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Library
The library in Scuola-Cittą is in existence since the foundation of the
school itself and has always been seen as a valuable educational and
teaching resourse. Its presence within the school facilitates a valid
alternative to the use of the sole textbook, as it offers multiple
services,
including the stimulation of reading, the capacity to cater for a wide
range
of tastes, and the ability to meet the requests and requirements of both
the
students and teachers.
Through the library, we seek, right from the first class in Primary
School,
to encourage the students to approach literature, to look after the
child-book relationship (intended in its original forms), to allow the
discovery of reading both as a form of pleasure and as an important
cultural
aspect with which to satisfy the needs of curiosity, doubt, and thirst
for
knowledge. The use of the library allows the pupils to form a natural
confidence in a structure that can be intimidating, for adults as well
as
for children. Furthermore, the library is witness to an important
phenomenon in
the scholastic life: students meet, collaborate and play together,
assume
responsibility for the supervision of small children, teenagers and
adults
from the entire school, and overcome the subdivisons of class, age and
role.
Through the activities that are performed, both those that are well
finalised, and those that are spontaneous, one can be assured
that the students will receive the fundamental message that in the
complexity
of social life we find the usefulness of knowledge and learning.
Organisation and Management of the "Library Laboratory"
The School Library is a STRUCTURE that is realised in a LABORATORY. An
"environment", but also a method of work: a sort of background that,
from
the point of view of the educational action, is predisposed
to be an "instrument of teaching" (with many and varied foregrounds). A
functional environment for the realisation of laboratory activities that
assumes the point of view of the subject to be taught and responding to
its
requirements: an environment conducive to the formative process.
The care of the environment - creating an accepting and welcoming
atmosphere
in the library, considering the actual needs of the people that have to
primarily satisfy their own "well-being"... - is not a secondary aspect,
but
a fundamental starting point. In other words, the predisposition of the
school library is dependent on the conditions (space, time, instruments,
materials, opportunites...) that make it a "laboratory" and a welcoming
situation: a place in which in order to "learn to learn", the most
favourable educational conditions must be present.
The status of the library as an open, accessible, encouraging place
rather
than secret and mysterious depends on a number of factors, the physical
space, the organisation and treatment of the material, the instruments,
the
opening hours, the availability and disposition of the librarian or
teachers
that take part in the teaching process. It should be a pleasant
scholasic
place in which the experiences and activities that occur there satisfy
the desires to discover and explore that will naturally emerge in the
learning process of each person; child, adolescent or adult.
The teaching passes through a "doing" that allows an exploration of the
situation, its difficulties and the possible solutions to a procedure.
Beyond the contents, the structures and the learning to transmit, it is
important to look after the "people" that learn and the way in which
they
activate "styles and strategies" to learn. If we examine the "knowledge"
of
the child and enable the expression of the child, the librarian and the
teachers permit the students to become librarians and teachers of
themselves
and others, thereby favouring the self management of the formative
process.
The library is first and foremost a place to behave correctly, a place
of
opportunity where the attention of the adult is directed on the child
and on
the process that is undertaken in the search for a solution to a
cognitive
problem, pedagogical or didactical. A laboratory that is characterised
as a
place where one does not explain how to behave or what to do, but an
environment where one behaves and does. A place, beyond the physical
aspect, that offers the opportunity for relationships with other people
or
groups, where the recognition of others (with their attractions and
defects)
becomes concretely signicative and important, where the acquired
knowledge
and competencies of each person merge with those of others, where one
takes,
but where one also needs to do and give.
This way of thinking links together theory and practice, teaching (contents)
and activities (concrete application), leaving behind the idea that the
spontaneity of the activity is a means to an end: doing and thinking are
not
considered to be unnaturally separate. Unfortunately school teaching is
often characterised thus.
Teachers mix together "doing" and "thinking", and the principal role of
the
adult is as "facilitator" of the formative processes of each
individual's
knowledge.
The laboratory as a "teaching instrument"
In Scuola-Cittą, the teaching experiences (activities and work
itineraries
relative to the use of the library, to the books and to reading) are
varied
and have been accumulated over the years.
In summary, they regard:
- BOOKS AND READING
1) Knowing the books.
2) Reading for oneself and for others: how to present the books.
3) Books for research and study.
- SCHOLASTIC LIBRARY
1) Knowing the library.
2) Participating in the management of the library.
3) Enriching and promoting the library.
