Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Musical_Invitation

Hi,

We are writing to invite all of you to watch the very entertaining Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Musical being performed by our students.

If you believe in the triumph of the underdog, in fantasy, in hope, in fun and most importantly in CHOCOLATE, do join us in celebrating Roald Dahl’s classic this March.  :)

Here’s a sneak preview- our first trailer:    

We’re looking forward to your good wishes and your presence there! :)

Project Website  : http://toinfinityandbeyond2012.weebly.com/index.html

Spread the word : http://www.facebook.com/pages/To-Infinity-and-Beyond/124370171010615?sk=wall

Warm regards,

Chaitra and Anushri

PS: Tickets will be available February onwards.

Happy New year to all of you! Thank you all so much for your support so far!

Our Project ‘To Infinity and Beyond’ just got selected to compete for Mahindra Spark the Rise grant which is worth Rs. 2 Lacs.

If we win the grant we will be able to incubate and expand (to impact approximately 200 children) our program for another year while we look for a corporate to adopt it.

Only caveat here is that the best projects are chosen based on public voting. So to win this grant, we need your help and support.

How to Vote:

1. Click on this link:

http://www.sparktherise.com/projectdetail.php?pid=5326

2. Register (via facebook/mail id)

3. Click vote

4. Pass the link to your friends and urge them to vote.

Voting ends by January 31st. So please vote now! It will take just 10 seconds of your time.

Thanks!

Hope you have a wonderful year ahead!

Ram is the main protagonist of Ramayana. He is the eldest and  most loved son of  King Dashrath of Ayodhya and his wife Kausalya.  King Dasharath is forced by Kaikeyi, one of his queens, to command Ram to relinquish his right to the throne for fourteen years and go into exile. Sita follows her husband Ram into exile and somewhere while living in the woods, she is abducted by Ravana, the king of Lanka. She is imprisoned on the island of Lanka (Modern day Srilanka) until Rama rescues her by defeating the Ravana.

Ram reaches Lanka, slays Ravan and frees Sita. But even as Sita comes before him in great excitement and happiness, Rama does not look at her, staring fixedly at the ground. He tells her that he had fought the war only to avenge the dishonour that Ravana had inflicted on Raghuvamsa and Sita.

Sita begs Lakshman (Ram’s brother) to build her a pyre upon which she could end her life, as she could not live without Rama. At the great shock and sorrow of the onlookers, Sita walks into the flames. But to their greater shock and wonder, she is completely unharmed. Instead, she glows radiantly from the centre of the pyre. This incident has gone down in mythology and Sita’s Agnipareksha. Simply translated, it was a test Sita had to take to prove her purity and love to her husband Ram.

Agnipariksha

The point of recapturing this ancient epic here? No point really other than the fact that nothing much has changed, barring the time frame of course.  Man-Woman dynamics are even today plagued by the same insecurities and complexities. My maid, for example, has been with me for over two years now. Every few months she gets beaten up by her husband. The reason almost never changes. Every time he sees her talking to any man, be it the tuition teacher, grocery guy or her brother-in-law, he is convinced that she is cheating on him. No questions are asked and no are justifications sought. The poor little scared children are witnesses to all this animal violence. Tears are shed and abuses are endlessly hurled. The next morning this battered but brave woman reaches the first house and starts working. Her work ends 6 houses and 5 hours later. She can’t even consider the luxury of sitting at home for a day and brooding. She has children to feed and bills to pay.

The last time this happened, the situation got so bad that she had to involve the cops and lodge a complaint against him. He tried to kill her with a knife. For the first time, she actually walked out of the house with the kids. And I applauded that move. I assured that I’ll have all the three of her kids put into nearby school where TFI fellows are teaching. She was worried about moving to another area altogether so we were working out her finances and I told her that I would be more than happy to provide her with as much monetary help as possible from my end. But even in that beaten up state, she kept saying that she will eventually have go back to him as she has to survive in the society. She feels that a woman abandoned by her husband is looked down upon and ostracized by the community. In fact, I even went on tried some art therapy with her to ward of her biases. I played one of my all time favorite songs;

It has many beautiful lines, but I played it for these lines specifically;

Tu kaun hai, tera naam hai kya

Sita bhi yahan badnaam hui

Phir kyun sansaar ki baton se

Bheeg gaye tere naina…

Maybe it was too much to expect her extract meaning from lyrics, given the state she was in. Plus not everybody finds answers in words, quotes and lyrics.  Anyway, after about ten days she did go back to him. Definitely it wasn’t for love. It was a compromise struck with self in order to meet the obligations of the society. She is uneducated, works as a maid and has severe financial limitations, but there are so many educated and financially independent women live their lives to meet the same goal as her, however unhappy it makes them.  That ‘TESTED OK’ seal that we see on most consumer goods, I guess that what this marriage means to her.

