The long bus ride to another corner of town was worth it once we saw the selection offered at our intended destination: The Organic Food Market, held last weekend at Rivadavia Park, was chock full of fresh and delicious vegetarian food, difficult-to-find gourment cheeses, and a selection of craft beers. While the boys played in one of the park's multiple playgrounds, Tats and I enjoyed some of the local "produce"!
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I had a question from a teacher today... as she is getting ready for interviews, she is considering some commonly asked interview questions, and thinking about how best to prepare her responses. The question was about equitable assessment practices. It's a powerful question, because it allows the interviewer to simultaneously assess two areas of understanding: 1. Assessment 2. Equity Here was my response (notice I am wearing my coaching hat, rather my teacher hat below)... Begin by considering the different learners in your classroom. Who's in the room? (Consider sex, gender, race, socioeconomic class, sexual identity, MI, VAK learning styles, etc.) Make a list of all the different types of learners -- use a broad definition of "diverse". Next, think about how you assess learning in your room: Do you use pencil and paper tests? Performance tasks? Oral conferences? Portfolios? Make a list of all the different things to do to collect evidence of learning. Also ask yourself this question: Do I offer my students a choice of assessments? Or does everyone have to do the same thing every time? Why? Now take your second list, and consider how well it aligns with (or doesn't) the needs of the students listed on your first list. Another way to consider this question is your purpose for and use of assessment… Are you assessing just to evaluate and report? Or do you use the information gathered in your diagnostic and formative assessment to inform your instruction? What changes do you make for the different learners in your classroom as a result of data gathered via your assessment? Also, what kind of descriptive feedback to provide your students? Is it written, oral, other? And, how do you set goals and criteria for assignments, so that you have an co-construct criteria? Are these posted somewhere for all students to access? Hope this helps your thinking about equitable assessment practices… As you prepare for your interviews, you may want to consider sharing a specific artefact that helps to illustrate any of the above in your practice. In about 6 weeks, we'll be heading home to Canada. That means as a teacher, I am already thinking about "year end" stuff at school. Since we've taken the curriculum at a greater pace than we would have in a mainstream classroom, we'll be finsihed the Grade 4 program (and then some!) by early April. My plan for the boys during our final month here is to immerse them in an integrated Arts experience, involving a complex team of people we've met here: An actor/dancer from Toronto, a photographer/videographer from Venezuela, a porteno piano teacher.... But before that, I want to spend some time encouraging a little self reflection about what the boys have learned in "school", and how their skills have changed over time. Their first task was to re-read their last few blog posts, and then revisit 2-3 blog posts from Sept/Oct of this year, and compare their writing. More specifically, I asked them to consider how their writing has changed; what improvements did they observe, and what things do they still want to work on in the weeks ahead? Simon spontaneously created an Explain Everything slide to describe his findings, and used this to refer to as we met: Both boys agreed that in general, their writing had become longer and more detailed, and that they liked writing now, and sometimes wrote without being told to by me. They also agreed that knowing they had an audience motivated them to write more and better (so thanks to all of you who've been leaving blog comments!!!) Simon said he enjoyed using technology, especially Explain Everything, and liked to create "projects" using this app. He noted that he liked to organize his thinking using the technology. I assigned him this task as a follow up: Research and download the free version of three mind mapping apps, and compare their features. Choose the one you like best to create a mind map. He's on the couch now, already engaged in the work! (And yes, we'll blog about the results!) Alex noted that he is using more headings and subheadings now to organize his writing. He believes that he still needs to practise "thinking like a reader" to ensure he's included relevant details in his writing that will help his readers understand what he is trying to share with them. We made note of this new goal, and posted it on our literacy board. We're not "done with writing" yet, but we are wrapping up our formal literacy curriculum in order to allow more space for the boys' independent and Arts pursuits in the final month of our Argentinian adventure. My hope is that writing will be one tool they can use effectively and independently to process, reflect on and communicate about this adventure to others. Yesterday was a day for drinking Mate! After school, our French tutor came, and so Tats and I went out to the Botanical Gardens for a few hours to sit on a park bench, take in the greenery, and drink Mate together. One of the city's great treasures... Enjoy! (click photos to enlarge) In addition to growing a variety of lush greenery, the Botanical Gardens are home to a great number of stray cats. We observed one wandering the perimeter of a fountain and lying about on the red path.
