Day #11, August 5

Today I spent the morning at Marcela's school, Republica de Siria. First period I was in a 5th grade math class. The class started with a HOTS (higher order thinking skills) word problem and then moved into division. The teacher gave the students a series of problems which they had to solve. She then asked them to show how they solved the problems and encouraged them to find different ways to arrive at the same solution.

I then went to a third grade classroom for their "Technologica" class. This is a class in which students produce something and study the origins of all the components that go into the production. This is a class taught in every school in Cordoba province. (Maybe in the entire country.) The third grade students were making scones. The teacher did the mixing. The students explained the origin of each ingredient as she put it into the mixing bowl. Once mixed the students each formed their own scone and they were brought to the kitchen to be baked.

I returned to the fifth grade classroom for a class in language arts - same students I observed doing math but different teacher. They were working on how gender and number effects articles. They were doing a fill-in-the-blank activity when I entered, but quickly moved into another activity that involved more thinking. The teacher wrote a story leaving blanks for the students to fill in. They had to be creative when filling in the blanks and also make sure that nouns and articles went together (gender and number).

I moved to a fourth grade classroom that was have "Technologica". They were doing weaving. Students were using different types of looms to complete their projects.

When the students dismissed at noon, the teachers had a faculty meeting. The afternoon teachers also came in for the meeting. I was the presenter. They wanted to know about behavior management techniques used in USA classrooms. I did a short explanation of Social Emotional Learning and gave some Lee Canter techniques (Assertive Discipline) and then showed them the CPS Student Code of Conduct. The teachers loved that. They don't feel supported by the central office with regards to students who have severe behavior problems.

After my presentation, Silvia, another assistant principal who is on "licencia" ( sick leave) came in to lead us in an offering to the Pacha Mamma (Mother Earth). One of the older teachers made a side comment to me that she didn't understand why we were doing this since the practice belongs to the aboriginal cultures, not to them.

After the faculty meeting Marce took me to another primary school where Silvina is principal. She gave us a short explanation of the PIIE projects they are involved in and gave us a walk-through of her school. PIIE is like SGSA. It is money that schools with "vulnerable" populations can apply for to do special projects. It is because of PIIE that many poor schools have many resources such as computers and internet while Marcela's school, which is middle class, has very few resources.

We went home so that I could get ready for my trip to Rosario.