27/1/10

Been an interesting week at L.I. so far, with really high highs and bad lows and a couple of what I am going to call 'moments of revelation'.

The first moment of revelation came on Monday. I had taken a friend, who wanted to see where I taught, along to the class. The kids told us that they wanted to make a skit for the Republic Day celebrations on Tuesday. Despite the short notice, we were all excited by the prospect of presenting a skit. We just needed a story. It was during the brainstorming that one of the kids said to me, "Didi, you've been to school and college and all. You must have read a lot. Why don't you tell us something?" I felt trapped and my mind was blank. (My friend later told me she too had felt the same way.) And that's when I realised two things. One, although I am an avid reader and watcher of films, I am not much of a story teller. Two, and more important, so little of my education has been about creating. It has mostly been about learning about other people's creations and appreciating them, a passive sort of education. I also realised that the kids had the same experience, because they were only coming up with stories they had read in books, most of which were quite inappropriate for RDay celebrations! :-) But in the next hour and a half, the class was able to come up with a short self-scripted play about 'naari shiksha'. Although the topic was hardly new or revolutionary, it was fantastic to see them come up with passionate arguments for the cause of girls' education. Of course, the team work and the newly-revealed acting/directing/scripting talents of the kids were awesome fun. :)

A pity the skit never got staged. This brings me to the second moment of revelation. On RDay, I was, unfortunately, able to stay only for their dress rehearsals and make-up. I had to give the main event a skip as I had to be elsewhere then. The following day I was saddened to find that they had not staged the skit at all! And when asked, they told me it was because someone had told them that they had better be confident they would make no mistakes in the skit. Now, this had the very sad effect of demoralising the whole team, because the choice of words made them think they would be penalised if there was the slightest mistake in their presentation and the girls got very scared. I think fear is the wrong tool to use to discipline kids. That almost amounts to bullying the children into doing something. And with that the important connection of trust that a teacher must have with a student is entirely lost.

Most of us are fragile, especially children. What other people, in particular their teachers, say matters immensely to children. Just as a word of encouragement and a show of faith in their abilities can get amazing results from them, a hurtful or threatening word can break their confidence. The trick is not to criticise, but to show them where they can be better.

18/1/10

I have found a useful tool in the classes - leadership. Let me explain. Over a period, I noticed that asking my class what they wanted to do that day was better than my always telling them what we'd learn that day. Of course, there would be shouts of breaks and parties, followed by a lot of laughter. But they would also all scream out different topics from their lessons. Although it meant a few minutes gone in deciding and settling down, the effect this little process of involving them in decision making was awesome. They were very proactive, responsive and responsible. More than half my work done there! Another very effective tool to get the kids interested, I discovered, is the blackboard. The kids love to be asked to come forward to solve stuff on the board. Most of them love it, and they almost fight to come to the board. But slowly the shy ones too are beginning to enjoy the limelight! I am very obviously happy to see the kids take initiative, and in in the process, manage to learn Math as well. The best part of the class for me is when a child, who starts off by saying 'I don't know', begins to say 'I'll try'. :)

15/1/10

Quite a tiring and satisfying day. The quiz to my rescue again. A quiz really gets the girls excited. While it sure does bring out their competitive side, it also makes them discuss with one another. But some girls just sit idly, expecting their teammates to take all the initiative. Maybe creatively dividing up the teams can goad them to participate too. Am very happy about the interest Aarthi now shows, and the initiative she takes. Roopa and Swati are becoming tough to handle, what with their perennial readiness for some masti! :) Have to bargain hard with them to get them to work sometimes. At others they are most responsive, especially in English! I wonder how people manage classes with more than 15 students. I find it hard enough with 10! And in larger classes, with the students ganging up, things would get so much tougher! Toughest part of the class is to keep everyone interested, the bright ones, the slow ones, the naughty ones and the lazy ones! Thank goodness for the sincere, quiet ones! :-)

And oh, from today, I handle their science classes as well.

Note to self: Must find ways of grabbing their attention and disciplining them without explicitly shushing them. What if they grow completely silent then!!

5/1/10

Am exhausted today. Got a bouncer today. Had to explain addition and subtraction of integers to some of them. Funnily, that was even tougher than multiplication and division! Use of the real number line only confused them. Realise the enormity of the task set for primary school teachers, teaching fundamentals. Things become so obvious to us over time that we forget they can be confusing to children at the first sight.

Got a wonderful greeting card full of shaayari from P. Very touching and funny. I continue to be disarmed by their affection. A pity I can't meet them all tomorrow.

31/12/09

Yesterday was a fantastic day at school. After the disappointing class of the previous day, I had learnt that what I was trying to teach them was a little higher than they could handle just then and that I was confusing them by not telling them exactly what they had to figure out. So yesterday I went with a plan. I started off with 'samroop' or similar triangles explaining to them how the condition of similarity could be used to figure stuff out about one triangle when the other triangle is described. I tried to impress upon them how trigonometry was in essence a study of ratios that helped figure out attributes of triangles, just like comparing two similar triangles.

:) I had fun explaining why a side of a triangle could never be larger than the sum of its sides using Lakshmi's chunni!

Yesterday again admired Neha's effortless drawing. Found out today that she sings quite well too. And she's a quick child too. A lot of potential, and the right attitude. I hope she gets her CA.

Today was a lot of fun. Starting off with the test, I was pretty happy with the performance. They did manage to crack the not-so-straightforward question as well. Gives me heart that my efforts to make them think are working. And it makes me think so much more as well. I've seen that it is very important to know the why of things. And this is not stressed at all in their school as far as I can make out. They don't question enough. In fact, it was the same during my time too. Asking questions is the only way to move forward to new things. Maybe that's my problem too, I don't question enough.

Coming back, after grumpily attempting the test, the girls cheered up and geared up for the party. It was good to see how wonderfully they cooperated to collect money, buy stuff and organise the party. And it was touching to see how they did not leave out those who could not pay up. Of course, there was music and dance and games too. Fantastic party all in all.

Oh! I have to mention the letter writing. So, yesterday, when they refused to do any more Math with me, I had to quickly engage them in something and luckily for me, the students themselves presented me with an opportunity. They suddenly wanted permission for a New Year party today. They kept pestering me to ask M right away [Mr. M looks after the day-to-day running of the centre], but since I did not want class time wasted, I told them I'd do it at 5. But they were insistent. So I asked them to write letters to M seeking permission. Although they grumbled, they really got into the act soon. And I liked their ideas. Pity only a few were original, the rest preferred to copy. I have to wean them off copying. I really want them all to think independently. Lakshmi, Pushpa and Aarthi especially. Puja's great that way. She writes what she knows in Math. In English, the vocabulary is crippling most of them. Roopa and Swati are the most forthcoming and it's a lot of fun to see them respond. Mamta goes unnaturally quiet in English class. Neha sincerely tries in English too.

Nice bunch of kids, so disarmingly natural. My only hope is that they're gaining something from those sessions.

29/12/09

It has been 3 weeks and one day since I started at Literacy India now. And today, for the first time, I felt frustrated. I had asked them all to come prepared for a test. In fact I had told them exactly which question would come, but they had not bothered. But of course, they had had a four-day off. So can't entirely blame them. I then tried to do some trigonometry with them to try to make them understand the usefulness of the subject. But I think they weren't really getting my point. Have to try harder tomorrow and every day after that. :) It is quite a task to make these kids think. They seem to only want to mug up formulae and use them directly. They don't try to use what they already know to solve slightly tricky problems. They always expect somebody else to give them a simple direct solution. Have to do something about it.

I wish I could handle their English classes as well. I don't know how to put it across to J. Maybe I'll ask tomorrow. Or maybe not.