Eve
Graduate
Elementary Education |
Eve
Graduate
Elementary Education |
Avvenutra numero uno: Jill and Eve vanno a MontalcinoOn Saturday, March 19 we went to Montalcino. Fun fact: the bus schedule online in Italy does not always match the schedule at the bus stop. The bus might not actually stop where it is said to stop online. The bus number might not be listed at the bus stop, but the destination will be. One may rely on the kindness of locals to navigate the intricacies of the Italian bus schedule. Now, I recall facing travel obstacle courses in Italy in the past, but it has been a while and I thought that maybe, just maybe, it would be simpler this time around. Not so, not so. Jill and I left our apartments early in the morning only to miss the bus and spend 90 minutes camped out at a pasticceria. I ordered a croissant with about half a jar of Nutella stuffed inside it along with a cappuccino. Overtired and packed with sugar, we made some travel plans for the Easter break and then huffed it back to the fermata (bus stop) that listed a bus to Montalcino at 10:22AM. We only knew about this bus stop because a man, cooly smoking a cig against a stone wall, turned to us and asked "Dové via?" and proceeded to point us in the right direction. Thank you, kind sir. #chillvibes. Fast forward to Montalcino. The airbnb is comfortable, clean, and has a phenomenal view of the countryside. My goal is to make it to this business called Pura Crocus. It's a very fine saffron production business. I happened to meet a friend of a friend who highly recommended we meet with Massimo, the owner. We walked to Pura Crocus only to find out it was closed; they are out to eat, says the elderly man farming land next door. Come back in an hour, he says. So, we do. Gates are still closed. Wait. An older couple arrives, opens the gates, and exclaims that they, too, wonder about the location of Massimo. The man apologizes to me. No worries! We begin to meander back to the city and after 10 minutes we hear beep beep. A car pulls up. It is Massimo! He says "Eve?" and gestures to get in. Now before you say "Wait, wait, you are getting into the car?" Yes. Like I said, Massimo is a friend of a good friend! And this is how I travel. I meet people, I take recommendations, I go for it. Thanks, Jill, for being such a fun travel companion! Off we go to Pura Crocus where Massimo gives us a tour of the business, tastes of the products like saffron with honey, a bit of saffron beer, and we learn about the growing and harvesting process. Fascinating! His farm is on a UNESCO site in Montalcino. Massimo is incredibly proud of his business. His body language and voice expressed joy for the work. Oh, and the older couple that showed up earlier? They were in one of the marketing videos hand picking the stigmas from the flowers. It was a unique experience and I'm glad we latched on to it. Massimo also recommended a fantastic restaurant where we sampled a variety of local wine and dined on classic Tuscan cuisine. Grazie, Massimo! Aventurra numero due - La prima settimana di scuolaLast week on Tuesday (day 2 in school) I hit the ground running after the PYP coordinator, Mr. Gilbert asked if I had a lesson ready since my mentor teacher was out sick and was being covered by a substitute teacher. Well, by golly, I did! In fact I had four. The week prior Mr. Warner, my mentor teacher, asked me to put together a few language lessons. I decided on spoken word poetry for a few reasons: 1) it would fast track my getting to know the students since poetry is expressive and collaborative 2) I was interested in immediately applying arts integration and Universal Design for Learning in my lessons, and 3) spoken word is popular in the USA, so it’s a great opportunity for a little cross-cultural exchange. I chose Tamara’s Opus by Joshua Bennett. A fabulous piece where the poet expresses his sincerest apology for waiting so long to learn sign language in order to communicate with his sister, Tamara. His performance is beautiful. Over the course of four lessons students identified poetic devices, analyzed tone through voice, movement, and visual aids, voted on poetic devices to use in their poems, and chose topics they were most passionate about in that moment. My goals were 1) get to know my new students through writing and performing poetry 2) introduce different modalities to explore poetic devices and tone 3) afford the opportunity for students to perform and critique their work. The last goal ties to their upcoming 6th grade International Baccalaureate PYP independent project where they will be publicly presenting their work, therefore, they need public speaking practice. I enjoyed this mini-unit tremendously. Through spoken word I learned that my students are funny, conscientious, risk takers. Ever hear a poem about stoat? Well, I have, and I nearly cried laughing. Are you wondering if I taught these lessons before? I haven't. I love poetry and knew that students needed to practice speaking in performance mode, and so I chose spoken word. They chose whatever they wanted to write about as long as they wrote at least 10 lines of poetry with five poetic devices, specified an intention, and used tone to deliver that intention. Many chose to use movement to express poetic devices and amplify vocal choices. One student decided to write a poem based on his PYP project topic, space! To critique, students peer reviewed each other using a glows and grows checklist, and then we all provided glows and grows after final performances. Overall, it was an outstanding first week. Today, I kicked off a book study for Akata Witch by Nigerian-American author Nnedi Okorafor. After reading the prologue aloud, building one character map, and engaging in a group discussion, I asked the students to give truthful feedback about the book choice: thumbs up, sideways, or down. Most showed thumbs up, or nearly all the way up! [Breathes sigh of relief] At the end of this week I will provide a reflection on what we accomplished. Lettere dei Burattini (Letters