37100

Oh yes, taking turns to sharpen Miss's pencil. And riding in the back of a dumper truck round the playground because a dad was a builder. Don't think you can do that anymore!

acquafrizzante

I remember that stuff too. I remember playing with clay and firing things in the school kiln, lots of art, making things with wood in "shop" class, dancing to disco music (this was the 70s!), making quilts, plenty of running around, playing the autoharp and the recorder, school choir, international foods day, playing various math games, learning how to play chess, school sports day, running races, having to collect a million of something for math class, collecting bugs for our terrarium at school, visiting sand dunes at the beach, going to various museums in NYC, doing a project on the ancient Aztecs (which totally traumatized me - they were bloodthirsty!), going to the botanical gardens, going to central park to collect bugs, leaves, dirt etc., looking at our spit down the microscope etc.

Lorna at Vicenza

Did you also do sponsored events to raise cash for special school things or new things? Not corporate sponsorship. Just a sponsored walk or something where your family and friends would sponsor you 5p or 10p for each mile you walked before giving up. My favourite was the sponsored matchbox. Each kid had the same brand and size matchbox and it's amazing just how many little every day objects we use that you can actually get into a matchbox. Another good one was the grow a sunflower. Took a long time to wait for that one though. Bring and buy sales were always fun. We had a school choir, a band and even a school bank collection in collaboration with a real bank. Various sports clubs and always a big school play.

Lorna at Vicenza

In some places you can't even have conkers anymore or sports day because of health and saftey. You can forget dumptruck rides. Bet that was fun.

clint

Please don't feel sad for me, I loved going to my school and I loved my teachers I loved to play mith my friends at break times etc, the one you should be feeling sorry for his my English husband who got caned at his grammar school

37100

And my Italian husband who's teacher thought it acceptable to shut naughty pupils in a cupboard.

acquafrizzante

Or the kid at my daughter's public school in Rome who had the teacher slap him across the face in front of the class just a couple of years ago.

(luckily, not my daughter's teacher!)

isshin

www​.theguardian.com/.../pupils-suspend...

Those crazy violent teachers

Sylsmum

My experience is that Materna & Elementare (Nursery & Primary) are fine, my son learned a lot & was happy. However in 3 years of Media (11 - 14) he has been happy socially but has learned very little. I have an older son who teaches in the UK & is not impressed ! I think we shall be heading back to the UK for Year 10 which I hope is not too late. I need my boy in Uni at 18, not struggling till 19+ and that's IF he has got good grades in everything all the way through. At 23, my other son in London is a Head of Year & buying himself a new 4 bed house. I would advise people to think straight ! My children are mixed race and I cannot afford to make mistakes, in the UK they can go as far as they want.

Sylsmum

As an Early Years teacher, what makes me laugh is that the Italians have never heard of the so - called 'Reggio system' so hyped up amongst educational professionals in the UK ! People in the UK think Italian schools must be incredibly 'child - centred' with loads of innovative art workshops and amazing furniture & equipment !! I reckon the Comune of Reggio Emilia have set it all up as a money making venture, to get UK LEAs & other countries sending teachers over for mega expensive tours & courses ! I worked in Modena, 20 minutes away & no one knew anything about it !

Lorna at Vicenza

Chloe's computer teacher told her that she was getting a "nota" on Friday. Chloe wasn't sure if she was just threatening it or not.

Chloe had permission from a teacher to go to the loo at the end of a lesson bell. When she returned to the next lesson in the computer room with a different teacher she knew she was a minute late so started to explain why.

"No excuses" said the teacher.
- But prof I had ....
"I said that I don't listen to excuses and why is your backpack still on your back?"
- Because I was, if you just let me ......
"You're getting a note. Backpack off now!"

So Chloe went to her desk to take her "informatica" books out of her bag.
"You know you can't keep your backpack at your desk. Rules are that they all stay at the wall."
- I know prof I just wanted to ..
"Enough from you Z-------

So Chloe huffed a sigh under her breath, dumped her backpack on the floor and shoved it with her foot a metre acroos the floor to where the others were all dumped in a pile.

"That's another 'nota' Z------ for being insolent.

The school is now all digitally 'elettronico' and we all have a private password to access the registro elettronico online and check things like marks, absences, meetings and suchlike.

Sure enough, Chloe did get a 'nota' and it says:

Mancato rispetto delle norme di sicurezza in laboratorio e reazione inadeguata alle osservazioni dell'insegnante.

I'm pretty sure that Chloe isn't 100% perfect all of the time. A gang of teenagers at school will never be. I just hate the way that some things should be perfectly reasonable but some teachers aren't when they won't even give a child a minute to explain anything. If Chloe had been dawdling and messing about - fair enough. Give her the chance though to explain that she did have another teacher's permission to run to the loo.

As for the backpack thing - I don't know. Should she have crouched over the pile of backpacks at the wall to get her books out and not dared to walk to her desk with it which is what they normally do at the start of a lesson? Apart from the fact that I paid for the backpack and all the books and things in it and if Chloe wants to shove it or kick it then it's my property and not the school's. Perhaps her huff and puff was too loud and an affront to the teacher? Frankly I'd be huffing and puffing as well if I wasn't given the chance to explain anything. I just said to Chloe, "well now that you know this teacher is this strict, you'll know in future how to behave."

Chloe's reazione might have been inadeguata but I think the teacher was a little unfair too. What is it with some of them that they just can't let a kid open his/her mouth? One minute for a simple and perfectly adequate explanation and all this would have been avoided. I've seen the same kind of "won't let you talk" attitude myself from other teachers in schools and all it does is make the kids feel frustrated, angry, in the wrong and about as big as a turd. It certainly doesn't make them feel respectful towards a teacher or as if they count for anything. And whilst we're at it ...... I dislike all this surname use. They're not little military soldiers at bootcamp.

acquafrizzante

I agree. The "Reggio Emilia" method is also incredibly popular in the US and no one here has ever heard of it here. I suspect that the reason that Montessori and Reggio Emilia were (purportedly) invented here is precisely because the Italian system is so rigid and non-child focussed. But for some reason, the ideas of these methods were never actually put into place here.

37100

Are there any schools outside Reggio who use it. And other than pre-schools , even in Reggio, is it used? Boh! Anyone living in Reggio know anything. I know it's called 'cento linguaggi' cos an ex almost DIL used an adaption of the method in Verona.

HADENOUGHPIZZA

My youngest went to a scuola materna in parma that used this method ! The main problem is that it is hard to do with the funding avaialable , but she had three very child centered years and it was mainly down to dedicated staff members .

primularossa

I think that there are different situations in Italy.
My daughter - in Tuscany - went to a "asilo nido" (nursery? in English?) and a "Scuola materna" which, "de facto", were Montessori schools even if they did not know it.
I spoke to a friend of mine who lives in Belgium and had her daughter in an (expensive) private Montessori school. She described to me all the magnificence of the Montessori method and why it was worthy to spend a lot of money in that school: she described exactly what was done in my daughter schools: Normal state-owned schools with no Montessori qualifications - schools centered on kids' needs where everything - from the toilets to toys to teaching methods - was designed to empower kids abilities, exploring, curiosity and confidence. :-) - where there was a well designed educational project shared among teachers and families. Other friends in the Netherlands told me that their kids are basically guarded at kindergardens, and no educational programme is run.