman, Patricia. The Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education. In Marjorie Kostelnik, Anne Soderman, & Alice Whiren, Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum: Best Practices in Early Childhood Education (33-36). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall, 1999.

• Abramson, Shareen., Robinson, Roxanne., and Ankenman, Katie. Project Work with Diverse Students. Childhood Education, 197-202, 1995.

37. Houk, Pam. Lessons From an Exhibition: Reflections of an Art

Educator. In J. Hendrick (Ed.). First Steps Toward Teaching the Reggio Way. Columbus, Ohio: Merrill/Prentice-Hall.

38. Houk, 1997.

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40. Malaguzzi, Loris. (1993). For an Education Based on Relationships. Young Children, 49 (1), 9-12.

41. Smilansky, Sara., and Shefatya, Leah. Facilitating Play: A Medium for Promoting Cognitive Socioemotional and Academic Development in Young Children. Gathersburg, MD: Psychological and Educational Publications, 1990; Kim, 1993.

42. Hendrick, Joanne-(Ed.). First Steps Toward Teaching the Reggio Way. Columbus, Ohio: Merrill/Prentice-Hall, 1997.

43. Ibid.

44. Malaguzzi, Loris. A Heresy of Light and Color. In Municipality of Reggio Emilia Infant-Toddler Centers and Preschools (Ed.). The Hundred Languages of Children: Narrative of the Possible. Reggio Emilia, Italy: Assessorato Scuole Infanzia Asili Nido, 1996.

45. Petter, G. Shadowiness. In Municipality of Reggio Emilia Infant- Toddler Centers and Preschools (Ed.). The Hundred Languages of Children: Narrative of the Possible. Reggio Emilia, Italy: Assessorato Scuole Infanziae Asili Nido, 1996.

46. Malaguzzi, 1996.

47. Gandini, 1997.

48. Spaggiari, Sergio. The Community-Teacher Partnership in the

Governance of the Schools: An Interview with Lella Gandini. In C.

Edwards, L. Gandini, & G. Forman (Eds.). The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1993.

49. Gandini, 1997.

• Sheerer, Marilyn and Dettore, Ernest. Off with a Theme: Emergent Curriculum in Action. Childhood Education Journal, 24, 99-102, 1996.