Social reading in the family

Riccardo Giuliano teaches Italian, but discovered social reading… in the family. He shared his experience in this interview:

I first came across Betwyll as a parent: my wife, who is such a tough woman to fully deserve my definition of “Prussian”, came back from an informational meeting organized by Liceo Vico so enthusiastically that she told me: “Riccardo, I met a teacher who made me wish to enroll in school again!”.

A “lightsaber” for teachers

Considering that my wife is no nearer to get easily excited, my curiosity reached unprecedented levels. When I, too, met Bianca Iaccarino, I (a humble jedi apprentice in digital and digitized teaching) realized I was facing the Leia Princess of the digital planet! In fact she inspired students with a thrilling empathetic approach to digital skills development. In particular, i – as a passionate reader – was impressed by this Betwyll she was praising!

As soon as I noticed that reading through Betwyll was my daughter’s favourite homework and the one that inspired her to do further research on the texts read – in that case, Alice in Wonderland, in English – I realized I had found an actual ‘lightsaber’ to tackle the difficulties young people have in approaching reading!

Your invitation to Arezzo to showcase the work done by my daughter’s class was the ultimate confirmation that I had come across a powerful and effective tool. I thus tried to introduce this opportunity to my class. They reacted with suspicious curiosity, as it is typical of youth – always persuaded to be savvier than us when it comes to digital technology, no matter what, and therefore distrustful of anything that comes from teachers. Once they tried it, tough… true enthusiasm and absolute engagement!

Consciousness is the future

I’m convinced that Betwyll can become an extremely powerful aggregator and multiplier of interest and knowledge, and can serve what I consider our most important mission (as jedis of digital education): make students understand the importance of use the extraordinary devices they have at their disposal in an active way, while keeping our role of guides who show the way, but not necessarily run faster. I believe this is the best way to accomplish our goals as teachers, not only in the future but as of now.

And now, over to his daughter Giovanna who is definitely a social reading-savvy, so far.

I discovered Betwyll during my first year in high school, thanks to my Italian teacher Bianca Iaccarino, who made us work on several reads and projects within the app from the very beginning, tests included.

Abbiamo iniziato con la lettura di Viagginversi e abbiamo continuato con tante altre, come Harry Potter e la pietra filosofale, Il diritto di contare e Alice nel Paese delle meraviglie. Alla fine della lettura di quest’ultimo ci siamo recati ad Arezzo dove abbiamo messo in scena degli estratti del libro – io personalmente ho interpretato il Cappellaio Matto. Ora abbiamo finito di leggere Pirandello e Leopardi sulla piattaforma, aiutandoci con lo svolgimento del programma di italiano.

Students as protagonists

Per il progetto Pearson-Betwyll, una parte di noi ragazzi si è anche cimentata nell’interpretazione di alcuni personaggi delle novelle di Pirandello, interagendo per la prima volta con gli altri compagni in una sorta di role-play. Un’esperienza che abbiamo presentato – dopo numerose prove con la professoressa Iaccarino – durante il “grande evento” sulla didattica digitale che si è svolto nell’aula magna della nostra scuola ed è addirittura finito sul TG regionale.

I think Betwyll can encourage young people of my age to resume reading. Lately, they have nearly given up reading completely, and only focus on their smartphones. So, the fact that they can read on their mobiles could increase their engagement.

Which kind of books would I love to read on Betwyll? Last year, our teacher asked us the same question. I remember I said I would have loved a detective story with the pages revealing the culprit censored. This way we could have guessed who the murderer was in a sort of “murder mystery read”.