Reading Matters Winter 2018

Transdisciplinary Lessons Learned from the Reggio Emilia Approach and Art

By Tracey Hunter-Doniger, Kathryn Templeton, Kelsey McNeel, Katherine Tobin, Jillian Wen, Alyssa Walker, & Alexandra McGrath, College of Charleston

Reading Matters Teaching Matters

ABSTRACT—This article discusses the Reggio Emilia Approach to learning and what literacy teachers can learn from the child- centered pedagogy and art. The authors state three valuable takeaways from this enriching and paradigm shifting experience: 1) We, as educators, should consider Malaguzzi’s hundred languages and realize that by defining literacy in a myopic way we eliminate ninety-nine other possibilities including the arts. 2) The rights of children extend beyond the basic needs. 3) Embracing and adopting the cultural difference of the Reggio Emilia Approach would be beneficial to both the students and teachers. The Reggio Emilia Approach to learning has become a popular pedagogical form of education for early childhood students. As such, educators from across the globe journey to Italy every year to explore this unique practice. In the spring of 2017, twenty-five pre-service education students from three universities from South Carolina had the fortunate experience of studying abroad and fully immersed themselves in the culture, language, art, and literacy of Reggio Emilia. Through this experience, the authors found that literacy can be defined broadly by encouraging a multiliteracy perspective for students to make meaning, thus, expanding the clarity of literacy for students, communication, individualized instruction, and inclusive learning environments (Riddle, 2016). This article discusses what literacy educators can learn from the Reggio Emilia Approach to learning and its use of the arts as a language. The Read to Succeed legislation of 2015 in South Carolina has brought many changes to the curriculum across the state including coursework, retention, and intervention. While literacy is a cornerstone of education there are some educational philosophies, such as the Reggio Emilia Approach, that consider literacy to be much more than letters, words, and sentences. The Oxford dictionary defines transdisciplinary as relating to more than one branch of knowledge. In short, this means learning is not confined to a single subject at a time. A transdisciplinary approach encompasses content and pedagogical practices from disciplines across the curriculum. This encourages real world thinking because critical issues are not solved in isolation. This notion can apply to mathematics, science, social studies and especially the arts. As educators, we understand the need for all disciplines across the curriculum to work together producing a cohesive learning structure to meet the needs of all our students. Young children, before they have had any formal literacy instruction, display many capacities and skills, which can be viewed as directly relevant to their literacy development (Snow, 2004). Educators should embrace a child’s natural curiosities through all types of literacies. Loris Malaguzzi (1993a), the founder of the Reggio Emilia Approach argues that the 100 languages of children, are a hundred ways of thinking, playing and speaking.

Child from Reggio Emilia painting the school garden

Literature Review Within the city of Reggio Emilia, Italy, there lies a distinctive approach to teaching. The man behind this distinguished philosophy and approach to teaching is Loris Malaguzzi. According to Valarie Mercilliott Hewett (2001), the parents in Reggio built the first schools by hand from the rubble fromWorldWar II. The Reggio philosophy became largely implemented in 1963 when Malaguzzi and the local government began building municipal preschools. The overall approach itself is child-centered learning through projects, art making, exploration and socialized play. The Reggio Emilia philosophical approach to teaching gets its distinctive qualities from the blending of educational theories and the culture of the city, Reggio Emilia. The crucial aspect of the Reggio Philosophy of teaching is the view and image of the child (Hewett, 2001; Wurm, 2005). The learning is focused on the children and their interests. The child is the main priority and not the content therefore, the learning process is key, and not just the final product (Fernandez-Santin & Torruella, 2017). Children are valued for what they already know , and in doing so Reggio respects what children bring with them, thereby making active use of what they bring throughout the learning process (Taguchi, 2011). In other words, the child is not an empty vessel that needs to

Reading Matters | Volume 18 • Winter 2018 | scira.org | 21

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