York University Kindergarten AQ Course - Teachers & RECE's - Begins March 29th 2018 + New learning from Reggio Emilia Italy coming to the blog March Break!




Happy March Break to all the educators and safe travels to those who are venturing off to Reggio Emilia this week on the Ontario Reggio Association's study tour!


Please follow along the blog, as I challenge myself to keep a daily diary of my new learning while in Italy.  Each day starting tomorrow, you will find posts about the lectures that I hear, the schools that I visit, and the drawings that I create from my experiences with new materials and the hundred languages.

Tomorrow and Sunday's posts will be some reflections from my last two trips in 2011 and 2015.  What I discovered, my foci or motivation to participate then, and the new questions that I have now.

This quote from Loris Malaguzzi really speaks to me about the importance of networking and reminds me of how fortunate I am to be going on this adventure with other like minded educators from Canada:

"We are working in difficult times, 
ever changing and shifting...
beyond our ability to predict,
for the future has become difficult to govern.

I believe that the challenge facing children today is...
to think how to interconnect -
this is the watchword for the present and the future-
a word that we need to understand deeply and in all its forms.
We need to do so keeping in mind that we live in a world made not of separate islands but of networks...
in this metaphor is contained both the construction
of children's thought and our own thought construction...
which belongs to a wide *archipelago
where interference, interaction, and interdependence are constantly present even when we do not see them."

*archipelago is actually a Greek word and it means a sea or stretch of water/group of islands


Photo taken from Fall 2011 Study Tour experience with NAREA.


I truly look forward to creating new relationships in Reggio Emilia and many more lasting memories with those who are attending!  

If you are a teacher or early childhood educator who want to build their network, you may also be interested in signing up to York University's Kindergarten course that begins in late March.  It would be wonderful to be able to share with you my most current ideas from the Reggio Emilia philosophy.

I am instructing Kindergarten part 1, part 2 and specialist.

Some more info. here:

Kindergarten A.Q. course, York University
Part 1, Part 2, and Specialist 
*Also includes certificate program for RECE's!


Location: Kleinburg Public School, 10392 Islington Ave. (Kleinburg, Ontario) 


March 29th - June 5th, 2018
Tuesdays online from 5:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m. (Moodle, Twitter and Google docs/Hangouts)
Thursdays face-to-face from 5:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m.

For more details and to register please visit the York University - Faculty of Education website


Regular price is $685 and OTF is offering a $450 subsidy for all Kindergarten AQ's.  See more details in the flyer.





To download/print this flyer click here.


Please email me if you have any questions: joannemariebabalis@gmail.com.

Again, enjoy a well deserved rest and hope to connect with you again real soon!

Photo taken from 2015 Study Tour experience with ORA.


"Learning is the key factor in which a new way of teaching should be based, becoming a complementary resource to the child and offering multiple options, suggestive ideas, and sources of support.

Learning and teaching should not stand on opposite banks and just watch the water flow by;
instead, they should embark together on a journey down the river.

Through an active, reciprocal exchange,
teaching can strengthen learning how to learn."

-Loris Malaguzzi 



Share your thoughts :

  1. So excited to have you share your journey. I am going back in November 2018 with my professional learning group. Enjoy!!!

    ReplyDelete

@joannebabalis