This week I went to Reggio Emilia and the Cinque Terre, but I will separate the trips into two different posts since I had totally different experiences/reasons for going to each area. Okay, well one of my goals for this trip to Italy was to not only relax, explore, eat and enjoy many different areas of Italy, but also to go to the area in Reggio Emilia where the Reggio approach to teaching originated. As many of you know, I have been working as a Title I Instructional Assistant at a Reggio-inspired preschool in Indiana. I really feel like working in a school that uses this approach to teaching has helped me combine two of my passions: art and education. I have had the privilege to work alongside amazing teachers this year who have further helped me make the decision to pursue teaching as my career, and become hopefully in the near future a highly effective teacher.
Instead of going into a long discussion on exactly what the Reggio approach is, I'll direct you to two websites which sum it up nicely in case you are unfamiliar or curious about it: http://zerosei.comune.re.it/inter/index.htm and http://www.reggioemiliaapproach.net/
I knew that I wanted to take several day trips this week, and so Wednesday I randomly decided to take the train to Reggio Emilia, where I had my first experience transferring between several trains. Obviously, sitting back here in Florence and writing this shows that my train transferring skills were a success! I did not exactly have the most thought out plan upon arrival in the town, but I knew I wanted to try and see at least from the outside the famous Diana school and the Malaguzzi Center. I hope to at some point go back and be a part of one of their conferences so that I can actually tour the schools, but it was definitely worth the trip to see what I did and just get a feel of the area.
It was nice to get off the train and go to an area that is not so touristy, since I have been going to places up until now that many people go to. It was a beautiful day to just walk around and hang out outside in their main piazza.
The first area that I actually went in search of was the Diana school, but as I walked into this large park where the school was supposed to be, I thought that I had the wrong address, and feeling slightly defeated I decided to take a break and relax in the park. This will become a silly moment later when I decide right before leaving to go back to the park, but more on that later...
After taking a break in the park, eating my lunch under this awesome large tree,
I went in search of the Malaguzzi Center. I had more success finding this since the center spans several blocks, and therefore would be really hard to miss.
I thought at first that I wouldn't be able to enter, but at the very far end there was a small gate left open. This was amazing to see, and I'm sure my colleagues would be excited and thrilled to see all the exhibits I saw inside. I went into their light studio first, which our school in Indiana has a pretty cool one, but the center has room after room after room of different light equipment with different areas devoted to various explorations of light. I'll have to share my findings with my fellow teachers when I get back (but it was great)! Here are some photos of some of the other exhibits and the documentation (a huge part of the Reggio method) was incredible!
There were also rooms full of materials for children to build and interact with,
as well as, the original draft of the design for the theater curtain the Reggio children designed for the theater in town.
I was quite satisfied having seen the center, and all the information I acquired there, and so I decided to head back to the park for the little bit of time I had left before heading back. Luckily, I decided to text my sister (who had been there before) just to see if she knew where the school was, and she said that it was literally IN THE PARK! I go back to the tree where I had lunch, and sure enough I heard children's voices behind this circle of bushes (to give me some credit, there where no children outside on their playground when I had been yards away from the school earlier haha).
This made the trip even more worth it because I got to see the children run around yelling in Italian, and how cool is it that the school is just in the park hidden behind some bushes? Awesome!
Ciao,
Rachel
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