Sunday, October 17, 2010

Learning Environments

I am working on a presentation for our early childhood teachers in my school district on learning environments.  I was revisiting one of my books that I love on what to look for in a learning environment, but was feeling like the text was just not as exciting as the message it was sending. There were no photos.

I then stumbled upon the book Designs for Living and Learning, by Deb Curtis and Margie Carter.  It is such a beautiful book filled with magical learning spaces.  The majority of the photos are from classrooms, but the ideas could easily inspire learning spaces in the home. I am already thinking about how to redesign my son's play area.  

You can check at your library to see if they have it, but if not, try your local Universities library, you never know.  I prefer this route because our small, small house just can't take any more books.

The environment that you learn in whether you are a child or an adult has an effect on your experience.  This book is inspired from many different approaches including Waldorf, MontessoriReggio, Greenman, Prescott, and Olds (not sure who that is).  I am just starting to read the text after looking at the beautiful photos for the past 4 days.

Having been a classroom teacher for the past 11 years I have come to the conclusion that pulling what you love from many different places is a good thing.  There is no one answer to education, it is what works for the child, and you as a parent that mattters.   I love that this book went to many different programs and found beauty, not just one program.  I am in love with beautiful learning environments.

2 comments:

  1. My husbnd is a big fan of Harry Wong's educational writings. We tend to be very eclectic at home and follow a lot of Charlotte Mason with a touch of other theories.

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  2. I'm trying to decide which school to send my son to at the moment for next year, I definitely agree with different learning evironment can be so beneficial. This book sounds really interesting.

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