We're set to start! We had a very good, wide-ranging discussion at the first face-to-face, where we settled on a preliminary set of discussion topics to explore. We who attended the face-to-face got to introduce ourselves to each other, but there are quite a few individuals who will be joining this conversation on line who were not present at that meeting. In your reply to this subject heading, please introduce yourself, briefly describing your background, current position, how long you've been in the field, and anything else you want us to know about yourself.
*NOTE: When posting a comment, in the bottom of the comment box is an option for "choosing your identity". If you click the Name/URL option and type your name in the provided box (shows after you select), your name will show at the top of your comment so that you may receive credit for your post.
26 comments:
Hello there! I have been in the child caring field for a while. I feel very blessed to be in a field that I love and can financially make ends meet. It’s a tough thing to do! I am looking forward to hearing thoughts, ideas and experiences with the Reggio Principles. I found the reading a bit wordy to say the least and yet it has some great points and objectives to have learned from. Without this discussion group, I suppose I would have never picked up the book. This is my start to expanding my early childhood education. I think I have made a good choice!
Hi, I'm pretty new to computer blogging so because of that I deleted my first post by mistake..:) Anyway, I've been working with children since I was 20. I began by working with special needs children and left the position to start my family. I have 2 wonderful adult daughters.
I work in an infant room and have been at this Daycare for 20 yrs. I've worked with all ages in every room.
I was totally lost in this book until I went to this discussion group. Now I find it a little easier to read.
Debbie Lynn-Roy
Hi, I've been at my pre-school for almost 16 years. I've worked with many age groups. Right now I teach pre-k in the morning and am in the office in the afternoon. We are very interested in the Reggio way at our center. I hope to get some great ideas from you all and from the book. I am enjoying the book but it is slow reading for me. Some of the ideas in the book are fantastic. I cannot wait to implement some of them.
Hi. I am Jane Doyon and I have been a lead teacher at the Bridgewater State College Children's Center for the past 21 years. I have taught children ages two years and nine months to five years old over the past 22 years. This is the first time I have joined the BAEYC book discussion group and I look forward to meeting everyone and hearing your thoughts and opinions on this topic.
Hello everyone! My name is Eileen Estudante and I am a lead teacher at the Bridgewater State College Children’s Center. I was there at the first face to face meeting and I enjoyed the discussion very much look forward to the next one. As Greg mentioned in his email to us, I am also the one that will be assisting him with the technical aspect of the blog so if anyone has any difficulties, please do not hesitate to contact me at my email address listed below or at my personal one if after hours at elcfunmail@gmail.com. A little about me - well, I graduated from Bridgewater in 1990 with a Bachelors in Early Childhood Education and I have been employed by BSC for the last 12 years. We are in our second year of having a mixed age classroom of children who range in ages from 2.9 - 5 years old and have found it very conducive to young children learning not only from us but from one another. We welcome visitors in our classroom so if you would like to visit, please don't hesitate to contact us! In addition to working full time for the college, I am a proud mom of an eleven-year-old son. My son and I live near the ocean in the small town of Mattapoisett. I look forward to hearing your opinions, ideas and experiences with the Reggio approach to learning!
L. Eileen Estudante
Lead Teacher
Bridgewater State College Children's Center
(508) 531-1244
lestudante@bridgew.edu
Hello all! I'm Andrea Witherell and I am currently an Educational Consultant with Project Connect, an EEC grant funded program in Attleboro. This is my second fiscal year with Project Connect, prior to that I was a family child care provider for 19 1/2 years. I do not have experience with Reggio and am looking forward to the discussion and hearing from those of you who may be implementing or planning to phase in the approach.
Hi! I'm Debbie Ellenbogen, one of the later arrivals to the face-face meeting last week...but I'm glad that I finally got there! It was nice to see everyone and to hear so many different perspectives about early childhood education, and people's reactions to the class book.
I have been teaching various early childhood and elementary grades for the past 20+ years. Most recently, I team teach in a half day class of 4 year olds in a faith based (Jewish) setting. I am looking forward to learning from all of you as I continue on my own personal journey to integrate the lessons of Reggio into my own classroom and teaching career.
