Educational Philosophy
La Sombra Academy was originally inspired by the principals of Reggio-Emilia. The IDEA school, our mother school, used and expanded upon Reggio principals and was a testament to the effectiveness of their usage.
One of the most important tenets of the Reggio-Emilia model is the fact that children build relationships with other students and the community more broadly, and that community has great value. We believe that investment in the community and building strong bonds between community members is a human value and must be prioritized as a school value.
Likewise, the IDEA School found great value in the implementation of the PBL (Project-based Learning) method of instruction, which allows students to involve themselves in often self-directed long-term projects that can create dynamic learning opportunities. The process of learning is itself a tool that can inform in a multitude of ways outside of the subject matter. PBL allows for cooperation, socio-emotional development, problem solving, long term planning, and many other tangible and intangible skillsets.
The Reggio model also urges us to utilize the school and the classrooms within as a “third teacher”. The classroom should be a space that operates to serve the needs of the students. It should cultivate creative exploration, collaboration, access to multiple modalities of learning and an ample selection of artistic tools to be able to use in service of self expression. Classrooms should also be used as a way to document work, becoming a living and changing reflection of the learning of its creators. The classrooms should also be able to have a variety of tools within it for the students to access for self expression through artistic projects. Drawing, music, building, painting, and playing a strategy game are all great ways to explore our inner selves.
The IDEA School model-- while informed by Reggio-Emilio- evolved in time to address particular needs of its students and families, as well as traditions that were unique to it. For example, every year, every IDEA School student makes their own costume for the Fall Festival. The creative ambition of that task means a lot to the school community and far more than the outcomes of the costumes. The Fall Festival costumes remind us that it is the process of learning and the experience of learning that is often most important. And that the end product, while not unimportant, is not necessarily the most important part of learning.
Furthermore, the IDEA School came to rely heavily on organized games of all kinds in order to explore and learn from the socio-emotional repercussions of competitive play. They developed a curriculum based on fair play, empathy, friendship, support, and a bastion of other lessons that allow students to learn largely intangible or unmeasurable lifeskills. For example, competitive gameplay has been shown at the IDEA school to be a great tool for teaching conflict resolution, while less competitive games can teach cooperation and connection to peers. We would often begin the year with games with no clear winner (Oh Horton, Three-Ball Soccer, etc.) to begin building the skills necessary to play more competitive games with sportsmanship, teamwork, and respect. As we moved to more competitive games we were able to fortify those earlier lessons and build a community of peers who felt responsible for one another's well being and worked for the greater good of the group.
This game-based culture that has been cultivated at the IDEA school, largely by Dalziel, will remain an important part of the La Sombra Academy curriculum going forward, and is one of the many reasons we are compelled to open our own school. In over a decade of operation, the IDEA School was able to learn a vast amount about running children-centered programs that inspire and teach lessons that leave a lasting impression.