Speaking and Consulting

Reggio Inspired Practice: The Classroom as Third Teacher 

Contact: Liz McCaw      elizmccaw@gmail.com

Classroom as Third Teacher- Consulting

We will work together to redesign the learning space to consider space, flow, colour, nature and light to infuse calm, organization and beauty into the room. Careful consideration is given to the age, diversity and vulnerability of your learners, student access to resources and building a learning community. This valuable consult often has great impact on the learning environment and can either be a first step towards Reggio Inspired Practice or a redesign to make the environment work. For mid island schools, pre and post visits are included in this consult as tweaking is often required throughout the first term as teachers transition. 

Like Reggio Emilia classrooms you do not need to purchase beautiful furniture, the beauty emerges from the thoughtful use of the five elements: light, colour, nature, flow and space. Often little or no funds are needed for this change as the resources are recycled or repurposed.

I have worked 1:1 with many teachers Pre-K to 7 as well as with school teams and early learning centres. When working with schools a successful approach has been to work as a team. This contributes to a team understanding, sharing of resources and ongoing support for each other.

Current Workshops

Developing a primary nature program.  Pre K-4 (90 minutes)

·       Making a shift in your practice

        Benefits of an outdoor program

·       Resources: Student/teacher clothing, tools and kits

·       Funding a primary nature program

        Collaboration with your colleagues

      This workshop is intended for educators interested in adding an outdoor 

      component to their program. If you are interested you can order my book

      Outside Our Window: developing a primary nature program is available through

      Strong Nations as Amazon

    Reggio Inspired Practice: Classroom as Third Teacher (90 minutes)

      This workshop is intended for educators interested in creating a calm, beautiful

      and functional learning environment.

 We will examine the elements of flow, colour, nature and light to infuse calm, 

 organization and beauty into the space. Careful consideration is given to the age

 and vulnerability of your learners, student access to resources and building a

 learning community. Examples of classrooms that have been transformed from

 Pre-K to grade 4 will be shared.

 A Google Document with highlights, links to web sites and videos will be included.

 Reggio Inspired Practice: The Power of Loose Parts (90 minutes)

·     This workshop is intended for educators interested in process learning through   loose parts. This workshop includes:

        Building Your Loose Parts Collection

·       Organization

T.     Transporting

        Creative Ways To Use Loose Parts

        Class Projects 

·       Making Curriculum links - Four Learning Frameworks

        A Shift in Practice

·       Reggio Inspired Pedagogy

   Google Document with highlights, links to web sites and videos 

        will be included

 Reggio Inspired Practice: Playful Inquiry

  Teacher framed - Student led inquiry

  Emphasis on process learning, play based program & collaborative 

  partnerships

  Reggio inspired learning environments

  Q- what does it look like to play with ideas?

  Google Document with highlights, links to web sites and videos 

  will be included

Reggio Inspired Practice: Developing The Atelier
  Creating a dedicated art space or room in your school/classroom
  Emphasis on process learning, collaborative art, self directed art & play
  What art materials to purchase & how to introduce them
  Organization, storage and access to art materials
  Creating display spaces i.e.: Gallery Wall ...

  Celebrating with Family

  Google Document with highlights, links to web sites and videos as 

 well as recommended reading list

 

Reggio Inspired Practice: Story Workshop PreK-3 (90 minutes)

Creating a dedicated space for small world play

Benefits of Story Workshop

How to collect loose parts for your framework including storage, 

transport and clean up

Setting The Table (inspired by the Opal School)

Transitioning Story Play to Story Writing

Teacher Roles

Assessment

Reggio Inspired Practice: Counting Collections (90 minutes)

What are the benefits of using Counting Collections in K-5

How to collect loose parts for your counting collections, including storage, transport and clean up

Introduce the counting collection framework

Mini Lessons and co-created anchor charts

Assessment of student thinking and learning

Google Document with highlights, links to web sites and videos as well as recommended reading list