sideways - home is where the wine is

hungry? ever thot what goes into your food or you are what you eat? what about the cumulated side effects of ingesting too much of a particular food group? or why you like a particular food so much?

perhaps, a little wine would help the degustation or rather the reflecting. here's a little something to get you thinking:

http://geographyoffood.sphosting.com

did it with me classmate kevin, and ya, help yaself to a red, it might help the thinking process...

of late, its both interesting and amusing to note the downturn in energy and interest in various classes with the semester winding down to an end. with the holidays in sight and as the days free themselves up, priorities shift hence the focus and mood. but i'm no authority on the definitive mood of the student population so whatever dude...

anyways, as the days run down much like the legs of a big alky red, its worthy to reflect upon these last days (ie not to be confused with ridley scott's attempt at humour. believe he does action-storytelling best). apologies for my digression. over the last four sessions, we're on the topic of assessment. assessment by whom and for whom apart from the hows and whats of assessment are issues that we're dwelling on. much like assessing the merits of a single grape compared to a varietal or as some would say: blends vs. single malts.

from a macro-perspective, how good a varietal or the single grape is, actually depends on the occasion as much as the pairing of the wine and food. similarly, it begets the question, when do you wanna partake of the single malt or blend: over dinner vs an apertif or as a nightcap? looking at assessment after microteaching isn't quite the pairing we expect, nyet?

amidst all the sawing up and rejigging, perhaps, the comprehensiveness and completeness of critical and constructive friends/comments during the micro-teaching component could be enhanced if assessment was done before not after. that would boost the double-loop learning curve (if we get there) apart from the learning experience of us geographical teachers to be. afterall, the teaching activities were some form of assessment, weren't they or weren't they not?

so if given a choice between a brokenwood cricket pitch circa 2001 (cab sav, merlot & shiraz), i'll opt for a saltram mamre brook circa 2002, shiraz (barossa). afterall, 140 years of traditional wine-making in the Barossa Valley can't possibly be wrong?

to be honest, i'm quite amused by the reactions of my classmates to the precociousness and intellectual arrogance displayed by those GEPs. Then again, not everyone has suffered GEPs (aside from giving it to them) during their educational journey thus availing themselves the necessary tools to interact with them let alone deal with them. to my classmates who were traumatised in whatever ways by the recent events that transpired that fateful thursday morning of late, kids will be kids whatever their age so let them be. and as someone (was it small Alvin?) who rightly pointed out, that kids of whatever ability and station in life, do need a teacher. so the next time, you're accosted by a GEP or a GEP-wannabe/has-been, just remember: I can teach, but can you learn?

thus here's one for the road:
"Students are all guinea pigs in the teacher's laboratory
Learning is just a work in progress."
adapted from Tennessee Williams: Camino Real, Block xii (1953).

its been awhile since i last wrote, not like i wasn't reflecting apart from the busy season... ...

amidst the busy-ness of life, the numerous ensamples of microteaching over the last weeks which has piqued my curiosity about the efficacy of microteaching itself. granted that its meant to be a safe learning environment where pedagogies can be tried, modelled, debunked aside from mucking around, what good is there? is it an excuse to seriously teach less? its like sampling a Simonsig Kaapse Vonkel Brut 2004, smells good but tastes like Mountain Dew... am sure that methode traditional can't possibly be that bad on the forgotten continent?

excuse me whilst i question the rationale behind microteaching coz i believe that each individual is sufficiently creative to apply the appropriate pedagogical tools to draw out the contents/knowledge when they teach so why create an unrealistic training scenario? or is there seriously a need to prevent us from slipping into efficient 'chalk talk' robots? perhaps, we could take a leaf from the qce 520 modules where student teachers actually teach in a real classroom environ... that will seriously deepen the learning curve for all student teachers.

anyways, leaving the forgotten continent behind for the lucky country for the best of vriensenhof can't match the simplicity of nepenthe's tryst let alone a tempranillo by tempus two, its time to explore the bits and pieces of the jigsaw. i honestly, i think the jigsaw's a good way of teaching, to get kids to work together so as to foster thinking and learning et al. hopefully, the 'deep' kind not so much the 'shallow' stuff. its just the idealisation of the factors that drive a good jigsaw thats debatable.

in the jigsaw or the sawing up of it, each kid brings to the table, innate capabilities, talents and temperaments that are at times implicitly or explicitly elicitied and/or elucidated throughout the exercise. factors such as positive interdependence, face-to-face promotive interaction, individual accountability, interpersonal and small-group skills, and group processing surface at various intervals in a small group situation. whilst its good to understand these factors in designing a jigsaw activity, i.e., how to tease them out in various group settings at different socio-cognitive levels across a myriad of geographical tasks, perhaps, we could consider the four stages of a small group? i.e., forming, storming, norming and performing as a potential sequence and perspective for 'divide & conquer' activities. pardon me, coz at this point, my vocabulary has deserted me on the synonyms for jigsaw hence the phrase: divide and conquer.

in group work of any kind, i believe that it is essential that kids learn, not just on the mental front but more so on the social & emotional plane as well as to grow and develop as mature, responsible and sociable individuals who can contribute to society. hence my position on sawing activities. afterall, its the big picture that we're after - not just the enduring understanding but well-adjusted individuals that can contribute to society, much like a well-cellared 2003 browns brother heathcote shiraz (limited release). excellent bouquet with a smooth, subliminal palate of ripe fruit and spice...

in closing, why complicate a simple activity unnecessarily? as an acidically witty tutor once put it, 'keep it simple because it will get complicated later' hence my thoughts on the sawing up of the jigsaw.