Victoria, owner of Side by Side Consulting Services, is a skilled thinking partner for early childhood educators and brings many rich experiences and wisdom to this 2-part conversation. In this episode, and part 1, we engage is an authentic, reflective, and open conversation to explore our experience with, and our ideas about young children’s experiences with art, music, and dance. We discuss parallel practices of play, the importance of building relationships with high quality materials, and the influence of time in getting to know materials such as clay or a guitar. If you’re curious about how you can support and honour children’s expression through various art forms, this episode is for you!
What was extra magical about this conversation was that Victoria and I had many, many deeper reflections once we listened back to this recording. Despite both being engaged during the conversation, we noticed new ideas that didn’t stand out to us the first time, and were blown away by the layers of ideas woven throughout this conversation. These new noticings and wonderings led us to realize how many more conversations are yet to be had on this topic. While episode will be out mid-April, I’m sure this is just the beginning of many more conversations between us about this topic.
References
Gandini, L. (Ed.). (2005). In the spirit of the studio: Learning from the atelier of Reggio Emilia. Teachers College Press.
Pelo, A., & Carter, M. (2018). From teaching to thinking: A pedagogy for reimagining our work. Exchange Press.
Pelo, A. (2016). The language of art: Inquiry-based studio practices in early childhood settings. Redleaf Press.
Pursuing Questions 