"Service" activities for the classes
The "service" activities that are generally most requested of the
library
teacher are:
the constant and regular registration service of loaned/returned books
for
individual reading on a weekly basis from all classes;
the loan service for the founding and exchange of materials from the
"class
library";
the consultancy in the choice and search for library books, used for
study
and "projects" both on behalf of the students and on behalf of the
teachers;
assistance with research activity in the retrieval of documents and
information.
The activities of the library to develop within the children the
capacity to
read and to use the library and its' books are planned and executed
according to the specific necessity of of each class. In order to
develop
the essential points of the curriculum for the eight classes using the
library, the activies and events can refer to certain indicators that
determine the main competencies that the students need to acquire for a
"competent and informed use of the library, the books and reading in
general" (Cfr. programme)
The Organisation and Management of the Assets
The assets of the school library are ample and constitute various types
of
materials (books, magazines, "grey material", cds, audio and video
cassettes, geographical maps, teaching instruments, essays etc). The
filing
system follows the RICA standard and the description system follows that
of
ISBD.
They are organised into open shelves according to the subdivision of
classes
from the Categorisation System of Decimale Dewey (C.D.D.) for materials
designed for children and adults (teachers and parents); a central and
"coloured" bookshelf contains the books for the smallest children with a
location system that indicates the difficulty grade (with the colours
red-green-blue-yellow-orange) and allows the learning of the C.D.D.
Beyond
that is a centre for multimedia and essay work, a "consultation" sector,
a
shelf of "English language books", a computer with a printer to organise
the
catalogue of information, two computers connected to the internal school
network, with CD-ROM, internet connection and printer.
The library stays open for the duration of the school day (and also on
Wednesday afternoons following the end of the school day as a result of
the
"Parents in the LIbrary" project. Although this project is currently
suspended due to logistical problems from the reconstruction work in the
school, it is hoped that it will soon be reactivated).
The book lending, return and consultation services have been improved
with a
self-service mechanism, that registers information on a paper card (a
system
that also constitutes a didactic course that lends itself to the
learning of
data retrieval as well as to the use of the library) with subsequent
registration of the information on the computer by the library teacher.
This method serves to improve the efficiency and quality of the archive
for
research and information retrieval purposes.
Indeed library information has been catalogued using the IRIDE software
since 1993-1994. Consequently one can verify research information (and
the
loan registration) of any material after 1993, while for prior material
and
that which has not been entered onto the computer, there is a paper
archive
system based on author, title and category.
Since the 1996-1997 school year, following a network project of
scholastic
libraries, the archive and information on the Scuola-Cittą library were
inserted on the internet site of the Florence Municipality, and since
this
year (2003) the information is available online from the "OPAC" of the
civic
network libraries of Florence at the web address
http://opac.comune.fi.it/easyweb/bisco/ .
The assets and resources of the library are constantly and consistently
increasing every year. It is common to find children, parents and former
pupils donating new or well maintained second hand books to what they
consider to be "their library". Nonetheless, the main intention of
Scuola-Cittą is to encourage the five elementary classes to embrace the
so-called "alternative text-book choice". This proposal is an integral
part
of the Experimentation plan and therefore also of the current "P.O.F.",
implemented by the parents since the First Class of Primary School and
overseen both by the Teaching Body and by the Instite Council.
It also allows each team of teachers to put forward a proposal for the
purchase of appropriate books to augment those sectors of the library
that
will service the teaching needs of all classes and all activities. It
avoids
unnecessary duplication, and facilitates significant growth and updating
of
the library assets that can be used by teachers,pupils and
parents both for individual use and for all types of classroom,
laboratory
and library teaching activities.
The organisation and management of the library is supervised by a
teacher
(even this year with 9 hours weekly).
A new instrument for the promotion of reading - the BLOG.
Newspaper
The newspaper has been present in the school since its foundation. It is
coordinated by a teacher of the Primary School who is assisted in
specific
initiatives by other teachers and parent groups. The principal
objectives
of the tasks addressed to the students are:
- acquisition of specific competencies in the linguistic/journalistic
field
- acquisition of specific computer/multimedia competencies for the
creation
of a student newspaper
In the newspaper laboratory, group work is encouraged (up to a maximum
of 14
pupils) in which the divison of roles and the moments of group
cooperation
are intertwined to give an idea of how to organise a newspaper editing
unit.
The activity of the newspaper laboratory includes the composition,
editing
and printing of the School publication. The students participate in the
activities from their second year, performing different roles but always
within an interclass platform. In their fourth year, the work is divided
into optional groups.
