In our schools we don’t use the backpack.  The students get a little bag only to do homework. The backpack is not necessary because the school is well organised.  Into the classroom we can find a lot of didactic materials, computers, books, encyclopaedias, didactic games, art tools.  The space is organised with tables, special furniture, visual communication. All the things are useful for a really effective learning.  This kind of learning is focused on a typical method: the Global Curriculum Approach.

The curriculum has ten features:

1.         the children’s autonomy and responsibility affect based proficiency learning

2.         the problem – solving helps the student in the construction of knowledge

3.         the focus on body and senses develops the whole child

4.         the differentiated instruction considers the multiple intelligences and the differences in every child

5.         both students and teachers are involved in the school planning

6.         the teachers work in a professional community where they share best practices

7.         several didactic tools develop several ways of teaching

8.         well – organised spaces nourish the autonomy and responsibility

9.         the parents’ participation supports the school engagement

10.       the authentic assessment fosters students’ improvement

The new academic year will start with a new training for all teachers that wish to participate to our project

The videos were produced for the Development of National dall''Agenzia INDIRE former collaboration with the network of institutions without a Backpack.

by  Peter W. Cookson Jr

Google and knowledge

Google has given us the world at our fingertips, but speed and ubiquity are not the same actually knowing something.

On the one hand we have optimists.

Some advocates consider Google, blog, Skype, and Twitter our way to enlightenment.  They assumed that disorganized, radically democratized data lead to useful information and thus to real knowledge through some process of collective, randomized, constant connectivity.

Nel video parla il Dirigente Scolastico Marco Orsi responsabile e ideatore di Senza Zaino

I has just come back from Dominican Republic, where I have to train the central and regional and local school consultants, a sort of school counsellors or inspector who help the schools and the teachers. We can find this kind of school professionals in many countries as Germany or Ireland or England, but they aren’t in Italy and in my opinion it is a handicap for us.

I stayed in Dominican Republic three weeks (from 22 May to 14 June 2010). I visited 10 school in the north - east of the country, and I could see a different school system of a Latin American developing country. Over there they haven't so resources as in Europe or USA. For example they are obliged to organize two rounds in each school. A class works in the same classroom on the morning where an other class works on the afternoon. The teachers work for 40 hours in a week, the students have only 20 hours of school. The teachers gain a small budget that is around 600 euro, but only at the end of their career. Anyway the atmosphere is very nice. The people appear really happy and smiling and that is an advantage for students and schools.

The Educational Ministry has a lot of good ideas and suggestions, you can find them inside the school guides that the Ministry provides them for each teachers.  In Dominican Republic they wish to accomplish a school active model where the students have to became protagonists of their learning.  They try to redesign the school spaces as well, in fact spaces affect deeply the school model.  In other words the Ministry doesn't want the cells and bells model, but classrooms with several spaces and a differentiated instruction.

Moreover I realize that the Ministry provides a lot of supports for the multi grade classes that are situated in small and poor villages.  Sometimes in those schools we can see an advanced and innovative way of teaching.  Paradoxically it happens in Finland as well where I visited a multi grade school inside the National Koli Park. The Dominicans don’t have much resources, on the contrary  the Finnish resources are very important, but both school systems have the same focalization on this kind of multi grade classes.  Instead of Italy where we have many  multi grade classrooms (le pluriclassi) but we don’t reserve neither attention nor resources.

It was really interesting and pleased to be able to offer them my suggestions. On the other hand I have learnt by them a lot of new things to improve the school in my country. I think it will be possible to keep in touch with them.  This is my little story that I want to share with you.

Marco Orsi

Giungno 2010

L'arch. Maria Grazia Mura del Gruppo di Coordinamento Regionale (GCR) ha elaborato per AESSE una presentazione molto accurata e puntuale di Senza Zaino.

Qua il link diretto al sito di AESSE