'I am who we are'

During a conversation that we had with the girls at the end of last term about our homes, who we live with and where we live, we noticed that the girls found our questions challenging. Questions such as 'where abouts do you live?' 'What is your address and your phone number?' and 'can you tell us about what your house looks like?' resulted in vague answers and at times, it seemed as if the girls hadn't thought much about these ideas.

At the time, we talked about these conversations and reflected on something that we had found very powerful about choosing inquiry topics, at a seminar we had attended; that when children have an emotional attachment to what is being explored and when they are learning about things that are relevant to their lives, they will be far more engaged and the inquiry will have a powerful impact.

Out of the children's conversations and our teacher reflection, has come the beginnings of our term inquiry, 'I Am Who We Are'. We have borrowed the title from a quote by Loris Malaguzzi (who is known as the founding protagonist of the pedagogy of Reggio Emila.) We feel this heading encapsulates the notion of ourselves as individuals, as well as the connections we have with others. It is others who help shape the person we are and we are reminded of the John Donne quote, 'No man is an island'. 

We have many ideas about what we may do during the term, but we will use the interests of the children to decide which possible directions we may head in.

Watch this space!