The Environment as Third Teacher

The Environment as Third Teacher

Utilizing the environment as “ third teacher” is a very new idea for me. I was used to the idea of a classrooms bared of any specific teaching-learning topic- for the simplest of reason- a lot of teacher share a common room and make use of it to teach different subjects. Kindergarten and Elementary school teacher – to a degree- would post some chart/diagram and poster along the walls of their classroom, but this is merely accomplished to inject the idea of the transformation of the room to a classroom. No more no less than classroom decorations; the students’ does not make use of it, the teacher was not utilizing it as a teaching medium and the parents does not even read it. As for the actual utilization of light (sunlight passing through a strategically placed window, the degree of intensity of classroom illumination, used of the light tables) and the idea of exploring different papers and how light shines through them for inquiry and exploratory purposes, the creation of an art center, these are quite new and very novel idea for me.

On a number of visit to Stanley Knowles, a French immersion school where my son is a grade students I have seen and to a certain degree, I believe I have made used of a an art center while interacting with son. I was really amazed the first time I saw it – an art center- so many art mediums arranged on shelves, organized neatly pencils, pens and markers are arranged by, designed to accommodate the children and a working environment allowing them to interact in small groups while working on art project, rather sitting than sitting them on a series of chairs and desk facing their teachers. On the walls are diagrams and charts and posters and prominently displayed were children’s work. Adjacent to A concept much more enriched when the teachers of Reggio Emilia introduced the idea of the environment as being influential in regard to the affective, cognitive and linguistic acquisition (Edwards, Gandini, & Foreman 1998). Gandini, in fact had been more specific when she made mentioned of the idea that the design and use of space encourage encounters, communication, and relationship.

When one enters the schools for young children in Reggio Emilia, one immediately senses a welcoming feeling, an atmosphere of discovery and serenity (Edwards, Gandini, & Foreman 1998). In reflecting on my initial feelings when I first saw how the kindergarten was designed to accommodate a child’s working and learning environment in Stanley Knowles. I was honestly both awed and amazed by how affluent and how rich the environment was. In fact, the same classroom setup permeates on almost all the elementary rooms of the school

Tarr, in referring to how a North American school was normally set up states:
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“Classrooms are often crowded with centers and materials, yet the overall aesthetic of individual items is one of simplification in form and uniformity of style and color. Teachers can evendecorated with these images of apples, school buses, the alphabet, ghosts or jack-o-lanterns, and Santa Clauses to match their classrooms”

The teachers of Reggio Emilia went further when they started to carefully organized space for small and large group projects and small intimate spaces for one, two or three children. And went on to document the children's work, and collections and displayed them. Another innovation was the inclusion of dramatic work areas and worktables for children from different classrooms to come together.

Innovations upon innovations, as the Reggio Emilia approach continues to evolve. Embodying Reggio educators' belief that children are resourceful, curious, competent, imaginative, and have a desire to interact with and communicate with others. On a 1991 article in Newsweek, Pia Hinckle quoted Malaguzzi in saying , “A school needs to be a place for all children not based on the idea that they're all the same, but that they're all different."

With all of this end mind, (i.e. the child’s documented interaction with his/her peers, the collections /she had made, the art works, the writings and the gestures) I still see the school environment as a laboratory where everything is contrived and so design to extract both the feelings and knowledge that child wants to communicate. What if the child comes from a damaged or disadvantaged environment and for one reason or another had learned to masked his/her feelings to be able to seek or gain approval for the attainment of a personal objective, What if the child had developed the plasticity and the resiliency to hide his/her feelings and had the skill to survive in an environment alien to her/him without actually communicating his/her actuations, wishes and desire. Will the factors, innovative as they were, inherent in the construction and design of a Reggio Emilia inspired space be enough to take the child out of her/his self made shell and allow the teacher a glimpse of what is he/she is and what she is made of.

atmansilla
university of manitoba