Gathering Clues

Education must, be not only a transmission of culture but also a provider of alternative views of the world and a strengthener of the will to explore them.  Jerome Bruner

This experience of being alongside others, 100, to be exact, who are like minded leaves me daily feeling empowered and inspired! 

I find myself eager and curious and hopeful of being included in as many conversations and in as many situations as possible. Wherever we go in Reggio we find ourselves happening upon our international colleagues. As soon as we exchange greetings the conversations around learning and knowing continue; almost as if we were wandering around at a cocktail party. It takes many conversations with many contributors for me to begin to gather my thoughts and attempt to highlight important themes and words that are resonating with me at the end of each learning day.

One colleague, using a key Reggio phrase, collecting "clues" through observation, today helped me put my many conversations into perspective. This encouraged me to relax into the notion that I am here "gathering clues" to guide me to be in touch with my own thinking. As I pick up each clue I must believe and understand that it moves me closer to realizing ways and means to pick up the clues from children as well. 

This time to observe different points of view will help my journey towards making relational observations of children and in turn planning for relational opportunities with children, upon my return home. This surely must be the reason we are here as a group of 100 educators from 24 different countries.