Also, Jen, I am glad you are interested in coteachers working together to set up a provocation. That is something I am interested in too…but I wanted it to come from you all

I’m really proud of our kids for their growth in acknowledging, respecting, and responding to each other. They actually do this because they value what each other says. This is a huge amount of growth in one year. It’s courteous, and they do benefit from being able to communicate, but it makes them more mature citizens of the world.

Next year…hmmm….I don’t have any great ideas, but I guess to grow on their respect of one another, they could spend even more energy being inclusive–is this maybe, embracing differences and recognizing them as strengths? I’m not sure and I know they do this, but I really see the former.

As a coteacher, I began to see (distinguish between learning connections and cute asides) stories forming and got to watch them unfold over time.

A positive of this year that was not intentional: communication between coteachers has increased and this helps bridge the gap between the blog/ days coteaching /days not coteaching.
How did I grow this year as a coteacher: listening more to the children, asking questions that are not leading (in the direction I think the answer is). Realizing that it is MY limitations holding me back from being better and working to push past them. (work in progress) (:
How I would like to continue to grow as a coteacher: to better/deeper understand the Children, how they think, what they say and do. And, to work on my photography.
How can the learning community support me: feedback, tips, tricks, thoughts, opinions, etc.
What is something that should be a goal for next year: I would like to see a project that Ryan and Dylan participated in during the first year at Rosalie revisited with the group that is here next year. I think it would be neat to partner with a coteacher to set up a provocation at school. (I realize these are not goals, more project-y…every time I think of a goal, I realize we are already doing it to some degree)
What do we want to get better at: ??? still thinking about that one…

With family coming into town next week and preparation for our trip, I think Tuesday night would be our best chance to attend a meeting.

Some things that I am really proud of from this school year include:

- our tremendous growth in project work. Last year we were walking the border between themes and projects. This year the stairs project, in particular, was a long way from a theme. It was a true emergent project with a lot of depth and a clear path leading from one step to the next. Other projects like the volcanoes were also more sophisticated and emergent rather than theme-y even though they didn’t get as much documentation and reflection work as the stairs did.

- partnering with families. We grew a lot in terms of partnering with families this year. Last year I was more in the mindset of working with families where both parents work full time and the role of the childcare worker is to make life easier for them. Letting you in to participate more in the maintenance and improvement of the school was certainly part of that. I also think I have been listening better to your own research questions and we have been following some of those together.

- This is a little thing, but I think using the portfolio pages to show photographs at assembly for reflection as a group was an improvement over last year. We still have a long way to go on learning how to reflect on learning experiences with children.

- We were able to support the language of clay much better this year than last year. The picnic table helped that out. We can still grow even more in terms of setting up an environment in which clay is truly a self-select possibility.

- I think we grew in terms of teacher as researcher (and parent as researcher). I think I understand more about how the research of the adult and the research of the child intertwine.

- Over the year we began to use the space of the classroom more and more efficiently, which is so important in our tiny classroom. I have a ton of ideas about how to use our space even more efficiently with our new learning group next year. Getting proper shelving in the teachers’ closet was certainly a step in the right direction!

Some goals I have for next year include:
- Learning more about reflecting on experiences with children and supporting children in sharing their work

- Part of our stairs project this year involved a bit of paper sculpture. The interest it held for the children makes me want to explore this language further next year. It has such great potential both for our older ones and our very young ones. It is definitely a language used in Reggio though not much has been published on it from a Reggio or Reggio-inspired perspective. I am thinking we can explore the building blocks to paper sculpture, developing a “catalog” of building blocks. I am seeing sorted containers of different sculpture options: a container of fringes, a container of accordions, a container of loops, etc. So if children just want to make the building blocks, they go in those containers, sorted. Then if someone wants to make a sculpture, s/he can select blocks to use without having to make all of them, of course making them all is still an option. Of course the hope is for the children to come to love paper sculpture and its possibilities and be able to use it as an expressive language. For the little ones, just tearing, cutting, scrunching up, etc is wonderful to explore.

- I would like to organize our time better. I think the new grouping will be conducive to exploring the possibilities of a different organization of time. A warning to many schools who are beginning to explore Reggio ideas is not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We are in a different position in a way because we started a new Reggio-inspired school somewhat from scratch. I am at a point in my teaching journey where though I am still excited about unexplored territory, I am also feeling the need to bring back good old things that may have been thrown out but that our knowledge of Reggio hasn’t supplied a replacement for as of yet. We know a lot more about emergent projects now than we did when we opened two years ago. That frees up some of our mind space/planning space to add back in good stuff that may not be Reggio-inspired, but doesn’t conflict with the values either. With better organized time, I would like to put more work into empowering the children with habits of the mind, tools for success. We do some of that, but with more organization we can do more.

- Of course I want to keep finding new and better ways to support the development of out adult colearners.

- I would like to implement a better system for organizing the raw documentation data.

- We will start using the new nature composition studio and discover some of its potential.

- I would like to continue to make the art area more self-sufficient, more functional

- I would like to rearrange the furniture for an ever increasing efficient use of space. The book area takes up a lot of space for the amount it is used. Can we put it somewhere else and get the same amount out of it but use less space? With younger ones again we will need more dramatic play space again. Is there a better way to do the clothes so that they don’t keep falling off the hooks and maybe the children would use them? Can we fit a drying rack in the room? How can we add storage for light table and projector materials? The mailboxes need to be replaced. I would prefer 3D mailboxes. Can we find space for that? How could we get a little more space out of the cubbie boxes? I would like to move the things under the cubbies for some hanging space. We need a better set up for displaying musical instruments. I would like to put up a we erase board that has topics we are trying to record listed on it so coteachers have a cheat sheet. We really need more studio space inside. One day we had two toddlers, six kids and a visiting child. No room no room no room! Here is a description of my current rearrangement thoughts: Move the provocation table that is by the door to sort of where the square table is now. Behind it where the book area is now could be a new dramatic play area where we might be able to put 3d mailboxes too. The blocks stay the same. I’d like to try a reading area by the bathroom with wall bookcases and some pillows, but also a bench seating that can double as a puppet theater. I want to look at the possibility of organizing some of the musical instruments under the assembly bench with a cover for assembly and some of them in a pegboard sort of arrangement on the wall where the alphabet is. Maybe there is a corner shelf situation that can add light table storage between the light table and the projector. Maybe some could go on the wall by the door too. The light table and projector would stay the same, but an 6 foot or so high shelving unit would go on the other side of the light table (where Kai’s stairs are now) for more studio materials including the paper sculpture studio stuff. Then two new tables pushed together could give us more seating for the studio where the fort and provocation table are now. Thoughts? Can you picture it?

Saw a snail chase a whale
Fooba wooba fooba wooba
Saw a snail chase a whale
Fooba wooba John
Saw a snail chase a whale
All around the water pail
Hey John ho John fooba wooba John
(there are more verses)