Learning Initiatives

Changing years

2011-09-30T06:42:00.000+05:30

Changing years

Of late something’s been worrying me.
It’s to do with all things around me.
I looked up from all that I was doing one day and saw that the world around me had changed.
I now lived in a world filled with
Sky high buildings and matchstick apartments,
Giant industries that gobbled land and churned out scrap.
Yards of scrap, that’ll soon replace the Andes and the Himalayas as tallest mountains
Crowded malls that burst with weekend explosions
Rattling doors and shaking floors
People like bees, buzzing around, jostling for space,
Turning things up and down
Children now use escalators
as areas of play,
While swinging flyers and racing roads
Dominate the only leftover space
Lined with cars, buses, and other fancy things
zooming, billowing smoky rings.
Skies ring with deafening planes,
while jets and helicopters zing in air.
Adding to an ever present background noise
The only things that remain is human voice
A cacophony, a ruckus is all that I hear
Not an inch of space is left here.
There are no things that just sit idle and grow
I close my eyes to remember more
Just what was it like before, many, many years ago?

Shalini Pattabiraman
29/09/2011

musings

2010-06-16T10:47:00.000+05:30

The Game

When a tiger prowls
Tracks appear
A trail is marked
A bait is laid
Soft, slow a predator plans
A game of hide and seek

When a man walks
His smell hangs behind
Making human a space he never owned
A territory is trapped
Soft, slow a predator plans
A game of hide and seek

When a child & cub run together
Tracks and smell exchange and mingle
The space becomes a common playground
Both predators stop to watch
A balance is sought
In a game of hide and seek

Shalini Pattabiraman

Imaginario-In search of Stories

2009-10-19T15:35:00.003+05:30

I believe that everyone has a story to tell. The need to tell our stories is kind of deeply embedded in our thinking. Perhaps that’s why we dream in technicolour pictures to illustrate our thinking and guide our imagination. Our dreams also help us solve our problems and think through those challenges that restrain us and hold us back. Writing a story is akin to dreaming and problem solving I think.

There are always different textures to a tale-like the roughness of a character’s speech or the softness in the eye of those who are kind and gentle, or the abrasiveness of rocks and dancing feet or the smoothness of a pebble found in an old ancient box covered with wet slushy algae. One can discover stories in the feel of things around us, in the heart of feelings or in the thoughts of the people around us. If we open our selves to observation, each movement can be a story, each discovery a tale to share.

All we then need is a platform to share these stories that we all carry in our bodies somewhere. As a young writer I struggled to find a space where I could share my writing with others and so I decided to create a space for youngsters who are keen to write and experiment with storytelling.

Imaginario is working on developing a literary magazine that will present the work of young writers and artists through age 10 to 18 who can create characters and craft original literature. There’s no restriction to self expression. We invite original work in the shape of poems, short stories, novellas, drama scripts, photo-essays or art work. We are also open to book reviews, travelogues and unique points of view worth sharing with an audience.

So all those who have a burning pen filled with a magical ink settle down and weave your imagination into ideas that take a specific form and structure. Shape them, glaze them with observation from real life and bring texture and colour in the feel of the words and pace the movement of your work. Your experiences from real life and your observations of people and things around you will offer you a rich canvas to start painting your stories.

So young writers, illustrators, poets, playwrights, book reviewers, photographers and essayists from 10 through age 18 get ready to contribute at: Imaginario.contacts@gmail.com.

2009-02-04T23:50:00.001+05:30

This should kickstart a new change

2008-11-17T16:59:00.000+05:30

Language learning can be fun!

2008-02-07T21:31:00.000+05:30

Today I attended a lecture delivered by Jeremy Harmer on ‘What makes a good teacher good?’ Later as I walked out of the hall, the prevailing mood of the discussion echoed in my thoughts and I was particularly drawn to the question raised by one participant. She asked Jeremy to highlight a way or suggest an alternative to the task of teaching batches of students that go up to 40 in numbers while competing with time constraints, pressure of exams and a syllabus that doesn’t allow for the luxury of reflection.

I have the luxury of teaching smaller group sizes and while I certainly appreciate the advantage I have over school based teachers I’m not however unaware of the issue altogether. I feel that the basis of language learning especially in the case of a second language lies in making it accessible to the child. If one looks at the curriculum framework it doesn’t excite the interest or generate a love for languages through introduction to its vast literature by taking on a stage by stage approach. I constantly come across children being instructed and tutored to deliver a poem such as the 'Daffodils' at the age of 6! Let’s accept it there is more to the teaching of literature than delivering a few lines successfully for the rest of one’s life. Instead of falling in love with words or learning to enjoy the feel and texture of rhyme and rhythm or the musicality of language we ensure a barrier in the acceptance of the language as a thinking language for the learner.

How can language be made accessible to the child? First of all I think one must start with the concept of having fun with words. We could start the journey for the first time learner by introducing verse or simplistic poetry that is
1. age appropriate
2. has scope for movement

Kinesthetic learning as we all are aware plays the most vital role in making learning accessible to a child. And using simple poetry such as

A train’s on the track!
Clackity Clack,
Clackity Clack
Clackity, clackity, clackity clack.