It makes me wonder – What thoughts must have crossed Ram’s mind as Sita took the Agnepareeksha? Did Sita ever consider the possibility of refusing to undergo this humiliating process? If Shree Ram was the epitome of truth, greatness and virtue, why did he succumb to the insecurities of ordinary men? Didn’t he even place an iota of trust in the woman who accepted his banishment as her own, gave up all luxuries of a royal life, quietly following him into exile for fourteen years?  She was abducted; it wasn’t like she went with Ravana by choice.

Was this Agneepareeksha for his own satisfaction or to prove a point to the world?

If it was for him, then well…we at least have one thing clarified. He was no God. He was just an ordinary mortal like us.

And if he did this seeking validation for Sita’s purity from the world, then well….. I guess, he was a lesser mortal.

In our country, Religion is seen as black and white. There is no room for interpretation, exploration or seeking perspectives. This is not true for everyone but yes, few religious topics are generally off -limits for debate and discussion. A recent example of this was celebrated artist MF Hussain’s exit from India. A series of cases were brought against Husain and a court case related to the alleged obscene depiction of Hindu goddesses in his paintings resulted in issuing a non-bailable warrant against him after he failed to respond to summons.

I am not siding with late Mr Hussain. But my point is, we call “Freedom of speech and expression” one of our fundamental rights as laid down by the constitution, then as a nation we need to be more tolerant to opinions. Bigotry and all religious intolerance has only caused us harm. There are grey sides to everything, even Gods and religion.  Ram’s character clearly had those shades.  (Yes, Grey is my new found obsession :))

I guess, this quote fits well as an end of this post;

“Half the world laughs at the other half, though all are fools. Either everything is good or everything is bad, depending on the vote. What one sues, another pursues. An insufferable fool, he who wishes the universe regulated according to his plans. Bliss does not derive from the pleasure of any one person. There are as many minds as there are heads, and as different. There is no weakness without its admirer. Don’t worry that your ways displease some, because, without fail, they will please others. And don’t let their approval of them go to your head, because still others will condemn them. Proper satisfaction may be taken only in the approval of persons of authority and those who have standing in their fields. Do not live by the sanction of any one voice, or of any one custom, or of any single period.” — Baltasar Gracian

Thank you all for your support and good wishes!

Project 'To Infinity and Beyond'

We’ve been approaching various corporate houses, individuals and organizations for support and fund raising. In this process, we’ve been forced to reevaluate our project, its significance and impact from various standpoints while answering concerns and queries. I understand that people feel its more worthwhile investing/donating towards development of infrastructure in any project. Maybe because it is something that stays and is visible. A lot of people have asked us as to why we’re not raising money for a computer lab, a potable water tank or maybe toilets. (our school doesn’t haven’t have functional/usable toilets). Our answer and the rationale behind this project remains the same;

You can change everything around a child and may still not be able to maximize academic impact. We believe that this art-integrated curriculum would be able to instill a sense of intrinsic motivation in each child. If we can make this desire to achieve come from within, then we’re talking something solid.

THAT is visible and I can assure you, it stays. :)

I had written a post about one of my lowest level kids Pranay this year. This child has never responded to anything in class. He still struggles to read, write, understand and process instructions. I was really sad about leaving next year with Pranay still in this state. There are a lot of factors that are contributing to Pranay’s lack of interest in the classroom, some of them so disturbing that I don’t even have the appetite to discuss them here. Anyway, so Pranay chose to be in the dance club beginning of this academic year. His behaviour was so disruptive that I almost decided to pull him out on a couple of occasions but somehow I didn’t. Many many dance clubs later, I entered the dance club last month and saw this kid in the center of a dance formation swaying to the beats of  a tamil song. And he was dancing so well! I just couldn’t believe my eyes.

Pranay at an Art Club

Their dance instructor for the musical told me that he’s fantastic and she’s incorporating a couple of free style steps that Pranay has been showing her. Pranay has never been in the centre of anything. Never. But now, he is and he’s a leading a dance with 5 other dancers. This is doing something for him. With little support at home and little success in the classroom, this child is now applying what he’s learning about the power of practicing to academics. If he can improve in dance, he can improve in math. He’s finally good — No, EXCELLENT– at something and this new found success has given him a new drive to overcome what is difficult. Thinking back to my own education, I can’t imagine not having a creative outlet. For these kids, it’s a luxury — unsupported by administration and not quite understood by all parents.

This is what this project was all about : to unlock a hidden confidence and passion in my children by providing outside opportunities for them to experience the arts.

An incident that took place last month has strengthened my conviction about this project and why it absolutely HAS to happen. Last month, as I was getting out of school one day, I saw a bunch of young goons dragging a 10th std boy of our school, by the collar. There was a crowd around them and it seemed like some sort of a gang war. I couldn’t just pass by. They weren’t my children but they were still from my school. I parked my bike and asked those boys to leave. Very reluctantly and after giving me an icy stare, they left. They did not speak back….well, atleast that time they didn’t.