On a personal level, I am mom to six kids ranging from a senior in HS to a four year old who is in my class this year (and he would be quick to tell you that he will be FIVE tomorrow). My husband is a dentist and we live in Sharon.
Hi Everyone,
I enjoyed meeting everyone and participating in the first face to face last week. I am looking forward to talking to others through this discussions about how to incorporate the Reggio ideas in the classroom with the children and also educating the parents.
I have been a Preschool Teacher at the Bridgewater State College Children's Center for the past 22 years. Currently, I am in a mixed aged classroom with two co-teachers. Before that I was a Special Ed. Teacher at the Mayflower Child Care Rehabilitation Center in Plymouth for 7 years. I am also an '80 and '83 alumni of BSC. Bridgewater is my hometown and I currently reside in Abington with my husband and and I have a 17 year old attending South Shore Reg. Voc. H.S. in Hanover. I am involved in the Old Colony Chapter Steering Committee of BAEYC as a Secretary and am a member of the Pride Coalition on campus as an advocate for GLBT students, falculty and staff.
I look forward to our future dialogue on this subject as I'm
sure we can all learn from each others experiences.
Debbie Drago
Preschool Teacher
Bridgewater State College
Hi my name is Lisa W. I have been in the field for over 20 years. I have worked in preschools and daycare and taught 2.9 to 5 year olds. After being a stay at home mom for a few years I decided to use my in-law apartment in my home as a home daycare. So for the last 12 years I have been running a large home daycare with two assistants. Because we all have a background in early child hood education we have set the daycare care up like a small preschool.We have infants to after school age children which sometimes can be challenging but they always keep us busy.
Hi everyone,
I really enjoyed the lively discussion the other night and look forward to many more interesting conversations. My name is Joanne Hogan and I have been teaching preschool at the Bridgewater State College Children's Center for the past 9 years. I received my BA from Assumption College and my M.Ed in Early Childhood from BSC in 1994. My other teaching experiences included 2 campus based preschool programs and when my two girls were babies (they are 15 and 12 now) I operated my own child care business for six years. As my co-teacher, Eileen Estudante mentioned, our classroom is mixed age (2.9-5)and anyone who is curious about how this environment works is welcome to visit us at the BSC Children's Center. We have begun to incorporate some the of Reggio philosophy, but have more to learn. I look forward to our future discussions on this topic.
Hello everyone... I work in my own family day care setting, just me and the kids... all day!! I'm a proud mom of three wonderful children... ages 19,11 and 7. I've been doing day care since 2000,and the rewards are endless.
This book class should be interesting, and i look forward to hearing everyone else's perspetives.
Hello, my name is Linda Najarian. I have worked in the preschool field for 14 years. I currently team teach with two other teachers in a class with 4 year olds. I recently earned my Associate degree in Early Childhood Education at Massasoit. I am currently enrolled in the BA program at Eastern Nazarene. This is the first blogging experience for me as well. I am looking forward to learning and discussing the Reggio approach with all of you. I am also a mother to an 18 year old daughter.
Hi all,
My name is Susan Benson and I am a long time resident of North Easton where I have raised four children and operated a family child care for the past 20 years. Having earned an M.Ed from Bridgewater State College in 1992, I also run my program as a small preschool and wonder if the Reggio model might be a good fit for us. The mixed age group and flexible schedules found in family child care lend themselves to the in depth exploration of topics described in Reggio. Two aspects of this approach that touched me are the “respect” that the model gives to the child and his part in learning as well as the time to “reflect” on what the child has been experienced and learned.
Hello everyone,
My name is Bill Benson and I have lived in North Easton where I have helped raise my four children and currently assist Susan in her family child care. I have previously worked in manufacturing for the past thirty years, but became a casualty of the economy in early 2009. I find the work with the children in our child care to be fun and rewarding. I look forward to learning about and working with the Reggio principles to see how they will fit in to today’s structured MCAS driven education philosophy.
