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  • Explore rich perspectives of eight different educational thought leaders as they share their experiences and thinking related to The Reggio Emilia Approach.

  • Discover theoretical understandings inspired by The Reggio Emilia Approach related to experiences shared with children in the early years.

  • Gain inspiration and practical ideas that you can take back to your own learning context with children.

  • Uncover creative experiences, everyday wonderings, and inspirational ideas to enhance your encounters with children.

  • Bring to children a fresh perspective on learning that is creative, immersed in sensory explorations, and grounded in theoretical foundations.

  • Learn about the journeys shared by our eight educational thought leaders and gain insights and inspiration from their own experiences and research with children in the early years.

  • Consider and think about your own philosophy of education, your current practise, and how the perspectives, and philosophies shared by our presenters might influence new changes and new experiences that you might bring to the children within your own learning environment.

Here's what's inside...

  • 1

    Welcome to Bringing a Reggio Emilia Inspired Philosophy to Children!

    • How to Navigate this Event and Access Your Certificate of Completion

    • A Welcome Message from Susan Wright

    • Before we begin...

    • The Affordances of Relationships, Materials, and Encounters in the Early Years: A Dialogue
  • 2

    Dr. Jean Clinton ~ 'How Reggio Emilia Has Inspired a Child Psychiatrist and Her Practise as a Knowledge Translator: Thoughts and Perspectives to Enrich Educators' Daily Encounters with Children'

    • Susan Wright Introducing Dr. Jean Clinton

    • How Reggio Emilia Has Inspired a Child Psychiatrist and Her Practise as a Knowledge Translator: Thoughts and Perspectives to Enrich Educators' Daily Encounters with Children

    • Reflections and Considerations

    • Bonus: Nurturing Your Personal Journey Through Pedagogical Reflections ~ A Reflective Documentation of My Own Relationships and Encounters with Children
  • 3

    Susan Stacey ~ 'Pedagogical Documentation as a Decision-Making Tool'

    • Susan Wright Introducing Susan Stacey

    • Pedagogical Documentation as a Decision-Making Tool

    • Bonus: Nurturing Your Personal Journey Through Pedagogical Reflections ~ A Reflective Documentation of My Own Relationships and Encounters with Children
  • 4

    Kathy Boelsma ~ 'Creativity in the Everydayness of Living'

    • Susan Wright Introducing Kathy Boelsma

    • Creativity in the Everydayness of Living

    • Bonus: Nurturing Your Personal Journey Through Pedagogical Reflections ~ A Reflective Documentation of My Own Relationships and Encounters with Children
  • 5

    Michelle van Heugten ~ 'Outdoor Learning and the Creative Journey of Children within the Arts'

    • Susan Wright Introducing Michelle van Heugten

    • Outdoor Learning and the Creative Journey of Children within the Arts

    • Bonus: Nurturing Your Personal Journey Through Pedagogical Reflections ~ A Reflective Documentation of My Own Relationships and Encounters with Children
  • 6

    Joanne Babalis ~ 'An Introduction to Educational Photography: The Rare Moments of Learning that Have the Power to Teach Us'

    • Susan Wright Introducing Joanne Babalis

    • An Introduction to Educational Photography: The Rare Moments of Learning that Have the Power to Teach Us

    • Bonus: Nurturing Your Personal Journey Through Pedagogical Reflections ~ A Reflective Documentation of My Own Relationships and Encounters with Children
  • 7

    Rosalba Bortolotti ~ 'The Atelier of Taste'

    • Susan Wright introducing Rosalba Bortolotti

    • The Atelier of Taste

    • Bonus: Nurturing Your Personal Journey Through Pedagogical Reflections ~ A Reflective Documentation of My Own Relationships and Encounters with Children
  • 8

    Michelle Taylor - Leonhardi ~ 'Inspired by My Trip to Reggio Emilia - My Journey into my Traditional Culture through Reggio Inspired Philosophy'

    • Susan Wright Introducing Michelle Taylor - Leonhardi

    • Inspired by My Trip to Reggio Emilia - My Journey into my Traditional Culture through Reggio Inspired Philosophy

    • Bonus: Nurturing Your Personal Journey Through Pedagogical Reflections ~ A Reflective Documentation of My Own Relationships and Encounters with Children
  • 9

    Susan Wright ~ 'The Nature of Nurture'

    • Susan Wright, Founder Nurtured Inspirations

    • The Nature of Nurture

    • Bonus: Nurturing Your Personal Journey Through Pedagogical Reflections ~ A Reflective Documentation of My Own Relationships and Encounters with Children
  • 10

    Your next steps...

    • Concluding Remarks from Susan Wright: Where Do We Go From Here?

    • Let's get social!

    • Before you go...

