Lella…..

Danielle and I and Danielle’s colleague Ashlee with Lella Gandini

Danielle and I spent two full days with Lella (OK, we weren’t exactly alone with her, we shared her with 123 other people….but still….)

Lella Gandini has been integral to introducing the Reggio approach in North America, accompanying the Wonder Of Learning Exhibit and introducing the ideas and the stories to rapt audiences. Lella doesn’t simply give lectures, she embraces her audience with her humour, her grace and her passion. And so we spent two days talking, listening, wondering, laughing…..entering into her beautiful vision of what education can be.

She spoke of creating joyful problems for children. A joyful problem, what a lovely image. An image that respects children as curious and intelligent and seeking research and investigation. An image that believes teachers are strong, capable of thinking and listening to children.

If we were to think about joyful problems, how would we set up a room?

How would we approach a child as they investigated the problem?

How would it shift the questions we asked? Or the expectations we had?

I see this invitation to create a joyful problem as a provocation to think differently about learning.  To embrace the joy and the complexities.

Kim Atkinson

Kim is an admitted ECE geek. She and Danielle have bonded over their shared geekdom and have come to terms with it. She is a pedagogical facilitator working with educators in a number of early learning settings supporting and extending new thinking and practice. She loves reading, writing, talking and sharing ideas about the potentials of teaching and learning with ece’s and young children. ECE geeks unite!