Just starting with sounds and rhythm gets them to feel the words more closely and since the fun quotient is high with sounds and words leading movement, a well planned lesson structured around the theme of transport or travel for example may ensure a more energetic participation where they may be able to share stories of their own travel. Additionally use of drama in the curriculum will allow for the use of language to flow naturally and more freely.

Eventually as the child grows older and scope for more mature work comes into play the child has already reached a stage of familiarity that is reflective and can construct his thoughts on his own given the opportunity. However one must ensure that the teacher works as a facilitator and not the tutor and language is used as a meaningful expression of one’s ideas and thoughts and not the regurgitating of borrowed words.

At the other end of the spectrum in learning, one must appreciate and realize the immense potential literature holds for us in exploring learning opportunities over the obvious superficial ones of answering questions as if handling an exercise in comprehension. For example, I recently worked with the famous poem by Charles Causley titled, ”What has happened to Lulu ?” The whole aspect of interpretation here can be discussed from the point of view of a case being analyzed by a person from a detective agency or the police. (For reference to a copy of this poem, please go through the link: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/what-has-happened-to-lulu/)

In the course of addressing the poem, I gave the childreaged between (10 to 14 years) n a brief: A person has recently come into possession of an old house. As he moves around the place he discovers a diary of a child and in the diary he finds the poem. This person is intrigued and driven to discover the truth behind the poem. He starts the journey by finding out who owned this diary and goes around the neighborhood interviewing people about Lulu and her sibling who apparently wrote the poem.

The moment the brief was laid out, I set the pace of the drama by becoming the property agent who is ready to hand over the keys to the owner of this old house. I merely approached one person and started speaking to him as if he was the person who had bought it. From that point onwards the rest of the class took on their roles and began to put the pieces of the puzzle together depending on their basic interpretation and imagination to guide them through the thickening plot. We had opportunities to hot seat various characters, write down the story in the narrative form, and explore the art of narrating the story while involving the audience through our voice.

We worked on newspaper articles on the subject, writing of a police report, interview with the characters on a TV channel, and went through enough concepts in forensic science. Children were involved in research and told to make presentations on aspects of fingerprinting or any other technique they may have referred to during the course of evidence presentation in the court.

Like I mentioned earlier, opportunities to explore language learning can be creative, dynamic and fun and there’s much more to gain here in a two to four session class depending on the objectives set by the syllabus. One can experiment with such dynamics while exploring the literary aspect simultaneously with language.

Not now!

2007-10-18T10:46:00.000+05:30

Not now, Bernard
DAVID MCKEE

‘Hello, Dad,’ said Bernard,
‘Not now, Bernard,’ said his father,
‘Hello, Mum,’ said Bernard.
‘Not now, Bernard,’ said his Mother.
‘There’s a monster in the garden and its going to eat me,’ said Bernard.
‘Not now, Bernard,’ said his Mother.
Bernard went into the garden.
‘Hello, Monster,’ he said to the Monster.
The monster ate Bernard up, every bit.
Then the Monster went indoors.
‘ROAR’, went the Monster behind Bernard’s Mother
‘Not now, Bernard,’ said Bernard’s Mother.
The Monster bit Bernard’s Father.
‘Not now, Bernard’ said Bernard’s Father
‘Your dinner’s ready’ said Bernard’s Mother.
She put the dinner in front of the television
Then it watched the television
Then it read one of Bernard’s comics.
And broke one of his toys.
‘Go to bed. I’ve taken up your milk,’ called Bernard’s mother
The Monster went upstairs.
‘But I’m a Monster,’ said the Monster.
‘Not now, Bernard,’ said Bernard’s Mother.

The pre-nursery team recently staged the classic tale of a child being constantly denied attention with the catch phrase, “Not now, Bernard” as the child attempts to draw the parent’s notice to a monster who has invaded the house. The tale ends dramatically in the monster gobbling up the child while the parents call out, ‘Not now, Bernard’. This tale caused me to mull over a few interesting thoughts which I’d like to share …

What does the use of the phrase ‘not now’ accomplish? For one it seemingly buys us some time. However, from the first time we use it, we have denied our child the ability to be spontaneous in his/her observation. We have created the first roadblock in our child’s ability to learn by observing and asking the thousand and one questions that appear to be quite irrelevant to us. Yet, they sum up the process of how children figure out the complexities in their environment. Questioning leads to visualization and problem solving.

On the other hand, the monster in the tale symbolizes metaphorically a child who takes on the character of the monster albeit in play whereas in the parent’s perception especially if s/he is busy at the time it takes on monstrous proportions in terms of irritation!

Free play which involves the child taking on and trying out various roles spontaneously is a very important part of growing up as the child attempts to understand status changes in relationships. By playing the monster they are trying to play a high status role and when we indulge in that mock play and express our fear of the monster we are empowering our child in that role play. In fact, most times children are attempting high status role plays rather than low status ones-becoming a teacher, becoming the parent, et al. One can recall when as a child we may have involved a doll, a younger sibling, a friend in such role plays and demonstrated our ability to be able to direct and lead or negotiate.

As children grow older the ‘not now’ phrase takes on other connotations amongst both parents and teachers especially with reference to questions that don’t form part of their regular academic curriculum and tend to divert attention from academic topics to topics as diverse as friendship, opposite sex, or questioning a belief, et al.

