Towards the main objective

It has been more than Four months and around fifty sessions with children of Vigyan Khel Ghar. It roughly goes to around 100 hours. I am not sure whether this should be called only the starting or now it has been long time. But I am still far from what I expect to achieve with the children. Though the center is called the 'Vigyan Khel Ghar' or Science Toy House, I haven't touched Science or Maths or any other subjects the way I intended. So I am experimenting different ways of implementing what I had in my mind.

Meanwhile the class size has now reduced to almost half due to various reasons. Some are not coming either due to their change in schedule and class timings not matching, while two have shifted their home to another community. Some seem to have lost the enthusiasm in the activities which they had earlier. Also it was decided that there would be a monthly fees of Rs. 15 for each child, which again made some to leave as they did not want to give the fees. So right now there are around 8 -10 children. Though it is quite possible to add new children, but I have decided not to add any more up to a month until I get free of my academic commitments.

Many things have happened since past month. Various management techniques used in sessions especially the use of artificial currency had been stopped since that seemed to create more chaos due to difficulty in managing them in a more organised way. Also lesser children did not needed such tool. Children had been planning to have a party with snacks, decorations and songs. It was decided to collect money for the same. But slowly due to reducing children and many of them not willing to contribute money it could not happen. However I had been working on another plan meanwhile. Though I can provide money for the party, I didn't wanted to do that and instead utilize this opportunity to motivate them to earn money by selling toys which they made. This ask them to make better and more perfect toys. Here comes the need to learn and apply mathematics concepts and know science wherever necessary. This was another experiment that I wanted to try to motivate since that forms the basis of incorporating hidden learning aspects of toys and is one of the main objectives of the project. With this aim, the children made their first toy of magic fan which was sold to a local balloon seller. Though we are still not sure whether it was sold since we could not meet the guy after that.

I am simultaneously working for training the teacher for managing the sessions. I am giving most of the planning and managing work to her such as deciding the activity and how to conducted it by giving required instructions. Due to lesser children, she is better able to manage and I give her inputs during the sessions itself. I have been able to communicate the learning objectives behind such activities which she wasn't aware earlier.

The focus right now is extracting the learning aspects of the activities by making better and better toys. Due to lesser children, it seems this objective is taking shape as seen from past few sessions. Children have started using measurements in their own way while working. Its now my responsibility to structure it in an organised way.

Children with the 'Magic Fan'

Searching innovations...

The project is teaching me a lot and there have been many things going in it at the classroom level as well as outside it. My aim of organizing the classroom in a structure is taking shape slowly and steadily and it is really testing my abilities of innovation. The children have so much energy which I want to use in the most creative way as possible. But until I’m able to achieve it, the experience is really exhausting.

One of the new techniques I have started in the class is the use of ‘Points’ or artificial currency. Here the all children received ten points initially which they have to spend in purchasing required materials to make toys. They earn more points by taking various classroom responsibilities like cleaning, managing materials, filling water, documenting tasks, etc. I wanted this to teach them things such as managing money, learning about basic money transactions which involve basic mathematics, taking responsibilities, etc. and also organize the classroom processes. So far this has been working quite well but requires a lot of improvement. I envision this to turn it into an assessment mechanism for learning in future.

The sessions are now taking place three days a week i.e. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Saturday is a day for English and Urdu teaching. Apart from making toys sometimes we also play games, sing songs and now also want to include dancing. A new dance teacher is being identified and would be starting soon. There has been a lot of demand for a dance class and I also hope it be a good activity for channelizing children energies. I haven't touched any of the subjects of Science and Mathematics and I think it is still a later stage before I organise things to a certain level. 

Apart from classroom activities, I have been taking steps to spread the project to more children. I along with the NGO named, ‘Sarathya’ who is working in the same area, have been discussing ways of setting more centers and training teachers. As of now due to high academic pressure the steps for the same would be taken later in the month of February 2015. I have been also working on developing a similar curriculum for Science and Maths for another organization in Mumbai as demanded by them which would be another opportunity to spread the project. 

The learners of Vigyan Khel Ghar

Balancing the ship

'Vigyan Khel Ghar', the center I started for the project for my children is finally on its way of taking shape. As of 7th Nov. there have been a total of nine sessions with children that have been taking place twice a week, Fridays and Sundays. A total of twelve children had paid the initial amount of Rs. 20 for admitting in the center and have been quite regular.

