Mexico City, June 2013 - #3: Officially in Mexico

Sunrise from my office Friday morning

Well, after my very optimistic and cheerful last post, I should have guessed that I was tempting fate. This past week has been a roller coaster. My giddy consumption of Mexico City's delicious fresh fruit  in my fruit smoothie last week angered Montezuma. And he had his revenge. So I spent Tuesday in bed, drinking as much water as I could muster and trying to sit up at the table in the living room for more than 5 minutes before giving up and going back to bed. It was not pretty. But luckily I was in good hands. On his way out to see his mother, my roomie saw me skyping with my parents and said hello to them. He saw how sick I was feeling and asked if there was anything I needed, to which my parents yelled from the screen, "Chicken Soup! She needs some chicken soup!" Embarrassed, I insisted that I was fine, but he said he would bring some back to me. Then, over the course of the next hour and a half, I got updates on the progress of the soup, which he was not just picking up for me, but was being made from scratch by his mother! It was so sweet! So when he got home, I had homemade chicken soup which made me feel oh so good, and then I curled up and went to sleep, hoping to wake up better in the morning. The chicken soup must have done the trick, because the next morning, feeling much better although still a little tired and queasy, I got up and spent the day at work. By Thursday I was like new. So now I have officially been inducted in the Mexico City visitors club, having eaten of the street and learned my lesson, and learned yet again how friendly and caring people are in this city!

After thinking I would never get better and wishing I was home in my own bed feeling terrible, I could never have predicted that on Friday I would have one of the best experiences I've had here and be happier than ever that I decided to come. My wonderful co-worker Jenn, who arranged my whole internship, wanted to make sure I had a chance to visit a public school before they closed for the summer this coming week. We didn't think I would be able to because it's so late in the school year for them, but then last week she told me that she thought I could go visit a school after all! So thanks to her and my other coworkers, on Friday, I got to go on a school visit to see a very impressive public high school in the north part of Mexico City.

It. Was. Incredible. The school has been recognized for its excellence and is doing some really great things. First of all, the director is an amazing leader. The teachers and staff gushed about him throughout the day. When we arrived, he invited us into his office to talk to us about his philosophy about education and running a school. He talked about a school needing to be about passion for the students, about creating a community and teaching students not just academics but how to be good people, how to contribute to their communities and their world, how to learn for a purpose beyond test scores and grades. I was hooked and we were only half an hour into our half-day visit!

My intro: It's so nice to meet someone who smiles so much

The teachers were also amazing! They were energetic and passionate, and at least on Friday, teaching in platform stilettos. For real. (I still don't get it! Even less in a high school! But one of my coworkers told me they dressed up for our visit and would not normally spend an entire day on their feet teaching in stilettos...)We visited some classes and the teachers were doing really creative things to teach their subjects. They had integrated technology into the classroom in a way that seemed to complement and support the subject matter, from student-made videos about Mexico's economic history to the school's student blog on its website, kids of all ages were doing some really creative things. In one class, the teacher created a PowerPoint to accompany his dramatic reading of a story the class was studying. It had to do with what a child was waiting for - a goodnight kiss, to change the world, etc. - and this child had a piece of string that formed part of the illustration of each thing he waited for. On their desks, the students also had a red string, and a worksheet with what looked like the outline of a face. I'm not sure what exactly the activity was, but it was clear that this teacher had put a lot of thought into teaching this lesson and there were many different components to it. Not only does the school have departments of teachers, but also teachers dedicated to student activities and student 'orientation' and to evaluating teachers and classes.

A student, Esperanza, reading the welcoming and introductory remarks at the school presentation.

After visiting classes and getting a marching band and color guard performance (see the video above), we went into a 3 hour long presentation where the director, students and staff presented all aspects of the school. The students who were sitting around the perimeter of the school turned out to be the top students, all of whom participated in a project where the school brought in a film director and worked with the students to select and produce a student-written screenplay as a short film. It dealt with issues of hunger and domestic violence in students' homes and how that affected students' school experiences. It was really stunning. And that was just one of the dozens of school activities and projects that students were involved in. Students have singing and dancing groups, band, a radio station (linked to facebook) sports teams, and public service groups and events. And the whole school was so engaged in the community. They did a march against violence and organized 20-something weekend events and activities throughout the year for students and families.

The school's dentist office (Espereanza modeling as the patient)

As the presentation went on, each teacher talked about different aspects of the school, from test scores and test prep to a program on emotional development and awareness. Each thing they talked about reflected some best practice I learned about this past year. It was as if someone had taken all of my classes and read all the research I read last year, and said, "Ok, let's do this" and implemented everything. It was so so impressive. One particularly striking program was the teacher evaluation system. In addition to having a system of formative and sumative teacher evaluations that include several classroom observations a year (both announced and unannounced), the students themselves can complete online surveys about their teachers and classes through the school's website. The full evaluation system rivals that of the most progressive school districts in the U.S. and is done completely in-house through the school's evaluation department. At one point I leaned over to my co-worker and said, "This is by-the-book what you should do to have a great school and a great education system! This is everything I learned this past year!" He told the director who was sitting next to him, who said that I should share my thoughts during the commentary at the end. I smiled and then panicked because there was no way I could express what I wanted to say in Spanish in front of at least 40 people. (In the end, I made a valiant effort but luckily the English teacher very sweetly asked me during a particularly long pause if I would like her to translate. I gratefully accepted.)