I got their answer the next day. After the school and extra classes got over, I was heading towards bike and from a distance I could make out that something was wrong. My bike had been vandalized. Stones had been thrust into the ignition, there was no way I could even put my keys in. It was in a bad shape. There was no one around. I had the hardest time finding a mechanic at that time in the day. I went in an auto rickshaw from one garage to another, no one was ready to come back that far. But everyone had the same comment to offfer including the rickshaw guy;

Madam, Tumhi tithe ka park keli gadi? Tya school la jhopadpatti che mula yetat.

They all said the same thing. It was apparently my mistake to have parked in front of a school attended by children from the slums. We finally got one mechanic and he got to work. While we were standing there, the auto rickshaw guy and the mechanic started talking about this school had really useless children who are so vain. They are into all sorts of wrong things and do stuff like this (vandalizing vehicles) just for fun. They spoke about how they are at the most going become drivers for some call centre.

That phrase stuck with me “jopadpatti che mula” (slum kids). It’s a funny thing that even these auto rickshaw drivers come from almost the same low-income communities and despite that they have such low expectations from these children. People have set the bar really low for these kids and “people” here includes their parents, their educators and they themselves.

And that is the reason why we’re inviting 20 schools in and around Vishrantwadi to come and watch this musical on 24th March, just to make everyone wake up the potential of children. Just children, not from a high/mid or low income group….just the potential of children. Every child is capable of something spectacular, they just need the opportunity.

Somewhere in our minds, as a Nation, we have accepted certain things about these children ….what they are capable of and who they can become.

And these children will remain a LOST CAUSE unless WE choose to REVERSE  it.

If each of us contributes even Rs. 100 (less than $ 2) we will be able to deeply impact the lives of these children.

Help us turn the boat! :) This christmas be the person who helps a child realise his potential.

Donate and Help : http://toinfinityandbeyond2012.weebly.com/donate-and-help.html

Spread the word : http://www.facebook.com/pages/To-Infinity-and-Beyond/124370171010615?sk=wall

If you have any concerns/queries, please contact me at chaitra.murlidhar2010@teachforindia.org.

Merry Christmas!

Thanks!

I am reaching out to all of you in order to seek your support for a project that my co fellow, Anushri and I have initiated in our school. Its called - To Infinity and Beyond.

http://toinfinityandbeyond2012.weebly.com/index.html

What:

To Infinity and Beyond is a project that seeks to draw out the infinite potential within each child by giving them access to theatre, dance and art lessons that compliment their academic curriculum.

How

We have hired external resource people to conduct dance, art and theatre lessons for the children every Saturday. These efforts will culminate in the – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory musical production in March 2012 (which is the book that our children are currently reading in class as their RC Curriculum for the year).

Why

Coming from low income communities where making ends meet is hard enough, giving their children access to art and theatre is a luxury that they could never dream of. We strongly believe that where are children come from should not dictate who they can become. They have as much of a right to gain access to art to reach their full potential as people.

What you can do to help

1. For starters, you can donate yourself, if you find the cause worthwhile. :)

2. Visit our facebook page. Like it. Invite your friends.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/To-Infinity-and-Beyond/124370171010615?sk=info

3. Send the link of our website to as many of your friends and family as possible and urge them to donate. The amount does not matter.

Our fundraising plea is simple. We are not looking to get a lot of money from ONE person, we are looking to get a LOT of people to contribute small amounts. For example, people in countries with currencies stronger than ours, can sponsor a child for one club for 2 dollars.

http://toinfinityandbeyond2012.weebly.com/donate-and-help.html

4. Come and watch our kids perform “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” musical on March 24th in Pune.

5. Volunteer in our classrooms to get a better feel of our challenges and what needs to be done.

Project ‘To Infinity and Beyond’ is an idea the essence of which is – there is so much more each one of us can be if given a chance. Each child has multiple dimensions. Often compartmentalized into narrow categories of intelligent, average and below average based on test scores, these children inherit the stigma that these grades carry without ever discovering their true passion and potential beyond this narrow definition of achievement. Hence, the three clubs – Art, Dance and Theatre.

The possibilities are endless.  These children deserve as much chance as their peers in well-to-do schools to discover their potential. We believe that access to art is not a privilege, it is every child’s right.

A promise has been made to 80 children and 160 parents, we need your all good wishes, help and support to translate this vision for our kids into a reality.

Note: Once you/your friends make a donation you will receive a message that says  the money has been transferred to Chaitra Murlidhar. The account registered with paypal is linked to my  account. Indian donors are requested to make a donation through the Give India link.Please be assured that your money will be channeled into the project. You will receive a report of our finances in March. Feel free to drop into our school anytime.

2. Suppose you are on the battle field, fighting a war….and all of a sudden your made aware of the fact that your basic premise of fighting this war was flawed. You got it all wrong, made your own assumptions and launched a crusade against everyone else who thought otherwise. Your foundation was built on false assumptions. That exhausting war that you  have been fighting…..you were fighting it for an invalid, flawed reason. All your reasonings have now gone for a toss. Now what will you do? ….will you still hold your ground, pretending that you heard nothing….keeping your faithful companions – denial and indifference by your side.

