TESTIMONIALS

Malibu Methodist Nursery School: A ‘Place’ for Kids

Malibu Methodist Nursery School (MMNS) defines itself as “a place for kids” and the choice of the word “place” is more than incidental.  It is, in fact, at the core of their educational philosophy.  Referred to the Reggio Emilia approach, this educational philosophy emphasizes the role of “environment as teacher”.  One of the core values of the Reggio Emilia approach to preschool is observation and documentation, in which educators and students work together in a conscious and visible process that transforms the children’s learning environment from merely space into place by providing them ownership, displaying their progress (identity constructs) and making the space meaningful to them.

The appearance of the school is a good example of how the children’s sense of ownership and belonging are fundamental.  The public areas abound with displays of artwork, documentation of daily events including photos, descriptions and transcripts. These are not confined to special events and include what might (to an adult) appear as mundane or routine events like cooking, building, planning, gardening or simply playing.  Special attention is given to opportunities to display the children’s cognitive development when engaging with complex or difficult topics, for example when some of the children once observed the death of a seagull, or when the wildfires burned through the canyons this past winter.  These displays include stories written by children, and documentation and transcripts of their observed behavior.  In the individual classrooms, you observe photographs of spaces within the classrooms that are child-defined.  The documentation of their projects, works in progress, and plans defines the space.  All of these displays encourage the community of children, parents and educators to interact with these experiences, to visit them recursively, and to use them to reconcile experiences and help construct their future experiences.

There are other outward displays of the children’s interaction with and impact on their educational environment.  The playground area, for example, is a constantly evolving arena for their adventurous exploration of the environment, the body and modes of play.  It never appears the same two days in a row.  It is sparse in “structured” play equipment.  For example, the school favors an assortment of rope swings hung from a central tree to the construct of a swing set.  In this way, children construct their environment and inject it with a sense of ownership and empowerment that grows and changes as they do. 

At MMNS the children find a sense of ownership and agency in how their days are structured: what they do, how they do it, and how they manage their time.  The role of the educator becomes to facilitate, observe and document.  This is not to suggest that the educators proceed blindly without any notion of organization, planning or structure.  Days are structured loosely around an organizing plan that follows naturally with the diurnal course, yet the students are allowed a tremendous amount of freedom of choice.  I find the notion that place is invested not only with identity and meaning, but that these occur in a powerful, significant way in this context.  Power certainly figures as a central concern in the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education and that is reflected in the dynamic of power I observe at MMNS—where students are encouraged to recognize within themselves the power to identify themselves and to make choices about how and what they learn.  This is displayed in the morning planning meetings, where the students are encouraged to express their interests, concerns, questions, or to vent their frustrations.  Following the meeting, they “sign up” for the activities they want to pursue (from a list generated by the group), plan the stages of events, collect supplies, etc.  A growing sense of empowerment results from this children-driven approach. 

MMNS has consciously created a place in which students are encouraged to become empowered members of an interdependent community that supports individuals while maintaining the importance of connections.  This is a space in which my children have blossomed into critically thinking citizens who are confident in their social and cognitive skills, willing to take risks, and curious and confident social citizens.  MMNS is a place that is saturated with identity, meaning and connections for my children as well as myself, and in which my children conceive themselves as possessing autonomous and interdependent power.

                                                                                                                   Written by: Desi Bradley

                                                                                                        Mother of two MMNS daughters