Charting the course for our students: the Odyssey and the Learning Experiences of Mr Francesco Ramagli, Head of Literature and Learning Experiences Coordinator

Italo Calvino wrote that “a classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.” What we want to talk about today has roots far deeper and older than late twentieth-century literature, and that is precisely why it carries a cultural force strong enough to reach us today. 

It is no coincidence that this summer the spotlight fell once again on one of Homer’s timeless masterpieces, the Odyssey, this time reimagined by Christopher Nolan. For any literature teacher, this was a source of pride as well as a prompt for reflection, as it was for our Head of Literature, Mr Francesco Ramagli. 

How can a text composed almost three thousand years ago still hold the power not only to enchant us, but to remain relevant and make us think? 

This is the question at the heart of Mr Ramagli’s thinking. Alongside his teaching, he serves as Learning Experiences Coordinator at H-FARM International School, and it is partly for this reason that he has found in the Odyssey a meeting point between his subject and what he hopes to give students beyond the classroom. “The Odyssey is a map that accompanies humanity: it orients our sense of global belonging, but it also speaks to each of us as an individual. A part of Odysseus lives in every one of us,” he explains. 

The desire to explore new horizons, the pleasure of learning distant languages and cultures, and the longing for home and for the people we love are all intrinsically human traits. “Odysseus is the first of the great travellers, but he is also the prototype of the castaway and the exile seeking welcome in a foreign land. More than any other character, he teaches us how valuable it can be to lose our way, if that is what it takes to find the road home with a new awareness,” the teacher continues. 

This, then, will be his compass in planning the trips and excursions for the academic year now beginning: rethinking teaching in a spirit of greater curiosity and initiative, so that every experience becomes, for our students, a small journey of their own. 

If the Odyssey is a map of civilisation and a chart that traces each individual’s course, then teachers can be the stars that guide the ship of every young Odysseus, pointing the way, through ideas and encouragement both inside and outside the classroom, on the voyage of discovery. 

“Last year was a milestone for our school. We organised 77 Learning Experiences, including day trips and residential trips, adventures to international destinations and educational challenges across Europe and beyond, and every one of them left its mark. This year we will continue to build a learning path, both academic and experiential, that is ever more coherent, rich and wide-reaching. There is no finer mission, for those who teach, than showing students how to read the ancient map of the Odyssey and helping them chart the course of their own journey,” concludes Francesco Ramagli. 

Calvino was right. 

Let the adventure begin!