Diana

A princess...but ALSO a famous school in Reggio.

I was a lucky person today.  I was going to visit "The Diana" school, which meant that I was getting to see a famous school, but also, it was not far from the hotel, so I got to sleep in a bit, and just walk over there at 9, instead of having to walk to the International Center.  At breakfast I sat with a lady from..crap, I cannot remember.  Anyway, I sat with her a few times at breakfast, and she was really sweet.

It was snowing this morning when I woke up...and it would snow...for the rest of the time.

I met these other two ladies at breakfast who did not know where the school was, and so I told them that I had to run and brush my teeth, and then I would come back and walk with them.  When we arrived at the school, we found people just congregating outside.  I talked to these two ladies, one works in an International school in Dubai, and the other works in...NYC I think.  I then found Emili and some other familiar faces.  At this point I had met a sweet lady named Lisa, and her amazing co-worker Romy.  I met them in the hotel last night when I got some hot water for tea.  Oh, I forgot to tell this story!  I asked the front desk guy for some hot water, and the said that they could not send it to the annex, and so I asked if I could just take the cup of hot water with me. They were a little confused, and insisted that I take the pot of hot water because other wise it would get cold just from the walk over to the annex.  Then, the guy took me to the kitchen to get the water with him...BUONASERA TUTTI!! I was excited to try my new tea though.

Anyway, so I started talking to Emili, Romy, and Lisa.  I was really excited to be at this school, and even more excited that the children were going to be there while we observed!  This meant an opportunity to REALLY see how things work and how the children are in the environment. We started out in the eating area, and Laura, a teacher who has worked in this school for 38 years, and is still amazingly passionate about her job, talked to us a bit about the school.  Then, the atelier, Simona, talked to us briefly.  They then let us start exploring the school!  I wont go into too much detail here, but it was amazing.  They have "sections", not "classes", but really they are classrooms.  THere are separate classes for the 3s, 4s, & 5s.  All of the classrooms are incredible.  There are a TON of materials, and some of the materials would be grounds for a lawsuit in the U.S., but these children use them responsibly, and there aren't problems (nails, screws, small pieces of things, etc. etc.).  There are so many natural materials in the classroom that I could hardly believe my eyes.  One classroom, the 4-year-olds I believe, had a wall climbing structure, and a rope anchored to the ceiling and floor for them to climb.  How incredible would that be as a child...umm...how incredibly fun would that be now?!?!?!  A lot of the children were working with clay, and some were drawing pictures of 3D things in front of them!  One little boy, in the 3 year old classroom was VERY excited to show us his Spiderman jacket!  His teacher finally had to say, "l'hanno visto!!", which means, "They saw it!!"  It was so adorable though!  I was able to make friends with him later, talking to him a little bit about his friends and such, as they were going outside.  We saw a bit of a group time, and this particular class had a little boy who speaks English, and so he talked to us...then they counted us and asked us where we were from (those of us that had made our way into the room!).  The atelier was incredible.  The children were playing with cameras, tvs, blocks, natural materials, digital drawing, etc.  There were so many amazing materials in this room, that I cannot even begin to describe it!  We witnessed an "argument" between the children, and Simona, the atelier, was incredible; she was able to stand back and redirect the children and help them solve the problem amongst themselves without taking over the situation.  The light tables in these rooms are unbelievable...and the use of clear materials for everything- for drawing, for building, for overhead projectors, etc.  THis place was just unbelievable...incredible...insanely busy...and I was amazed at the freedom the children had!  However, these children used their freedom with great responsibility; we were commenting on the amount of materials in the classrooms, and yet they were not all being pulled off the shelves, the classrooms were "neat", yet obviously lived in, and it is so obvious that the children are respected and they in turn respect the adults.  Where is this in all of the Italian school system??  Where is this in some of our schools?? We need to respect our children for their abilities...we are not the GIVERS of knowledge...we are co-constructors...if I learned anything in Reggio, it is that this IS true, and children will thrive in an environment where they are given respect/control.  The final thing we did was all cram into the atelier and have a question and answer session; again, they were not able to answer everything, but I got a lot of GREAT information from this session.  I learned about schedules, professional development (they are all committed like WHOA), documentation, the atelier, the pedagogista, how conflict is handled, and much more!!!  The atelierista, Simona, is hands down one of the most passionate people I have ever met; her enthusiasm/love for her job radiates from her and is so contagious!  I wish I could work with her every day, and learn from her!  She was just incredible...amazing...passionate...intelligent...funny...enthusiastic...and more words that I cannot even think of at the moment!  She made me even more excited about working with children!  This is the fire inside that you should have...the burning passion for working with them, because if you dont...well, it shows!  Laura, the teacher that has been there for 38 years, her passion showed as well!  How incredible...this is how it should be!  Once that passion is gone, it begins to affect your work, and thus the children.  I loved these women so much, that I decided to get a picture with them, and they allowed it, and so thus it is "legal" for me to put it in my blog!

 When we left, I had to take some pictures, so here:

Me with my flat people and pictures of other child development loves

Kelly, Maria, Dr. T., Ms. Hudson, Mrs. Malissa, Erin, and April

bricks outside that the children have decorated

We finished around 12ish and we had until 2:30 before we had to be at the International Center.  I was not really hungry, and neither were my friends, so we all parted ways to go rest at our hotels.  I think this was the day that I had gelato for lunch...yes, it was...I was not starving, and none of the sandwiches looked good, despite our searching for them, so Emili went back to her hotel, I went to get gelato, and then I went back to the hotel for a bit!  I rested for a few minutes, talked to Nick, and then started walking to the International Center for the afternoon meetings.  It was snowing really hard as I left to walk.

The afternoon session consisted of 3 presentations by 3 different schools from different countries; all Reggio inspired schools.  The first was from Sweden, the second from the United States, and the last was from Argentina.  The school from the U.S. is located in Oklahoma, and is a HUGE program, ranging from pre-k all the way to high school.  The campus was huge...they have a farm...they had soooo much!  IT was incredible.  And with this, our day ended at 5.  Before I left, I was able to get a picture with Lella Gandini, but the girl moved her hand at the last second and it is a little blurry.  Nonetheless...here it is:

The conference room

That night, everyone was either sick or just not wanting to get dinner.  I was really bummed because I was actually hungry and wanted a real dinner.  I had been invited by the two sweet ladies, Romy and Lisa, the other night but had already eaten!  I was hoping I might see them, but the chances of that were slim.  So I walked around a bit, went back to my room, and then, when I went to the hotel to ask about restaurants, luck would have it that I ran into Romy.  I asked her if they were going to dinner or anything, and she invited me to join them! 

So, a while later, I joined them for dinner!  They had reservations at a place nearby, and the food was wonderful!  I had...something...and I remember it being good...but I dont remember what it was!  I think I may have had the spinach/cheese tortelli.  Anyway, we sat there for the longest time, eating, laughing, and talking about all kinds of things!  I had so much fun with them!!!  They are so sweet, kind, funny, and all around fabulous!  I think it would be fun to work with them!  I also got a chance to share some of how God has changed my life, and I really saw Him in the moment!  This is always incredible, and I am so grateful for those moments when I get to share what I have been through, and I get to see another person "benefit" from my experiences.  Benefit isn't the right word...but you know what I mean!  God definitely used the moment..the end. 

So, after a loooong dinner, and shutting down the restaurant...we walked back to the hotel, in the snow! :)