Reggio Emilia From Monday 13 May to Wednesday 15 the spaces of the “Aldo Moro” high school they will transform for the sixth year in the City of the Reader. Every evening, from 7.30 pm, 1000 spectators will have the opportunity to stroll like tourists, along the avenues of a real miniature city. However, this is not just any town, in fact, although it shows the typical places of a town, it has a unique characteristic: each activity is metaphorically inspired by a literary text, which can deal with any theme and be of any type (prose, poetry, theatre, novels, short stories), and, most importantly, it is performed by children aged 15 to 19, with the aim of bringing literature to life.
Unique occasion
It is a unique opportunity to be catapulted into the universe of literature, reinterpreted and adapted by 300 high school students, in collaboration with other schools, under the direction of Professor Daniele Castellari (“father” founder of the initiative). There are more than thirty texts (and related places in the city) that will come to life. The aim is not to transmit notions through passive knowledge, but rather to give life to the masterpieces that inspired the children, who are left full freedom to shape the places of the city in every detail, giving vent to all their imagination. The students are the real driving force of the city: they approached the texts and created various activities to stage them. They will not be evenings in which tourists (in short, not only Reggio Emilia) will come across 300 “professors” because the young people do not have the aim of teaching literature frontally, but rather of making it come alive and become passionate. Anyone who sets foot in the City of the Reader will be actively involved in bringing books to life in a completely original way. In doing so, reading goes from being an individual, almost intimate exercise to a collective effort of research and creation which involves a significant expenditure of time and energy in dialogue.
The work
But what did the students actually do? First they organized themselves into groups (usually by class). Around the first days of January they began to work hard to create the city: they chose a literary text based on their taste, they read it, studied every aspect of it, internalized it, gave their own interpretation and then it began. the work of creation. The periodic alignment meetings with Professor Castellari began in the first week of February: an opportunity for dialogue and cooperation, in which the children exposed their ideas to the teacher, who helped to formalize everything. The young people then gave concrete form to the activity, leaving their imagination free.
The city is…
«For me, the City of the Reader represents an opportunity to express myself creatively even in a generally unimaginative environment like school», he says Sofia Pizzetti of III F, «what makes the initiative beautiful is that it is one of a kind and every year you see new and original activities and therefore you never know what you can expect». We then reached the last alignment meetings where the definitive “script” for each activity was established. And the boys proceeded with the rehearsals of the individual performances. But what makes Moro students so attached to the city? Leticia de Mendonça of III F tries to give an answer: «It’s something that makes you grow as a person, since it teaches you to work in a group, it’s an opportunity to understand that school is not just a place where you go to study, but also where you go to create bonds.” «It represents the maximum expression of our creativity, the place where passion and art merged, creating unique moments for all those who experience it» according to Camilla Donelli of IV F, who continues: «Making known in an alternative way works of art that are often perceived as too distant from us kids is the most beautiful aspect. And the collaboration, the commitment of all the participants, who give their all, create an almost magical environment.” And it’s really true, in fact since the end of April, nothing else has been talked about in the corridors of the Moro. «For a young person, it is important to see a school that believes so much in its students that it gives trust and free space to their creativity» concludes the student. This is precisely the distinctive feature of the initiative: experimenting with a different and more effective way of teaching. Students are at the centre, they get involved and give their all, developing many more skills than in traditional school.
The Italian teacher, Anna Isotti, states: «My commitment is dedicated to involving the two-year classes, to interest them in a reality reception project. I intend the City of the Reader as a pretext to look within and thus embark on a journey of self-discovery.” «I think that the City of the Reader represents a unique didactic and educational experience during which high school students experience a different way of being at school, becoming creators and protagonists of the event» he maintains the science teacher Alessandra Nizzoli. «I also believe – he adds – that the opening of the City of Readers to citizens can help create a connection with the territory and a sharing of the skills developed by our students. In my opinion it represents the synthesis of what school should be: knowledge and skills translated into concrete actions, experienced in a productive and inclusive context, not to mention the interdisciplinarity of everything: the initiative allows a dialogue between all school subjects, not just the humanities. Even for us teachers, the City of the Reader offers a unique opportunity: that of collaborating side by side with our students, “getting down” from the teacher’s desk and observing them in a new context.” From I to We It’s impressive how 400 minds put together (with all their differences) manage to give life to 30 activities that are so different from each other, but which together fit perfectly. One could say that the City of the Reader is like an enormous and magnificent mosaic, in which we stop thinking about the “I”, to leave room for the “We” in literature and art.
*student of “Moro”
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