THE SCHOOLHOUSE OF MONTE SANTA
MARIA TIBERINA
By Emanuela Gherardini
Chiara Gustinelli
This new experience of
school has led us to deal with the structuring of a class with all new
"virtual learning spaces".
The first thing we thought of doing was the
creation of a background
that children
see every day and must convey serenity and joy when they connect each other.
To achieve this, after the first two days of
connection, we asked, through a small
interview with the children, how they wanted to "furnish" their virtual classroom.
These are our stages of work to achieve it;
1)The children talked about trees, rainbows and
clouds so each of us
made a tree;
2)The tree was placed in a space chosen by the
students with parents help to build
"the new classroom" inside each of their own homes. The classroom is a fixed space where children go every
morning to connect with teachers and
classmates;
3)This space has been equipped with a yoga and
physical activity mat, with colors of all
kinds, recycled material, glue and various paper;
4)This tree has multiple functions, is a
calendar of emotions and is also the
place where all the products we make remotely are attached
(Butterflies, ladybugs, flowers, swallows etc.
5) In that new space that we will call a new
classroom we find messages such as
"Everything will be fine"
6)We have given ourselves some rules which are: taking care of the class by keeping it
7)This space will change when children request
it or need a new learning space.
After a month of distance teaching we can feel
happy with our work even if it requires
many hours of preparation, meetings, programming between colleagues and high concentration during the activities but
the effort is satisfied by the commitment that
we recognize in our small pupils and in joy of their eyes in being
together.
I would like to share with you a letter that a
mother wrote to us to thank us for being
with their children in this hard and difficult moment.
Dear teachers,
I am Amelie Biagioli's mum and I am
writing to you because I would like to
share with you some thoughts that are mine but I think they also belong to many other parents. I address all of
you from the Borgo Antico school of Monte
Santa Maria Tiberina which is not only a school but, as I call it, it is a family school.
My thoughts are born to make you understand how
important you are becoming for us in this
period that I would call "so HARD" ... dear teachers, your presence every morning started to be
part of our daily lives but I don't just
talk about children, I also speak of us as
parents. Never would I have thought of waking up
in the morning and thinking "what
color is the whale today?"Or to find myself singing Panciovilla in the shower ... I never thought of
seeing Luca, my boyfriend who is so
committed to painting branches and flowers ...
you entered our house and it is nice to wait for
our 10 o'clock appointment because at
that now the house is filled with voices ... the tv is turned off and we all listen together, including usforgetting us for an hour about the distance, the
forced arrests, the sirens and the
numbers so heavy and so painful.
Dear teachers, you are now part of many
families. We have entered your home, on
your sofas, in your rooms ... we have known your children, your animals and we have seen a tiny piece of your
home ... just yesterday Amelie makes me
"Mum... teacher Giulia has the kitchen as Aunt Nadia !! ".
We have seen how much the teacher Emanuela looks
like her sister, we have heard the black
cat of the teacher Giulia scratching, we know that the teacher Sara has a house near the bells but that she is now
upside down for her house we know that the
teacher
Marco diligently did (after buying back the red)
all the little jobs that promptly appear
behind him every morning and we saw where the teacher Katarina plays at home.
Paradoxically, this situation has made us reach
an intimacy between you and us that
otherwise would never have been possible.
There is also more that I want to tell you ...
we see you ... we see the commitment but
above all the LOVE that you put in that hour to make it appear normal that which has nothing at all normal ... we see
the energy that you bring out also when your
eyes say you can't take virtual meetings
anymore, technological stuff, connections that doesn't run, or "turn off the microphones" "turn on the
microphones" "hear me don't
hear me" "see me don't see me" ... you are simply BIG for how you are doing your job and the impression I often
had is that, it is not only the children
who need you, but it is you who need them
as a testimony to the passion you put into what
you do ... THANK YOU
I thought that these words could be one more
reason for you to be proud of yourself
and to continue to be strong and motivated together.
A simple questionnaire was not enough to express
all of this ... great job teachers!
Samanta, Luca and Amelia
