ULLASADA HOOMALE- An Art Mela for Pre-school and Aanganwadi Teachers

-     written by Ms. Ashwini Maslekar, TFI fellow 2015-17 and an intern at Mantra4Change

The Art-Mela was organised by the students of 2nd year M.A. in Education (Early Childhood stream) of the Azim Premji University. Though of a short duration (half a day from 9.30-2.00), the event was packed with several take-aways with respect to the potential of art in the curriculum and pedagogical practices in pre-schools. The aim of the Mela was to ‘open up the opportunities and possibilities of art and its implementation in the curriculum to reveal the integration of both, to make the classroom teaching learning practices interesting for the pre-schoolers’.
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Even before a formal gathering of all the participants was arranged, the foyer was thrown open with an array of ‘Colour Blast’ activities. These activities made the participants get hands on learning experience of various art activities while also enabling them to thoroughly enjoy themselves. All the activities part of this are listed below.

WALL PAINTING: for the purpose of the event large chart papers were put up on the walls of the foyer. With no set design in mind the participants could make use of materials such as sponge, leaves (of different types) and even their hands to paint (imprint) on the ‘wall’. A simple fun way to express ones thoughts with no right or wrong painting, this activity would be a great way to decorate the classrooms. 

SPRAY PAINTING: the tool used here was an old toothbrush which resulted in beautiful paintings of leaves, flowers, paper cut outs or any object which will leave behind a pattern. An artistic touch to reusing old objects and also learning about shapes and patterns                                                        

STRAW PAINTING: requiring one to huff and puff through a straw on the paper, this method created interesting patterns on the paper. It is a joy to find known shapes emerge from a random flow of the paints. The size of the straws can vary with the age of the kids.                                          

BUBBLE-WRAP ROLLING: wrap a bubble wrap on a rolling pin, paint colour on it and just roll away.  

GLASS RINGS: this activity involved the use of paper glasses with paint on their rim. As kids make circles with the glasses, they can learn a variety of mathematical concepts from counting to Venn diagrams.

VEGETABLE IMPRINTS: Onions, Capsicum, French Beans, Lady Fingers, Potatoes or any other vegetable that will leave a distinguishable imprint. This activity which is quiet popular in schools gives the students and idea of shapes, patterns and about the vegetables themselves.

FROZEN PAINTS: a painting method which surprised and intrigued everyone, this involved freezing paints mixed with water with an ice-cream stick to create paint popsicles! As the paint starts melting roll these popsicles on a rough surface to create any pattern one desires.                        

THREAD PAINTING: dip threads of various sizes into paints and drag them or simply place them on the paper to create design.                                                                                          

TIE AND DYE: this stall had two methods of dying cloth. One was the well-known way which used grains tied in the cloth with a thread while the other one required a wet cloth to be put into a half cut bottle with holes on the sides. All one has to do is put paint through the holes to stain the cloth. The result is a colourful melange. It is nothing short of Holi in a bottle!

RANGOLI: Rangoli is a great way to understand lines and patterns. One can have symmetrical patterns by connecting dots or make asymmetrical designs of variety of colours and details. For those who are less deft than others with their fingers the organizers had a quick fix. Just spread the rangoli colours onto your design and make any desired pattern with your index finger (or any finger you are most comfortable with).

CLAY MODELLING: the surest way to get ones hands dirty and still learn a whole deal. Clay modelling is quite useful for developing motor skills in children. Apart from that it can also be used to understand 3-D shapes by actually making the miniature models.

ORIGAMI: the Japanese paper folding art has been with us throughout our childhood and has varying levels of difficulty. With basic folding, the children can make their own playthings and also learn lines and shapes.

                       

Exposure Visit to Aircraft Maintenance Unit

- an article by Ms. Vineeta Thomas - a senior team member at Mantra4Change

“If birds can glide for long periods of time, then… why can't I?” rightly said by Mr. Orville Wright. Travelling by a “flight” is now a matter of convenience more than luxury. Over the next few years, a step-change in (i) the affordability of air travel and (ii) the access to air travel are expected to result in 270 million air passengers by 2020, making India the third largest aviation market globally. (LL, 2013)

On 27^th February 2016, approximately 50 students of one of our partner schools visited Airworks Pvt Ltd. at Hosur to interact with the aircraft maintenance engineers as well as to see the aircrafts at their hangar.

It was quite an intriguing experience for the students and the teachers of the school to visit the maintenance unit and watch the aircrafts so closely. The students were divided into batches of two and each group was led by a senior maintenance engineer. The students were thrilled to board the Spicejet Aircraft and see the different sections so closely. The students coming from a low income background have only heard of an aircraft, seen it in movies and photographs, but with the help of Airworks , the dream of witnessing and experiencing an aircraft so closely came true.

“Ma’am I feel so proud to visit the aircraft” was one of the responses by a grade 9^th student. The students were explained about the functions of various parts of the aircraft, with a brief explanation about the engine, the various tools and the mechanisms. 

“Ma’am, I never knew the plane can fly without pilot” was a statement by a grade 10^th student, who was surprised to learn that planes had an autopilot mode. 

More than informative, the visit was inspiring for the students as one of the engineers interacting with the students was Ms. Bhavya, who strongly motivated the female students to pursue their dreams and most students came out feeling very inspired and expressed their admiration for her. She beautifully connected their knowledge of basic Physics, while she explained the propeller and the engine. Mr Anthony, who was leading a separate batch, motivated the students on how true perseverance can lead to success in any industry. The teachers accompanying the students were equally excited to experience the interaction. 

The students walked away carrying confidence and admiration ,for the young engineers working on the aircraft; it helped the students learn about a new avenue for their careers.

A special mention of Mr Unni Kuttan of Airworks, without whose support this visit might not have been possible. 

...when students learnt, explored and experienced the magic of science..!

- written by Vineeta Thomas, a senior team member of Mantra Social Services

The famous scientist Kalpana Chawla once said “When you look at the stars and the galaxy, you feel that you are not just from any particular piece of land, but from the solar system.” 

There is something about the stars and the night sky that mesmerises the adults and children alike. This new year started on a very exciting note for our children at various partner schools. Mr. Rajkishore from Azim Premji University spent quality hours with the higher primary students and conducted his interesting sessions on Solar system, Stars, Constellations (Star families), lack of gravity in space etc.  

He was full of charisma and was full of energy while keeping the students engaged at all time. Each of the students thoroughly enjoyed the sessions. He talked about various aspects of the solar system, the stars and their distance from Earth, how they form constellations and about various concepts that were new to the students. He kept the sessions interactive and consequently, the students were attentive throughout and kept asking him questions, in return.

“We should make a poem on the sun“, stated a curious student, when being explained about how Sun is a star. Students were never exposed to a forum where they could make statements, share their opinions, clear their inhibitions and grow their knowledge. They were given the ownership of the workshop and they felt a part of the discussion. Certain questions raised by the students made us think that students need to be given the liberty to ask questions, make mistakes and reason out themselves.

These sessions gave students an opportunity to express their curiosity. The students were introduced to a software called, Stellarium which shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what one sees with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. Students were so excited to see the planetarium like image on the projector and were absolutely thrilled. To end the sessions, there always was a simple, yet exciting experiment of making a rocket using a thread and balloon (Ref. Arvind Gupta Toys). 

It was a great opportunity for the students to learn, explore and experience the true magic of science. 

Mantra4Change: The journey of 2015

Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity, but in doing it. - Greg Anderson

At MANTRA, our journey during this last one year has been truly magical. 

Our associations and partnerships have grown tremendously. As we reflect, we feel elated that through our initiative STEP (School Transformation and Empowerment Project), we have been able to put our partner schools on a path to provide quality education to our children.

From implementing STEP in three partner schools, we are currently in partnership with nine under-resourced schools, which are working with a singular vision of providing education to children coming from neighbouring under-privileged communities.

One major component of STEP is ongoing, in-service professional development for teachers. Today, we are part of a 230 members' strong teacher community. As we work together, we keep learning from each other and keep sharing the best practices.

Across our 9 partner schools, there are approx. 7100 students who are being positively affected by the improved quality of teaching in schools.

As we move to greater number of schools, our own team at MANTRA is growing too. From a two-member on-field team in Jan 2015, today as the year comes to an end, Mantra4Change has an amazing team of seven mavericks, who are passionately working towards the vision of providing high-quality education to children, no matter what background do they come from.

We thank all our amazing supporters and awesome volunteers, who have joined us in this amazing and beautiful journey. Lets weave an even more beautiful and inspiring story together in the new year..! 

Filling the world with hope..!

“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.”, said Mr Barack Obama. 

Mitisha Dodderi and Prakhar Saxena are two such amazing individuals, who are filling the world with hope in their own way. Both of them are currently in the third year of their engineering and when they are not busy decoding the mysteries of Computer Science, they teach Mathematics to the students of grade 10th at one of our partner schools.

Mitisha, who wants to take up teaching as a profession, writes, "I love helping people and sharing my knowledge; and I often help out my friends or cousins with their curriculum. Since, I had a liking to teaching and was considering teaching as a profession I thought volunteering to teach would be a wonderful start."   

She adds,"My journey with Mantra4Change has been incredible. It has been a delight to teach math to the 10th grade students. Every day that I spend with these amazing students has been imprinted in my mind. The students have been extremely co-operative and welcoming. Although a talkative lot, they are bright and eager to learn. Teaching them is something I to look forward to every single day. This opportunity has made my will stronger to take up teaching as a profession."

Prakhar is a gaming enthusiast and loves to spend his time programming on computers. Sharing his experience of being a teacher to grade 10th students, he smilingly says, "The voyage has been a roller coaster ride for me. Although, I have work experience in the technical field, I was a newbie in the teaching field before I grabbed onto the wonderful opportunity provided by Mantra4Change. Teaching maths to these students has been an adventure, which every person must look forward to and one must experience the joy in sharing knowledge at least once before dying. Bill Nye, an American scientist, aptly quoted, 'Everyone you will ever meet knows something that you don't'. So, not only sharing knowledge, but gaining knowledge from the 10th graders also held much importance while volunteering for such an amazing opportunity. It feels like I am crafting the future of the young India in some sense."

Its said that Volunteers are not paid - not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless. Mitisha and Prakhar are two of such priceless gems of our team at Mantra4Change, who are filling the world around them with hope. We feel so privileged to have them with us. Way to go, guys..!

Thanks for supporting our Run2Liberate

Thank you all for your overwhelming support to our crowd-source fundraising campaign, Run2Liberate. We are glad to share that with the help of over 31 amazing supporters like you, we were able to raise approx. INR 1,50,000. It always fills our heart with deep gratitude and enthusiasm to have your support.

On October 18th 2015, Team MANTRA participated in the Bengaluru Marathon to spread awareness towards the cause of quality education for children from under-privileged communities. We also requested our supporters to help us raise funds to support our Target program - the pre-service, community-based teacher training program. The campaign was meant to support these amazing youngsters from community who have taken the responsibility to change the face of education in their neighborhood.

Related posts: 

Every morning, I wake up with a purpose..!  

Bengaluru Marathon 2015 and MANTRA's Run2Liberate

Every morning, I wake up with a purpose..!

I am Azra Bano and I teach grade 4 students in a Government school. I am glad to share some amazing moments of my life.

I had finished my secondary school in 2011 and joined the Pre-university College to pursue Science. I did well in my PU College. But I was not allowed to study further. In the year 2014, I had to stay at home, looking after my parents. That was also a very good experience of my life, but soon I realized that I wanted to achieve more in my life. I used to see girls around my house, who were never given a chance to go to school. I used to feel sad for them because I knew what they were missing in life.

I wanted to share the knowledge that I had got throughout my years at college and school, but did not know where to start. Then one fine morning, one of my friends told me about the teacher training program by Mantra at a Government school in our community. Immediately, I went there and enquired about the program. I submitted my application and after interview, I was selected. I was so happy. It felt like my dream was about to come true.

Today, after 6 months, I spend my time with 25 amazing students from grade 4. I am their class teacher. I have learnt so much in these past months. Training sessions were fantastic and even today, they are fun. I maintain my logbook to record my lesson plans. I have learnt interesting ways to teach English and Maths. I conduct many fun activities in my class to teach the subjects. Actually I am supposed to spend my time teaching the kids, but the fact is I am also learning so much from them. I am enjoying every moment and want to remain in such an environment forever. My life has become beautiful and every morning, I wake up with a purpose- a purpose to help my students learn better. 

The post has been submitted by Ms. Azra Bano, one of the teachers from our pre-service, community-based teacher training program.