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A labyrinth differs from a maze in that the maze is designed to fool the walker. If
the path of the labyrinth is followed with deliberation, starting at the outer edge, the
walker will find the centre (Oken-Wright & Gravett, 2002):
We may not be able to see the center when we begin, but we know it is
there, and so we are patient as we follow the winding path, negotiating the
turns and the twists, not always being able to predict where we’ll be next.
Walking a contemplative labyrinth is meditative, and as with any
meditation, there is a potential for new revelations along the way. All this
comes with negotiated learning . . . the winding path, revelations along the
way, and a Big Idea, or perhaps a bigger idea waiting in the center.
(pp. 219 – 220)
Voice.
Helping children give voice to their intent is fundamental within the Reggio
Emilia approach to education. When children trust that the adults in their lives will help
them make their ideas visible, it frees children to set their sights as high as their
imagination can reach (Oken-Wright & Garret, 2002). When teaching and learning
involve cognitive and symbolic expression, voice comes through in multiple ways - in
one hundred languages (Gandini, 2004). The words of Loris Malaguzzi in the poem are
instructive “No way. The hundred is there” asks that teachers attend “to many voices,
languages, and abilities of children, parents, and teachers that are often lost in the
teaching and learning process” (Fu, 2002, p. 25).
Tegano (2002) writes of finding the voices of teachers engaged in the study of the
Reggio Emilia approach. The teachers voices described come from several qualitative
research studies focused on teachers’ perceptions of the approach. The stories of the
teachers express a sense of passion about the experience of working with Reggio-inspired
ideas. Tegano (2002) found that the “expressions of passion were characterized by two
themes: the theme of renewal for experience teachers and the theme of discovery for