Our radio-host interviewing us for the school station

As I was sitting and listening both to the presentation and the comments at the end, thinking about how to put this incredible school into the broader picture of education in Mexico, about how to answer the question "how do we scale this" with the idea that maybe for this type of detailed school ecosystem, scaling is not the right response; about how to learn from this school knowing that simple or even complex replication would not work in any other school with its unique students, parents, teachers, leaders. As I was thinking about all the different incredible things each member of this school does, and the community they create together, I saw that change is made both in broad sweeps and tiny shifts, through building structures secure enough to support the individual actions that make change each day. One without the other will never be enough.  Even more, the broad strokes (like legislation, a national evaluation institute, charter school legal structures, whatever they are) must complement and be complemented by these important single acts and not simply laid on top of them or made half-hazardly without consideration of the enormous effort teachers and families and schools are making every day. The work done by the members of this school, just by the simple fact that they have done it, has already made a difference. It has set the bar high. It has paved the way for other motivated teachers and parents, other motivated school directors and administrators to build their school's ecosystems. And I found myself thinking that maybe the most important thing to take away from what the school has done is to urge them to share what they know, to talk to others who want to listen, to recognized the hard work of all involved and share their experiences with as many people as they can. Then more people can take the important steps of taking action on the individual level, while broad strokes are being made to help those individuals succeed. Anyway, those were the deep thoughts I was thinking when my brain could no longer concentrate enough to understand what everyone was saying. But I think maybe there's something there...I think I somehow rearranged how all these pieces fit together in my conception both of what I'm doing and of social change more generally. I am waiting for the rest of the pieces to slowly come together as I keep moving forward in this work.  

 And of course, the icing on the cake, as we were leaving, the director hurried us back into the conference room so that he could hand us some to-go containers and napkins, saying that they had hoped to invite us to lunch but since we had to leave they would send us away with something at least. When we got in the cab an opened our packages, we found delicious delicious wings! The cab ride back to the office from the school was bone-sucking, lip-smacking goodness to top off a truly excellent day!





How do you follow such a great day? Well it continues so keep reading! My weekend was full of markets and museums, and of course delicious food!

Flower Market on my way to the Bazar de Sabado

On a high from my wonderful time on Friday, I decided Saturday to get to it and start exploring like a tourist should. Saturday, I went to a market that has been high on my list since I got here. El Bazar de Sabado is an artisan market that happens every Saturday in the neighborhood next to mine. So I set out to go visit, and I found so much more than just that market! I found the flower market I had been hearing about but had never seen, full of styled arrangements of every size and type you could imagine. Starting one block in from the main street, there were artists showing paintings and sculptures, people selling handicrafts, and even small clothing boutiques that I didn't know existed here. There were a couple markets where artists showed their work, with crafts skirting the outer edges of the fine-arts filled squares.

When I finally found el Bazar de Sabado, it did not disappoint! It was colorful and had all different arts and crafts, with a beautiful restaurant in the central courtyard where a band was playing as people were enjoying the Saturday buffet. There were ceramics, chocolates, shoes, bright paper flowers, sculpture, clothing, mirrors, and so much more. I strolled around for a while looking at all the different little stalls, and then when I was hungry, I got in the quesadilla line and ordered two absolutely delicious quesadillas and a limonada, and then ate them while watching the band play to the diners in the courtyard. It might have been my favorite little excursion so far! And there were markets all around the market too selling all things Mexican, with giant puppets and skeletons artfully crafted and straw place mats and coasters and everything in between.

Inside the Bazar de Sabado, looking down onto one of the stalls with brightly colored paper flowers

After such a lovely day Saturday, I decided to continue my sightseeing and went to a contemporary art museum on Sunday (Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil), followed by a short visit to Frida Khalo and Diego Rivera's house, also in the neighboring area of San Angel. On Sundays, both are free, so I just walked in and saw some really cool exhibits followed by a pretty stroll to the blue house where Frida lived (connected to Diego's house and studio). Much of it was closed for installation, so I'll just have to go back soon for more :)

Outside the market, an impromptu stall in front of a group of artists' shops

Although this week started of very rough, it certainly ended on a very high note! And now I'm full of energy to continue my exploring and get to know this amazing city with so many different things to offer! Until next time, and thanks for reading!

Abrazos!     

The band playing in the courtyard of the bazar, with a delicious looking fruit sculpture instead of a fountain