Let’s face it; in the constant battle for time we definitely feel the pressure of bringing up a child in the growing years to such an extent that sometimes we push personal space and time to the lowest priority shelf. Too many times we miss observing the significance of these simple daily routines that are vital for our children.

So as Bryan Dyson (CEO of Coca Cola Enterprises, 1959-1994.) said, “Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air. You name them - work, family, health, friends, and spirit - and you're keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health, friends, and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.”

What does foundation level education need?

2007-08-04T23:10:00.000+05:30

I have often wondered what makes a program stand out in our minds especially when it comes to education for children at the levels where we focus on developing their foundation in language and build a platform for enquiry and a love for life long learning.

Though focus these days is changing to technology and infrastructure I still feel that they play only a supporting role. At this level children need warmth and love, they need the environment to share and be heard. Learning at this age is about building language and getting to know our environment. I try to stimulate their interest by creating the environment we are studying each term. Children have hundreds of questions daily and they go unanswered most times. A program that exposes children to their environment and gets them to ask questions and find their answers is rare. It has been my endevour to try to get children to ask as many questions from what we observe each day and try to find the answers ourselves. It is not about concepts and cold facts. It’s about indulging in imagination and jumping on an impulse to explore whatever interests us in that moment. I was talking to a colleague who teaches nursery and prenursery. She mentioned that last term while exploring travel and transport the children rolled a ball on a track and observed that the ball rolls while the book they tried to roll could not. It is simple activities such as these that excite their interest and help them enquire as well as learn whether it is a concept in science or math or language learning. To go ahead and enquire what we see all around us is the best approach which facilitates the process of self-learning.

To know one could speak out our thoughts without any restriction is a freedom that is unparalleled. It is the key to let our children become free thinkers and innovators in their own way. In the same class that I was talking about earlier in my example the children created wheels for carriages made out of cardboard boxes. They cut and stuck nine wheels on one side of the their three carriage train and the moment they tried to set it on the floor they realized that the train could not balance. They shortly realized on their own that the train needed nine wheels on the other side to get the train to balance. Such is learning when we try to explore it on our own and we are all capable of doing it if we are allowed the freedom to explore.

So let’s all allow us that simple freedom!

Clean up!!!

2007-07-11T17:42:00.000+05:30

You must have experienced at one time or the other a particular stubborness to let go of the old stuff during a spring cleaning session at home. Often you start by deciding to throw away the old stuff but land up chasing the old memories that make you pack the stuff and hide it in some corner of your cupboard for use at a later date. We tend to use our knowledge in the same pattern. However we are only equipped to handle and remember or rather store as much, ultimately the storage capacity wears out. At this stage some people either completely revamp or merely stop getting anything new.

Most people tend to summarise their life in parts and look at these parts as phases that constitute a particular kind of learning. When this phase in life is over the general perception is that you can't go back nor can you start afresh. Learning is not synonomous to growing. We let go of our ability to learn and unlearn. Like lifestyle and fashion even knowledge is recycled from time to time. But each time it is recycled it appears in a new light starting a new chain of thought and a new strain of development. That's when we innovate and create. However if we are restricted in our ability to experiment and indulge or rather let go of the baggage that we have accumulated during our learning phase, we cannot become free thinkers. We only continue to follow a monotonous path experiencing the same thing again and again or storing it for use at a later date.

Times are changing however, and when I meet young individuals I am impressed by what they dream of achieving. The new generation of children and young adults are motivated and keen thinkers who perceive change and reconstruction as part of their daily make up.They are open to the idea of shedding the old skin and gaining a new one. One must appreciate the potential that lies in this flexibility and aim to indulge in experimentation.

Let's start a spring cleaning session and look at what we are reading, learning and doing. Have we managed to deviate from the patterns we established five years or ten years back. Have we responded to another coming and looking in at our work and sharing their impressions. Have we challenged ourselves to do things differently and undergo the struggle of reconstructing. Have we decided to face our fear of failure and yet gone ahead.

Working with words and ideas through poems and verse

2007-03-27T10:19:00.000+05:30

I have a question for all of you. Is poetry difficult?

The moment I mention the word poem or poetry to children, I hear a lot of groaning, grumbling and sighing. Their frustration seems quite genuine and I have often wondered why they feel so disheartened with the idea of working with words in this format while they quite enjoy stories and demand them all the time.

I think perhaps it’s to do with the way we introduce it to them. Most children are introduced to poems in school as part of their language class. Quite often the poetry selected for the purpose is set to be a fine example of literature demonstrating language technique and neglects to keep in mind the age or the interest of the child. I remember doing Upon Westminster Bridge by William Wordsworth in class three when I was 8 years.

All we were expected to do was learn the poem and present it. The only transition one might see or experience would be from the classic nursery rhyme to Wordsworth in grade three! No introduction, no movement, no enjoyment, no sense of rhyme and rhythm. Surely that was one airtight way to stop any of us finding a pure joy in working with them.

So is there a different way to introduce poems to children?

I think the best place to start is right at the beginning when they are babies. Let words form a part of our lives. Let our movements become the words; let the action that we do, create the idea of building our own moving and speaking rhymes.

