Rethinking Your Environment

Kim Turner, in her article, "Are We Doing Things Just Because We’ve Always Done Them This Way?" in the Exchange Essential focused on the Reggio approach, Inspiring Practices, Part I, talks addresses the importance of continually analyzing and experimenting with classroom environments...

"At one of the first preschools I taught at after graduating from college, every classroom environment stayed the same from year to year. Whatever furniture was in the classroom when a new teacher moved in stayed there and the furniture never moved around the classroom. The classroom materials rarely changed. The table stayed by the wall because that is where it had always stood. The toddler classroom had the animal puzzle in it because it had always had the animal puzzle. Change was not valued. Further, uniqueness and variety in classrooms materials were not a priority.  Individual classrooms were not particularly suited to the children in them....
 
"Creating a classroom environment is an ongoing process. We are still observing and documenting the children working in the block area so we can make changes as needed to better support them. And our questioning, observation, and documentation continue in other areas of the classroom, as well. My co-teacher and I are currently discussing how to redesign our dramatic play space to better support the children’s work there.

"Even when the classroom environment seems ideal, I have found it helpful to continue analyzing it. There is always the possibility that after reflection and reorganization the environment will support the children’s work even better. I have learned that I can give myself permission to experiment within the environment. If a new idea doesn’t work, I can keep changing things until I find something that does work."

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