Category: EdTech (Page 2 of 3)

Greek Cuisine

October 31, 2019 / Kylie

Welcome back! This week I will be looking at Greek cuisine. Greek cuisine is known for being an incredibly healthy diet.

The first dish that I am going to look at is souvlaki. This dish is extremely popular not only in Greece but in lots of other parts of the world. This dish is Greece’s version of fast food. It is composed of small pieces of meat or vegetables. These pieces of meat/vegetables are grilled on a skewer. This skewer is then either served still on the stick or wrapped in pita. The pita is also filled with food such as tomato, onion, or creamy tzatziki sauce. The most popular meats for souvlaki are lamb and pork, but grilled chicken and goat are also meats that can be used. This dish can be served as either an entree or side dish.

Spanakopita is a dish that is usually eaten as a snack or appetizer. This dish is commonly made of spinach, feta cheese, onions, egg, and seasoning all wrapped up in filo dough. This dough is a thin, unleavened dough commonly used in pastries. This dough is also usually wrapped in layers around the fillings to create a crisp, flaky package.

Kolokythokeftedes is a traditional Greek dish. This dish in more simple terms is zucchini fritters. There is grated zucchini combined with feta cheese and herbs. This combination is then breaded and served in patty form or shaped into a ball and fried. This dish is usually served with tzatziki sauce.

Pastitsio is similar to lasagna. This dish is made with tubular pasta instead of pasta sheets. The pasta is typically bucatini. This pasta forms the top and bottom layers of the dish. The filling of this dish is ground meat, tomato, cinnamon, and allspice. The dish is then topped with thick, creamy bechamel sauce and cheese.

Greece is very popular for its salads. Horiatiki salata is a traditional Greek salad. This salad has many variations. The traditional version of this salad includes vegetables like tomato, onion, cucumber, and bell pepper. These ingredients are typically mixed with olives and hot peppers. This salad is then seasoned with extra virgin olive oil, oregano, and sea salt with feta cheese on top. This salad has many variations, with the traditional one typically not including lettuce.

A common Greek snack food is horta vrasta. This dish is composed of leafy greens, such as the sweet leaves of spinach or the bitter greens of dandelions. These greens are boiled and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and lemon.

A common Greek dessert is galaktoboureko. This dish is often related to baklava for those who are not Greek. This dish is made by wrapping custard in thin filo sheets, baking them until they are golden brown, and soaking them in lemon syrup until it is ready to serve.

Thank you for reading my blog! Next week, I will be discussing Spanish cuisine.

(Pastitsio)

(Spanakopita)

Attributions:

“Greek Pastitsio” by Jeff Cushner under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

“Spanakopita” by Kim under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Information:

https://theculturetrip.com/europe/greece/articles/12-delicious-greek-dishes-you-have-to-try/

Photo by Matt Artz on Unsplash

Anecdotal Reporting

October 28, 2019 / Kylie

Today in class we talked about anecdotal reporting. Anecdotal reporting is when the teacher puts written feedback on the report card as opposed to a letter/number grade (except for the final term, when it is mandatory to write a letter/number grade). Anecdotal reporting is something that I had not really heard of as I was always given grades each term as early as they started implementing letter grades into our report cards. Parents have the option to receive anecdotal or traditional report cards. These report cards are implemented at PSII and we were shown an example of a real report card that a student/parent received. This form of reporting is becoming more common in the elementary grades, as students/parents see constructive criticism and proper feedback as to where their child is at a lot less daunting than just a letter grade defining everything. Overall, anecdotal report cards show where a student is at in their learning and how much they have improved and a traditional report card jus gives a letter grade with no context as to why the student is at that place in their education.

Competency covered: assessment.

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Thai Cuisine

October 24, 2019 / Kylie

Welcome back! This week I will be taking a look at Thai cuisine. Thai cuisine is extremely popular worldwide.

The first dish that I am going to look at is perhaps one of the most popular. This dish is Guay teow. Guay teow is noodle soup. This particular type of soup can be made with chicken, pork, or beef. The dish is also made noodles, which are either rice noodles or egg noodles. Vendors also usually add wontons or meatballs to the broth. This dish is rarely made vegetarian-friendly. Commons condiments for the dish are sugar, dried chili peppers, lime juice, and fish sauce. This dish is commonly eaten as a good late-night snack but can be eaten at any time of day.

Som tam is a dish that comes from Isaan in Northeastern Thailand. Som tam is a spicy green papaya salad. This dish is also one of the most popular dishes in Thailand. A classic some tam usually consists of shredded green papaya, tomatoes, carrots, peanuts, dried shrimp, runner beans, palm sugar, tamarind pulp, fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, and plenty of chilies. This dish is made using a mortar and pestle to amplify the flavours in the dish. This dish comes in a variety of styles, but I have listed the most common ingredients.

Pad phuk tong is a stir-fried pumpkin dish. This dish is one of the best vegetarian-friendly dishes in Thailand. This dish is often served with a plate of brown rice. It is a more difficult dish to find, but worth the search if you can find it.

As someone who is not a huge fan of spice, pad see eiw could be a good choice for me. This dish is often designed for those who cannot handle spicier dishes but want to expand from pad thai. This meal is a thick noodle dish. The dish is made with wide rice noodles that are stir-fried in thick dark soy sauce. The noodles are stir-fried with chicken, pork, or beef as well as either Chinese broccoli or cabbage. For those who want to add some spice, chili flakes and vinegar are good options to add.

Kai med ma muang is chicken with cashew nuts. This is a dish that I have tried at restaurants and absolutely loved. This dish is made with stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts, soy sauce, honey, onions, chilies, pepper, mushrooms, and basically any other vegetables the chef would like to add. This dish is very simple, but extremely delicious and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

A common dessert dish in Thailand is kao niew ma muang. This is mango with sticky rice. This dish is made with sticky rice, fresh mango slices, and sweet condensed milk. This dish is always a crowd-pleaser and is something that I would love to try.

Thank you for reading through my blog! Next week, I will be discussing Greek cuisine.

(Kai med ma muang) (Kao niew ma muang)

Attributions:

“Cashew Chicken” by Amanda Westmont under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

“Sticky Rice w/ Mango” by Briana Zimmers under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Information:

https://theculturetrip.com/asia/thailand/articles/the-21-best-thai-dishes-in-thailand/

Photo by Lawrence Makoona on Unsplash

PSII-Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry

October 21, 2019 / Kylie

Today we went on a field trip to the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry in downtown Victoria. We met with Jeff Hopkins, who explained to us how this private high school works and allowed us to look around at how it operates. Right now this school is a private school (the students pay tuition), but Jeff is hoping to one day make it more accessible and affordable for everyone. Everything the students do is inquiry based. They complete all of their BC Curriculum graduation credits by looking into topics that they enjoy or are interested to learn more about. In this school, there are a few classrooms, a quiet area, a sensory room, a couple conference rooms and plenty of tables and areas for students to work at their own pace. The grading system as PSII is unlike most other schools. There are no grades given throughout the year, just the end of the year. The teachers track the progress of students using Trello and give a level of proficiency so the students know where they are at. This school is an amazing resource for students who cannot function properly in the generic public school system. However, this school may not be for everyone. After visiting PSII, I believe that inquiry needs to be incorporated into the BC Curriculum more even if that does not mean having all inquiry based schools and just having the ability to inquiry be a competency in the curriculum.

Competency covered: assessment.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Chinese Cuisine

October 17, 2019 / Kylie

Welcome back! This week I have decided to look at Chinese cuisine. Chinese cuisine has a huge variety of dishes from sweet to bitter to spicy. I have cumulated a list of authentic Chinese dishes that are a must-try.

Something to satisfy your sweet tooth would be red bean bread. The beans this dish is made with are similar to a cinnamon flavour. The beans can either be placed on top of the bread or inside the bread as a filling. This dish comes in a variety of forms and is both sold on the street and in the supermarket.

Noodles come in a variety of forms in China. One form that I have never heard of before is salty beef noodles. These noodles are soaked in a salty beef sauce. The noodles are then eaten with chopsticks. This dish is a global favourite.

A very simple but delicious dish eaten in China is eggs and tomato. This dish is often eaten two to three times a week. The way I have interpreted this dish is that it is similar to an omelet. It is made by first scrambling eggs, then adding chunks of tomato to the skillet. Occasionally, salt and green vegetables are added as a way to get more flavour and colour in the dish.

One thing I have never thought of trying is donkey meat. This is apparently a type of meat that is eaten in China, which I never expected. The meat is a little tough, but worth the extra effort to eat it. There are a variety of different ways to eat donkey meat. It can be eaten as a burger, dipped in soy or vinegar sauce to add some extra flavour. The taste is so delicious that it is guaranteed a person will want to eat more.

A dish that is traditionally made for a special occasion like a birthday, a special person visiting, or Chinese New Year is Chinese dumplings. These dumplings are traditionally boiled but can be fried as well. There are a variety of different fillings that go into these dumplings. Some fillings are meat and vegetables. but the filling is not limited to these and also does not always include both. Sometimes the filling just includes vegetables. Once they are cooked, these dumplings are often dipped in vinegar.

A dish that is similar to Chinese dumplings is steamed stuffed bread. Steamed stuffed bread is just a larger version of the Chinese dumplings. Very similar to the dumplings this bread is often filled with meat and vegetables.

A common dish that I have heard of in Chinese cuisine but have never tried is feet and heads. A couple of common forms of feet are chicken feet and pigs’ feet. A couple of common forms of the head are fish heads and duck heads. These dishes are seen as a Chinese delicacy. During Chinese New Year, at least one of these dishes will be found on the dinner table.

Thank you for following my blog throughout these past few weeks! Next week, I will be discussing Thai cuisine.

(Red Bean Bread) (Chinese Dumplings)

Attributions:

“Red Bean Bun” by Choo Yut Shing under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

“Steamed Dumplings” by Victor Wong under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Information:

https://theculturetrip.com/asia/china/articles/7-authentic-chinese-dishes-every-american-should-try/

Photo by zhang kaiyv on Unsplash

Russian Cuisine

October 10, 2019 / Kylie

Welcome back! This week I have decided to look into Russian cuisine. Russian cuisine is rich in carbohydrates. Russian food is usually made with very simple ingredients but is also very comforting in the cold winter months and refreshing in the hot summer months.

One of the most traditional Russian foods internationally is Borscht. Borscht is a red beetroot soup. This soup often contains meat, potatoes, carrots, and tomato. However, there are many variations of this soup based on location that may contain other ingredients. Borscht is traditionally eaten with dill or sour cream. Borscht can also be eaten hot or cold, hence why it is a go-to dish for both winter and summer.

Another internationally recognized dish is Beef Stroganoff. This dish is made with finely sliced beef fillet, onions, and mushrooms. The ingredients are all sauteed in white wine and sour cream. This dish has a variety of origin stories, but they all place beef stroganoff being created in the 19th century. Similarly to borscht, beef stroganoff has a lot of varieties around the world depending on where a person is.

Solyanka soup is another warm soup dish to help keep someone warm in the winter. This soup is a combination of sweet and sour. This soup usually contains a mix of fresh and cured beef, pork, and occasionally chicken. These ingredients is what is believed to give solyanka its different taste. Some other ingredients commonly used include pickled cucumbers, capers, olives, tomatoes, onions, parsley, and dill.

Between countries/cultures there are some similarities between traditional foods. For example, Blini in Russia are very similar to French crepes. A significant difference between the two is that Blini is made with yeasted dough, which in exchange makes them lighter. Blini often contains a mix of sweet and savoury fillings. Some fillings include ground meat, egg salad, and sweet cottage cheese. The most well-known companions to Blini are caviar, sour cream, and honey. Russians even celebrate their love for these pancakes by having a pancake week called Maslenitsa held every year, where Russians can celebrate their love for pancakes.

Something new to me that I have never tried is cold soup. I have always envisioned soup being a warm, comforting dish and not a cold dish for a hot summer day. Okroshka is a traditional cold soup in Russia. This soup often contains boiled meat or bologna, radish, cucumbers, scallions, boiled potatoes and eggs, and is served with dill and sour cream. There are also meatless types of Okroshka that are popular in Russia. Okroshka is often served with kvass, which is a drink made from fermented bread. If Okroshla is not served with kvass, it is often served with kefir or mineral water.

The final dish that I will be discussing has managed to find its way into the heart of Russian cuisine. This dish is called Pelmeni. Pelmeni has been a dish in Russian cuisine for a very long time. This dish is essentially tiny dumplings that are usually stuffed with either lamb, pork, or beef or all three combined. What makes them so special is the thinness of the dough. This dish is very time consuming and is often cooked for special occasions. Pelmeni is always served with sour cream, and can be served with or without broth.

Thank you for reading my blog! Next week, I will be discussing Chinese cuisine.

(Solyanka Soup) (Pelmeni)

Attributions:

“Soljanka Suppe mit geräuchertem Fleisch und Kräutern, in einer weißen Schale, im rustikalen Setting mit Baumstamm und Leinentuch” by Marco Verch is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

“pelmeni” by stu_spivack is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Information:

https://theculturetrip.com/europe/russia/articles/15-traditional-meals-that-remind-russians-of-home/

Photo by Michael Parulava on Unsplash

Jesse Miller Visit

October 7, 2019 / Kylie

Today in EDCI 336, we had Jesse Miller come in as a guest speaker. Jesse started his career by talking about internet safety, but as since moved on from this and is now talking about how people can use technology for educational purposes. Some interesting facts and big ideas that I took away from Jesse today were:

Big brand companies can pay Snapchat to access all their data to see how many users are using their product(s) in any given area at any specific time.
Teachers need to encourage parents to connect and engage in digital activities with their children to properly understand how it can be used and how their children are using it specifically, both at home and in the classroom.
Your devices listen to you and then choose appropriate advertisements (Google tracks your patience level and tracks how long you watch ads or wait until you can skip them).
On any network, IT members can see everything that you have and are doing.
As a teacher, I will be held to a higher standard than a lot of other professions, in terms of my virtual footprint.
A good virtual footprint is better than no footprint at all.

I feel that I have a good virtual footprint, which is something that I am proud of. It is scary to think that something I posted as a child or someone else posted of me could ruin my career, but I know that there is nothing there to do this so that is reassuring.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this lecture and he helped me to remember that I need to always be very conscious of what I post on social media and what other people post of me. I learned that there is a lot more going on behind the scenes of my screens than I had originally thought. Jesse talked to us about how to be safe on the internet, but more about how to use technology for educational purposes in the classroom. Teachers need to understand how to use various types of technology in order to implement it in their classrooms. He emphasized that technology can be great when used safely and in the right ways⁄amounts.

Competencies covered: tech tools.

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Japanese Cuisine

October 3, 2019 / Kylie

Welcome back! This week I have decided to look into Japanese cuisine. Japanese cooking uses a principle known as “rules of five”. They use five colours (black, white, yellow, red, and green”, five cooking techniques (raw food, grilling, steaming, boiling, and frying), and lastly, five flavours (sweet, spicy, salty, sour, and bitter).

I will start with perhaps one of the most commonly known Japanese dishes in the world. As most people know, sushi is derived from Japan. Sushi started off as being a way to preserve fish in fermented rice. Now, sushi is made with vinegared rice as opposed to fermented rice and is prepared with fresh fish. Sushi is presented in a huge variety of ways with many different flavours and textures.

Sashimi is a very ancient dish in Japan. Sashimi was created before sushi. Sashimi is raw fish, but without the rice that sushi has. Sashimi can include thinly sliced raw beef, chick, and even horse. Although sashimi can include these types of meat, fish and seafood are the most popular.

Another common Japanese dish is Tempura. Tempura is battered and fried fish, seafood, or vegetables. The batter of tempura is kept very cold, as opposed to the oil being kept very hot. There are different takes on tempura. In the Kanto region, tempura is typically dipped in sauce, whereas in the Kansai region, tempura is typically dipped in flavoured salt.

To take a turn to a not so common Japanese dish, another traditional dish in Japan is Kaiseki. Kaiseki is eaten as a tasting course comprised of small, seasonally themed dishes. These dishes are made with an incredible amount of precision and attention to detail because they are considered to be ultimate in Japanese fine dining. Kaiseki was originally started as a small side dish added to the traditional tea ceremony. This small side dish has evolved into a multi-course traditional meal in Japan.

Udon is another Japanese dish that is well known in the world but is less popular than sushi, for example. Udon is a dense and chewy noodle that is made from wheat flour. It is extremely popular in Japan and can be eaten hot or cold. It is this popular because it has a delicious taste, is cheap, and can be eaten with any number of toppings. There are different varieties of Udon. There is sanuki udon is southwest Japan, kishimen in central Japan, ad inaniwa udon in northern Japan.

The last dish that I will be discussing is Miso soup. Miso soup is served with any traditional Japanese meal. This soup is made from dashi stock combined with miso bean paste. The dashi stock is either fish or kelp stock and the miso bean paste brings a savoury umami element to the dish. Additional ingredients can vary depending on the season. Ingredients such as tofu, sliced green onions, fish, clams, and pork are common seasonal ingredients.

Next week, I am going to be looking into the traditional foods of the country Russia.

(Kaiseki) (Tempura)

Attributions:

“Dîner kaiseki – Restaurant ‘Hakusuien'” by Annie Guilloret is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

“Tempura” by ☃ is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

Information:

https://theculturetrip.com/asia/japan/articles/the-10-best-traditional-japanese-dishes/

Photo by Colton Jones on Unsplash

Rich McCue- Video/Audio Editing, Screen Capture

September 30, 2019 / Kylie

Today in EDCI 336, we had guest speaker Rich McCue come into our class. In this class, we talked about video editing, audio editing, image editing, and screen capturing. We first created a short video using iMovie. We started with a base video that he provided and we then added transitions/titles, trimmed clips, and even included sound effects. After we created our videos, Rich showed us how to screen capture and add audio.

Competencies covered: video editing, audio editing and screen capture.

Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash

Indian Cuisine

September 26, 2019 / Kylie

Welcome back! This week I have decided to look at Indian food. Indian food uses lots of herbs and spices, as well as wheat and basmati rice.

The food throughout India can vary depending on where you get it.

A traditional South Indian food is Masala Dosa. The batter is made by soaking rice and lentils in water for approximately five to six hours. Then the batter gets cooked in a skillet. Once the batter is fully cooked you add a filling. A typical filling is potato and onion curry. The Masala Dosa finally gets dipped in Chutney to complete this very tasty and traditional dish.

In Northeast India, a staple dish is smoked pork. This surprised me because smoked pork seems like a more American dish as opposed to an Indian dish. Smoked pork can include a variety of things such as bamboo plants and raja mirchi. Raja mirchi is supposedly one of the hottest chilies in the world. Smoked pork is usually consumed on or with rice.

In Western India, there is a very popular street food dish called Vada Pav. This dish is a vegetarian option. It contains a potato patty, chili, and an abundance of other spices. These ingredients are then rolled into a bread roll called pav. This street dish originated in Maharashtra and has now spread throughout the country. Another common vegetarian snack option in Western India is Dhokla. Dhokla is made from rice and chickpeas. The rice is a batter that is fermented and mixed with chickpeas before it is steamed. Mustard seeds and coriander are typically garnishes on top of the popular snack Dhokla.

In Kerala (Southwest India), beef is very popular. A beef roast is one of the most common beef dishes cooked in the Southwestern region of India. This dish is also usually served with Parotta. Parotta is a type of bread that is native to Kerala.

Chaats are savoury snacks that can be found throughout India. They originated in North India but have spread throughout the country. These snacks are often on a base of puffed rice and filled with peas, vegetables, and spices.

Next week, I will delve into the foods of the wonderful country Japan.

(Masala Dosa) (Dhokla)