We Are All Explorers

This is the first book to systematically examine a large, program-wide implementation of the Reggio Approach in the United States. The authors provide a thoughtful, well-documented description and analysis of a multi-site preschool program serving low-income Latino and African American children and their families in the Chicago Commons Schools. While focusing on the application, meaning, and value of Reggio Emilia principles in preschool classrooms, the authors describe how those same principles and processes pervade relationships with parents, teacher professional development, and the overall organization of the program. Offering a powerful combination of theory and practice, this comprehensive model:

• Includes classroom examples, dialogues, and questions that can be adapted to both pre- and in-service teacher education.
• Considers standards-based curriculum by describing literacy, math, and other school-readiness components of the program.
• Provides suggestions for educational leaders who are considering using Reggio Emilia principles in their own context.
• Offers many rich examples of teachers’ documentation and children’s work from the 12-year Chicago Commons Study.

Daniel R. Scheinfeld is Senior Research Associate at Erikson Institute in Chicago, Karen M. Haigh is Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at Columbia College in Chicago, and Sandra J. P. Scheinfeld is a Research Associate at Erikson Institute and a freelance documenter.

“Bravo to the authors for showing us how to maneuver around the demands of traditional bureaucracies while maintaining focus on the humanity and brilliance of urban children, parents, and teachers!”
—Lisa Delpit, Florida International University

“Here is an approach to teaching that embraces children as the sparks of meaning-making energy that they really are. These pages invite teachers to pay closer attention, be regularly astonished, and re-think the basics of how we organize school at every level.”
—William Ayers, University of Illinois at Chicago, author of To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher

“This unique book is invaluable to a wide range of educators who aspire to understand the depth of study when embarking on the journey to understand the principles of the Reggio Emilia approach.”
—Eileen Hughes, Woodring College of Education, Western Washington University

“We Are All Explorers is a must-read for teachers and parents who seek to nurture and cultivate the creativity and imagination of children, through an empowering pedagogical vision of early childhood education.”
—Antonia Darder, University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign, author of Reinventing Paulo Freire: A Pedagogy of Love

“Provides wonderful examples of teachers and children working together. Karen and the teachers do not shy away from the American preschool agenda,—literacy, accountability, school readiness—but rather address these concepts within their construction of life in these preschools.”
—Sandy Miller, Director, Early Childhood Education, Ohio Department of Education

“Teachers and teacher educators will find this a gem of a resource for understanding how the principles and practices of the Reggio Emilia Approach to early learning can be brought to life in diverse U.S. settings.”
—Brenda Fyfe, Dean, School of Education, Webster University

“Finally. I've waited years for someone to write the unique story of Chicago Commons. We Are All Explorers is well worth the wait. The teachers' voices ring true as they explore, interpret, and are ultimately transformed by the principles of the Reggio Approach while the authors' reflections bridge theory and practice in the social-cultural context of a major American city.”
—Jeanne Goldhaber, University of Vermont