There are three main types of publication in our school: Il Nostro
Piccolo
Mondo (Our Little World), il Passaparola (Pass the word) and il
Tartarughino
o Tartaruga Express (Tortoise Express)
The aspiring journalists of Scuola-Cittą produce supplements of Our
Little
World entirely edited by the pupils of the Second and Third Two Year
Periods
containing internal and external news items, reviews, poetry, stories,
games etc...
The reports are typed on the computer and the newspaper editions are
printed in
full on a digital photo printer.
Passaparola (Pass the word) is a lively publication put together by the
pupils of the Third Two Year Period for circulation of internal news,
assembled in the
following manner:
Phase 1: groups of students gather classroom news.
Phase 2: put news items to paper; check Passaparola mail.
Phase 3: format into page settings on computer.
Phase 4: print in full on digital photo printer.
Woodwork room
Founded together with the school, the woodwork room has been for
decades
the place where the students work solidly on the maintenance of their
"city", repairing, restoring or substituting a large part of the
existing
furniture. More recently, a greater emphasis on the didactic
significance
of manual activities has prevailed in the management of the laboratory,
and
has lead to the elaboration of a homogenous and coherent 8 year
curriculum
for the various age groups as coordinated by the adult scientific
laboratory. In the secondary school classes, woodwork plays an integral
part of the
Technical Education program, in respect of both objectives and methods,
while the content changes according to the annual program.
The restoration and construction work in the school, along with planning
and
construction of personal objectives and teaching instruments, continues
to
be one of the more useful and creative activities of the school, and
provides an excellent opportunity to allow the students to experience
the
integration of different competencies and skills.
Woodwork described by the pupils
In woodwork, we work with wood.
Participating in woodwork is a bit like playing while we learn.
In woodwork, we use the hacksaw, a bar of soap to make the saw slide
properly, the hack saw, the gimlet, the saw, squares and acrylics.
We can make different things with care, patience and attention.
And we can hurt ourselves with the tools unless we take care.
Multimedia
Theatre
Since the foundation of Scuola-Cittą, one of the most striking
characteristics of its theatrical laboratory has been its ability to
cater
for diverse participatory roles. Participation can be either curricular
(in
class and interclass groups), or optional taking place in the post-lunch
period. The group work that takes place during breaks in classes has
also
lead to public performed during festivals of various types. One of the
prerogatives of the
theatrical laboratory activity has been to emphasise the constant
relationship with one's surroundings. This has led to laboratory
activity
that is not restricted by the immediate space but rather encompasses the
meeting places and social life of the area and the city.
In this way, the theatre becomes considered as a place of interaction
with
our environment as well as an instrument to connect us with reality.
Thus,
the desire to create an event and to interact in a particular
environment,
prevails over the need to perform a theatrical production.
For these reasons, we have always considered the activity of the
theatrical
laboratory to be well suited to meet the ever-changing requirements of
the
pupils, giving them an instrument of communication that weaves together
reality, illusion, dreams, desires, feelings and problems, and
stimulates
their creative capacities in a way that can to help to overcome
scholastic
difficulties.
The theatre as described by the pupils
The theatre is directed by Anna Lucheroni; the biggest children, such as
those from the 5th year and Secondary school, act out the stories issued
from
Anna, while the children of the First to Fourth years play, make
costumes
and act out small scenes.It is really fun when Anna pretends to be a witch in the games and when
she
gives us sweets.
Art room
Music room
Education through music and with music in a simple and spontaneous
manner in
order to avoid technical difficulties and overly rigid formats that can
lead
to learning problems for the students that prevent them from freely
expressing themselves.
Musical education,in its active form, allows each individual student to
experience the diverse roles of Composer, Musician, Director, and
Listener.
The use of the laboratory as a place of experimentation and production
favours an active teaching method, and contributes to the achievement of
the
following formative objectives:
To develop an appreciation of teamwork by reinforcing social and
interactive
skills.
To accept the need to assume different roles within a team.
To assume responsibility.
To recognise one's own capabilities and one's own limitations.
To organise the individual tasks for each different activity.
Furthermore, the intention is to develop the multiple formative
possibilities of music, as well as its communicative resources, and
capacity
to facilitate interpersonal relationships with particular emphasis on
those
with social problems.
Music helps to establish contact with those who are excluded. One of
its'
linguistic characteristics is its capacity to enable us to listen to
ourselves as well as to listen to others. During the scholastic year,
the
pupils will participate in social and integrational activites in order
to
get in touch with the emotional aspect and improve concentration and
attention levels. It is also anticipated the participation -both of the
pupils
of the primary and the ones of the secondary school- to musical
exchanges-meetings
with other schools.
Gym
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