Day #6, July 31

Today, I will spend time in Marcela's school, Republica de Siria. I wanted to just spend time observing in a classroom. Students do not wear uniforms in Argentina, but they wear guardapolvos, which are essentially white lab coats. Teachers (all women), on the other hand, wore an apron of sorts.

I spent two hours in the morning observing in a first grade classroom. It was the teacher's first year teaching first grade. A student teacher was also in the room, assisting with students who had difficulty. There were 17 students in the room. I would be observing a class of "Lengua" or language arts. The teacher had the objectives or tasks for the first period written on the board: ARMAMOS PALABRAS. TRABAJAMOS CON EL EQUIPO DE LETRAS. The students had to copy this into their notebooks. Being first graders, this task in itself took about 15 minutes. The students then worked with paper squares with letter printed on them to form words. The teacher did two or three examples with them and then the students worked on their own with a partner. They were able to complete maybe two words on their own.

The bell rang and the students went out for recess. When they returned the teacher had written more tasks on the board: LA HORA DEL CUENTO. ESCUCHAMOS EL CUENTO "EL MISTERIO DEL COLLAR". ESCRIBO LO QUE MAS ME GUSTO DEL CUENTO. The students took about twenty minutes to write these tasks into their notebooks. The teacher read the story out loud and the students had to write in their notebooks what the story was about and what they liked. They did not seem ready yet for this sort of assignment. While the students worked the teacher passed out books for them to read at home.

Marce and I went to meet with the Supervisor, Stella Maris Adrover. She is sort of the Chief Education Officer for Cordova. She will be doing a Fulbright Exchange next year with an administrator in Bellingham, Washington. She explained the bureaucratic structure of the Argentinian school system. I also met a friend of Marce's in the same office, Francisco Castillo, the music coordinator for the district.

At 1:40 I observed a fifth grade mathematics lesson. The lesson was on long division. The teacher emphasized to the students that there is more than one way of solving a problem and allowed different students to explain how they arrived at their answer. The teacher told the students, "I am not concerned about you becoming good mathematicians, but I want you to be good problem solvers."

In the evening Miguel, Marce, and I went out for pizza at Pizza Zeta. Argentinian pizza reminded me of pizza I had in Italy - not piled with so much stuff.