Maddalena...

I love this name...I loved this woman...and I wanted to put her in my pocket and bring her back to Cosenza with me! 

The morning started with Maddalena, a pedagogista, (which is basically a child development/curriculum expert) giving a review of the idea of continuity.  She talked about dialogue between children, parents, teachers, and community and some other things.  Another lady, Laura, talked about a book that I later bought, and showed us a video of parent meetings in the school, and then a video of the teachers and pedagogistas.

Coffee break, which consisted of tea, coffee, juice, snacks (little breads/sweets), and water every day!  It was always really yummy.  The Italians MUST have that coffee break, and I have to say that I am becoming quite accustomed to this! I do not mind having a built in 30ish minute break! The guy working at the coffee table was really kind to me.  I asked him about some of the foods, in Italian, and then he asked me how I knew Italian (I explained having studied it and now living in Italy), etc.  I said it wasn't that good and he said that it was perfect!  So sweet, not true, but sweet!  Definitely needed that boost of confidence. 

The second half of the morning was more Maddalena.  She talked about cultural and political levels of continuity!  She talked about a book that I bought where older children gave younger children perspective/advice about coming to a new school (the preschools), and it was incredible.  She talked about curriculum, and how it is the identity card/soul of a school.  She discussed documentation a bit more, and about the conditions/quality of a school.  The majority of this time was spent talking about curriculum, and how it develops in their schools. 

They then let us ask questions, while they wrote them all down and tried to answer them all at once; not a method that many people were happy with because they ended up not answering all of the questions.  I was once again brave enough to speak up.  My question was about the transitions of these children from the Reggio Approach to traditional Italian  schools, and how they adjust/do they thrive in this drastically different environment.  I mentioned the scuole medie and licei.  They seemed to like my question, and seemed a little "shocked" that I asked this!  They did all give me big grins though; perhaps using a tiny bit of Italian helped with that!?!?  They did answer my question, and when they did, they were all speaking directly to me...nodding at me...smiling at me...and making eye contact with me.  They said that they do not have any formal research on how these children adjust to the traditional schools, and how they do in high school (liceo  or istituto).  They said that there is a study going on now, but they do not know when the results will come out (they later seemed a bit cryptic about this...soo.... They said that their only information comes from word of mouth.  They said that early childhood education helps form the brain, and so hopefully these children take "it" with them!  It being their love/desire/excitement for learning, and the skills they have gained regarding the idea that they are active in their learning; they are the researchers of their own knowledge.  I sure hope this is true...I hope these children do take it with them!

Before we left, Lella Gandini stood up to comment about the things, and this was the first time I realized who she was in the crowd.  Lella is one of the editors for The Hundred Languages of Children, and is the "liason/ambassador" for Reggio Emilia in the U.S.  It was so much fun to hear her translate herself, fluently I might add! :)

 After the morning session, I went up to thank Maddalena and Laura for answering my question, and I explained to them (in Italian) that I live in Cosenza and work in two high schools, teaching English.  They both looked at me, put their hands on my shoulders and said, "that's too bad....Cosenza...the southern schools...those are the WORST!!  We hope you are happy.  We wish you good luck in that work (buon lavoro). "  Wow...not the reaction I was expecting, but nevertheless.  THey also complimented me on my Italian, which made me smile! I was dying at this point to tell Nick what had just happened, and I did get an opportunity during lunch to talk to him.  On this day, I chose not to eat at the school because I wanted to save my money! SO, for lunch I had an erbazzone from the train station, and some fruit I had in my bag.  It was just enough, and so yummy! I talked to Nick for a while, and then went back to the International Center.

When I went back to the International Center, I went upstairs to sit with my friends.  I then became involved in a conversation with some ladies from St. Louis, Mexico, and South America, and learned a lot about some pedagogista programs in the U.S. I was really excited to have met them, and will be looking into some of this!  It was great to just listen to these people talk about such exciting opportunities in our field. 

The afternoon was spent in "discussion" groups.  Really it was just small groups having discussions about random things, and I was able to talk to some people.  I talked to this one man who had been talking to me about high school education.  He is on sabbatical from his high school, and is traveling to different places in Europe/the world to learn about different approaches.  He struck me as a little odd, and a little creepy at times (others agreed), and he seemed a bit disappointed when I mentioned Nick, but either way, it was nice to hear some other perspectives.    I walked through the atelier things they had set up for us to see some of the light projection work, etc.  I also watched the dvd that I later bought.

After this time of discussion with others, we boarded our buses to go to the primary schools.  Creepy man sat next to me, and I was so grateful when my momma called me...and I was able to text Nick!  I was with my new friend Sara, from FSU.  The primary schools are traditional primary schools that are slowly being "converted" to the Reggio Approach.

As with teh infant-toddler center the day before, they had wonderful food for us (erbazzone, parm. cheese, etc).  I love tasting all of the erbazzone, and was afraid that I would turn into spinach before I left the city!  The elementary school was nice to see, and they did a presentation about a project they had done with the second and fourth graders...it was really cool how they had them "working together".  We met a lady who is in charge of this transition from traditional to Reggio.  I took this opportunity to ask her about the transition to high school, etc.  They all skirted around the "answer" to the question, but once again seemed to like the question.  Jovanka, the pedagogista, that was there seemed interested in it, but of course they do not have all of the answers.  They did tell us that their plan in the new International school is that when the elementary children in this school reach middle school age, they will then try to extend Reggio to the scuola media, all the while complying with the Ministry of Education.  That is going to be super challenging. 

After this, we headed back to the city center.  I was not really hungry, so I skipped dinner.  I had some little cookie things that I brought from Cosenza, but that was it!  I was exhausted...so I went to bed!