Mariano Giampietri

PBL: The Cinema of Pedro Almodóvar

2010_03 PBL No Responses »

Mar 202010

The aim of this project was to explore the content, trajectory and development of this famous Spanish director’s work.

We started the week by assigning to all group members to one of four different research projects: Almodóvar’s biography, the political and social background of Spain throughout his filmmaking career, his filmography and an overview of La Movida de Madrid, the social movement of which Almodóvar was part when he started making movies in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

On the same day, after sharing and discussing all this information, we started watching the films in chronological order, according to their production years.

Of the 17 feature films Almodóvar has directed to date, we managed to watch the following six:

Labyrinth of Passions (1982)
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
The Flower of My Secret (1995)
All About My Mother (1999)
Talk to Her (2002)
Volver (2006)

Some of the topics we discussed were the changes/refinements in the director’s techniques over the years; the at-times socially transgressive subject matter of the movies and their motivation; the intertextuality between the films; character development and treatment.

All in all, an instructive and enjoyable three days!

The Ozonizers

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Feb 082008

We are a group of three first year students, Lisa, Gustav and Vedran, led by the Chemistry teacher Ashok Pratap Singh. Our main goal is to make the whole campus aware of how much energy we consume, and in particular how much of it we waste due to our indifference to and carelessness about our environment.

During the first term, we brought about an idea, originally created by the group “Nature and Youth”, to make an Inter House Competition on Saving Energy, provided that the money saved would be given to the winning house in the end.

Considering that environmental protection is ingrained in the vision statement of our college and the fact that energy conservation has huge monetary implications, the Ozonizers are addressing this issue aggressively and actively in order to make an effective contribution to the campus. The competition will henceforth be an independent event to underline this fact.

We are working specifically on this and will continue to inform and remind the college community throughout the year as to how our community can reduce energy spending. So far, the group has had regular meetings and made two presentations at College Meetings. Upcoming presentations and posters will reinforce the awareness. Misusing of electricity is unacceptable and the group takes photos and keep data of classrooms and buildings which were left with the lights on.

We always have lots of fun hunting down irresponsible energy users in the night, taking pictures and evidence of the energy “crimes” on our campus, working on different presentations and ways to spread our information and ideals of environment preservation. It truly is a very creative EAC with a lot of self-responsibility. With experience and innovativeness, we will improve our effectiveness.

OPERATION DAY’S WORK

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Nov 282007

Operation Day’s Work (OD) is a happening that started around 40 years ago, taking place in most Nordic countries. The idea behind OD is for privileged children with a secure education to “give away” one day of school, and to work on getting money to help children in dissadvantaged areas so that these can get a basic education.

In cooperation with local humanitarian organizations OD distributes the money in different countries each year. Last year the collected money (20 million kroner) went for a better education for the young people in Nepal, and this year the countries selected are Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras.

The OD group here on campus participates each year by organizing students to give their one day of voluntary labour (usually by doing assorted jobs for the teachers and other people in the surrounding community), and having an Operation Day’s Work cafe in the evening.

This year the OD group collected 4700 Kroner from both one day free work and Operation Day’s Work cafe.

Listening Workshop

2007_Other No Responses »

Oct 272007

On October 21st a group of students together with Angie offered a listening workshop. The aim was to learn how to be a good listener and also to get to know each other. We did activities in pairs and groups throughout the workshop and were given listening exercises which enabled participants to get to know not only each other, but themselves as well! There was an atmosphere of trust in the workshop, even though many of the participants hadn’t talked to each other before. We all felt comfortable sharing our thoughts and feelings on the variety of topics introduced; the 5-hour workshop was a great ice-breaker, especially for students who felt lost at the beginning of the year. It was really interesting to hear stories about our different lives from all over the world. One of the things we realised was that you gain more from talking and listening deeply for half an hour than you do from talking about the weather for half the year! Sometimes it’s hard to know how to approach people you haven’t talked to before, and having the structure of the workshop made it easier. It’s amazing how much you can get out of a conversation when you listen carefully!

Fjaler Day

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Oct 252007

On October 25th, in a program jointly organized with the Norwegian Fredskorpset, all of Fjaler highschools, of which RCN is one, came together at Dale Videregående Skole to take part in an educational experienced centered around the eight UN Millennium Development Goals. The day’s activities, intended as a celebration of Fjaler Kommune, focused on the idea that we all, even at the individual level and in a small place such as Fjaler, can do something to change the world.

The experience was led by Pål Tanggaard and Eivind Nilsen from Lent (Læringsentreprenørene) who based it on their “Pedagogy for the Rich” ideas.

The day started at 9:00 am in Fjalerhallen, where after a few icebreaker games we watched an inspirational movie that framed the life routine of people in western cities against the background of world issues. Afterwards we discussed what things we do or fail to do that have an impact in the world, which led to the presentation and analysis of the UNMDGs. The UN proposes that, by the year 2015, we on Earth should

eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
achieve universal primary education
promote gender equality and empowered women
reduce child mortality
improve maternal health
combat more efficiently HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
ensure environmental susteinability
develop a global partnership for development

After a leisurely, healthy and fruit-filled lunch break we went back to work, this time split up into groups, with the mission of designing an action that could be performed locally and contribute to the achievement of these goals. We then prepared posters and had an opportunity to present our ideas to the larger group. Some of these were really good, and hopefully they will go from the planning board to reality in the not too distant future.

Throughout the day, students from the different schools in the area worked and played together, in mixed groups, and got to know each other a little bit better, which was another goal of the event. All in all, it was a wonderful day, by general agreement the best of its kind yet, and we look forward to the one next year!

