How Can Class Meetings and Center Work-time Maximize Opportunities for Language Acquisition for All Learners
Presenters
- Sandra Fajgier, PS 10 / K-280 / Bishop Ford site
- Maciel Martinez, PS 10 / K-280 / Bishop Ford site
Session / Time
- Breakout Session I
- 10 - 11 a.m.
- Amersfort Room
Description
How can class meetings and center work maximize opportunities for language acquisition for all learners? This workshop takes a closer look at how child-led, teacher-facilitated discussions can elevate and enrich inquiry work in the public pre-K classroom.
Goals / Content / Intentionality
In this workshop, participants will learn about various class congress techniques to facilitate a child-led, teacher-facilitated model. Participants will have opportunities to work together and discuss how these sharing techniques can improve their classroom community. We will also discuss how community building, documentation, and reflection are built into these structures.
By the conclusion of this session, participants will:
- develop a clear understanding of the importance and impact of class meetings,
- describe how teacher-led differs from teacher-facilitated, and
- access Google Docs resources.
Take-Home Messages
- Step back and let the children lead.
- Community building should feel natural and not forced. It should stem from children’s interest.
- By being OK with not knowing what comes next, you can learn together and rely on documentation and reflection to form bridges to practice.
- The Reggio Emilia approach is common in elite private schools in the United States. We are hopeful that we will see a widespread integration of Reggio-inspired practices in public school pre-K programs across the five boroughs.
- Our workshop will look at the progression of inquiry-based learning in our unique public pre-K site. We will discuss how we use class meetings, documentation, and inquiry planning to meet the needs of our diverse public school population.
Presenter Bios
Sandra Fajgier, PS 10 / K-280 / Bishop Ford site
Sandra Fajgier, PS 10 / K-280 / Bishop Ford site
Sandra Fajgier has been an early childhood education teacher for more than 10 years. She began her career in a wonderful nursery school in Brooklyn. After a few years she moved on to Public School 10 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where she taught prekindergarten and kindergarten for eight years. Recently she joined K280 School of Journeys, a Reggio Emilia–inspired pre-K annex of P.S. #10. Sandy is an LPP Model Teacher in a host school, a peer collaborative coach and teacher leader for District 15, and a mentor teacher. She is a writer for The New York Teacher and has facilitated many professional-development sessions over the years, ranging from yoga and literacy to number sense, and more recently bringing the practices of Reggio Emilia and documentation to DOE pre-K sites across Brooklyn.
Maciel Martinez, PS 10 / K-280 / Bishop Ford site
Maciel Martinez, PS 10 / K-280 / Bishop Ford site
Maciel Martinez has been an early childhood education teacher for eight years. She began her career in a community-based organization in Jackson Heights, Queens, teaching universal pre-K and extended day programs for kindergarten readiness. During that time, she also worked on building and directing an after-school program for a charter school in Jackson Heights, with a focus on highlighting the potential of at-risk students. Three years ago she jumped at the opportunity to work with K280 School of Journeys, in Park Slope, Brooklyn. With her appreciation of the Reggio Emilia philosophy, she has facilitated professional-development topics such as “Loose Parts in the Classroom,” “Classroom Environment as a Third Teacher,” and “Materials in the Block Center.” Maciel is an LPP Model Teacher in a host school and has learned and gathered information by attending different NAREA conferences and visiting multiple Reggio-inspired schools.