Or would you have the bravado to face the sunlight, forcing with all your might, the armies of your denial back into your camp. Would you have the courage to raise the white flag and accept what a damned fool you were?

3. Half measures are the curse of our times. Yes, they are. Then why do we resort to them so very often? We seek the black and white but whenever provided with an opportunity we slip into the comfort of the grey……..Yes, Grey that stands for all the half measures, it’s a no man’s land where the right and wrong aren’t defined yet, it’s a place where the black and white meet….so whether it’s more black or more white : totally your interpretation. Such a convenient place to be : Grey.

We don’t have the courage to be white, we hate to accept the presence of black in our personalities.  So we swing between them, holding on to the railings…. never reaching the extremes. We live in the comfort of grey. So convenient….Being Grey.

The chain of thought may seem demented. Links broken. Seemingly unconnected….but in a strange way, they’re joined at the very core.

I’m surprised that it took such a long time to discover the cover and myriad comforts that Grey has to offer.

DHL Global Volunteering Day

This year, the aim has been to spread some impact outside the classroom too and develop the school as a whole. This opportunity seemed to be aligned to that aim. Our school has never had any competitions; the children don’t know what a debate is or what an elocution competition looks like. There have been two vaguely organized drawing competitions since I joined, but the children have never been given and prizes or certificates for it. Attending inter-school competition has been a far-fetched dream.

So we sent a proposed list of activities to the admin team at DHL and they selected two of the activities.

1. Drawing Competition for 220 kids in the primary section. (Grade 1 to Grade 5).
2. Quiz Competition on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Trivia (For Grade 3 and Grade 4 only, since these two classes are reading the book)

This was the first time, an event on a scale like this was being organized in our school. And the amazing thing was each participating kid was going to be awarded a token of appreciation. The team at DHL had already informed us that they wanted to give two prizes per class and of course a prize for the quiz competition winners.

The 'tall' bhaiya who was a big hit in my class!

Volunteers helping the kids ideate

The theme of this competition was Re-Drawing India, which pretty much is Teach For India’s vision statement. For little kids, this would be interpreted as : ‘What I want to be, when I grow up?’

The event went off beautifully and all the volunteers walked that extra mile to pump in more excitement into the day. They were wonderful with the kids and made this day so much fun for every kid.

Kids gathered for the Prize Distribution

The Winners :)

The event was also attended by senior managers at DHL and they spent over an hour with the team picking out the best entries from each grade. They found the task of selecting only two entries so difficult, that they finally ended up announcing a third consolation prize for each grade.

DHLTeam picks the top entries

Each of the 200 participating kids got a pencil box with goodies in it, a frooti and a biscuit packet. After happily gulping down their frooti’s,  the kids gathered downstairs for the Prize Distribution ceremony. Our kids had never been a part of a prize distribution ceremony and they weren’t sure of what to expect or even how they are supposed to be standing.  But of course, once we started announcing the prizes, they were all ecstatic. It was amazing to see how they cheered the winners from their classes. This was huge for them. The school for those thirty minutes echoed with sounds of applause, cheers and laughter. And the look on a kids face, when he walked towards the stage to receive his prize, was something extraordinary. Walking up to that stage, speaking or performing in front of an audience, being recognized for something is empowering for a child. Schools like ours deny the children some very basic joys of growing up due to lack of funds. My project for this second year is dedicated to this cause: to provide all children in this school those opportunities for development. (More on that in the subsequent posts).

I want to be a painter - Shruti, Grade 4

I want to be scientist, Sidharth, Grade 5

Almost half the school year has come to an end, there is so much happening and so much more to do. That’s one of the reasons for my infrequent posts here. Hopefully, the second half of the year would see more happening in this space.

Interests and Aspirations Showcase

The kids reached the venue at 11 AM, despite having started at 5.30 in the morning because of the heavy rains in Mumbai. I’d reached the venue early in the morning to set everything up before the kids came in with the co-fellow in my school. She’s teaching grade 4 and our classes are doing everything in collaboration this year.

Basically, as per the Teaching as Leadership Framework, there are four elements to transformational teaching – Academic Achievement, Pathways to Opportunities, Interests and Aspirations, Long-term Mindsets and Values. If as a teacher, you can drive your students at achieve all of these and providing them with ways to do this, then you can possibly hope to change the trajectory of their lives and bring in that transformation.

Transformation in Education – This was the theme of this year’s InspirED conference. The organizers had created four separate rooms where each of these elements of Transformational Teaching could be showcased; all these four rooms together were called the “Education Exhibition”. Our kids were showcasing the ‘Academic Achievements’ section by explaining all their file and public trackers in class and their incentive systems. They were also a part of the ‘Interests and Aspirations’ section to explain their Saturday Clubs (Art, Theatre and Dance).

