The Story of RIVET
Some of us participated in RIVET's early days that culminated in a traveling exhibit that shared our findings about children in the natural world and in their Vermont communities. Many of us continued to work together within and across our professional (and often personal) contexts in the years that followed the exhibit's retirement, but it wasn’t until 2017 that we met again under the umbrella of RIVET 2.0 to investigate children and trees in relationship. We spent several years meeting in person to discuss research related to trees as social agents while also sharing and discussing observations of interactions involving children and trees and reflecting on our documentation’s pedagogical implications. We are currently working on a manuscript to share our findings.
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RIVET's story is one with many ebbs and flows but throughout, its unifying thread is one of friendship and collegiality rooted in a shared love and respect for children and provoked by a curiosity about the world they invent and inhabit. We are a group of Early Childhood educators - teachers new to the profession, teachers in their professional prime, teachers of retirement age who remain engaged in the pursuit of knowledge about children and their processes of meaning making. ​​
In 2022 we decided to expand the role and range ofactivities of RIVET 2.0. We hope to create opportunitiesfor the next generation of Vermont early education pedagogical leaders to collaborate and support each other and to build a network of educators, families and communities that view children (and each other) as relational, resourceful, and resilient.This website is one step toward that end.
Please checkout our calendar of events, our blog, and our efforts tobring the exhibition-atelier Mosaic of Marks, Words,Material to Vermont. We'd love to hear from you - dropus a line (RIVETvermont@gmail.com) or better yet, join usat one of our virtual and/or in-person gatherings!
We look forward to seeing you soon,
RIVET Steering Committee