People feed the cats; later in the afternoon, we witnessed a cat feeding. Many felines gathered to nibble some kibble. After many weeks, the boys and I had another visit to the Buenos Aires Zoo. Since the zoo is just a short bus or subway ride away from our apartment (one could even walk, really), it's been a favourite outing of ours from the start. This time, we spent quite a while with the seals -- as Simon explained to me, these were different from the seals we'd seen in Punta Nimfas, as one could tell by the proboscis. Who knew?! Anyway, we fed the seals (you can buy some disgusting, slimey fish for a few pesos), then headed off to see the toucans and the Orangutan, for whom we had brought a banana, and who motioned to us with her left hand to throw that sucker over into the enclosure.
Next it was off to see the elephant, who was being fed by a zookeeper. The show was part of a birthday party taking place at the zoo -- children and adults were invited to throw peices of what looked to be yam or squash to the elephant. The large creature used trunk to catch, suck up, and move the morsels to her mouth before shuffling off to another part of the enclosure. She, too, was alone. Strange, given than elephants are social animals. (click to enlarge)
There are many things I love about the BsAs zoo -- it's a haven of greenery in the midst of an often overwhelmingly concrete city; it's a smallish, accessible zoo that brings humans and animals in close proximity; I love how close visitors can get to the animals, it's a real experience. And the crumbling buildings on site offer a glimpse into the city's rich historical architecture and the evolution of zoos in particular. But increasingly, I wonder about the health of the animals, and where on the Zoo's (and the city's) list of priorities that lies. If you want to make real friends in Argentina, you need to get into mate culture in a big way! The health benefits of this wonder drink are well-documented. But it's a bit of an aquired taste, to be honest (I'm acquiring it), and it's rather more complicated to prepare even than loose-leaf tea, which I drink plenty of. Then there is the whole ritual of mate, that is, how it is drunk in community with others. There are procedures to be learned and followed, and everyone has her own opinion on what kind of mate (container) to buy, which type of bombilla is best, and what brand of yerbe mate is superior to the rest. But I'm learning... I was lucky enough to sip my first sip from the mate of a teacher in one of my workshops in January, who shared with me some of the rituals about how the drink is passed from cebador (server) to each person in the group (typically to the right) and back. She also explained to me that one does not touch or move the bombilla (many "newcomers" tend to want to use the metal straw to stir the drink -- a big no-no in mate culture). My next mate experience was on the rocky beach in Punta Ninfas, where our guide shared mate with us while hanging out with the elephant seals. That was pretty cool! Getting the Equipment Once back from that trip, Tats and I decided to look in earnest for our own mate equipment. Tats figured she'd need a large mate, preferably wooden, as she had heard they were easier to keep clean. Being an extrovert, I was more into the whole sharing and ritual thing, so I was okay with a smaller mate. At the suggestion of the two Marias, I bought a small, handcrafted one in Recoletta, along with an alpaca bombilla. A week later, I fell in love with a hand-carved gourd at the San Telmo market, and "had" to buy it! Now I have two mates, and I love them both! There are a variety of different mates available on the market, and many websites to help you decide which is best for you. The bombilla is also a matter of personal preference, and -- again -- many options are available, each with its own benefits. Curing Unless you get a ceramic mate, the next step in the mate adventure is curing the container. This helps to seal off any small holes in the gourd, and give the mate its initial flavour. If done correctly, it's also supposed to help prevent mold. Curing is rather a longish process (up to a few days, if you follow all the steps); again, many online resources exist to help you with this. Here are a few of my current favourites:
Preparing and Drinking Once your mate is finally cured, you can actually prepare and drink it! We've chosen to use "Mate Suave", which is a smoother, slightly less bitter yerbamate. Currently we use the Union brand, though we're thinking of trying Rosamonte, which we've also heard good things about. Preparing the mate properly ensures proper extraction of the drink's nutrients, and therefore, maximizes health benefits. Conflicting ideas exist regarding how the bombilla is to be inserted into the yerbamate, but it is generally agreed that once inserted, the bombilla is not to be moved or "stirred" while drinking. I'm still experimenting with this, but to date I have more or less successfully drunk mate on my own and with the boys several mornings before school. Tats, who is less picky about proper preparation, has downed multiple large helpings from her giant wood gourd. As we improve our technique, we hope to share mate with more new friends here in Argentina as well as introducing the tradition to those back home once we return to Canada. Leave a comment, and let us know if you're interested in a session! :) What seems like pie in the sky to this Ontario teacher is not such an unreasonable demand for my brothers and sisters in Buenos Aires. The teachers here refused to start the school year last week until they sorted out their contracts with the government, who is calling their demands for a 35% pay hike outrageous. But in a country where the cost of ice cream has risen 25% in 3 months, and subway fares have doubled since we arrived in September, one has to look at such demands in context. Teacher salaries are pathetically low in this country to begin with, and the state of the public school system here is, well... a little "different" from our own. Although it's true that teachers here receive health benefits and nice holidays like we do in Canada, their salaries are nevertheless abysmal, and working conditions are stressfull at best. Even if they are successful in getting 35%, teachers here will still be fighting an uphill battle every day in their classrooms. I wish them luck in their ongoing struggles. Tucked into a little corner on one of the side streets leading to the Market in San Telmo, Walrus Books offers a unique browsing and buying experience in a city operating primarily in Spanish: "Good Quality Used Books in English" proclaims its sign, and this promise is delivered inside the shop. Shelves and shelves and shelves of books are crammed endearingly into a warm, rich space with many nooks and reading corners. Classics compete with rare and even some brand new titles, fiction and non-fiction alike. There is even a children's section which the boys love to check out whenever we're there. (Please click images to enlarge and enjoy!) In addition to buying books, readers can sell their own gently used books for credit at the store. (Yes, we'll definitely pursue this option in May!!!)
Whether you're in the neighbourhood or not, it's worth making a special trip to this special book store. Eager to finally make use of the rooftop, brick BBQ atop our building, we decided to host an Asado at our place last Sunday night. The timing was perfect, as it was Joel's final night in BsAs (our friend had been visiting for the week from Portugal, and was scheduled to return there the next day), so we used his departure as an excuse to host. We invited the two Marias and marinated and skewered some tofu and veggies to grill (yes, yes, very un-Argentine!) We bought chicken and beef. We even bought charcoal. And then it rained. Determined to "BBQ" anyway, we shoved everything into the too-small gas stove in our kitchen, and piled the resulting half-cooked, charred-in-various-places tidbits high onto an assortment of plates on the table. Thankfully, we had purchased some excellent, super-spicy chimicurri at the market that morning, and we also had some Mike's Hard Lemonade which I had brought with me from Canada in January, as well as some other, more local refreshment. So in the end, everyone was happy. The boys entertained us for some time with various skits and songs and poems, and then finally, they were convinced to go to bed. Afterwards, we ordered ice cream for delivery, at the only place open that late. The helados came packed in dry ice, which we immediately used for various smoky experiments! Then we easily polished off the two half-kilos, and wished we had ordered more. All in all, I suppose the non-Asado turned out to be a success in the end. I know, I know, been there, done that... several times already, in fact! But, when you have house guests, you visit and revisit the touristy parts of the city. And each time you do, you observe different bits and pieces. Today, for example, we got to see a mural being painted (I've taken many photos of the San Telmo murals during past visits, but never seen one "in-progress"... even the kids were impressed). And the street band we usually see on one of the corners had been replaced with a different group of musicians, one more inclined towards Tango. And a couple spontaneously broke into the dance, much to the joy of the surrounding crowd, who clapped and cheered them on.
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About Vera...Canadian, vegetarian, PPL, certified teacher and mother of twins, home schooling for the year, in Argentina!
Visit me online at www.verateschow.ca Archives
May 2014
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