Our Wall :)

The kids hadn’t been formally prepped to say stuff, because as teachers, we both believed that they should be given a chance to freely express their views on everything happening in class, instead of just repeating doctored responses. They were expected to be interacting with over a hundred people over the course of the day. We had blown up pictures from our classroom, mainly their trackers, and their big goals etc….that would help them while explaining to people.

Both of us had picked two kids each from our classes, and we discussed a lot about who these kids would be. We didn’t just want to go with an academically high level , talkative kid, such kids already had a lot going for them and were pretty confident. So I picked Sagar and Afzal from my class. Both were picked for specific reasons. This kind of exposure, I was sure will do something for them.

Handling the crowd....

After Sagar explained all his trackers, one of the visitors asked him; “So, what has changed in you, from last year to this year?” I was standing there thinking to myself that probably this kind of self-introspection was too much to expect from a third grader. But kids are much more perceptive than we give them credit for. Sagar thought for a while and said : “In class 2, I fight, hit and beat…..this year I don’t fight or beat”. And this was precisely the reason Sagar was brought here, as a reward for his improved behaviour. He was THE most violent kid in class last year. But this year, he been really focused towards meeting his Big Goals and has also been behaving really well in class. Of course, I hadn’t told him this but I guess on some levels he just knew. The lady probed further, she asked him the reason for this change. Sagar very calmly explained, “If I not study and get 80%, I not get Golden Tickets for Trip. If I not be nice in class, I not get my Art Club on Saturday”.

Afzal explaining Clubs to a visitor....

In the picture below, kids are with Steven Farr, Vice President, Knowledge Development and Public Engagement, Teach For America. He’s the brainchild behind developing the Teaching as Leadership (TAL) framework that is now being used worldwide.  Setting Big Goals for a class is the first pillar of TAL. In this picture, Sagar is explaining the Big Goals and their tracking to Mr. Farr, the man who came up with the concept. :) :)

Sagar explaining Big Goals to Steven Farr

Shaheen Mistri (in the pic below), CEO Teach For India and Akanksha, spoke to the kids for a long time.  She was so happy after taking to the kids that she made a special request to include kids in the closing ceremony.

Shaheen having a word with Pooja

Sagar and Pooja explained the Big Goals, their tracking systems, the Saturday Clubs to a 500+ audience of teachers, school leaders and Principals present in the ASB Auditorium. After the kids wrapped up, the audience reciprocated with a very encouraging round of applause. They weren’t prepared to face such a huge audience, they had been speaking since morning and they were tired, so they did fumble a little, but I guess that’s ok. As a third grader, I wouldn’t have spoken even half as eloquently as my kids in front of a huge audience like this.

At the InspirED Closing Ceremony Day 1, ASB Auditorium

It had been a really long day for the kids so we excused ourselves from the Closing Ceremony to take off for Pune. The kids had some refreshment and walked around ASB for a while.  Abhishek looked at their two-floor library, their huge cafeteria and said : “Didi, this not look like school, this looks like a hotel” :). It was an  amazingly built school and had every imaginable facility on earth. They had a whole floor dedicated to extra-curricular activities, with multiple clubs……and we are financially struggling to sustain three clubs at school. The contrast doesn’t sadden me, it just reinforces my belief that our kids need to have all these opportunities and we have to make it happen.

Enjoying some refreshments at the ASB cafeteria....

Feeling very inspirED..... :)

On our way back, I asked Afzal if he was tired and he said, “Not tired. I am happy….. to have met all these didis and bhaiyas.”  They definitely were tired but none of the kids slept in the car, they were all so high on the appreciation bestowed upon them all day long…..how could they possibly sleep?. :)

Sleep eludes eyes that are full of dreams. And this is true for everyone, not just kids.

After the internship and the amazing holiday at the Himalayan foothills, I got back to the class with a ton of ideas that culminated in to a very ambitious vision for this academic year. This is my second and the last year with the kids and there is an increased sense of urgency because I have a definite vision for each kid that needs to met before I leave them next year.

Class Name and Class Motto

So this year, we are “The Power Rangers” – Grade 3. [A name the kids voted for and chose amongst 6 other options that they came up with]

And we believe that “There are NO shortcuts!”. There are no shortcuts in life and so there will be no shortcuts in the classroom either. We believe that hard work cannot be compromised upon.

Sounds lofty?…. It actually translates into simple steps for the kids;

1. We will go home and do our homework every day.
2. We will read out English text for the week and practice vocab words everyday.
3. There is nothing that we cannot do, we will keep trying, working hard until we get it.

Last year, I spent a lot of time thinking about what my vision for this class should be. And what kind of structure would it take for me to build a bridge to translate that vision into a reality. I thought about setting academic goals, but dismissed the thought because I had grown up in an education system where who you are and what you will become would be dictated by your percentages. I did not want my kids to be so focussed on the ranks and marks that learning becomes a mechanical process. But I wasn’t convinced about having purely non-academic goals either. The reason was simple, these kids were at least 2 -3 grade levels behind, they were already at a disadvantage compared to their peers in well-to-do schools. How could I rule out the academic component from my vision for these kids?

