Fundamentals Workshop Committee Report

Fundamentals Workshop Committee Report

10/12/10

In response to NAREA board interest in reviewing/reconsidering the fundamental workshop materials and organization (see NAREA Minutes Boston 2.5.10), Ellen, David and Jeanne phoned or emailed 15 programs, roughly half veterans who had been offering workshops for 4-5 years and the other half were first timers. We were able to interview 10. The following observations/perspectives emerged:

The workshops were very positive experiences for the vast majority of both participants and leaders.

Organizing the workshops and presenting were forms of professional development for the educators who sponsored the workshop; balancing the benefit of preparing to present and host participants with the counterbalancing comment that to host and present was a lot of work.

Most workshops included a presentation, discussion, and school tour; most were situated within the experience of that school, shaping them to use their experience as an important focus of the workshop. In other words, they were not generic content as much as site-relevant content.

Most respondents indicated the need to provide workshops that go deeper (focus on topics such as documentation; listening; environment; families, etc.).

Many respondents discussed the need to be flexible, to shape the workshops based on the participants’ interests, backgrounds, experience, contexts.

Many respondents noted the different levels of familiarity with the Reggio approach and the different age groups represented (infant toddler, preschool, public school) among participants.

Several respondents observed an increasing interest from public school teachers; at least one noted the opportunity the workshop provided to connect with the public schools.

Most felt that offering a fundamental workshop in local/statewide/regional conferences is a good idea (one person suggested that NAREA conferences should be where one went for more advanced presentations); another thought was a preconference day where an optional fundamentals workshop would get people prepped to get more out of the longer conference.

Some of the ways that organizers thought NAREA could offer more support include (in no order of significance):

*more advanced materials;

*a list of consultants;

*a list of programs that might be interested in teacher/program exchanges;

*organizational support (information about how to lay out a brochure, sample brochures and agenda, form templates);

*additional materials (slide show, videos, lending library, papers that synthesize information);

*systems for sharing of materials/experiences (a place on NAREA where workshop organizers can share brochures, agenda, etc. and discuss workshop experiences);

*one respondent urged NAREA to send free newsletters to Canadian members;

*one person mentioned the use of NAREA as co-sponsor was helpful;

*financial support for materials (some organizers charged a fee, others did not);

*one respondent wanted NAREA board member involvement in organizing workshops.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Once we summarized our findings and identified common themes, we discussed possible responses to the issues that were raised in our interviews. The following recommendations emerged in these discussions:

1. The vast majority of workshop organizers reported that the Fundamentals Workshops were effective in introducing the Reggio approach to a wide range of educators, including early childhood educators, public school teachers and state early childhood consultants/licensers. However, many also indicated participants’ requests for follow-up sessions with more focused discussions about particular issues such as documentation, family engagement, etc. To address both the reported need for introductory offerings as well as opportunities for organizers and participants to delve more deeply into particular issues and topics, we recommend:

NAREA consider ways to support organizers who want to pursue the development of what might be considered study groups or learning communities that evolve from their initial Fundamentals Workshop gatherings. We also recommend that materials be added to the NAREA site that organizers who are interested in developing study groups might access both in terms of content and group process.

NAREA encourage/recruit new organizers to offer Fundamentals Workshops with particular attention to those states/regions that have not been served.

2. There was nearly unanimous support for the idea that the Fundamentals Workshops be presented at regional or national conferences. Based on this feedback, we recommend:

NAREA urge/recruit members to submit proposals to present a Fundamentals Workshop at their annual AEYC conference;

NAREA offer a preconference Fundamentals session at the annual NAEYC conference that introduces the Reggio approach;

NAREA organize/offer a preconference session at its summer conference at a very low cost that introduces the Reggio approach (while offering more advanced sessions during the following conference days).

Submitted by:

Ellen Hall

David Fernie

Jeanne Goldhaber