Second Training Course in Verona.

Visiting the hosting school Instituto Comprensivo Di Bosco Chiesanova.

The school opened its doors two years ago. The most impressive fact about it is that it was designed by its principal, teachers and local people. Building a school is a way of preventing the depopulation of the area and it is also a means to Prevent students from having to move to the city to course higher studies.

After that, we went on a tour around the school. The first thing you can see when entering the building are the stairs which are decorated with the key words that define the school and represent its ideology

The school is located next to the town’s sports centre. The idea was to make the most of the sports centre and its swimming pool so both adults and students can use the facilities. The students have access to the sports centre but the sports centre users cannot enter the school.

The students create their own furniture in the technology room. They are allowed to use all its tools since early ages.

The flipped classroom is made to boost the flexibility of the lessons. In this room the students can sit individually, in pairs or in groups thanks to the wheeled tables and the whiteboards, which are used to separate the seats.

After that, we had a seminar about the psychology of the relationships and the spaces from Cyprus University. In order to warm up, we had a brainstorming activity. We had to write down our sharings, our concerns and our expectations. After that, we had a seminar about creating new classrooms from University of Cyprus. We were divided into groups of 4 people, one from each country. We assessed our own school, we analysed our needs and we planned and drew our ideal school.

After having created our ideal school we have presented it to our classmates. After the presentations, we have compared our ideal schools with the ideal schools designed by 8-years-old children.

After lunch, we had a talk titled “the class and the dream” by a Primary teacher, Serafino Caloi. He spoke about preparing innovative lessons in old spaces.

Next day we packed our bags and headed to Verona city. On our way we visited the school of Rovere, where we saw how they worked with robots. Their school team won the first Lego League last spring. In the afternoon we had a training course with other Italian teachers in Scuola Virgo Carmeli (Verona). They explained us how they use robotics in pedagogy in order to prevent bullying.

Two last sessions we visited the Castel Vecchio Museum where we could enjoy a guided visit and description of the workshops and the activities for schools. Finally, we had a final feedback and evaluation of the training. We exchanged final conclusions and we said goodbye to our colleagues.