During her first week in Bari, Fiammetta Castagnini, a coach at the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, met with five first-year classes at the Istituto Comprensivo B. Grimaldi – L. Lombardi: 1 A, 1 C, 1 E, 1 G and 1 F. Here are a few passages in which she describes difficulties and small successes, as well as some of the works developed with the adolescents in the Video Lab, the first Phyrtual Innovation Gym environment under construction [see news: Zooming in on Educational Poverty and The Megalodon and the Future].
The young students in classes 1F and 1G produced texts, storyboards, audio clips and video interviews to describe their stories and the following topics: the neighbourhood, school dropouts, relations at school, bullying, the traditions of San Paolo and culture related to the art and history of the city. In their stories about videogames and questionable trap idols, one often hears mention of the Menhirs of Palese, the murals that surround the school and Mudù’s jokes on the Telenorba TV station. During the labs, I had the opportunity to get to know them better.
S. and M. seem to be close friends. The first was anxious to tell me about himself. He speaks in a curious way and is very careful to detail as he readies for his first take.
M. is S.’s sideman. I entrusted him with the stand for the video camera and told him that he needs to set it up in the school courtyard. He’s happy and carries it out like a gun through the corridor. I wonder if I should intervene. It’s a difficult class and I’m tired at the end of the week.
M. undergoes a complete transformation as we film. He turns serious and I understand he can act well. After, I asked him if he ever considered becoming an actor. He looks at me funnily and I realize that many of these students are unaware of their talents.
The full story is available on the Percorsiconibambini.it Blog, an on-line space for the projects selected by “Con i Bambini” as part of the Fund for Contrasting the Educational Poverty of Minors.
