Collaboration

COLLABORATION

Established in 1994, Reggio Children is the International Center for the Defense and Promotion of the Rights and Potential of all Children. One of Reggio Children’s main tasks is to respond to the growing number of requests from all over the world, particularly Europe and the United States, for information on the Reggio experience.

At Boulder Journey School our ongoing collaboration with Reggio Children, especially with Carlina Rinaldi and Amelia Gambetti, has inspired and supported the work of the entire school community.

Carlina Rinaldi first visited Boulder Journey School in 2000, during the Third Summer Institute in the United States on the Reggio Emilia Approach to Education. She returned in the fall of 2002 to work with faculty through Boulder Journey School’s Teacher Education and Professional Development programs. Since 2002, Carlina has visited the school annually, offering her extensive experience as Pedagogical Coordinator, Director of the Municipal Infant-Toddler Centers and Preschools in Reggio Emilia, researcher, professor at the Universities of Modena and Reggio Emilia, author, pedagogical consultant, Executive Consultant to Reggio Children and Reggio Emilia city council representative in order to extend and deepen our dialogue surrounding relevant educational issues and the translation of the philosophy and pedagogy of the schools for young children in Reggio Emilia in our context.

Amelia Gambetti began her work with faculty and visitors to Boulder Journey School in the fall of 1999, sharing over 30 years of experience as an educator in the preschools in Reggio Emilia as well as her experiences in myriad international contexts as Reggio Children’s liaison for consultancy to schools, board member of the Istituzione Scuole e Nidi d’Infanzia of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia and Coordinator of Reggio Children. Amelia’s work with educators at Boulder journey School encourages us to seriously consider the environment of the school as a vital aspect of the learning process; an environment filled with natural materials that reflect the context in which it resides and an environment that gives visibility to all of the protagonists in the learning – children, families and educators.

NORTH AMERICAN REGGIO EMILIA ALLIANCE (NAREA)

Founded in 2002, the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance (NAREA) is a network of educators, parents and advocates seeking to elevate both the quality of life and the quality of schools and centers for young children.

At Boulder Journey School, our membership in NAREA supports collaboration, collegiality, reciprocity and the communication of ideas surrounding the education of young children inspired by the Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education.

VIDEATIVES

For the past ten years, Dr. George Forman has been a Boulder Journey School consultant, mentor and friend. His work with intern and mentor teachers focuses on the use of video documentation to carefully observe children’s explorations and investigations in order to understand and extend children’s thinking and learning.

In 2001, Dr. Forman created the first videative, brief video clips that highlight a play scenario with accompanying narratives that explain the significance of the play. Boulder Journey School owner and executive director, Dr. Ellen Hall studied the effects of videatives on educators’ conceptualizations of children’s thinking for her doctoral dissertation and found it to be an important resource – a better book - for educators, who seek to connect theories of child development and learning with daily classroom moments.

Videatives as a company, founded in 2003, has a library of over 50 videatives, most of which use video clips from Boulder Journey School. Intern teachers participating in Boulder Journey School’s Teacher Education Program create videatives using video from their classrooms. Through our ongoing collaboration with Videatives, faculty at Boulder Journey School have gained a greater awareness of children’s co-construction of knowledge and of the role of the educator in the learning process.

HAWKINS CENTERS OF LEARNING

Educators at Boulder Journey School are part of a new and innovative initiative inspired by the work and lives of long-time Boulder residents David and Frances Hawkins.

Hawkins Centers of Learning is dedicated to bringing together those individuals who want to build a more thoughtful, democratic and peaceful way of thinking, being and doing. The Centers span communities and cultures, educational disciplines and experiences, gender and ages, and time and space. They explore common values and goals. The intention is for Hawkins Centers of Learning to evoke thinking through collaborative deliberation, dialogue and exchange, and the inspiration and support of vision and active change.

For more information about collaboration at Boulder Journey School, please contact:

Andrea Sisbarro
303.443.8909
andrea.sisbarro@boulderjourneyschool.com