Day one: scuola elementare

Yesterday, for our Art Eduction class, we went and taught in the elementary schools for the first time. My group of three took on a class of 21 third-graders, labeled by the teachers as the "crazy ones." Almost every single one of the kids was running around or shouting at some point... apparently a big cultural difference between the US and Italy is how much madness is permitted in the classroom.

In our lesson, they were instructed to use water colors to depict a hobby of theirs. It went incredibly well. The kids transferred some of their energy to their art, and were enthusiastic about everything we did. One boy ran and interrupted me multiple times to show me his work as he finished every step. Working at camp has really helped me to deal with the kids, I think. They were all super high-energy, but it was just a matter of redirecting that energy.

The experience was probably my best opportunity to date to use my Italian. For the whole hour, I was essentially the only person in the room who could speak Italian and English well (except for one young American girl). Although we had the basics of hour lesson plan translated prior to coming to the school, and questions, complications, or developments that emerged had to be communicated on the fly, and I think it worked pretty well. It was essentially a complete immersion in the language that I haven't entirely experienced up to this point.

At the end of the class we did a group critique of the students' work and every kid shot up their hands to talk about why they liked their peers' paintings—It was a much better attitude with much more enthusiasm that I expected. It also gave me a tool to help calm them down. Everyone was so eager to talk they were literally jumping out of their seats and running towards me with hands flailing. Given how much everyone wanted to talk, I told them that if they were talking out of turn, I wouldn't call on them. And, while it didn't work 100%, there was a noticeable difference. I'll try to do that from the start next week.

It was a wonderful experience, and I can't wait to do it again next week.