Craftsmanship in Venice and Why We should Encourage our Students to take Skilled Trades
2012 Italy Travel Observations of a Bilingual SPED Teacher Day No. 9
This is the ninth post about my trip to Italy in the summer of 2012. It was one of my requirements to complete the GWU Education Specialist Degree that was granted through the partnership of US Education Department, the school district I worked for and George Washington University. Even then, I was writing from the POV of a Filipino Educator teaching in the USA. There are hidden gems in these journal entries worthy to be shared.
What struck me, during our Venice walking tour, was the existence of skilled men who ply age-old trade. The picture below shows a man who is making masks for the Carnevale di Venezia (Venice Carnival) which occurs annually during Lent. Other stores sell machine-made masks but he makes his masks by hand and it is more expensive than the commercial ones.
I was also thrilled to watch a real Murano glass maker fashion a glass horse. The picture below shows him shaping the molten glass into a work of art. He made the glass horse in less than ten minutes but I know it took him years to hone his glassmaking skills.
In the United States, I rarely see people blessed with craftsmanship. However, I know they are there somewhere a little further away from Washington DC Metro area where I live and work.
Expose our students to Skilled Trades
As an educator, we have to expose our students to the different skills that they can develop. I plan to find videos of glassmakers and others so that my students will know that there are other jobs available. My students have limited exposure and they might not even know how glass is made. It is about time they expand their goals to include other trade and skills. I’ll wrap up this series in the next post entitled, Lessons from Italy.