Hi everyone, I have been involved with early childhood ed for over 25 years. I have been the director of a wonderful faith based preschool in sharon for nine years. I am very interested in the approach to education in this book, it fits in nicely with my personal philosophy. I look forward to discussing the book with everyone. Oh, I was also one of the late arrivals, with Debbie E.:)
Well from reading everyone’s introduction it sounds like I am one of the younger members of the group. My name is Erin Titus I am recently married and I graduated from Bridgewater State College in 2008 with my BA in Early Childhood Education (nice to see you "Professor Nelson" =) ). I would like to say that I have had a pretty decent range of experience with children in a fairly short time. I have worked with K-4th grade at an after school program, I worked for Early Intervention, I spent a short time at a private preschool, and now I am happy to call Head Start my home. I appreciate the book we are reading and I enjoyed the discussion at our first face to face. I look forward to more.
Hi my name is Pattie Shunstrom & I've been a home daycare provider for over 13yrs. in Bridgewater and for 8yrs.in Avon,Ma. My husband & I have 4 daughters (27,24,22&20yrs.old)& a 8 month old grandson. I'm always interested in expanding my knowledge of the child and what kind of positive impact we can be in their lives. I felt the face to face had great energy and look forward to more conversation on the book.
Hello,
I am Wanda Hanson, and I am the
Director of Twin Oaks Farm Learning Center, in Rehoboth ,MA. We implement Reggio principles at our school and it is an on going process. i look forward to future conversatinos on this site. I am just learning to get connected.
Hi, I am Erin Valasunas. I am the Director at Twin Oaks Farm Learning Center in Norton, MA. I have been working with children since 2006 and realized how much I truely enjoyed working with them. I went to school, received my degree and knew from the begining that I wanted to Direct. I am also the mother of two young children, a three year old girl and a 6 1/2 month son. I love my job and am lookng foward to learning more about how to incorporate the Reggio way into our school curriculum.
hi my name is christina davenport ive been working at doves nest day care center for almost 7 years. ive worked with school aged kids toddlers pre school and pre-k. ive bben with pre-k for 4 fun years:) i work with 2 great ladies deb and linda :)im excited to learn more about reggio:)
Hi, I was a stay at home for 11 years. When I returned to work I got a job working with elementary school children for four years. I have been in my current position in the toddler room for eight years. I found this book interesting and hope to learn more during the on-line discussion. I have already learned on new skill - blogging! :)
Hello,
I have been working with young children as an administrator and/or teacher for the last 30 plus years. I am currently teaching my school’s youngest preschoolers – mostly three year olds. I’ve been lucky enough to work with some of my current colleagues for many years, giving us all an opportunity to develop a common approach to teaching, observing, and interacting with families over time together. We’ve tried to collect information on Reggio Emilia in a variety of ways over the years, always returning with an interest in making deeper connections to our own teaching. I look forward to this discussion!
hello,my name is angela leblanc and i have been working as a teacher for 20 years. i am currently an infant teacher but have worked with every age group in my center. i am not a computer person and stressing that this blog is going to get lost!!!!!
Hello, My name is Judith, I live in Randolph. I've been teaching pre-school children for over 30 years. My program is called Blue Hill Early Learning. It is technically a large family child care program, but we have been running it as a pre-school for the last twelve years. We have been using some of the ideas from the Reggio approach, and we'd like to incorporate more ideas as we figure them out. I'm looking forward to some great discussions.
Hello, My name is Pam Pruyn. I have lived in Taunton MA all my life. I am married with two children ages 10 and 11. I ran my own family daycare from 1996 until 2005. During that time I went back to school and received my bachelors and masters degree from Lesley University. I have worked as a substitute teacher, preschool and kindergarten teacher in the public schools. For the past three and a half years I have called Triumph, Inc. Head Start my home. I enjoy working with preschool children and looking forward to learning more about the Reggio approach.
I should probably introduce myself as well! I'm Greg Nelson, a professor of ECE here at Bridgewater State College, and co-coordinator of this book discussion group. I'm also the one who picked out the book, so if you find it tough going, blame me!
I spent over 15 years doing full-day preschool as a teacher/director/owner before going the higher ed route, which I've been doing for almost another 20 years. My original training was in Montessori, much of which I still find valuable and valid, but the Reggio approach adds additional learner-centered elements Montessori lacked. Probably my greatest asset is my wife, who has been a fantastically talented Head Start teacher forever!
Post a Comment