from the Puppets)Come stanno tutti? (How is everyone?) We are sorry we have not been able to write as much as we want! Ms. Everette has been busy planning and preparing for school so we haven’t been able to use the computer. Poindexter usually types because my flippers barely reach the keyboard, and when they do, the typing looks like this oiwjhetipunq i2j4ht oijoipjwejk n ranw. So, I talk and Poindexter types! Next week is drop everything and read week at school. Students and teachers stop and read at the same time each day for about 10 minutes. We will participate in a dress up day where we get to dress up as characters in a book! Ms. Everette is very excited to dress up, and we all hope to visit a first grade class to do a read aloud. Here are some photos of us in Siena, Italy. It is a medieval city that became rich and powerful between the 13th and 15th centuries. That was about 800 years ago! The tall tower is called the Torre del Mangia, and the area where all the people are standing is called the Piazza del Campo. In the summer there is a famous horse race called the Palio. Horses from each neighborhood in Siena race to win! The neighborhoods are called contradas in Italian. Every contrada has a special symbol. There is even a dragon contrada! Il drago! Unfortunately, there is no manatee contrada. In 2019, a horse won the race without the rider! [LINK] Un abbraccio! (hug!) Manny and Poindexter
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Firenze e Siena Quindici anni fa ho studiato a Siena, e sono ritornato! A gentle fire crackles inside the raised hearth to my right as I sit here typing at the kitchen table while attempting to understand the Italian news reporting on the war in Ukraine. Leonardo gave me some directions on how to tend the fire before he left to pick up Rosetta from work. With enough gesturing and contextual references, si, capisco! Although my Italian is extremely rusty, Leonardo and I discussed la guerra, immigrazione, teatro, burattini, ricostruzione, e cucina. Leonardo loves to cook and enjoys making a cozy home for everyone who visits. Rosetta and Leonardo have been hosting international students for nearly 20 years. They began the cultural exchange so their daughters, Laura and Elizebeta, would learn English– and they clearly enjoyed the company. They stay in touch with students long after they leave. It’s a clear evening so I took a walk in the brisk air to get a feel of the neighborhood. One of the streets is the Via Francigene [LINK] that winds past the International School of Siena. So, I meandered that way to take a look at the school we will be teaching at over the next two months. I can’t wait to meet the educational team and the students! We arrived on March 10. After two years of COVID, graduate school and work, I felt off-kilter because I simply haven’t traveled far or for very long. I appreciate my home, so leaving was extra hard this time. However, the last few days have been delightful with extra emphasis on light. The travel bug is biting again. I need to add a few more sticks and logs to the fire. Un momento. We spent two full days in Firenze prior to arriving in Siena. I soaked in the following cultural sites:
Shall we talk food? I had one of my favorite Tuscan dishes, pappardelle al ragú di cinghale, and purchased a fantastic spread of salami e formaggi to share with our group. The proprietor of the enoteca who sold me the goods expressed his anguish over the war in Ukraine. He has family in Krakow that he will bring back to Firenze later this week to keep them safe. At one point he pushed war talk aside, as if he was sick of hearing himself talk about it, and went back to the here and now, specifically, pecorino cheese. We were only able to have this conversation because he was fluent in English. Rosetta is home from work! She works at the Museo dell’opera del Duomo in Siena. I can tell that my Italian will get better because both Rosetta and Leonardo love to talk and help me figure out what I need to say. I introduced i burattini (the puppets), Manny e Poindexter II, to Leonardo e Rosetta. Speaking of burattini, they want to say a few words to their first grade friends in Buffalo, NY. Lettere degli Burattini (Letters from the puppets)Cari Studenti (Dear Students),
If you want to, you can read and listen to the Italian words in our letter here [LINK]. Come stanno tutti? (How is everyone?) We are having a lot of fun in Italy! The trip over was super cozy. We were wrapped in a pillowcase and tucked inside a big suitcase. Yesterday we were in Firenze (Florence). It is a very old city. We saw a big Catholic church called Santa Maria dei Fiori. Look at the photo of us in front of the church! Santa Maria dei Fiori was built about 800 years ago! It is made out of different colored marble. Marble is a kind of rock and it is used to make buildings. We thought Santa Maria dei Fiori was very pretty, and it made us think about Our Lady of Victory Basilica in Lackawanna, New York. That’s near Buffalo. Have you ever visited that church? It is also made out of marble. Ms. Everette ate her favorite pasta dish called pappardelle al ragú di cinghiale. It is ribbon pasta noodles with wild boar meat! We did not eat any of it. We only ate sea grass or birthday cake because those are our favorite foods. Ms. Everette said the pasta was delicious and wished you could try it, too! We are going to eat dinner with our friends Leonardo and Rosetta. We are living with them while we stay in Siena. They are very nice. What do you want to know about Italy? Abbracci! (hugs!) Manny the Manatee and Poindexter II the Dragon |
AuthorEve is a palindrome. She started out as a theatre artist, and now she is a combination theatre artist-teacher. She is grateful for the opportunity to finish her degree while studying abroad in Siena, Italy. It is her second time studying in Siena. Eve enjoys long meandering walks, daydreaming, creating new projects, and chilling with her husband, Dave. Archives
May 2022
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