So we could have fun with words as we go around the simple tasks of cleaning, brushing our teeth, washing hands, making a soup and so on. The dynamics frame of the action word could be used to build the rhyme and create rhythm as we move to do the action. So we could sit down to make soup as we

Chop, chop, choppity chop,
Chop off the bottom and chop off the top,
What's left in the middle, let's put in the pot!

And ergo! We have already chopped carrots, tomatoes, potatoes and so on(working on vegetables) for our soup; we could then bring the various ladles and go stir, mix, sprinkle-salt and pepper, add butter and let it melt. so we could create the words-

Ladle, ladle, Go round & round,
mix & stir then wait for the sound.

Blip, blop,
Plip, plop

Bubble bubble in the pot
Simmer and stir,
Till its thick and hot!

Umm, the lovely yummy soup is almost ready to eat!!!

I think teaching children to work with words and ideas is far easier when we do it through poems and verse especially when we make it interesting by using action or drama to build the whole story or develop the idea. Children learn more than we ever bargain for in such an environment.

Poetry is about enjoying the flow, the rhyme, and the rhythm in the way words move and dance and breathe life into the stories that they individually discuss. So it is important to work with ideas that definitely raise their curiosity and help them explore more.

When we have reached past this stage, then introducing good literature makes sense. For they can feel challenged by the way the language now moves. Poems are like a puzzle or a mystery that needs to be unfolded, revealed and bit by bit as we delve deeper and dig more each line can show us the magic of the words stored deep within its regions, the core of its heart.

When we begin to work with words in that fashion then we connect and we feel the words, not mug them up for a presentation.
Let's enjoy the words and explore them bit-by-bit!!!

An Acrostic Poem

ECO-WARRIORS

E-Elephants in the jungle,

C-Cats in the house,

O-Owls in the trees,

W-Water in the rivers.

A-Ants in the grass,

R-Rabbits in the burrows,

R-Rubbish in the bin,

I-Intruders in the jungle

O-Organizing to kill!

R-Run to stop them,

S-Save the world!

By: Angad, Archi, Aryan, Arnav, Mann, Suveni,Viren.

Level 1, Saturday, 11.15-12.45

Julia Gabriel Centre for Learning

Eco-warriors-Quite simple and yet so starkly insightful in its message!

Workshop-Creating personal stories through collage art

2007-03-26T11:43:00.000+05:30

Last Monday, I worked on a pilot program that the Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA) launched to advance interest and awareness in the field of art amongst children. The concept revolved around introducing collage art using Peter Reynolds’s story The DOT to explore imagination through a world of images, shapes, ideas and personal stories.

This initiative took responsibility to collaborate with an NGO Love and Care and brought over a group of children aged 6 to 9 from an MCD school in Saket, New Delhi at the Vadhera Art Gallery. Atul Dodiya’s work in the background worked as an excellent model to explain the concept of collages.

My experience:

I dabbled with the idea of using drama somewhere and if time permitted I might have explored that idea, however in this particular event I was a little unsure of how to go about things in the beginning. Funnily enough because the audience was a Hindi speaking one and though I am comfortable with the language and speak it naturally I found it strange to conduct the whole session in a language, which I have never associated with my work!!!

The best thing was in spite of this barrier; I had the most amazing time. The children were buzzing with ideas and I could see the curiosity in their eyes. The younger ones were painfully shy and wouldn't open up and speak though I bet they were dying to communicate. Their collages were colourful and quite personal in their own ways. At the end of the event I asked them to share their stories.

The stories were simplistic and mirrored their aspirations reflecting on their lifestyle or rather the lack of privileges in certain cases and the intensity with which they wanted to explore the lives of the other end of the society.

After a lot of coaxing and indulging in clapping with the others I managed to get Shristi a little reserved bundle of thoughts to contribute her story as well and I thought of that as a personal gain. She simply captured my heart.

At 9ish Preeti's story exhibited impressions about people's lifestyles as studied from her perspective. Her story revolved around 3 heroines (models and actresses) who are friends and one of them is offered a drink as they go to a restaurant. She refuses the drink while the others indulge. Then they have a good time and go back home. The aspirational quotient was evident here as I felt her need to be a part of this way of living.

Since the pictures were mainly food, glamour, famous people, some art prints, and aspirational commodities, I gather it was a difficult task to seek any other kind of stories coming out of this venture. There were very few pictures that they could associate with and use to create more personal responses. I guess the content itself was the main reason why the stories became aspiration.

The main idea that featured out of this experiment was one of going out and being able to buy and do things that they don't get to do.

One of the stories spoke about how the family had bought a new house, a new car and then decided to take the car to go and visit their old house and have a picnic there. There is the heart of their stories- "I want to go out and explore all these lovely things but my life is here and I don't know what else to do"

They all expressed their keen interest in doing more of such workshops and were very interested in having someone teach them dance and singing and so on. Any one keen to do some volunteering may please get in touch. email: mailto:lovencare_india@yahoo.com(Dr. P.J. P Andrews)

My experiment with visualisation...

2006-09-18T00:57:00.000+05:30

Sometimes one doesn't realize what one is exploring till we are faced with the results of what just took place. Experimenting with this kind of exercise I recently this week tried another extension with slightly older children aged (13-14). I tried the dark room exercise extending the feeling of the atmosphere to create a sense of fear. The reaction was the same as that with the younger children-they screamed and then laughed; the laughter was full blown and free, totally unrestricted.