Regular sessions are happening, many new toys, craft activities and games are taking place. Children are enjoying indeed. Not just because of the activities, but more because of the freedom I have tried to give them. They are free to play among themselves and chat. They like spending time with each other. Though there are also quarrels among them which take place occasionally. The center acts as a medium to bring them together. This has been the main achievement so far.

What it have been lacking is a structure, structure of how things will move in the session. I waited for it to evolve slowly on its own, where children can understand what problems are being faced or what the center needs to run efficiently and decide on things to be done based on these needs. It includes how activities and materials will be managed, who will take what responsibility, etc. Without this, it had been difficult to manage sessions when things often get chaotic and the facilitator (that is me) loose control of the group. Slowly this is taking shape and sessions are now in a direction to be more organised. This has been another small achievement. There are many learning opportunities in this which I want to bring up. I don't have a teacher yet to assist but hoping of one to join from the next session. I am also involved in making a Teacher Training Module for a larger group of trainees which I can use at a later stage.

As I am knowing the children more and more especially through the free chatting that have been taking place among themselves, I find many issues especially among the elder children which I feel a need to pay attention. Though I am not sure how am I going to do that but am in the process.

About me, I feel a more confident now than before. May be because of the small successes that I have been seeing. Though my goal of learning to take place in a more organised manner is still far away and I have been constantly thinking of it.

Starting...

There's a bit of satisfaction that things have started moving and moving quite speedily, but also an uncertainty and insecurity of how things will progress further. I am happy that finally I own a center and have named it as ‘Vigyan Khel Ghar’ or ‘Science Toy House’ and run it independently for the children and also getting quite a good response as a start and something new for the children. But have a lot of things that needs to set in place to gain stability and regularity of students which is one of the biggest challenges and I don't know how I am going to do it. 

At this point I feel the need to think at various levels and bring all of my skills into action. At the larger level, I find a need to build a rapport with not only the children but the parents as well in order to generate a credibility of the project. Things such as fees, timings, etc. have to be fixed that suits them. More important at the classroom level, I need to keep up the enthusiastic environment keeping up the learning that I intent to generate. I am yet to fully develop my classroom management skills. I also need to go into the deeper pedagogic aspects of the method as well which is the main focus presently for my project. 

I am happy that I have youths around me from the community as well as my institute who are equally interested in this initiative and ready to help me and provide constant feedback and suggestions on what I am doing. Here I remember the Doctoral Degree of Kindness I received from my earlier program director and coach Leslie which stated that now I am expert in finding kind people around. I am happy that it actually worked and am thankful to her for that.

Some Clicks

Vigyan Khel Ghar (Science Toy House)

The toys from trash

Ready to fly the paper helicopter

Flying the balloon rocket

Smiles from toys

Finding the ground

It’s always very exciting to start something new. The mind starts imagining what it would be like, how would I go about it, what new things can I do which I didn’t thought earlier, what will be the results, would I succeed or not and so on. This is my condition after attending the Ethical Leadership Assembly of the Dalai Lama Fellows. The ELA was certainly a new experience and the project though an old one, would be newer experience too.

I have been doing my project on education with children earlier, but this time I wanted to be different – different in the way I would approach them and work with them. Since I had decided to work with children from the lower income families many of them staying in slums, I knew it would be very difficult to build rapport and keep up their motivation in the  activities. I know therefore that I have to be innovative, very innovative. For example, I thought do I really need to start by taking regular sessions with children? That sounds so traditional and boring. Can I just guide them and provide materials to make creative things, crafts and toys, and allow them to do at their home? The Education Center in the community can be open to them whenever they want to come. Can I start by playing with them what they are playing? And then slowly organize into sessions. These are some rough ideas going in my mind before I actually start. Its implementation however depends on where do I actually start.

I have been searching for a place to start the center for children and contacting few people for the same. I have come across two alumni from TISS who also want to start a center in a community in M ward area of Mumbai for their new NGO. They are working with youth of the community. We are planning to start a common center since neither I nor they want to use it full time. We can therefore share the expenses as well. However finding a place for the center is becoming a tough job. We have identified various places but none is perfect and has some problem or the other with them. But we are hoping to find it soon and start as early as possible. We talked to people from another local trust who is working with community people. They shared some of their experiences of how even after working honestly for the people, they don't get good response from them. It becomes very frustrating sometimes. It again remind me of the amount of effort and innovation I will need to bring to establish rapport and work with the people and the children.

What

Education for Creativity and Action is a project for rethinking on a new form of education beyond the present traditional methods of teaching and learning. It envisions learning in a more free environment for children with learning directed by children themselves and their activities rather by the teacher or a pre-planned curriculum.