Critical Comparison of Italian and American Educational Culture

This post is coming a long time after my time spent in Italy. Since spending time in Italy, I have gone through my Student Teaching experience as a senior at Clemson University. This extensive time spent in the classroom here in the states has given me a better vantage point from which to critically compare the culture of education in Italy and America. In comparing the culture of the classroom and education system between the two countries, one will be able to draw conclusions about the cultures of the countries themselves, as an education system is a direct reflection of the ideologies and priorities of a society.


Within the school which I observed, the content provided was at the same approximate level as that provided here in the United States, although assessment was very different. In the Italian schools, the main format of student evaluation, formal and informal, is through oral assessment; this includes one on one questioning, students reading aloud, and solving problems on the spot. Once the teacher has heard the student, they make a decision about the grade (if there was ever a grading rubric used, I never saw one) and would mark the students grade right there and then before forgetting the student's performance. In the United States, while oral presentation is a skill which students are expected to gain by the end of elementary/middle school, they are rarely graded based on their oral performance. There are many reasons why oral assessment is looked down upon in the American culture, one of which is teacher bias. Even with a fair grading rubric,the score for an oral presentation is far too easy to be swayed based upon the biases, natural or otherwise, of the teacher. Oral assessment is often not a practice used the the American classroom because many parents will seek proof of reasoning behind the student's grade; this means that the teacher would have to implement a routine for recording each assessment and making it available to the parents. This simple difference in assessment routines shows that the Italian educational culture puts a lot more trust in the personal judgement of the teachers, and does not command proof of all grades.

The classroom management and behavior modification systems are very different between the two cultures as well. Within the American classroom, there are creative and efficient techniques used which are taught to the students and used within every minute of each day in the class. There are many different techniques, positive and negative; from students recieving tallies or marks against them for behaving appropriately/inappropriately and so many tallies/marks equals a certain reward/punishment, respectively.There are also management systems which focus on reinforcing positive behaviors rather than punishing negative behavior. Pre-service educators are taught a myriad of different classroom management techniques and professors emphasize how imperitive it is for teachers to establish classroom routines and management. From what I observed and understand of the observations of others, the Italian standpoint on classroom management and handling student behavior, positive or otherwise, is very different. When students where doing as they were supposed to be doing, nothing was said or done by the teacher to show approval, appreciation, or reinforcement from the teacher. When students acted inappropriately (and from what I witnessed, this included getting an answer wrong when called on in class), the teachers resorted to yelling at the students. Some teachers simply yelled, others beraded the students and branded them as dumb failures. I heard one teacher specifically tell a student "You are the dumbest person, you will never understand this!" The students have become acustomed to this treatments, so while it still embarrases them, it does not affect their behavior. Among the management systems, I can compare how classrooms within these two cultures are structured. In an American classroom, you will see a teacher who is mobile, moving from student to student, students working individually, in groups and in pairs, and all students working quietly raising their hand when called on. The American classroom is expected to be quiet and the students are to speak only when given permission to do so. The Italian classroom is one where conversations are constant between students, and the teacher is standing/sitting erect in the front of the class dispensing information. These different management systems and classroom settings provide a glimps at how the two different cultures view children and the importance of structure for students.

Through comparing these two vital pieces of the educational culture from my experiences in the classrooms in America and Italy, one can infer specific cultural differences and similarities. Much more is expected of the students in America as far as mature behavior, where as students in Italy are able to act more as children. The teachers in Italy seem to recieve much more support and trust in Italy compared to teachers in the United States; this fact in itself tells of the two different cultures opinions of the importance of education.

50 Important Italian Words and Phrases

Home:
Buon Giorno
Buona Sera
Buona Notte
Arrivederci
Come va/stai?
Sto bene
Ciao
Scusi/a
Per favore
Prego
Dov'è...?
Tutto a posto

School:
Come si chiama?
Come ti chiami?
Basta
Bambini
Ragazzi
Domani
C'è...
Tutto
Spesso
Leri
Tutte e due

Other:
Mi Chiamo
Piacere
Di dove sei?
La stazione
Il treno
La fermata
Uscita
Con
Senza
La colazione
Il Pranzo
La Cena
Vorrei Ordinare...
Molte grazie
Frutta
Ho fame
Ho sete
Il conto, per favore
Pomodoro
Funghi
Formaggio
Quanto costa?
Vorrei
Interessante
Divertente
Bello/a
Brutto/a
Buono/a
Lontano/a  
Veloce
Lento
Grande
Piccolo
Mi piace
Frequenta la Università di Clemson
Che Tipi...?
Ho venti anni

Lesson Plan

Purpose of the Lesson: To teach about the history, traditions and food eaten on Independence Day and Thanksgiving. I want Italian students to learn what we do for these two holidays and compare it to Italian traditions and holidays.

