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Emily Krogman

4 October 2022

Professor Hartman

ED 199 Exploring Educator Identity

Meaning Making Reflection

My group consisted of me, Rylyn, and Cara. The way the course was scheduled, our section

of ED 199 ended up visiting our group’s assigned educator, Paige Sjoerdsma, first. Paige isn’t

exactly what you would imagine when going to visit a teacher in their classroom. In fact, she

doesn’t have a classroom at all. She has a space inside a portable called the Remida. The Remida

is stocked with a variety of books, craft supplies, and pretty much anything you would need to

make a classroom fun and interactive. This is a big part of her job. As a pedagogy specialist, Paige

collaborates with the teachers at School 55 in order to create unique projects and curriculum

designed off of Reggio Emilia Values.

I felt like I could relate to her since Paige started her journey as an educator from the same

point as her fellow education undergraduates but ended up veering off of the typical path. She

began teaching elementary school and then got her secondary license before fulfilling a different

role than anyone expected (pedagogy specialist). I have not started my teaching career, but I do

not see myself pursuing the usual path laid out for College of Education students. I am still not

exactly sure what this future entails but after meeting with Paige, I feel a little more comfortable

knowing that there are other options than we typically are shown.
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We only found out who our assigned meaning maker educator was about a week before

the full class visit to Butler Lab School 55. This caused us to become pressed for time when trying

to plan a pre-visit with Paige Sjoerdsma. However, we did our best to coordinate schedules and be

able to see her in person. Unfortunately for all of us, this did not end up working out. Throughout

the time we were in contact with her, our group sent a couple of questions we felt would be

important for her to answer in order to prepare our class for the meeting at Butler Lab School 55.

Paige was very accommodating of the complications we faced and responded to our questions

quickly.

The artifact that Ms. Sjoerdsma gave us to share with the class was a pamphlet from school

55 explaining her role and recent identity projects with a variety of grade levels. These activities

included collage identity panels, poetry, photography, and (with assistance from adults) building

a community mosaic to hang outside the school. During our visit with her, Paige explained how

these projects can help build upon Reggio Emilia values and the positive effects of introducing

these factors to students at such a young age.

For instance, we had the chance to observe and participate in a character map creation

activity with Erica Kline’s third grade class. During this experience, we realized how easy it was

for students to articulate their ideas and how much creativity flowed throughout the room. Since

IPS promotes idea gathering, drawing, and strong opinions beginning in kindergarten, they were

extremely comfortable with what was expected of them for the map project. They also had learned

to trust Ms. Kline and understood that she wouldn’t put them in uncomfortable situations (they

were unphased when our class began participating with them). Most of the kids also had no

problem pairing up with a college student in order to complete the map together.
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Another thing that I noticed and would like to apply to my own future as an educator is that

Ms. Kline didn’t just explain the activity; in order to make sure students understood, she asked

them questions about it, such as, “what is a map?” This involves the class more than just an

explanation while also allowing the students to earn praise for their answer/participation in the

discussion.

Paige Sjoerdsma’s impact word was Reflection. In the pamphlet, she specifies the Reggio

Emilia value evaluation. Paige follows this herself and believes, “Our education experiences

should be shared and discussed with the whole school community. One of the questions we asked

in our email pre-visit to her was, “What inspired you to be a teacher?” She answered that she wants

to pay back all of the work her former teachers put in for her when she was a child. While working

as a pedagogista she reflects on these experiences as well as those she had as a college student and

as a teacher herself in order to reevaluate and become the best educator she can. Due to her unique

position, she also must reflect and evaluate on how well she works with her colleagues and make

sure that she listens to their ideas rather than doing what she may think is best.

To conclude our meaning making session with our class, we gave Paige a gift using

jamboard. While working with a partner, their task was to use what they learned from her artifact

and our class visit in order to create character map of her educator journey. This not only acts as a

way to incorporate unfamiliar technology into teaching, but also demonstrates the 100 languages

value of Reggio Emilia.

I felt like our meaning making team worked well together. We properly communicated

conflicts and when we had our planning meeting, we were able to delegate parts of the presentation

in order to work smoothly and efficiently. We also all prepared beforehand by taking notes on the
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artifact pamphlet and the experience of our visit as a whole. This was all essential to the success

of this presentation, due to the limited time our group had before the class visit.