Taking the Leap…
“You just think lovely, wonderful thoughts…and they lift you up in the air.”
— Peter Pan
In the spirit of using metaphors to deepen and complexify our understanding of Responsive Curriculum, here’s one more that my co-educators (Roberta, Diane, Kirsten) and I came up with about 30 years ago, that has continued to resonate for me…
Driving vs. Flying
Imagine that your job as an educator is to navigate your way from September to June, to chart a course for your year in the classroom. You could get there by driving, which would give you some choice of routes to take, but would confine you to the paved roads already laid out on the map. OR you could get there by flying, which would give you much more flexibility of altitude and course, and a much different view along the way. Flying lifts you out of the flat plane of a roadmap, and gives you an additional dimension to play with, along with a vastly expanded perspective on what lies behind you, around you, and ahead of you.
Learning to Fly
The founder of the Reggio Emilia schools, Loris Malaguzzi, said that in a responsive curriculum model, “it’s as if the children and teachers are in the basket of a hot air balloon.” There may be those (family members, licensors, policy makers) who think it’s safest for that balloon to stay on the ground. But the children and educators know what might be possible if that hot-air balloon is allowed to rise up. Our job then, Malaguzzi said, is to convince everyone that we are skilled pilots of hot-air balloons.
And Lela Gandini, the U.S. Liaison to the schools of Reggio Emilia, explained that a responsive curriculum offers children “a sense of freedom to venture beyond the known, precisely because the teachers are adventuring with them.”
My friend and long-time colleague Ann Pelo used to say that a responsive curriculum can feel “like jumping off a cliff, and trusting that I’m going to land.” But she reassures us that the more times we jump and land, jump and land, the less scary that jump will become.
Safety Instructions
For many of us, though, flying does sometimes feel less safe than driving. So I’d like to request your full attention as I demonstrate the safety features of this…hot-air balloon:
The emergency exits are located to the front, sides, and rear of this educational approach. The work we do is big, and challenging, and exhausting, and I can understand the urge to run screaming for the exits – but we’re here because we’re committed to offering our children the kind of authentic childhood that they deserve.
If you are traveling with small children (obvi) please affix your own oxygen mask before assisting your child. You need to be able to breathe, to feel comfortable with this kind of curriculum, if you’re going to be an effective support and facilitator for the children.
Your emotional baggage should be stowed completely underneath the seat in front of you, or in an overhead compartment. Yes, we all come to this work with our own histories and experiences – and you don’t want to let go of that rich knowledge and skill, but you may need to stow some of your pre-conceived notions and your go-to plans, if you’re going to craft a responsive program. You’ll probably still pull from your wealth of teaching “baggage” all the time (I know five great playdough recipes, and a dozen finger-plays about rain, for example) but you’ve gotta keep those aisles clear, to make space for the children’s priorities.
I’m sorry to say, there is no safety instruction card located in the seat pocket in front of you. There’s no recipe or formula, no guaranteed series of steps to create a Responsive Curriculum – you will, by necessity, be “flying by the seat of your pants” sometimes, working collaboratively with your colleagues, and the children and families, to design an organic, customized, responsive curriculum.
Taking the leap…
We can do this. We can let go of our need to pre-plan the curriculum. We can design environments and offer provocations and plan experiences that invoke children’s wonder and learning. We can closely observe the children and discuss our observations to make meaning of their work and to plan what’s next.
Responsive Curriculum doesn’t mean that we just sit back and let kids do whatever they want. A responsive teaching practice is highly proactive and engaged, and requires us to be on our game. The more organized and prepared we are for whatever might happen, the more fluid and free the children’s experience will become.
Loris Malaguzzi once said that educators should think of 100 ideas for what might come next, so that when the children come up with the hundred-and-first, we’re not surprised. When we take responsibility for intentionally planning for a responsive curriculum, we make it possible for the children to fly.
And yes, that’s my kid at age 2, leaping off the furniture in the toddler classroom at Hilltop. Blessings on his teacher Nick, who understood that Brayden needed to leap, and skillfully scaffolded his risk competence, challenging him to leap higher and farther around the classroom,