    • More Resources for You

Educational Thought Leaders

Clinical Professor McMaster University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences

Dr. Jean Clinton

Dr. Clinton is renowned nationally and internationally as an advocate for children’s issues. Her special interest lies in brain development, and the crucial role relationships and connectedness play therein. Dr. Jean Clinton is a Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster, division of Child Psychiatry. She is on staff at McMaster Children’s Hospital with cross appointments in Pediatrics and Family Medicine, and an Associate in the Department of Child PsychiatryJean M Clinton BMus MD FRCP(C) Clinical Professor McMaster University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, University of Toronto and Sick Children’s Hospital. She is a Fellow of the Child Trauma Academy, as well as a Zero to Three Academy Fellow since 2013.

Susan Stacey

Susan Stacey’s work revolves around inquiry-based learning for both children and educators, emergent curriculum, reflective practices, and pedagogical documentation. She is a long time student of the thinking and practices that reach out to us from the schools of Reggio Emilia. Susan has worked with inquiry-based practices for over 35 years as an early years educator, lab school director, practicum coach, and consultant. In this work, she has mentored, encouraged and nudged educators toward shifts in thinking, trying innovative practices, and especially in documenting their work and ideas. Susan’s books include Emergent Curriculum in Early Childhood Settings; Unscripted-Emergent Curriculum in Action; Pedagogical Documentation; and Inquiry-based Early Learning Environments: Creating, Supporting, and Collaborating.

Kathy Boelsma

Kathy is a Registered Early Childhood Educator who is currently enrolled in the Forest School Practitioner’s Course from Forest School Canada and is studying the arts through the completion of her Creative Arts Certificate from Algonquin College. She is currently working at Blueberry Creek Forest and Nature Centre as a part time outdoor educator and has worked in the field for over 23 years. Kathy works as a pedagogical collaborator, supporting a co-construction of learning between educators. Kathy has supported educators for over 23 years in the early years, and has provided pedagogical support to childcare programs and organizations which include EarlyOn Centres, home child care, and groups of educators in the community.

Michelle van Heugten

Creativity has always filled Michelle’s days with joy and wonder. With a love for visual arts, Michelle developed a passion for painting, printmaking, and pottery. As a graduate of the University of Windsor, Michelle is a certified teacher with over 23 years in Kindergarten. Michelle’s current practice reflects her own research alongside children with a focus on supporting children’s creativity and imagination through open-ended play and inquiry-based learning. A member of the Ontario Reggio Association (ORA) and the North American Reggio Emilia Association (NAREA), Michelle continues to dive deeper into the Reggio Emilia approach to learning and living by attending workshops, webinars, presenting, and through her own interconnected conversations and research with children.

Joanne Babalis

Joanne Marie Babalis is a Reggio Emilia inspired Kindergarten Teacher, Early Childhood Education consultant, PhD student, and Kindergarten Additional Qualification course instructor at York University. She is passionate about the early years, specifically designing spaces that inspire inquiry-based learning and creative innovation for twenty-first century learners. Joanne is the owner of a creative studio and learning centre for children, birth to twelve years of age. She continues to spread important messages about transformative education within her conference presentations and training workshops that she facilitates for educators. Joanne’s hope is to keep advocating for children, inspiring their creativity and encouraging their lifelong learning.

Educator. Pedagogist. Speaker. Early Educational Consultant

Rosalba Bortolotti

Rosalba Bortolotti is a passionate and enthusiastic early learning educational consultant with over 25 years of experience working with children, their families, and colleagues. Rosalba is an artist and Registered Early Childhood Educator with a Bachelor of Applied Arts from York University. She’s worked as a lead teacher in the Seneca Lab School and part-time professor in the School of Early Childhood Education at Seneca College. As a founding member of the Ontario Reggio Association, established in 2008, Rosalba is committed to this non-profit organization for educators who are interested in the work and education system of the infant-toddler and preschools in Reggio Emilia.

Ottawa Regional Indigenous Community Educator

Michelle Taylor-Leonhardi

Michelle is a proud mother of three, a wife, a daughter, an auntie, a colleague, and a friend. She is Mississauga Anishinaabe Kwe. Michelle is Ojibwe and is from Oshkiigmong (Curve Lake First Nation). She graduated from Native Early Childhood Course and is one of the first graduates of the Binoojiiyag Kinomaadwin Course at Cambrian College in Sudbury, Ontario. A proud board member of the Ontario Reggio Association, and finds connections between the Reggio Emilia philosophy and her own ways of being. A Registered Native Early Childhood Educator, MIchelled worked for 26 years at Oshkiigmong Early Learning Centre in Curve Lake as an NECE, Supervisor and Coordinator. Currently, Michelle is the Indigenous Community Educator for the Ottawa Region for the Ontario Indigenous Centre of Excellence.

Susan Wright

Susan brings a fresh perspective to raising children. With a focus on the well-being of children, Susan founded Nurtured Inspirations where she offers digital resources, courses, and mentorship for parents and educators who nurture, guide, and inspire children.

Susan shares over three decades worth of experiences from travels in Canada, USA, and Italy where she studies early childhood theory and practice along with explorations in the Reggio Emilia Approach, and her everyday classroom experiences as a teacher.

Working alongside children, their families, and educators from around the world, Susan’s philosophy of childhood has evolved into The Nurtured Inspirations Approach where she inspires everyday play, mindfulness, art, and nature to those who share their days with children.