Teen Rebellion

If you think preparing for a boardroom presentation is difficult, try delivering a class to a bunch of 13 year olds!

Do you remember the time you were a teenager? It was so easy to hate everything around you, feel victimized all the time and never feel heard or understood. Class 7 has the most unruly boys in the whole school, notorious for their rebellion with every teacher. I experienced their hostility driven by their raging hormones in my very first class with them when I sent a bunch of them out of my class for their rowdy behavior, only to find all our 30 pairs of shoes, which were lined up outside class, scattered all around the playground and thrown onto the roof top of the school building. Let’s just say we didn’t start off on the best note.

I spent the next few weeks trying my best to motivate them, to talk about things that mattered to them, take on projects they were passionate about, engage them in meaningful conversations, make them open up in class and be more proactive with the experiments we did. But everyday seemed like it was a waste of my time, energy and effort with class 7 and there was no point losing my voice shouting at walls. They didn’t stop with their mocking funny noises, their back answers or their idle pondering in class. 

But suddenly one fine day something happened. They stopped. To think back, I can’t pin point this transformation to any one incident or event but I do vaguely remember it was right after a deep conversation I had with the entire class on my birthday. They were perhaps being nice to me because it was my birthday or something, and actually listened. But something stuck with them since that day and they’ve been doing phenomenally well in class ever since. It could also be the fact that the field trip was announced in that session and I left them to decide on their main project topic on their own. I was mighty excited when they told me they wanted to make a greenhouse on their return from the field trip.

And since then they have submitted a written report on the field trip (something they would've never done in a million years) and built a successful greenhouse that is still standing 3 days in. They took on the challenge with such gusto that all other teachers were shocked to see them going against their well set reputation of being the rebels of the school. It makes me immensely proud to see them redirect their energies to something as productive. They finished the entire project in less than 3 hours and in less than 30$. And to think this was the same group which threw my shoes on the top of the school building once.

My learning through this whole experience has been, it’s not about Behavioral Psychology or using “the incentive method” to get kids to do something. It comes down a simple rule-“They will do it if they want to do it”. Yes, that’s a no brainer. But the key is to make them WANT to do something by making the task fun and by trying your best to inspire them in every possible way, till you succeed. You can achieve it by trusting them enough to be the judge of what’s in their best interest, while treating teenagers like adults, with respect till eventually it turns into mutual respect.

From throwing my shoes onto the roof top to now taking selfies, we’ve sure come a long way! I only wish for the best things for this class, and more such projects. Man, am I going to miss them!

LOL! I love that guy's no-smile-straight-face in the back.

The Art of Project Based Learning

Project based learning or PBL is a modern day teaching methodology aimed at the 21^st century learner practiced by making real world connections to the study topic, providing a structured collaborative environment, making it practical,  giving students complete ownership of the project and thus creating lifelong learners in the process.

But can PBL work in an Indian Classroom Scenario? I was a little skeptic about it until I figured out how. Baring the tier one elite schools or IB schools, most Indian schools lack the infrastructure needed to conduct independent/group research and are governed by a completely different set of socio-cultural rules compared to the west; which I do not necessarily mean in a bad way.

One of the biggest challenges for a mixed group is there is always a boy-girl divide. If you have studied in the Indian schooling system you will know exactly what I am talking about. Boys usually occupy the two extreme rows to the left and the girls occupy the two rows to the right. And their interactions are usually hostile, if at all. So to put them in the same group and ask them to work together to find a solution to a problem/task is like asking Tom and Jerry to make up. However, this is usually the case up till grade 6th after which things are a little less hostile but suddenly whole lot quieter than usual for a completely different set of reasons, which we won’t get into now. 

What is important for conducting a PBL session is asking the right questions. This is more difficult than you think; especially, if you are someone like me who likes to jump in and give her own inputs. You can try and pose your input as a suggestion but they will take it less like a suggestion and more as an ultimatum, out of the habit of letting the teacher have the first and the last word. So the key is to create an environment conducive to healthy discussions and enable mutual trust from the very beginning. Don’t be afraid to look stupid by asking illogical questions only to allow them to come up with sound reasoning to refute it. The process is much like conducting a design thinking workshop but with teenagers instead. Self-assessment is the most difficult part of PBL to implement with Indian students since it is deeply tied with self-awareness. It is also unfair to expect students to suddenly build all these qualities just for one class while all other subjects are conducted in the traditional rote method.