I set out to ask them about what scares them most. They spoke about their fears and the strange but interesting fact that they did not know why they felt scared of things which could pose no threat to them such as a cockroach or something similar.

We then discussed if an exercise to explore our own fears would be something they might be interested in exploring next. They all agreed. I explained to them that this exercise may work or may not, the results could not be guaranteed but at the same time that if it did work no one must misuse what they learn about each other here as part of this exercise but must respect the individual's privacy and stand by this faithfully.

When they fully agreed I asked them to "take on either the role of the object that scares you most and move through the motions of what it might feel for it to be in this world pitched against an environment where you stand or you may choose to be yourself and attempt to deal with your fears and talk about them, what scares you and why?"

The results with the children who participated were varied and unexpected; I had not thought that this would be taken so seriously and they would contribute in full honesty without skepticism.

I wouldn't want to disclose what they individually said but few of the aspects, which came out were quite disturbing for some. There were tangible ones such as fear of cockroaches and lizards or peer pressure, parental pressure, fears about loss of a loved one, while the others were intangible fears of darkness, emptiness, monsters and so on. Surprisingly except for one no one wanted to work from the object’s perspective and she also later wanted to talk about her own fears. The fact they opened up and spoke about them was really surprising. It takes great courage to do something like that. Especially if it means to lay yourself vulnerable and open to a group. Most of them seemed to be talking to me in the darkness of the room. I feel shaken that they put that kind of trust in me.

I had thought that dealing with one's fears(of monsters and cockroaches) would help them feel able to deal with other kinds of fears or weaknesses like passing a maths exam or something similar but not very serious.I had not expected that some of them would disclose to us their anguish and despair at being compared to their edler sibling or being put under an extreme preassure for academic performance where no matter what one attained(87% or 94%) it was never good enough for the parent. How it made them hate and lose interest in what they were doing and this coming from an intelligent and very talented child was quite disturbing.

The questions that I came up with at the end of this exercise was: “Have I opened up a Pandora’s box of sorts, Have I touched something that I should not have touched at all?”

What if I had come across something that would have been so serious or disturbing as that requiring action? What should I have done under those circumstances? What sort of action would I have taken? Perhaps none, perhaps some…I don’t know the answer to this question and it disturbed me equally. I am still struggling with the expereince. Would really look forward to discussing it with someone who is more experienced.

Sunlight and space

2006-09-10T12:23:00.000+05:30

Imagine sunlight pouring into a large room, lazily sneaking over tabletops and sliding down chairs casting long shadows in the late afternoon. While the background resonates with a multitude of sounds-the clink of coffee mugs, the movement of chairs and tables, the sound of plates and cutlery and the sound of voices, sometimes you can hear them-clear and distinct while you try to put a face and body to the nameless voice. Sometimes you can only catch bodies and the movements and then you can put a voice to that body and movement.
Sometimes the sounds are over powered by smells-coffee, deeply grounded, freshly brewed or the smell of baked bread, or steaming hot pasta and a hint of garlic hanging in the air or hot sambhar –all these smells could change, remain singular or intermingle depending on which place you frequent and what they offer while on some other occasions colour takes over the senses...just the whole vivid array of them as if on a winter day a whole troop of gypsies has entered and poured cans of colour and splashed deep rich paint all around the room-magenta, red, orange, yellow, crisp green, canary, blue, crimson and so on.
There could be some other experiences too when everything is a blur-movements, bodies, voices, sounds, smells, colours-everything and the only thing that is clear is the mind free of clutter-free to float and relax and enjoy being on its own, flitting from one thought to another without care or concern.

Our mind is filled with stored images just like the one above and experiences that are rich in sensory perception. When we use words to ignite and connect with the memory of such an experience, it comes out alive almost making it real for us especially to a greater degree if it has affected us in the past.

Yesterday I used this technique on the children in my 2’o clock class (aged 8 –10).To them it seemed as if I had a played a trick on them. While we sat in a circle after having warmed up with a game followed by a vocal warm up using humming of resonators, I asked the children to close their eyes and follow their breathing. Before they could fidget around and get distracted I asked them to imagine a dark room and then I occupied them with the task of imagining an object that they could see in spite of the darkness. The next task was to imagine it moving closer toward them and then it was right there next to them and they could feel its breath and then they could hear its whisper which grew louder and louder and louder until I screamed. The children screamed along with me and then opened their eyes and began to laugh. For that one moment they had been scared as they were all transported to the world of a dark room and in their minds they had imagined objects/things that scared them most.

What is the point of conducting such an exercise? An exercise is pointless without the motive behind it.Since we had been exploring the myth of the lochness monster, it just seemed like a good warm up to set up the mood and transport the children into a world where they could imagine the monster or face the things that feel monstrous or dark.

This form of warm up exercise has many merits.It is an excellent technique to build imagination, help one visualise a scenario, focus on an object/feeling or mood for attaining the right atomsphere for performance work or for meeting the objective of writing, creating a character, scene or experience.

