DOUBLE TAP TO ZOOM WITH PHONE OR TABLET for me to see the patterns that are involved in my way as well as patterns behind the other person’s practice. Isaura’s first book, written with Robert M. Corso (Barrera and Corso 2003), provides some additional insight into the concept of third space. A third space perspective does not resolve the issue; rather, it changes the arena within which that situation is addressed by increasing the probability of respectful, responsive, and reciprocal interactions. To get to third space, I have to do three things: 1. Believe that it exists. 2. Accept that there are multiple realities. 3. Dialogue with the person instead of arguing. I use the well-known advice of thirteenth-century Persian poet Rumi to move my thinking from argument to dialogue. He said, “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” If I go out to the field with the person whose practice I’m questioning and we talk about our views, we may be able to see a reality that is bigger than both of us. We may even be able to move from my way and your way to our way as we figure out what to do about our differences in this situation with this child in this program. If we do all that, we’ve reached third space. Sue B. Bredekamp and Carol C. Copple, in the revised edition of Devel- opmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs, explained third space thinking without calling it that. They said, “Some critical reactions to NAEYC’s (1987) position statement on developmentally appropriate practice reflect a recurring tendency in the American discourse on education: the polarizing into either/or choices of many questions that are more fruitfully seen as both/and” (Bredekamp and Copple 1997, 23). They are writing about dualistic thinking, where contrasting ideas are seen as dichotomous. If it’s right, it can’t be wrong; if it’s bad, it can’t be good. If it’s blue, it can’t be yellow. When you move into holistic thinking from dualistic thinking, you don’t separate things into opposites. You can also see that when blue and yel- low come together they make green! Blue keeps its blueness and yellow keeps its yellowness, and together they make something new altogether. Green is an example of third space. Stephen R. Covey writes about what he calls synergy in the foreword to a book called Crucial Conversations, which has excellent strategies for getting to third space. According to Covey (2002, x), synergy makes for “a better decision, better relationship, better decision-making process, and increased commitment to implement decisions made.” He talks about how synergy transforms people and relationships and creates an entirely new level of 4    C H A P T E R 1 COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL