Reflections from the 2022 National Reggio Emilia Conference in Georgia
In the summer of 2022, MKA sent me and two colleagues to Atlanta, Georgia to attend the 18th Annual NAREA Summer Conference. The title of the conference was “Designing Spaces of Creative Freedom: Furthering Relationships, Knowledge, and Innovation”. Before this conference, I had some exposure to the Reggio Emilia approach, as our PreK program is Reggio-inspired. I spent the two days engaged with lectures from Alessandra Braglia, pedagogista, and Simona Spaggiari and Marco Spaggiari, atelieristas. We also toured Peachtree Presbyterian Preschool, a Christian half-day program that is doing “Reggio-inspired” so gracefully, maintaining core values of the approach and fearlessly documenting the creativity students and teachers co-produce every day. I left this conference with a new-found love for the Reggio-Emilia approach, and returned to MKA to present this slideshow, which was the beginning of better incorporating the Reggio “cycle” and spirit into higher grades.