Multi-dimensional change through technology

2006-08-27T19:48:00.000+05:30

During the time when I wrote for A&M, I came across a very interesting concept. I was interviewing someone at one of the top consultancies for an article and we were discussing about knowledge sharing. The consultancy has its offices and branches spread worldwide with thousands of people clocking consulting time and solving problems across various verticals.

The interesting thing they did (and its not a new concept today) was to create an online resource center where all employees had to give the project details and list their approach towards solving the problem. This knowledge was accessible worldwide by any employee. So one could access past experience and study its delivery to solve a current problem, just like seeking advice from a person who has better experience on the subject. But unlike in the past when one had to check the availability of the experienced person, this consultant now doesn’t have to wait at all but has to simply log on to the resource and study the report.

Internationally curriculum is being put on the web and similar to the resource center, schools that are attached to the board can automatically access the information. In some cases experiences are also being shared but more often individual teachers who want to share amongst their peers have started such sites.

Why can’t we introduce technology as a tool to help evolve our teaching in the formal set up?
· Have the curriculum on the web.
· Add a resource center that shares the best or the most interesting teaching methods/experiments on a particular concept.
· Have course outlines and objectives but not prescribe and subscribe to one textbook alone.
· Keep subjects like IT, science, maths, economics, business studies, psychology and geography et al current.
· Have a research cell for each subject that feeds the resource center with the latest update on a subject through content or links.
· Just like in most boards English has various levels, introduce levels of proficiency in all subjects. The student thus has to achieve proficiency in a particular level and move to the next whenever s/he is ready. Thus those who need more challenge can move to an advanced level while those who need more time and practice can work at their own pace without facing pressure.
· Have the resource center provide teachers with online tutorials for children who need more inputs or practice.
· Have additional courses made available online on various topics that interest children. For example: maybe course outline prescribes Indian history at grade 6 but if anyone’s interested in studying another topic (let’s say Egyptian) they can access a module and do it. That way self-learning is being encouraged and appreciated.
· A student could gain credits for doing such modules at a lateral level.
· Make study (wherever possible) research and project oriented where the student then presents to the class and is assessed on the basis of it.
· Introduce vocational courses similarly for those who don’t want to pursue academics-pottery, sculptor, dance, music et al.
· Introduce courses like speech and drama.
· Let education, its policy development, its structure and control lie in the hands of qualified professionals and not the government.
· Make the government responsible for investment in primary education; research & development and evolving the educational standards to meet with those internationally or better still become a role model for others.

We have a nation that is shouting from the rooftops about information Technology and our expertise in it; I'm sure we can identify people who could lead a project like this!!!

If a course could be designed to serve as an evolving program, what sorts of possibilities are bound to emerge? What kind of difficulties migth one have to face?

Can we introduce change?

2006-08-27T19:35:00.000+05:30

Have you ever been affected by a romantic past filled with child's play- imaginative, adventurous, enterprising and inventive?

If yes, then like a lovely old song or a story that you once enjoyed and cherished, you will keep going back to it for reference, for inspiration, for interpretation. You will listen to it or reminiscence about it.

Perhaps because that is the nature of things experienced and truly enjoyed. It lives, survives in our minds in the shape of its form, its texture, its feel, its smell and colour, its whole essence or spirit.

Imagine if the same experience could be transferred to daily learning for our children or for adults.

Can we introduce a change in the system?

Are we learning in schools?

2006-08-27T19:29:00.000+05:30

Most children find textbook history in schools boring so I shouldn’t be surprised if they confess to hating history in school. But I found that statement quite surprising when it came from a group of class VIII children whom I teach Speech and Drama.

It all started with a book one of them was reading (they were all working on their book reviews). The book is a biography of Maharani Gayatri Devi. So starting with history and the politics of the time we went on to discuss perceptions and concepts of perceived reality and the format of reality as propagated or fed to a large population or an individual either in the form of a book or textbook or in the form of news or media reports. The discussion also moved on to dissecting the connect between science and history. The point I am trying to make here is that this discussion challenged me intellectually and I enjoyed it. So I was surprised when this bunch told me they hated history in school.

Why was this group so disconnected with history in school whereas they seemed very involved with the discussion?

Fact 1: Teaching formats have not changed much since the time I passed out from school and that’s not very recently.

Fact 2: Teaching should evolve, keep pace with the rate at which children are learning, using information and applying it everywhere.

Fact 3: Our children are already using faster and far better methods of gaining knowledge and information. They are better informed and equipped to handle any subject that interests them. Age is no longer a criteria for learning.

Fact 4: If teachers can’t match up to them in terms of learning, keeping abreast of new things happening in their fields then it should not come as a surprise if they perceive the lack of preparation and the lack of insight in the teacher’s ability to teach and justify the role s/he is supposed to carry out. Children need to be challenged.

Fact 5: Where is the challenge in our current system of formal education?

Fact 6: When someone from this group attempted to deviate from the text and write based on his or her findings, they were told to stick to the textbook. If “cut, copy, paste” from the textbook is the objective why bother with a school?
Fact 7: I may just as well as a student regurgitate the book and gain a score/rank.

Fact 8: I am then perhaps being tested on my ability to regurgitate information and not on my ability to interpret this information and apply it to any other context.

