GRADE 8 ITALY TRIP

In April, Douglas Lowney and I accompanied the Class of 2023 on La Scuola’s inaugural experiential learning trip to Italy. Originally scheduled to begin with our first graduating Grade 8 class, this trip has been a long-time coming after being postponed due to the pandemic. Our interdisciplinary units in Italian Language and Literature and Individuals and Societies inquired into how innovation has both positive and negative meanings in different disciplines throughout history. We asked questions such as: What is innovation? How have perspectives on innovation changed over time? How do we balance innovation and cultural preservation? These questions guided our field study into culinary culture and food production; art history and preservation; and architecture and renovation.

Students and faculty alike kept a travel journal in which we documented our observations, took notes, reflected actively on our experience, and experimented with written, visual, and oral expression. We wrote, we read poetry aloud, we cooked and ate together, we painted with watercolors. The academic learning was notable but we found the real focus for the students to be the social and emotional learning: How do I take care of myself when I am away from my family? How do I dive deeper into my relationships with my peers? How do I fit everything into my suitcase?!

By the end of our travels, we had learned a lot about Italy’s cultural history, architecture and design, and diverse regional cuisines, but mostly students (and chaperones!) learned about themselves, each other, and the way we come together as a community.

Carmen Gomez, Interim Middle School Director