Key English Words/ Concepts Students Should Learn: Holiday, tradition, freedom, independence, turkey, stuffing, gravy, fireworks, bonfires, cookout, etc.

Materials: Construction paper (3 pieces per student), paints, straws, scissors, glue, markers

Procedures: I will write the history, traditions, and food eaten for Independence Day and Thanksgiving Day on posters so that students will be able to see as well as hear the information in English. After teaching about Independence Day, I will have students fold a piece of construction paper in half. They will write Independence Day at the top of one half of the page and a similar Italian holiday at the top of the other half. They will write a couple of sentences (in Italian) comparing and contrasting the American and Italian holidays and traditions and draw pictures of each holiday. They will do this same activity comparing Thanksgiving and an Italian holiday after I review it. Next, the students will be able to participate in a craft project for each holiday. They will each get a piece of construction paper and share the paint. In order to make the paint fireworks, the students will put drops of paint on their construction paper and use the straws to blow the paint in firework-like shapes.For Thanksgiving Day, the students will make the traditional hand-turkeys that American students make for the holiday. Finally, the students will get into groups and work together to create their own holiday. They must create and name, traditions, history and food traditionally eaten. These students will work together to write this in English.

Reflection

After being back in the US a few days (and over being sick), I am more able to reflect on my entire experience. I knew from the beginning that this program would be a once in a lifetime experience and that I was going to see, hear, do and experience new and interesting things, and that I would probably come back changed in some way. I had no idea how much all of this was true until now. I still cannot believe that a few weeks ago I was having lunch in a ristorante in a back alley in Rome, a few miles from St. Peter's Basilica and the Coliseum! during my entire time in Italy, I traveled to Rimini, Rome, Ravenna, Verona, Venice, Florence, and Monteva. I saw so many beautiful things that I cannot even begin to describe them, ate amazing food, and learned so much about the Italian culture. One things that I did learn about myself while I was in Italy, though, was that although I love seeing these beautiful sights and I can now cross so many things off my bucket list, I prefer to stay at home with family or take my time traveling a city so I can know it more personally. Out of all of the experiences I had in Italy, looking back, I enjoyed myself the most when I was at home with the Verziagi's or having a casual lunch in the piazza with friends or taking my time riding the water bus through the canal in Venice. I love taking my time to take everything in, form the sights all the way to the flavor of my food.

Other than insights into my personality, I learned a lot about myself as an educator. From working in the classroom in Italy, I realized that I do like the idea of giving my students more responsibility and expecting more maturity from my students. I want to not load my students down with homework unless I see that they need to review what was learned in class at home for extra reinforcement (20 minutes max). I want to have classroom management system set up as well as specific discipline for students who need it. I will never yell at my students, only raising my voice as the final tier of discipline. There are so many things that this experience has taught me as an educator that I hope to put into practice in my own classroom one day.

I feel extremely lucky and privileged to have been able to participate in this study abroad program. Although the tastes of the food and details of the sights may eventually fade, I will never forget the people that I lived and worked with.

Last Few Days in Carpi

My last few days in Carpi were a little sad. I was sick from all the weather change going from Carpi to Venice, back to Carpi, to Florence, back to Carpi; and I has really started to miss my family. Even with all of that, I was sad to leave Paolo, Nellina and Giulia. They have been so welcoming and amazing this whole trip, it made me sad to think that I would be leaving and probably never see them in person again. I am so glad that we are able to connect through facebook and email, but I will miss having lunch with Nellina and dinner with the whole family. Not only did they take me into their home, but they also helped me become immersed in the Italian culture. They answered all of my questions about Italian way of life, food, travel, music, movies, family dynamic, etc. They also asked me many questions about American culture and my own family and friends and life in South Carolina.

During my last few days, because I was sick, I stayed in the apartment a lot and just hung out with the family in the evenings. Paolo and I had a good conversation about or favorite music and guitar players--we like many of the same musicians and even introduced a few new favorites. On my last day with the family, Paolo took me to a Caseificio, or a cheese shop, and bought a block of parmesian cheese for my parents because he said after hearing me talk about my family, he figured they would love it! Later we had gnoccho fritto for dinner with prosciutto cruddo and crutto, salami and stracchino cheese. Then they took me to a lake near the house and we all walked around for a while. It was really nice to spend some quite time with the family like that before I left. After coming back to the apartment, Nell helped me pack some last minute stuff and the Paolo drove me to the bus station. I definitely cried a little on the way yo the bus station thinking about how amazing my last few weeks had been and how lucky I am to have been placed with the Verziagis. I will never forget them or my time spent in Italy.