Snapshots from Saat-Tal

2006-08-26T01:39:00.000+05:30

Brainstorming

Setting up a fishing line

First to break the code

Entertainment evening

Project at Saat Tal

2006-08-26T00:34:00.000+05:30

The Group at Saat-Tal (After the obstacle course)
Focus:
The project at Camp Saat Tal focused on three aspects of communication- objective, deductive and creative covering them under the following conditions.
Ø Peer interaction
Ø Interaction outside the peer group
Ø Self-expression

The overall theme that guided and motivated development in the above spheres was achieved through a focused task of creating a magazine. The overall instructions that each group received were:

Ø To create their own magazine
Ø Identify a cover story
Ø Supporting articles, interviews et al
Ø Design its cover page
Ø Create its own advertising

The children identified a group leader who would facilitate their work; they also identified a person as an editor who would edit their work. Brainstorming was based around the activities set in the itinerary for the camp. The activities thus became the framework for their magazine and each group discovered a different focus for their magazine.

Note:
This Pilot Project was completed successfully in Saat Tal, Uttranchal, India with children in the age group of 9 to 15 yrs.(This 1 week project was conducted in June'06 in collaboration with Zice Holidays under a program called Neverland) The children developed 3 magazines based on their expereinces in Saat Tal. Almost all three focused on opportunities available for the local people in the area of -tourism and education. The children also explored lifestyle, culture, food and environment in brief. Most of these aspects were covered through personal interaction with the locals and their own observations at the jungle getaway camp.

Terrain

2006-08-26T00:12:00.000+05:30

Objective:
Terrain sets out to bring children from the urban and rural sectors to come together and participate in a collaborative effort that will sensitize them to the chosen environment. It’s a learning initiative that will focus on experimenting with different locations thereby using the location’s distinct geographical background as the basis of the project study.

Teaching Portfolio

2006-08-20T09:53:00.004+05:30

Teaching Portfolio I

Name Shalini Pattabiraman
Designation Senior Teacher, Edudrama (Level 1 to Level 6)
Programme Taught Edudrama
Method Initiating projects in Speech, Drama and Literacy
Project Delivery Model Thematic across a term
Academic Year Four Terms (Jul-Sept, Oct-Dec, Jan-Mar, Mar-May)

Age Groups Taught-Centre Based

Early childhood Starter Skills 3.0-5.0 years
Introductory 1 5.0-5.5 years
Introductory 2 5.5-6.5 years

Primary Level 1 6.0-7.0 years
Level 2 7.0-8.0 years
Level 3 8.0-9.0 years
Level 4 9.00-10.0 years

Pre-Teens Level 5/6/7 10.0-16.0 years
& Teens Club

Programmes and Age Groups Taught -School Based

Location: DPS International, New Delhi (’03-’04)
Class 9 Presentation, Communication and Debating Skills

Location: Vishal Bharati School, Paschim Vihar, New Delhi (‘04-’06)
Class 1 & 2 Speech and Pronunciation,
Class 3, 4 & 5 Speech and Drama

Location: DPS R.K.Puram, New Delhi (’04- till date)
Class 6, 7& 8 Speech and Drama (class 7 not operating this year)
Class 9 & 11 Presentation, Communication and Debating Skills (not running this year)

Training for teachers and parents-Centre based

· JGTC, Julia Gabriel Teaching Certificate in Speech and Drama: Faciliatate two Term based modules.
· SCAPT, Speech Communication Arts Primary Teaching Certificate from Guildhall Trinity-Facilitate 20 hours of training for the course.
· Workshops for Assistant teachers, student teachers and Teachers:
o Developing Voice and Speech
o Warm up and relaxation
o Creating and sharing stories
o Choosing literature, Working with literature and drama
o Poetry-verse speaking and annotating
o Verse in action: Fun with performance and words
o Identifying focus in class

Outdoor Based Project-TERRAIN (Designed & Developed by me)

Note: Facilitated in collaboration with Zice Holidays under their programme for children called Neverland at Saat-Tal, Uttranchal (June ’06) http://www.ziceholidays.com/masters.aspx

Method Initiated outdoor based activities to develop sensitivity to environment, literacy and communication skills

Age Group 9-15 years

Details refer to annexure titled TERRAIN in this blog

Teaching Portfolio II

Other Projects-Learning Initiatives (Work in Progress)

· Discovering children’s literature in India-This is a self-motivated project where I am currently studying the content and the format of delivery under this genre in English. Based on further research I aim to involve teachers and writers to come together and create literature that would specifically cover certain areas of literacy development that are currently not available.

Objective behind this study-There is a lack of good children’s literature from the Indian sub-continent. Hardly any writers have made a global presence. There is abundance of translated work from a variety of regional literature under folklores, myths and legends but a great lack of contemporary fiction for children. Especially the lack is phenomenal when it comes to pre-primary and primary age groups.

Workshops for teachers and parents-Outside the centre
Themes for workshops:
· Drama at home: A workshop fostering parent-child interaction through shared activities that can be initiated at home involving very little investment except for time from parents.
· Story telling as a device for extending language with very young children.
· Building stories with everyday objects
· Using stories as a step-board to literacy projects that are fun.
· Exploring creative writing through drama.
· Spending quality time with your child

Teaching Portfolio-III

Performances done for children from (2002-Till date)

Annually we present as teachers a group performance in the month of September and for the carnival held in November we present a whole program based on a theme. Apart from activities designed for fun and literacy development the studios get dedicated to-story telling in character, art and craft activities and Drama Projects (such as the enchanted forest, the entire studio becomes a forest and the children enter and create their own dramas) and a main performance by the teachers.

