The first...

Among many other things today, it was the first day I got to visit a school in Reggio Emilia.  WHAAA???  I started my morning with breakfast, and what an amazing breakfast it was.  I will just say here, as a blanket statement, that I had the parm. cheese with my breakfast EVERY morning, as well as the amazing fruit mixture. This morning I sat alone at breakfast, looking around to see if I saw people I recognized, but not yet.

Our day started at 9, and since I wanted to sit towards the front and on an aisle seat, I started walking with plenty of time to spare!  It was a nice walk, and while it was cold outside, it was not miserable (thanks in part to my awesome wool socks!!).  I talked to Nick while I walked, and then for the next 20 or so minutes because I was definitely one of the first there, and I later discovered that I was dressed more for a conference while most of the others were dressed for more of a casual thing...oops! :) How was I supposed to know?!?!? Some of the women I met from the night before sat with me, and that is always nice...to see friendly faces!

The morning started with an introduction to what the week would be about: 0-99 CONTINUITY IN A QUALIFIED SYSTEM OF RELATIONSHIPS. So, in simpler English, we will talk about continuity in education and the Reggio approach in general! The whole week was going to be in Italian, with an English translator.  I was rather excited about this because I knew I would be able to practice my Italian comprehension! It did make it a bit difficult to catch a few things that were said because I also had to listen to the ENglish and make sense of it at times.  Sometimes the translation from Italian to English is difficult because they use words in ways that we might not!  It was a GREAT exercise for me in understanding Italian! We discussed words that we associated with continuity, and I was really proud of myself for speaking up, which is new for me!  Before, I would have been too shy to speak up!  Yay for growing and changing! We talked about continuity around the world, the Italian school systems (I just sat there and nodded along...), politics & education, and the involvement of the community in preschool/school in general.  We talked about pairs of concepts where the relationship between the two must be changed: teaching/learning, individual/group.  THey discussed disciplines/the 100 languages, and a bit about the idea of the atelier, and how it is NOT just a place of specialization, but rather a place of research for the children and adults!  Again, if you want more information from me, email me/facebook me/wait on me to write something and/or make the powerpoint! :)


At this point we had a coffee break!  I went to the bookstore to look around, and made my first purchase!  I do not have pictures because the books are still wrapped up!  I also met a lady during this break that lives in Connecticut, but graduated from THe University of Alabama with a degree in Psychology!  She was AWESOME! We talked about how sketchy New Haven is, and of course we talked about UA.  She actually worked with one of the professors that APril worked with!  How cool is that?? She knew the person that hired Ms. Hudson at the child development center, and it was just so cool to talk to her!  She is originally from Tennessee (& her husband is unfortunately a Tennessee fan), but went to UA.  She moved to Atlanta, but then to Connecticut.  Her husband now works in Atlanta, but they still live in CT...he flies back and forth!  WOW!  She was incredible!  Our break went over by like 30 minutes because people were chatting, buying things, and paying for lunch there at the International Center (10 euros a day for their meal...a bit much...but I did it on this first day!).  I went to sit down, but then went to find my new friend because I realized that I let an Alabama graduate walk away from me without giving her a "Roll Tide!!"  What is wrong with me??? SO, I ran to find her and tell her...she said, "oh my gosh...did you see the National Championship?? We kicked their a**es!!"  Her words, not mine!  So then we talked about football for a few minutes, and that was DEFINITELY fun!  Roll Tide!

When we did get started, Amelia, the fun lady (1 of 2 who did all of the "talking" at the beginning of each day/end of each day), got on to us for letting break go to long.  Her words were something like this, "I know that we are Italian, and people think Italians are late for everything, but WE are NORTHERN Italians, and we do not like to be late!"  I chuckled a bit to myself because my students had told me this about Northern Italians, but then said that they say this, but it isn't true (students' words, not mine!!!).

The second half of the morning was about the history of Reggio Emillia, the schools, some of the books they have, the involvement of the community in the schools, how things have grown, researching continuity, documentation (VERY important in the Reggio Approach), a little bit about the new International school, and some different projects in Reggio Emilia.

I met another lady from Connecticut, who knew my UA friend.  This lady, Pat, was really excited that I was a Fulbright person.  Her daughter-in-law, who is from Australia, came to the US with Fulbright to do music (flute maybe??).  She then HAD to return to Australia and do so many years of work within her field, as part of the Fulbright agreement or something, before she could return to the US.  I thought this was really interesting, and I am wondering if American research Fulbrighters do anything like that...not that I know of at least.

I chose to eat lunch at the center on this day!  The food was good.  We had cheeses, etc.  I cannot remember exactly, but it was good!  The best part was just getting to sit with everyone, eat, and enjoy conversation about what we are all passionate about!  It is also nice to speak consistent and fluent English!  I have noticed though that I have to be careful to not slip into my "Italianized English", which means I speak slower, and with simpler words, all the while checking for comprehension.  This is not done in a demeaning way, but rather just a different way than I would speak to my friends, family, etc.  

So, the afternoon was spent going to visit the Infant-Toddler schools in Reggio.  We had been each assigned to schools, based on the schools indicated on the back of our nametags (all randomized of course).  I was assigned to Rodari Infant-Toddler Center.

Outside pictures were TOTALLY legal! No, really!

I was so bummed that we were not going to be allowed to take pictures, but I was still beside myself with excitement.  It would be wayyy too much to write all about it here.  I will say this, it was incredible.  THe only thing I was disappointed with was the fact that this was the one school that did not have an infant room!! :(  BUMMER!!! However, they did have an intern, and I was able to talk to her!  She is from Parma, but is studying at the University in Reggio!  We conversed in Italian for like 10 minutes! It was awesome!  There were moments of struggling, but we were able to do it!  She told me a bit about her internship, and how she takes pictures and stuff, and gets to learn from the teachers, etc.  We talked about learning English in the Italian high schools.  She told me that her ENglish teachers were not very good, and not actually fluent themselves, and so she was not very good at English!  I thought this was sad...

The school definitely left an impression on me.  They are not cluttered...there are not a MILLION things on their walls...there is very little color other than the materials, etc. (i.e. the walls, etc are very plain and remind me of the high schools)...the space is not divided by a bunch of furniture...the children really are valued...and I could tell this in the building even without the children there!  The documentation was visible, but was somewhat different than I had anticipated! We had a great question and answer session with some of the teachers, and the pedagogista, Maddalena.  I was blown away with how many schools each pedagogista serves.  It seemed like they all had about 5 schools that they worked with at one time!

We finished at 6:45 p.m., and my new friend Emili and I were staying near each other, so we walked towards our hotels.  We were not very hungry, so we had gelato for dinner!  We then went to the grocery store for her to get a few things.  We also wandered into the library nearby and checked out the children's section.  I was excited to see this...made me laugh!

After this, we parted ways and went back to our hotels!  I was really tired...I talked to Nick and took a shower, and then went to sleep!

So far, so good...no, GREAT!!!