Ok, Here I am. Trying to figure out (please, please, please. Work. Please!) (Please!) I would love to be able post from my iphone. As this is- believe it or not, my sweet iphone is also my computer. With all it's free apps and limits glory- I do make do. Sort of. For now. But I am now trying and wishing that I could post images from my iphone library to the blog. Possible?? Anyone? Anyone?
So, while I figure that all out, let me say I have been very absent from posting. Like 4 months about. Many things have been going on such as new projects, old projects completed, obsessions being fed, for example learning about sheep breeds and early childhood education in the Reggio Emilia Philosohy.
Just yesterday as I was exploring where this philosophy has reached, I came across a very thought provoking, and moving article from the University of Nedbraska, Lincoln extention.
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1045&context=famconfacpub
As I spend time thinking about, planning and applying for Art Teacher positions, I come back to this concept. Not as the idea being something seperate, but as a vital piece that helps in making my creatively educational career more complete. I am reminded to think outside of the box as I think of and come across institutions to which I apply for a teaching post. I'm reminded of being an assistant preschool teacher at the Bowdoin College Children's Center. After hearing a women speak of an approach and philosophy that had been created and carried out more than 50 years before in Italy, I was overcome with excited emotion, including hope and excitement because it completely co-insided with what I had been doing this preschoolers. Giving them materials, stepping back and letting them do what they would while observing, using their investigations as teaching moments and intervening when problems arose. Which became less and less when children were able to discover for themselves how things worked and they weren't told how to play. Now, I understand there may seem like a big gap here. I am leaving a lot of other information out. But here I am only recaping some highlights on one aspect of what I was discovering with these children. After hearing the presentation of the Reggio Emilia Approach, I was finally given validation for the activities I would do with the preschoolers. I also created an art space that was "open" all through the day along with all other spaces in our classroom. Through observations of the children and what they explored, so much was learned on the part of the teacher. I will blog more on this in the very near future.