My course diary by Riccardo Righetti https://padlet.com/pestalox/yir6aze4y67s When "they" say that you have to do a diary... en-us 2017-10-16 15:24:28 UTC 2017-10-19 18:27:23 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Folder.png Who am I ? pestalox https://padlet.com/pestalox/yir6aze4y67s/wish/197470461 This is not a philosophical reflection; this is only a brief description of me: what I do, what I love and what I hate. I have done studies in chemistry, in the same school where I’m teaching now. I graduated in 1987 with the maximum, and the work I made for the final exam was published on a technical bulletin in the same year. Being chemistry a big love of mine, i left Biella for Turin and its university. In the Faculty of Science I discovered the branch of chemistry “tailor made” for my head: nuclear chemistry. In fact nuclear and radiochemistry combines the exact rigour of math and the fantasy and creativity of the experimental research. A perfect match for me...
Of course my life is made not only of chemistry. I like hiking and fishing, film photography (also the darkroom work) , woodworking and cooking (filled pasta like agnolotti or game roast). 
I am a Mac user since 2006, an Instagrammer but also a traditional mail user.
For now, that’s all folks !!!]]> 2017-10-16 17:11:43 UTC https://padlet.com/pestalox/yir6aze4y67s/wish/197470461 My teaching contest pestalox https://padlet.com/pestalox/yir6aze4y67s/wish/197965493 My teaching contest is dramatically changed in the last years. I started as Chemistry Lab Teacher working on technical courses in the last three years of an old technical school. Textile chemistry, analytical chemistry, environmental chemistry and so on. After ten years, ten wonderful and happy years, the beginning of a new system in secondary school has relegate me to the role of substitute in several school (from senior high school to vocational school). When i succeed to come back in my old school, i started to change specialization every year. From Anatomy to Microbiology, through night school. 
Actually i was sent to teach in the first two classes of a secondary school, where i started to love again my work. 
And that's not a common thing...]]> 2017-10-17 18:29:46 UTC https://padlet.com/pestalox/yir6aze4y67s/wish/197965493 My proposal pestalox https://padlet.com/pestalox/yir6aze4y67s/wish/198816126 This is the proposal for the final work of the course, with a description of the classes where i want to propose the activity:

I teach chemistry lab to 14-16 years old students in a secondary school. The objective of my two-year course is the general knowledge of chemical concepts, terms and mechanism. So i believe that the PBL work in my classes could be:

"What will you espect from chemistry in your everyday life in the next ten years ?"


This was the review from Gabriella:
The question will allow students to develop more than one reasonable answe and it could spark curiosity, in my opinion it's a good question

And that was the review from Antonella:
Hi Riccardo. I can't say anything about chemistry because I studied it at school and unfortunately I remember very little about it. The only thing I would rather suggest in this review tha maybe you could change chemistry in your question with a specific element such as gold, phosphorus or calcium in order to have a less generic argument to talk about.

Good luck!!

]]> 2017-10-19 18:15:42 UTC https://padlet.com/pestalox/yir6aze4y67s/wish/198816126 The work that i have to review pestalox https://padlet.com/pestalox/yir6aze4y67s/wish/198817260 _________This is the proposal from Laura (Spain):____________
I decided to experiment with PBL in a class of 1st year students of Bachillerato (16 to 17-year-old kids) in Spain, specifically in the city of A Coruña. The subject is EFL and the topic is recycling. The learning goals include vocabulary related to the environment (e.g. domestic waste, dump, pollution, recycling, reusing, reprocessing, trash can/bin, skip/dumpster, climate change/global warmin, acid rain, compost, contaminate, etc.), phrasal verbs (e.g. throw something away, pick up, cut down, clean up, run something down), use of present and future aspect, being able to express the different parts of a process and being able to organise and present information coherently and cohesively, 

My reflection in section 1.3. regarding this was: "As for a subject topic that I could use to experiment with PBL in EFL, I really have no idea, but maybe I could work somehow with the topic of recycling. Maybe having them explore about how it is done in different countries, how it is done in Spain and specifically in their city, how they can do it at home and trying to find the best ways to do it considering our real possibilities. Moreover, they could also research about the benefits of recycling and how not doing it is changing our world".

Because my description of the project was maybe overambitious, I decided to reduce it to have students learn about where the waste we throw in the trash ends up, how it gets there and how can we make things better. My suggestion for the driving question is:

"Spain produces 26.34 million tons of waste every year. Where does all the waste we generate go since we throw it in the trash and how can we reduce it?"

___________This is my response:_____________________
Waste and recycling are day by day an increasing question, and the answer that come from our administrators differ from the response of scientist.

The question is challenging for a teacher and may be challenging for the whole class. 

The question may be googlable, but the interpretation of the answers may be a good exercise even for an EFL course.

If possible, i suggest you to start looking with students at the trash bin of the classroom, to have a good discussion case..

Good luck in your good work !!!

Riccardo from Biella

________This is the work proposed from Fabrizio (Genova)_________
Some possible driving questions that came to my mind in preparing my PBL are:

  • What did the ancient Greeks eat?
  • Why is food so protagonist in Greek mythology?
  • What value did Greek culture give to food?
  • What recipes have remained in Mediterranean culture?
  • Do you read stories today, like the ancient ones, where contemporary food is the protagonist? Invent a story similar to the Greek one you've explored.
I realize that the first question is too Googleable! but I hope the others are pretty stimulating ...

The learning goals I would like to achieve with the class are:

  • Master the structures of the language.
  • Learn to read and analyze a myth in its main levels: Identify the essential elements of myth (characters, environments, times, objects, situations ...); research, analyze physical qualities, feelings, behaviors and ways of being, protagonists; identify the main relationships between the protagonists, distinguishing between main and secondary characters.
  • Express feelings and emotions aroused by the myth / read story, preferences and tastes aroused by reading.
  • Reflect on the reading message also referring to your experience.
  • Re-elaborate information clearly.
  • Produce correct and consistent texts adapted to the various communicative situations.
  • Link Greek mythology with Greek culture of the so-called Greek Middle Ages and the subsequent archaic age.
In a second phase of the activity:

  • Interpreting and revisiting simple culinary preparations.
  • Provide the correct recipes and basic procedures.
I think i've said everything..!

Bye, Fabrizio from Genova (Italia)

_____________And this was my response:__________________
The work is really big and all-embracing.  Even if the question on greek food is googlable, the interpretation of the enormous data retrieved is a good judgment exercise.

If you can drive the students in discover links between food and culture (as for language and culture) in past as in present days, i think that your work could be an excellent work

Good luck and good work !!!

Riccardo (Biella)





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