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workshops. The vision of this shared study was to cross-pollinate these elementsand thereby lift up the quality of the teaching and learning of all the teachersand children.To engage in successful teacher research, it is necessary to be curious, tohave a focus, and to collect data. Each of the teacher-authors developed herown burning question and her own strategies for collecting anecdotal notes,children’s conversations and actions, photographs of children’s processes, andchildren’s work.Authentic teacher research such as this requires a shift from our traditionalunderstanding of teacher. In my opinion, one of the most significant thingswe can learn from the educators in Reggio Emilia, Italy, is to shift our understandingand practice from the “knowing it all” teacher to the learning, curious,wonder-filled teacher. This means that we both see ourselves differently and seechildren differently. Real, lifelong learning will be fresh and new only if we createthe conditions as educators for this kind of learning to thrive. This requiresan excited teacher who expects to be amazed by how capable, intelligent, andcreative children are. We see that this shift has taken place in the minds andhearts of the teacher-authors of this book through their stories of transformationfor themselves and their students.The strength of the community of learners in the study group that authoredthis book is palpable. We hear about it in every chapter and hear it in everyvoice. Without this community of supportive learners, the stories you will readhere would not be so rich and this book would not be in your hands.This is another nugget to take from the Reggio approach—this idea of theweb of connections between all parts of the system that make up a rich anddynamic learning community. This system encompasses the children andadults, the culture, everyone’s ideas, the learning environments, the city, andall the patterns that connect them. In Reggio Emilia, the connections between allthese parts form the central, underlying idea of community.We are and can be inspired by the work of the Reggio Emilia educators, theItalian children, and the community of support in this remarkable northern Italiantown. They have always been the first to say they do not recommend thatother countries and contexts try to imitate them. Rather, they would like to beone example of what is possible when we truly value children’s intelligence andcreativity and our future, when we believe that we can create schools as placesfor meaningful, relevant, lasting learning.Inventor Charles Kettering wrote:Research is a high hat word that scares a lot of people. It needn’t. It is rather simple.Essentially, research is nothing but a state of mind, a friendly, welcoming attitudeviii D IntroductionForeword
toward change. Going out to look for change instead of waiting for it to come.Research is an effort to do things better and not to be caught asleep at the switch.It is the problem-solving mind as contrasted with the leave well enough alonemind. It is the tomorrow mind instead of yesterday mind.Judith Lysaker and her team of teacher colleagues have given us an inspiringcollection of stories that are alive with research and persistence, patience andopenness. They have learned about lasting literacy learning, and they haveshared what they have learned with grace and skill. May they inspire us all todo the same.Louise Boyd CadwellAuthor of Bringing Reggio Emilia HomeIntroduction Foreword D ix
Page 2 and 3: With immeasurable gratitude we dedi
Page 4 and 5: chapter 7A Look at Cultural Tools i
Page 8 and 9: IntroductionKey to all learning is
Page 10 and 11: moral and political than practical.
Page 12 and 13: Specifically, I describe the belief
Page 14 and 15: Gallas, K. (1994). The languages of
Page 16 and 17: grounded in an interdisciplinary fr
Page 18 and 19: ecording of their thinking, and the
Page 20 and 21: The driving force behind children
Page 22 and 23: Our Own Pedagogic ExperimentWithin
Page 24 and 25: Cambourne, B. (1995). Towards an ed
Page 26 and 27: oom” for children to be active in
Page 28 and 29: stories and using the different kin
Page 35 and 36: had gained during their research an
Page 38 and 39: BibliographyChard, S. C. (1994). Th
Page 40 and 41: Judy: So this was a natural overlap
Page 42 and 43: are just amazing. If you don’t ta
Page 44: Well, Amanda, I wonder if you have

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