The Schoolhouse of Monte Santa Maria Tiberina

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 clean and tidy;

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