As part of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s ongoing commitment to excellence in Jewish early childhood education, a new peer-to-peer professional network of six Studio Educators from our Pittsburgh JECEI/Bonim Beyachad early childhood education centers has been formed. Studio Educators from Beth Shalom, Community Day School, Squirrel Hill JCC, Temple Emanuel, Temple Ohav Shalom and Yeshiva were selected by their school directors to participate in this unique professional development opportunity being facilitated by Pittsburgh JECEI/Bonim Beyachad consultant, Barbara Moser. This on-going shared learning opportunity has been created to further support the studio educators and their centers as they continue to find inspiration from the Reggio Emilia approach through a Jewish lens. 

For further information, please contact Carolyn Linder, Director of Early Childhood Education at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh at clinder@jfedpgh.org.     

PARTICIPANTS:
Kelly Gumina,   JCC Squirrel Hill 
Nechama Hordinor,  Yeshiva Schools
Jennifer Mars,  Temple Ohav Shalom 
Julie LeWinter,  Beth Shalom 
Michelle Dreyfuss, Temple Emanuel 
Jessica Pindzola,  Community Day School

Our community’s nine Pittsburgh JECEI/Bonim Beyachad early childhood education centers continue to find inspiration from the Reggio Emilia approach and its deep connections to Judaism.

Dr. Gabe Goldman, one of the Federation’s Pittsburgh JECEI/Bonim Beyachad consultants and Director of Outdoor Jewish Classroom, draws upon his experiences in uncovering some of these connections in his recent article, The Jewish Nature of Reggio Emilia Early Childhood Education.

Read the full article on Jeducation World...

Twelve local Jewish early childhood educators from a wide range of Pittsburgh institutions attended a study seminar, Exploring Reggio through a Jewish Lens, in Italy in October.

Read about it in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle...

As part of the Federation’s ongoing commitment to excellence in Jewish early childhood education, this week we launched a targeted professional development course to help early childhood education centers and their host institutions strengthen their knowledge and skills in recruitment and customer service practices. This four-part seminar with visiting marketing consultant, Julie Wassom, is being attended by ECE Directors, professional staff and lay leaders at each of our community’s nine Pittsburgh JECEI/Bonim Beyachad ECE centers.  This week’s sessions focus on strategies and tactics necessary to build a marketing program that draws qualified inquiries, along with practical, proven, low-cost marketing actions to increase qualified inquiries.

Julie Wassom is the original developer of premier enrollment building marketing and sales training programs for the early care and education industry. Over the years, she has helped thousands of directors, managers, and owners reach their enrollment and revenue goals. She is an internationally-recognized authority on marketing child care services, has over 8,000 followers on Twitter, and travels the world working with early childhood professionals.

“No one in Reggio wants to teach others how to “do school.” What we seek to do rather is to try and deepen our understanding, together with others, of why it was possible in Reggio Emilia for an (educational) experience founded after the war, to grow and consolidate with time… What we want to do is look together for the values we might have in common, in order to build a better tomorrow.”

~Amelia Gambetti

While the Pittsburgh Reggio Cohort has safely returned home, our minds keep traveling. It will take time to reflect and to process but, these reflections will continue to lead us on our journey. The Seminar was powerful, thought-provoking, intense and filled with many moments of joy and wonder. Our luggage may be unpacked but, it will take some time to unpack our thoughts, questions and images.

As part of Pittsburgh's continuing commitment to excellence in Jewish Early Childhood Education, in 2015 under the direction of Carolyn Linder, the Federation hosted The Wonder of Learning: The Hundred Languages of Children traveling exhibition from Reggio Emilia, Italy.

In conjunction with the exhibition's presence in our city, the 2015 summer North American Reggio Emilia Alliance (NAREA) conference was also held in Pittsburgh.

They had the unique opportunity of re-connecting with both of the educators from Reggio Emilia who presented at the 2015 NAREA Conference in Pittsburgh. 

Fillipo Chieli, an atelierista, from the Preschools and Infant Toddler Centre Istituzione of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia presented a powerful and rich research project to our group that focused on the language of music. And, they had an stimulating and candid conversation with Deanna Margini, pedagogista, from the Preschools and Infant Toddler Centre Istituzione of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia. 

This unexpected re-connection made the seminar even more inspiring and meaningful.

Our Pittsburgh Cohort has safely arrived in Italy and has joined 51 other Jewish early childhood educators from Boston, Chicago, District of Columbia, Israel and Maryland. 

To help frame our time together in Reggio Emilia, yesterday, we were given a walking tour of the city and learned more about its rich history by parent volunteers from Reggio Children.

This week our Study Group is meeting at the Loris Malaguzzi International Center in Reggio Emilia. Our Study Group program includes:

• History of the Reggio Emilia educational project and projections toward the future
• Visits to preschools and infant-toddler centers of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia Istituzione  
• Presentations/seminars by pedagogistas, teachers, and atelieristas on the values and principles of the Reggio philosophy
• Presentations of research projects carried out in the Reggio Emilia infant-toddler centers and preschools
• Topics including: the image of the competent child; teachers as researchers; observation, interpretation and documentation; children with special rights; the role of the environment; and the pedagogy of listening

On October 19th, a cohort of 12 Jewish early childhood professionals, led by Carolyn Linder, Federation’s Director of Early Childhood Education met to discuss their journey for a 10-day seminar in Italy, exploring the Reggio Emilia Approach through a Jewish Perspective. This unique experience will focus on the professional growth of the participants as they look at multiple ways of deepening their understanding of the pedagogy of the Reggio Approach and connecting it to the values and content of their own local Jewish Early Childhood programs.

The childhood professionals have partnered with The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington on the seminar which has a total of 63 Jewish early childhood educators representing Boston, Chicago, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pittsburgh and Israel.  

Local participation in the seminar was made possible thanks to the generous support of The Dr. Solomon and Sarah Goldberg Memorial Endowment Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

Jewish Life and Learning's own Caroyln Linder writes in eJewishPhilanthropy about our ongoing work enhancing the quality and impact of Jewish early childhood education in Pittsburgh.

Read the full story in eJewishPhilanthropy.com

Or online at the Jewish Theological Seminary