However, Ebase is different. Mahabhodhi is different. 

One thing Pahaadi kids (mountain kids) are great at is Jugaad innovation! It is deep rooted and comes naturally to them. These kids never fail to surprise me with their innovative makeshift solutions for every road block we face with projects. Class 6^th has the most proactive students and our project was to make a working model of a mini biogas plant for which we needed some pretty complicated parts like a T-valve, a tire tube with an opened nozzle, a soldering iron etc. We made the entire project with spare parts that the kids found at the kabaddi walas’, at the hostel kitchen or in the guesthouse dumpster. The kids like their E-base sessions so much that they literally came back in their free periods and break time to submit tasks given to them the previous day.

The project on hand for the notorious class 7 students on our return from the field trip was to build a greenhouse from scratch with the basic material they were provided with. And they took on the challenge with such gusto that all other teachers were shocked to see them going against their well set reputation of being the rebels of the school. In fact they not only finished their challenge of making the greenhouse but really surprised me with their attention to detail when it came to digging holes, churning the soil with humus, blueprints of the plant beds, the steps they followed through the process, their reasoning behind each step and their degree of collaboration. They also considered a number of different designs for making it with 5 long PVC pipes. An igloo shaped greenhouse with light entering from every direction, many small green houses made with two pipes each or one big green house with all five pipes. They all took a vote and decided on a full size 5 pipe green house. They were also extremely efficient in executing the plan and had a standing structure in 40 minutes, tilled soil mixed with humus and charted beds by then end of the next period and soon it will have UV stabilized plastic and cabbage growing by mid winter. They finished the entire project in less than 3 hours and in less than 30$. And to think this was the same group which threw my shoes on the top of the school building once.

DAY 1:

Model 1: Igloo=  Rejected! 

Model 2: Mini box = Rejected!

Model 3:  Mambo Jumbo = Approved! 

Progress at the end of Day 1- the proud team. 

DAY 2:

Ta-Dha! 

All that's left to do is add a UV stabilized Plastic sheet and seeds to plant for this winter! 

A Rendezvous With A Music Legend

The students of Mahabhodi never seize to surprise me with their innate talents. Every week I discover a new child prodigy with some new hidden gift. The kids are extremely active in cultural activities and all of them are very used to dressing up in traditional clothing and performing Ladakhi folk songs for the tourist who come visit our campus, as often as 2 times a week. This very routine keeps them deeply rooted to their traditions and heritage while music, dance and community get togethers’ form the backbone of the campus grounds.

A group of senior class students have a natural ear for music. Most of them discovered their inclination towards music when as young as 6 years old and each one has an interesting passion filled story to tell about their love for music. One of them narrated an anecdote of how he wanted to play the traditional Ladhaki drum, the Dhamal, so much as a child, that he would come back from cultural shows and pretend-play-it on tin cans just like their big bhayyas’ did. The students are also a part of a marching band which is one of the best in the city of Leh. For them music is everything, a stress buster, their identity, their passion and an out let for their feelings.

As a part of a project, the past two weeks, a group of senior students decided to bring about a musical revolution in their school and teach the junior class kids music with the idea of spreading their love for music. They wanted to initiate it with kids at a much younger age than when they learnt it themselves. They started out but soon realized that there were not enough musical instruments to teach a class of 30 and so they looked around and came up with an idea of turning waste materials into musical instruments. They believe that music is all around us all the time and urge people to notice it too. I love listening to these kids for hours and their passion filled stories bring me to tears. I kid you not!

    

Even at age 14 and 15 the kind of initiative they are demonstrating is tremendous. The head boy and the school council managed to pull off a week long project even with their Board exams starting in 5 days!! (If that was me I would’ve buried my face in books as I used to hate exams as a child.) They also invited the legendary musician, Sir Angchuk Ralam, also known as the flute man of Ladakh, to conduct a workshop on how to make innovative music with everyday items. Most famous for his MTV gig – Sound trippin’ with the song Juh leh, sir Angchuk Ley now works with the prestigious All India Radio Station, Leh; after having founded a local NGO, SECMOL and building it from scratch for 3 years.  It was humbling to see a man so famous be so down to earth and he inspired the students with stories about his childhood adventures, his struggles as a musician, his passions, the value of music and his words of wisdom. The kids learnt how to make a flute with PVC pipes, a Jal Tarang with china bowls and the idea of a coconut maracas. The workshop was followed by a free jam session with a melodious combination of traditional music instruments playing Tibetan Folk songs to later popular tunes of Bollywood.

The past week, the school has been enchanted in the musical tunes of Traditional Tibetian and Ladaki Folksongs, Amir khan’s Bum Bum bole, One Direction, Justin Bieber, Bob Marley, Classic Rock hits and Honey Singh. Jamming with buckets, dustbins, glass bottles, cardboard boxes and wooden sticks has been more fun than anything ever! Just being around them makes your soul come alive.  

Leaving you with images of the workshop. A video on the whole project to follow soon, stay tuned. 

Its not everyday you meet a celebrity so humble and inspiring

Experiential Learning at its Best

I’ve been trying to drive down the point of The Greenhouse Effect, Global Warming and Sustainability with the notorious class 7 boys for weeks now. And it all just happened in one day on our field trip to Nang Village in collaboration with Ladakh Environment and Health Organization. LEHO is an NGO run by Dr. Deen and his wife with an idea to integrate age old traditions with modern sustainable practices and taking them to villages and teaching them various other such techniques, to make them self-sufficient.

Most of the students who study at the Mahabhodhi residential school hostel come from villages in and around Ladakh and take trips back to their villages during the winter and summer vacation. Through this trip they were inspired enough say that they will take back these technologies to their own villages, far and wide. I believe for them to just have this thought in their formative years is half the job done to ensure that one day they will give back to their communities, with the education they receive.

Our entire field trip was a five phase process where the First Phase involved taking the wrong route for an hour and a half along the Indus River, through the beautiful landscapes only to find ourselves lost. We however, finally managed to retrace our steps halfway to the Nang village which was tucked away behind a mountain, reachable only through steep sloped hills and extremely narrow semi pakka roads, not made keeping school buses in mind. 

As we arrived closer, the terrain became greener. We saw small houses with Yaks and neighbors harvesting their crops together, trees changing color from greens to yellows and stone bricked fences lined between houses. We were soon received and briefed by Mr. Ajaz from LEHO who was just excellent with the kids and really probed them to think with his thoughtfully framed questions. We then took a short kilometer hike to the Second Phase of our trip; which was to see and learn about Artificial Glaciers. The hike was my personal favorite part of the whole trip, with green grass, pebbles, boulders and rocks; crossing crystal clear water streams and stopping to drink melted glacier water straight from the mini falls every now and then. They say bottled water is most expensive if packed at the source and here we were drinking it for free.

When we finally got up there, all we saw was what looked like parts of the Great Wall of China, misplaced its way to the wrong side of the border; which could’ve been possible- given were only a few hundred kilometers away from it. But when we were told that those walls were indeed the structures of the artificial glaciers, we were quite surprised by the simplicity and effectiveness of the theory behind a technology with such a complicated name.

The Third Phase involved hopping on to the bus again and visiting some local households with Green houses growing Strawberries! The extremely harsh cold conditions in Ladakh make it impossible to grow crops during winter; which lasts 7 months of the year.  The kids learnt everything about greenhouses; from the direction they should face to the best angle to trap the sun’s heat and grow food during winter.

Phase Four helped make these greenhouses more productive with the heat generated through the Exothermic Reactions in the Compost Pits. The students learnt the A to Z of Composting- from the optimum temperatures needed for the bacteria to act upon the organic waste to the ideal moisture levels. To my surprise class 7 boys were well behaved and I think I even saw some of them take notes (unless they were pretending). Either way it was a great learning for each one of us. I included. It’ll be interesting to see the how the students fair at their follow up challenge. Stay tuned to know more.

Oh! I almost forgot. The Fifth Phase was when our field trip turned into a picnic as we stopped on our way back to eat lunch right by a mini water tank reservoir with snow clad mountains as the back ground. Need I say more? I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. 

 

My Experiments with Racism

Caught your attention didn't I? It might be a taboo topic in most countries, not in India it isn't! Its no coincidence that my title is inspired by M.K. Gandhi's autobiography, My Experiments with Truth. While his book spoke about the apartheid faced by the Black natives in South Africa and how the way he was treated by the White South Africans changed his strongly ingrained ideas about racial superiority, my post is going to be more about the blunt bias against brown Indian girls in India.

India is obsessed with Fair skin. Turn on TV, youtube advertisements or street hoardings-  fairness is the USP for every beauty product(clearly with nothing unique about it). Anti-aging cream? Here! And you get to become fairer too. The task of buying a moisturizing cream at a super market is made arduous with a million options all claiming to make you fair, even if all I really want is a regular moisturizer to keep my skin from becoming dry! And as if that's not enough the new fad is Deodorants for Fairer underarms! The ridiculousness of the statement does not hit you initially when you see women flashing their under arms at the screen until you realize that's a body part you can't even see most of the time!

I distinctly remember this one incident as an IDEX fellow at my placement school. While I was taking a class I saw a group of students at the back distracted. when I walked up to them I found the girl on the last bench crying and the boys on the last two benches giggling. Turns out the most notorious(brahmin and by extension fair skinned)boy of the class had called Lakshmi, a demure 8th-grade girl, a nasty name. The Telugu equivalent of a "black witch". I was furious when I found out and I also had a sudden dejavu moment. It reminded me of my childhood where I myself was called names of all imaginable permutations with the word black in it. I thought a South Indian girl growing up in North, East and West of India had it tough but here was Lakshmi with tears flowing down hear cheeks, and I realized it's never easy, no matter where you are from. This is why counseling against incidents shattering the self-confidence of teenage girls at their prime of building their personalities, becomes important.

At the risk of sounding condescending, I find how staying so cut out from the world can make someone so narrow-minded, very bemusing. I recently went to a funeral and one of the ladies walked up to my mother and asked her if I was the younger one? My mom smiled and nodded and her immediate reaction was to shout out loud "What happen to her? She used to be much fairer!" #Ishoutback-Iplaysports. Social etiquette aside it's for garrulous, senseless comments like this one, that I do not like to attend family functions and this is not even the worse I've heard. What tops the list is the sarcastic "Oh! you have two daughters?" #pityface Or "you have two negatives?" The code name for daughter is "negative" as "positive" refers to boys (like we are a set of batteries)! This one time my mom was even advised to save up a lot of dowry since both my sister and I are so dark! I feel like I am not doing enough justice by translating these comments to English because they sound so much ruder in Telugu with the tone in which they are said. Also, it goes without saying not all my relatives are like that, but this would be an apt generalization of most of the Andhra population mentality and that of most Indians as well (and by most I mean 90%).

Well, to be fair (pun intended) there is racism in every country. Just like there exist Black jokes, Jew jokes, Blonde jokes, we have our share of Mallu jokes, Gulti jokes(that's me) and the timeless Sardar jokes. It's like we cannot coexist without constantly offending each other. Sure that one funny forward text message makes our day more lively but at what cost? What is funny about a north eastern boy being publicly murdered in the capital city for the way he looked or a certain cast being denied of relief work supplies post an earth quake or holding someone not guilty in-charge of a crime only because of their skin color? Where does one draw the line?

Indians are not prone to Xenophobia being the diverse mix we are. Yet we are very selective about whom we extend our celebrated hospitality towards. I personally encountered instances where organization leaders preferred to have white exchange volunteers instead of black, only because they believe there will get more "positive publicity" for their organization with white volunteers! It sounds appalling, doesn't it? But I don't see how this is any different from when we jokingly tease a friend in the friends group with origin rooted nicknames? Maybe it's fine because your friend is laughing along, but by doing so are we subconsciously making our minds immune to the idea of demeaning others based on race and thus making us more tolerant of racism?

#beingbrown