Learning to read well, doing well at each grade level every year will translate into an entry into a college for these children and a degree is what can get them all jobs in a few years to come. A structured roadmap of academic excellence is what can get  them and their families out the slums they are residing in. A college degree and eventually a professional job is the only means to end the cycle of poverty for that family. This will take at least 11-12 more years, but it will happen and one by one each of these kids will help their families break the cycle of illiteracy, unemployment and poverty. And that is precisely why there are no shortcuts possible, we discussed all this in class and the kids seemed to see the value in seeing that BIG GOAL for their lives.

The idea is simple, where these kids come from will not go on to decide who they can become. Their origin will NOT dictate their destiny.

Now, it’s easy to tell a child that you know what, you can become an engineer and you will go to college. But at Grade 3 level, how can this goal be broken down into small realizable steps for a little kid?

So here’s what we did, to make Vision 2020 (the year ALL my kids will be entering college) come to life, with a little back planning. I thought of what the End of the Year vision will look for the class. What are the things I want to leave the kids with and these were the things that stood out for me.

Vision for Class 3 Power Rangers:

• We want to become independent thinkers with original and creative ideas.
• We want to be responsible for our studies and learn to persevere until we meet out big goals.
• We want to become confident speakers in every language.

With this vision in mind, the end of the year BIG GOALS for each subject were planned.

The first thing  done  was to split the class into six groups with team names as a value that adds up to our class vision. So the six teams in  class are : Perseverant, Independent, Creative, Original, Confident and Responsible. There are multiple advantages of making kids work in teams,

1. The seating arrangement  clustered in groups fosters friendship and collaboration.
2. Amazing stuff comes out of their discussions as a team.
3. They accept and learn to work with all sets of kids. [This puts an end to all the incessant complaining. :)]
4. The joy of working towards something as a team and winning is unparalleled.

So here are our Big Goals.

ENGLISH BIG GOAL :

Our English Big Goal

READING BIG GOAL :

Our Reading Big Goal

WRITING BIG GOAL

Our Writing Big Goal

MATHS BIG GOAL

Our Math Big Goal

I’m very excited that we are reading Roald Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” this year and as a class we are super excited about the EOY play that this will culminate into. :)

I’m super happy about the fact that writer’s workshops will hopefully lead into an article by my kids in a newspaper. :)

The kids are really excited about the ‘Literature Circles’ in class that’ll give kids an opportunity to read 10 or more story books over the year and write book reviews for them. :)

Time Line for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory : Chapters 1 to 30

And there are two more parts of this entire plan that I’m super thrilled about. First being the Golden Tickets to ‘CLASS TRIPS’. This something I couldn’t do last year and I was very sure that it will definitely be happening in my classroom this year. It is one thing to tell a kid what an engineer/pilot/doctor does and it is another thing to expose them to real life role models. I wanted the kids to go in to offices, colleges, hospitals and airports and see what it is be there and also hear from these role models what it took them to get there.

But the Golden Tickets to these trips , that happen once in six weeks have to be earned. They do not come free. Every Friday we have a Math and English Class Test. Every team and hence every kid has to try to meet their Big Goal i.e. > 80% on every test for six weeks.

We add up and declare the team points every week. The kids track it in their files so that they understand the progression of their marks individually and we also display it on a public tracker in the class to keep alive the sense of competitiveness.

Public Tracker for all Teams_ English and Math Big Goal Tracking

Responsible Team Tracker

At the end of the six weeks, the entire team with the highest number of points wins the Golden Tickets for the class trip. Additionally, one topper from every other team gets the Golden Ticket for the trip. So this process of working towards something that is six weeks away and focussing all your energies towards that, will hopefully teach them the importance of delayed gratification. [Now this is a value that as an adult even I wish to learn :).]

We of course track at an individual levels too. The kids have an individual tracker pasted into their files, where they enter their weekly test percentages. After we pasted these trackers into the files and had a discussion about how they will be used throughout the year, one my kids stood up and said : ‘Didi, This is a good idea!‘ :)

Maths File _ Math Tracker for the Year

English File : Yearly tracker for RC/Grammar

The first trip at the end of the first six weeks happened and what an amazing trip it was. Couple of my friends at John Deere helped me put this together and the kids got to visit a place where over a 1000 engineers work! :) They loved every part of that visit, they got to see the material benefits associated with being an engineer….the amazing didi’s and bhaiya’s at John Deere who dressed smartly and spoke excellent English, their laptops, phones, air-conditioned offices, huge buildings, sparkling clean toilets….and even something as tiny as the hand-towel dispensing machines and automated taps was fascinating for them.

I was observing them in the boardroom as they interacted the senior leadership at John Deere who had come down from the  US for a visit. I just stepped back and smiled as they fearlessly asked them questions in halting English, – “Which country are you from?”….”Are you famous in your country?”. I wouldn’t have had the guts to ask a bunch of foreigners these questions when I was in Grade 3.  I was a conformist for a very long time in my life, I guess that is what an urban middle class upbringing does to you – you are from the beginning made aware of the rights/wrongs, appropriate/inappropriate . These kids have not been groomed, they haven’t been conditioned with the ways of an elite society….that is why there is a sense of rawness to everything they do and say that is so charming.

Golden Ticket Winners at the class trip to John Deere :)

It was really nice see Mrunal deliver his thank you speech haltingly in English (that he wrote himself) on behalf of all his friends to the John Deere Management.

The kids also got to present their Big Goals in front of the 2011 cohort of Teach For India.  These third graders presented the Big Goals to a an auditorium full of about a 100 first year teachers. And I’m so glad that I decided to take my mid-level kids for this event, the highest level kids don’t need any confidence boosting….but standing in front a huge crowd like this and speaking does wonders to the morale of those shy kids who need this exposure.

Presenting Big Goals at Thermax, Pune

So that’s just a brief introduction to my Grade 3 classroom for this year. I’m loving each day of being here. Every afternoon after I get back school, I have to literally tell myself to calm down, to relax and not talk/think about the events of the day. Yes, this used to happen last year too but this year I can feel the excitement in my nerves.

Until now, I’ve had many aspirations and I’ve set many targets for myself. I’ve gone on to achieve them and check them off my list. But for the first time in 24 years of my existence………I have a dream.  Those 35 kids in that classroom of mine, have become fragments of a dream :).  This vision for my class has become my dream, and how to make it come alive, an obsession. The first and possibly the most powerful of my dreams….and every passing day, I’m living and breathing that dream.

In the first week of school, I was so overwhelmed by the magnanimity of the tasks that lay ahead….I almost wondered if all this was possible at all to execute. But as always, Mr Twain seems to have the answers to every doubt in my mind and he finds me ….always…

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”

- Mark Twain

Along with all this stuff happening inside the classroom, there is one project happening outside the classroom that is adding to excitement. [for kids as well as me. :)]. More about that in the next post.

After visiting almost every adventure tour organizer on Mall Road, Manali, and hearing their outrageous trek package quotations, we had almost given up on the possibility of a trek. The major reason for interesting trail routes not being available was the same as the reason that prevented us from getting to Leh via road – excessive snowfall.

So anyway, just by a stroke of luck,  as we were wandering from one guesthouse to another in Old Manali, we found this Tibetan gentleman who suggested a trail that was not only an interesting trail in terms of the landscape but it also seemed like an experience packed  with many elements of local flavour.We started after a breakfast of not-so-well made aloo parathas and chai. [point of reference from now on for awesome paratha’s will be Sonia didi’s paratha’s at Keylong].

We travelled upto Prini which is about 4 kilometers from Manali, from Prini we started walking towards Sethan village, our stopover for the night. It was a climb of about 6 hours from Prini to the little Tibetan village called Sethan. Walking through all those little villages on our way to Sethan gave us a a snapshot view of how the locals live, their lifestyle and the architecture. This house in the picture below is a typical construction and the architectural style goes by the name – Kaath-Gun Shaili literally translating into a construction style consisting of layers of stone and wood. Mr. Tenzing, our guide told us that the advantage of this kind of construction is that the wood keeps the house warm in winters and the stone keeps it cool in summers.

Through the villages... stone-wood architecture

The climb was not entirely exhausting; it was just a long stretch. Altitude makes a lot of difference, climbing the same vertical distance here in Maharashtra would’ve been less taxing. All along the way, we found the thing that Manali is famous for, the weed plant. Apparently the higher up the in the mountains it grows, the better is its quality.

Himalayan High! - weed plants on the roadside

We were panting throughout the climb, checking the watch every 5 minutes, just waiting to pass on the shared backpack to each other after the decided half an hour and then we saw these lovely ladies. They climb the mountains everyday to gather wood, dried up leaves for burning and the come down with this heavy load! At least my sense of cribbing went down a lot after seeing them, although there wasn’t much to crib after that, we had almost reached Sethan.

Heavily but happily loaded... :)

Just before, our last stretch of climbing, we stopped over at this little dhaba for a cup of chai and ate our packed lunch there. Having a cup of tea at 9000 ft, somewhere in an nameless village in Himachal Pradesh……. it’s a different high altogether. :)

Steaming hot chai at 9000 ft.... :)

Our 'high' energy packed lunch!

This <below> was our Tibetan Homestay after reaching Sethan. Sethan is a small village with hardly 15 families living in the village. The main occupation is farming and the land has been allocated by the Government. We had about 3 hours for resting before we set out again on an evening trail to explore Sethan. Somehow, very strangely I wasn’t sleepy at all so I decided to make the best of the Rs. 20 purchase I’d made at Old Manali, my notepad…. and I sat there and wrote…..and I’ve not had a more coordinated and productive connection between my mind and the pen in months….It just flowed, everything that is sometimes too difficult to voice out loud to even yourself….I wrote about 11 pages in those three hours sitting out on the ledge and spent another 40 minutes reading through every single word.

Terrace of our homestay at Sethan Village

After a nice afternoon nap, we started out for a walk through the forests surrounding Sethan and this <in the picture below> is what our little village looked like from a height. The dinner preparations had started, our cook who was also our guide for this trek – Amit, a good-natured fellow had given us an idea of what our dinner menu would look like and it was quite a tantalizing preview.

View of Sethan Village from the 'Forbidden Forest'

It was a peaceful walk through the ‘forbidden forests’ :), the serene environment, the little Gompas and the stunning blanket of green added to this charm of the evening.

Undefined limits...

I stand tall....

After we got back from the walk, we almost immediately started out on the soup which was followed by a dinner that was THE highlight of this trip. :) And as always, I have the food pictures …devouring food with your eyes first, I believe, gets your appetite even more worked up. :P

Very aptly put,

After a day’s walk everything has twice its usual value. ~George Macauley Trevelyan

Mutter Paneer, Masoor ki Dal, Rotis, Rice, Salad and 'THE' rassogullas

This awesome dinner was followed by a third course of rassagullas. The last shot of a rassagulla led to some very unfavourable circumstances in the night….. :) Unfavourable for some and supremely hilarious for some of us.  After laughing uncontrollably like nuts, we finally went to bed.

That’s the thing about being with friends, most of the times you don’t even knowing why you are laughing …..you have your own inside jokes. Especially these two, I’ve known them since college and it’s been eight years together now. We were in the raft, for white water rafting in River Beas at Manali, when I had no clue why I started laughing like a maniac and it just wouldn’t stop, I turned back and Anagha tried to ask me between splashes of water as to why I was laughing like a cracked nut. But I couldn’t even answer and after a while even she was in the same state, laughing like another cracked nut.  When you don’t even know the reason for your mad sense of happiness, I think you are in good company. :)

Anyway, next day after a breakfast of porridge and black tea, we started out towards Hampta Pass. Along the way, just a few kilometres from Sethan, we crossed the Pandu Ropaa, it is rumoured that the Pandavas during their vanvaas, had stayed here and harvested wheat in these fields.

Pandu Ropaa

We crossed the Devtibba River to get to the other side of the range where the River Hampta followed quietly along our way.

Hampta River

This region is famous for the paper-like material that comes out from the bark of trees, apparently it was the writing material used by Valmiki for writing the famous Indian epic Ramayana.

Peel-away bark that was used as writing material

Finally after four hours of walking, our first sight of snow….We had a great time walking upto the top and sliding down the snow and of course  we did a little bit of snowball fight too. :)

Snow Slide :) :)

After climbing upto about 12000 feet we took a lunch break to savor a lunch of eggs, meethi rotis and mangoes. We started our journey back towards Sethan after our lunch break. We reached Sethan, packed up and hauled ourselves into a pickup truck with all construction workers headed back towards Prini after a long day of work.

The last shot before we hit the regular terrain...

We had a great time doing this trek, but a couple of things that we could’ve done or rather avoided are -

1. My advice to anyone who wants to do a trek around Manali : Don’t take up any Tour Operator made plan. You’ll unnecessarily pay Rs 1500 per day for something you can do by yourself with a little local guidance and a map. Most trails upto Solang Valley are etched out very clearly. Most tour operator packages are custom tailored to suit foreigners and they are a little exorbitant, so be careful about what you choose.

2. My two cents on the river rafting packages, – If you’re looking for some real adventure, don’t waste your time here. This 14 km rafting experience was more or less like a boating trip. The only sense of excitement came from splashes of frigid water.

3.  Stay at Manali – As far as possible, try and stay at Old Manali. New Manali is basically a clutter of shops, restaurants and hotels centered around the Mall Road. It’s way too touristy and hence crowded. Old Manali has a lot of quaint little cafes and comfortable guest houses available for a half the price of New Manali. We paid Rs 500 for a really quiet and nice guest house in Manali with room service and a gorgeous view of the River Beas. The cheapest room at New Manali will cost you Rs 1000.

Auto rickshaws take Rs 50 from old Manali to new Manali, so even  considering 100 bucks a day spent on travel, you’re still better off staying at old Manali.

4. Must try food:

(a) Live on parathas as long as you’re there, eat as many as you can and as many types possible. They’re fantastic. :)

(b) Moong Dal Halwa and Jelebi. I not really a fan of anything sweet, but this place is pretty famous for both these things.

(c) Poori – Aloo ki Subzi : This recipe has been blessed by the heavens! What Pav Bhaji is to Maharashra and Dosas are to Bangalore, Poori- Aloo is to Himachal. :) You can’t go wrong with it and there’s no way it can taste bad any place in Himachal Pradesh.

(d) Chai : Drink Litres. Because whatever you are going to have at home at your local tapri’s is always going to feel like an insipid, clumsy mockery of the lovely adrak ki chai here.

So yeah, that’s that. :)