If you’re interested in knowing more about the UN Millennium Development Goals, you can just click here. Likewise, you can visit the Norwegian Fredskorps site (sorry, Norwegian only) or the Læringsentreprenørene webpage (again, only Norwegian).

Dance and Identity PBL

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Oct 122007

Fourteen students and Pete and Dona were involved in a collaboration with the Dale Arts Centre for the Dance and Identity PBL.Monday afternoon the group met for an introduction by Pete, including introductory exercises to music and without music. These focused on body awareness, rhythm and counter-rhythm. In the evening the group transferred to the Arts Centre, where the students were to be hosted for two nights, along with three students from Førde plus the Arts Centre Director’s son. Later that evening Tarek Halby and his assistant Peter arrived.

Tuesday and half of Wednesday consisted of exploratory workshops with Tarek related to movement, body and use of space after a gruelling pilates workout! The whole group transferred to UWC to prepare for Tarek’s solo show that evening. A sizeable audience was present and the show caused much debate afterwards as it challenged many artistic boundaries (Tarek also performed at the Teatergarasjen in Bergen as part of their week of international performances).

After Tarek had left, Dona, Pete and the students built on some of his exercises and continued to develop some of their own throughout Thursday and Friday.

The week was physically very demanding, but all agreed the food at the Arts Centre was inspiring, Tarek was a warm and endearing personailty, his show intriguing and the whole week worthwhile, challenging and enjoyable. Student feedback demanded more of the same!!

Here are some more pictures of this amazing week:

Peter Wilson

El faro del fin del mundo!

2007_10 PBL, Special Weeks No Responses »

Oct 122007

Although not quite at the end of the world, our lighthouse sits on Midtre Geita, a tiny island in front of Dalsfjorden and several kilometers from any inhabited place. We intended to get out there on Monday, but the sea was quite rough and we had to stay at home. No matter: we baked some empanadas and watched “Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios”, an Almodóvar film from the 1980s.

Finally on Tuesday, Roald Nordnes (our skipper) gave us the ok. After a wonderful boat trip during which he pointed out the names and features of the surrounding mountains and islands, we set foot on Geita… And no further words in English (well, just a few) were pronounced by any of us! Whether we were cooking, cleaning or organizing our days in the wonderful XIX century house in which we lived, we spoke always Spanish! Every evening we watched and discussed a Hispanic movie, and in the afternoon we played different games that encouraged us to use the language.

The weather was sunny and balmy on Tuesday and Wednesday, but we also loved our very windy Thursday. The lighthouse itself was automated only in 1980, and until then the island was inhabited by a single family, with children and all. The potency of the elements gave us an idea of what it must have been like to live out there day in and day out. All in all, this PBL was an adventure and a challenge, in more ways than one.

Photography PBL – Oct 2007

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Oct 122007

In this PBL students were taught about Journalistic photography. Likewise, they also learned to operate equipment and processing programs related to digital photography.

Here are some of their pictures

RAFTO PBL

2007_10 PBL, Special Weeks No Responses »

Oct 122007

The leader of this PBL was Ingrid Karlsson, and the student group was made up of Lelia, Ahmed, Sally, Xilo and Kristina. The project started on Sunday, 7^th of October and finished on Thursday 11^th

Days 1 and 2:

Sunday: We travelled to Bergen and checked in at our YMCA hostel before we went to the Rafto House to see the memorial event about Anna Politkovskaya. There were two speeches, lighting of candles, a piano concert and a documentary about free speech in the Russian media. After the first speech we were silent for one minute as a tribute to Anna. The ceremony made a deep impression and it was indeed beautiful.

Monday: We went back to the Rafto House to have a meeting with the school’s contact person for Rafto, Gunta Venge. She explained a bit about Rafto, this year’s winner of the prize; NCDHR, and the cooperation between the school and Rafto. Further on we talked about what the school could do to help Rafto, what Rafto could do to be more known around the world and therefore get more financial support, and the symposium which takes place in the beginning of November.

Days 3, 4 and 5:

Back at the college we prepared for a World Today about Rafto, free speech, this year’s winner and what they do, some of the nominees for the Noble Peace Prize and our stay in Bergen.

All in all we had a very good time in Bergen together, as well as three days of work when we got back.

PBL week at the Society for the Care of the Blind in Laski, Poland

2007_10 PBL, Special Weeks No Responses »

Oct 122007

This special project set out to be an exchange program between RCNUWC and the high school students at Laski. The main objective was to promote awareness of the way institutions such as Laski deal with the blind population. Twelve students and two teachers from our college participated in this project. We arrived at Laski on Sunday night and were greeted by three very excited students. The following day we attended their classes (including a very practical massage class) and received a tour of the campus guided by our hosts. Many of us did not expect to be guided by blind students who were far better oriented than any of us. We were constantly astonished by how self-reliant the blind students at Laski are.

During the week we had a chance to get to know our individual hosts, see some special programs which are taught at the school such as weaving and ceramics, and go through spatial orientation exercises in which we wore blind folds and had to rely on our partner to lead us safely around the building. We also learned about the program for young children who are diagnosed with illnesses leading to blindness and about how the mind of a person who is born blind perceives sight.

Another interesting aspect of our trip was to discuss Polish history with Polish youth. We went on a tour on the site of the Warsaw Ghetto and visited the quite new museum devoted to the Warsaw Insurrection of 1944; we visited the cemetery at Palmiri and had a tour in the old town of Warsaw, at times leading and at times being led by students from Laski.

The pick of the week was a Goalball match, an extremely competitive ball game which is adjusted to the blind population, between our teams and teams from Laski. We did not win! However we managed to maintain some dignity against those Goalball pros.

It was a special week during which we learned a lot about perseverance and independence. We are all looking forward to when the students from Laski will visit our college next term.

Gili Vidan

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