Italian vs. American Classroom Management

Participating in an Italian classroom for a month gave me so much time to make observations, conjectures, questions and even answer some of those questions. After only one day, though, I observed extreme differences between the way American and Italian teachers conduct a classroom. One of the biggest differences in the the discipline and class management setup by the teachers. In the classroom in Italy, I observed a lot of free time for the students when they were supposed to be doing book work and while some students had oral quizzes with the teacher. During this free time, students talked a good amount, but never moved from their seats or even got loud. The only form of discipline or management that I ever observed during the entire month from the teacher was yelling. When the students get louder than the teacher liked, she would bang her hand on the desk and yell at the students, when a student got an answer wrong, she yelled at him for about 3 minutes straight as the rest of the class watched. Granted, these particular examples are from one specific teacher, the other teachers I observed, though not as bad about yelling at the students, still had no other forms of classroom management in place.

After getting to know the school psychologist better during the school field trip, I asked her opinion about how the teacher discipline students. I was relieved to find out that not all teachers work that way, and that many teachers have problems with discipline because they have the same students throughout elementary school. The way many schools work in Italy is when students first come to elementary school, they are put in a class (1A or 1B, etc); throughout school they stay in the same class, with the same students, and the teachers move to them. Not only do they stay with the same classmates throughout elementary school, all the way to fifth grade, they also have to same teachers all the way through. With this class dynamic, if a teacher loses the respect or control of his/her students in the beginning, or at any time during the 5 years they are with the class, they cannot get it back. In the states, students move classes and teachers every year. This may cause some set backs with students discipline or even learning, if a student moves to an environment or teacher that doesn't cope well with them, but it may be better than a teacher's having no effectiveness with the students.

After my time observing in an Italian classrooms, I have realized that a teacher as a limited effectiveness and can lose it as well as his/her authority with the students if he/she abuses one specific method. By constantly yelling at the students, raising your voice to the students loses its effectiveness-leaving the students quiet only as you scream your lungs out.

Florence!

I had so much fun in Florence! We arrived in Florence at about 11 in the morning, checked in, dropped our bags and went shopping in the market. :) The market is pretty awesome, at times overwhelming. The streets are lined with vendors selling everything from souvenirs to leather jackets and purses. After walking through the market some, we had lunch at what seemed to be a nice little ristorante. It turned out to be a place that made all of it's food ahead of time and reheated it (leaving the middle of almost everything cold) after we ordered. Not at all what we expected! We had never come across a restaurant that did this until Florence, and after walking around, we realized that many places did it! We were a little bummed, but made sure to stear clear of restaurants that have pizza on display inside...

Anyways, I was continuously shocked by Florence's beauty. We saw Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Piazza della Republica, Piazza della Signoria, Piazza Santa Croce, Piazzale Michelangelo, and so much more! I unfortunately got sick on my last day and missed mass in the Basilica di Santa Maria and tour through the Uffizi Museum. After reading some of the history of Florence, it felt so cool to stay in the place where Michelangelo and so many other amazing people once lived.

On Saturday, we went on a wine tasting and cooking class in the tuscan country side-- it was gorgeous! We tasted one type of Chardonnay, several types of Chianti (which is the wine from this area) and one type of dessert wine (which tasted just like super sweet raisins!). Along with our wine, we we served bread with olive oil from the Tuscan region. It was all so good, and I learned so much about the wine. I didn't realized before that there is so much that goes into making wine, or so much that can make one wine taste so different from another. Then I learned how to make pasta! We made spinach and ricotta ravioli and fettuccine pasta, which we ate for lunch! The program was awesome! We actually went to someone's house in the Tuscan mountains to cook and eat! While we were making the pasta, the owner of the house made the antipasti, or appetizer, (1 slice of pizza, some barley salad, a piece of zucchini keish, and some eggplant parmesan), the sauce for the ravioli (butter and sage melted together--simple but amazing), the sauce for the fettuccine (a simple tomato sauce made from scratch), and, of course, the tiramisu! Wow, it was a perfect lunch! 


Since I was sick on my last day, I didn't get to enjoy as much as I hoped, but I still shopped in the market and walked around the city some. Sometimes, no matter where in the world you are, you just need a nap, so on Sunday, the best part of my day was when I took a nap waiting for the bus to come :)