Verse in action
· Chocolate Cake by Michael Rosen (The child’s role)
· Not in here, Dad by Cheryl Dutton (Narrator)
· The Visitor by Ian Serraillier (wife’s role)
· Little Miss Red Riding Hood and the Wolf from Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl (Red’s role)
· Do you mind? by Eric Finney (The child’s role)

Prose in action

· The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister (Narrator)
· Jim and the Beanstalk by Raymond Briggs (Roles: The Wigmaker, The Oculist, The Dentist)
· Strega Nona by Tomie DePaola (Narrator)
· A Courtroom Drama: adapted from The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka (directed the drama and played the role of the judge)

Solo Performances
· Acted piece Maddy Alone by Pamela Brown
· Verse First Meeting, by ASJ Tesimond
· Verse Sleep and Death by Heinrich Heine (translated by Vikram Seth)

Drama Project ideas initiated by me during such events
· The Enchanted Forest
· The Shipwreck
· This year I am working on two ideas: The Snow Queen’s party & The Haunted Mansion. They are under a discussion stage right now.

Performances by children from (2002-Till date)

Every term my children (8+ to 16 years) present work, which is still under progress in the last week of term where parents come for open week:
· Individual Performance- Verse or Prose or Drama
· Choral work
· Group based Drama developed by the children
· Narrative skills-Story telling based on a theme from their performance piece (L5)
· Talk-Hobby Talk (L3), Book Review (L4), Talk based on a Global Issue (L6)
The younger ones (6-8 years) present
· Individual Performance- Verse or Prose
· Choral work
· Group based Drama developed by the children, facilitated by me
· Sharing a personal story using a picture or object

The Children’s Performance held annually in November or December is the platform for formal presentation.

Method of Delivery: I encourage children to create their own program. The October to December term is dedicated to organizing, planning and preparing for presentation. The children create their own tickets, design their own posters and advertisements for the show. There’s a lot of learning involved in this exercise as they work towards this objective.

For last year’s performance they presented:
· Global Issue: Teen’s club (L6) developed a drama based on terrorism
· Community project: L5 presented a drama based on circus life using masks that they created. They developed the idea for the drama.
· Puppet stories- made and written by 7-8 year olds based on underwater fauna

This year they are working towards:
· Global Issue: Teen’s Club is working on a drama project based on the community of potters and their problems.
· Picture and puppet based stories: The Rainbow Fish (7 year olds)
· Verse in Action- a variety of poems by Kalli Dakos on the theme of school life (8-9 year olds)
· A narrative drama: The 10-12 year olds are working on using different narrative techniques to create a drama as a group (theme taken from The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde).

Getting started...

2006-08-20T09:53:00.001+05:30

So many times I have wondered if it will be possible to let go of controlled environments and a so called safety net in worklife or elsewhere and respond to the basic instinct of free-fall; and yet as many times, I have wondered about the other face of that coin-facing complacency, stagnation and a fear of facing change.

For someone who has never shied of change in the past, somehow finding stability of sorts is creating havoc with my sense of adventure and risk taking. While in the past, because what I did, did not seem to matter so much, I was happy to quit, give up, let go, try out something new, experiment.

I guess I like experimenting. The urge to enquire, explore one's curiosity, test one's abiliy and establish a connect with that work or philosophy to gain a perspective seems to drive me most times.

But this time it is different because now I don't want to change tracks anymore. Rather, I want to experiment with my work and explore avennues to innovate, to create and to lead and extend this format of learning to others.

Learning Initiatives is a project that I have been thinking about on and off for a pretty long time. I don't know if its time to go solo, to fly; yet I do know that its time for me to start establishing the groundwork for my first takeoff.

I guess at a mundane unconscious level, I have already taken the step forward.

At the begining of this year Ravi (my friend who runs Zice Holidays)told me that we could finally start thinking about doing the project that we had in mind for the past two years. Ravi's expertise lies in organizing holidays and conducting outbound training for corporates. He wanted to explore the potential of involving children in a similar exercise. He promised me the logistics and I offered to do the planning of the program- its content and delivery and that's how it had started about two years ago.

We tried to work out a five day project called 'Terrain'; the basics were planned, a simplistic brochure was made and they made an attempt to market it amongst their clients, it never got sold until earlier this year when he decided to to take this project more seriously and think of it as a revenue generating exercise.

Ravi pushed me to work on being more specific with project content & details and initiated the task of marketing it profesionally by seeking Deepali's help.He also began to look for people other than me who could conduct workshops of their own under this venture. Deepali brought in a wonderful group of children in the varying age group of 9-15 yrs.And I conducted my first workshop in June this year at Saat-tal.

Revenue earning or not, this pilot-run of Zice's new venture that Deepali and Ravi marketed ran under the name of Neverland.I have to thank the team at Zice who were game to experiment with me. This collaboration had its shortfalls but it was a success in many ways.