Teaching Beyond the Square

Local educators joined us on Tuesday for a day trip to The Watermill Center in Water Mill NY for a private tour of Upside Down Zebra, a Rhoda Kellogg exhibit that incorporates 900 pieces of children’s artwork from the Rhoda Kellogg International Child Art Collective alongside 35 contemporary artists. Curators Brian Belott and Noah Khoshbin said, “The exhibition invites us to set aside adult expectations and approach these works with openness and curiosity, to recognize the scribble not as chaos, but as the origin of visual language and meaning itself.”

We had a delightful and eye-opening tour led by Katie Meade followed by a reflective conversation and lunch at Union Burger in Southampton. It was a perfect spring day out east to consider our own teaching practice and how we honor the work of children.

The Materials Trailer returned to to close out Earth month. Packer has been exploring the theme of “building bridges” across campus throughout the year, and, last week, students from Pre-K through 12th grade built a bridge that connected a city to a countryside. One Kindergarten class started the process by developing the layout for the bridge. James Cohen, owner of Wadaly Design Build LLC, and his assistant, Marco Lima, set up a wood workshop beside the Trailer so students could saw, sand, hammer, drill and screw before gathering materials from the Trailer to finalize their pieces. On the last day of work, a fourth grader commented, “It’s a good day. People really like working on the bridge.” They named the bridge “Bridgstitute” and explained, “Well, if you want things to sound good, you may just have to make up words.” This collaborative work now lives in the new Lower School for children to play with for years to come.

Packer students and teachers also spent time inside the Materials Trailer “shopping” for items that coincided with their curriculum and/or played with objects that caught their attention. An atmosphere of true collaboration, connection, respect, care and awareness filled our week.

During the second half of our educator tour to Italy, we ventured out of Reggio Emilia to Modena where we visited EducatioNest, an American Bilingual School that teaches children from infant to 8th grade in the Reggio-inspired approach. We also got our hands dirty while working with clay, wire and wood at Officina Natura Maestra, an art studio created by two former Reggio teachers. Finally, all of the week's learning came together in a visit to Bologna’s own ReMedia, where Carlotta Ferrozzi invited us to explore materials, play in the many ateliers, and shop for unique loose parts to bring back to our classrooms. We said farewell with lunch altogether at Adesso Pasta Car Ristorante with two special guests and co-authors, Hervé Tullet and Virgil de Voldére.

As one fellow educator said, “I have never been so inspired by the environments, information presented, demonstrations, materials, but most of all by all of you…This trip was planned to perfection."

And as shared, “To be amongst people who share my passion, speak my language, and are just as excited by shampoo caps as I am, was truly infectious and will stick with me forever.”

We have just returned from our educator tour to Reggio Emilia, Italy where we welcomed 30 educators to learn, grow, and connect with us. These are some highlights from our first two days when we visited the Loris Malaguzzi International Center & Remida, the Creative Recycling Center in Reggio Emilia.

We started our time together at the Malaguzzi Center with Reggio Children’s Claudia Giudici who presented on The Wonder of Learning: The Values of the Reggio Emilia Approach. She spoke about the 100 languages and creativity, and she invited us to share our thoughts and reflections with her which was a unique opportunity. We also had time to explore and play in the many ateliers and exhibits scattered throughout the building which were incredibly inspiring and highlighted the many materials and languages of children: paper, clay, light, gears, wire, and every drawing instrument you can imagine.

During our next two days, we learned from the experts at ReMida, the Creative Recycling Center, whose original location inspired our own Materials Center. Eloisa Di Rocco, Remida’s Project Coordinator, presented her work: Educational Research Center on Sustainability and the Digital Age and Storytelling with Waste Materials to Inhabit a Common World. We explored found materials through a new lens of sound, as we discovered which sounds materials make. We saw beautiful images from a nature-centric school in the presentation Between Nature and Man-made Materials: Objects and Materials in the Educational Landscape by Stefano Sturloni, a nature-lover and expert atelierista. Lastly, we visited a local school that invited us to explore current and on-going curriculums in their classrooms, like chocolate-making, chair decorations, perfume and magic. It truly was magical.

Gift yourself a day out of the city on May 12th! Not only will we see Rhoda Kellogg’s collection of children’s artwork at The Watermill Center, but we’ll also enjoy the incredible grounds where Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone’s 12 towering stone sculptures are on display. Sign up at this link to spend the day with us, immersing yourself in art and conversation: https://www.teachingbeyondthesquare.org/workshops-1/tour-upside-down-zebra