DOUBLE TAP TO ZOOM WITH PHONE OR TABLET Introduction 5 understand the learning involved in self-chosen play and the components of a curriculum shaped around children’s perspectives. Looking closely, we can see the influence of cultural patterns. This helps us learn more about ourselves, our preferences, our biases, and our blind spots. Discussing our observations with coworkers and children’s families helps us to see things from different perspectives, allowing each of us to transcend the limitations of our own points of view. We create a collective context for mutual respect and learning from each other. Gathering observation notes and other forms of documentation and sharing them as stories of children’s pursuits gives the children and their stories more visibility, meaning, and respect. The learning process is enhanced for the children as well as the adults. College professor and author George Forman puts it this way: We know that making children’s ideas vis- ible is an important goal. It helps children convert an activity into a learning encounter. Therefore, if documentation helps children make their own feelings, patterns of behav- ior, theories, and rules more visible and explicit, then documentation could become the primary means of educating young chil- dren. (Online dialogue on Reggio listserv discussion, 1999) Where can we see this pedagogy in action? Many would point to the schools of Reggio Emilia in Italy and in the schools they have inspired around the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States. We can see the seeds of this approach in the teaching and writing of Karen Gallas, Elizabeth Jones, Vivian Paley, Gretchen Reynolds, and Carol Anne Wien. Their books are rich with descriptions of children’s play and teachers negotiating their roles in it. Teachers can turn to these writers’ works again and again for reminders and inspiration about how children’s lives can be valued and our differing perspec- tives on them can be negotiated. Several practicing early childhood teachers have also written books, giv- ing us a firsthand, vivid picture of how this pedagogy has been developed in their classrooms. Ann Pelo worked as a preschool teacher/author in a full- time child care program. Her teaching is featured in a series of staff train- ing videos: Children at the Center, Setting Sail, Thinking Big, Building Bridges COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL