Development through drama course

~Saranya

Three of us went for this workshop. It was happening past two weeks. Through this workshop I know to take class with only the instruction. There were few new activities I learnt from this workshop. It was really good. It help children to concentrate.

We can use the body to stimulate imagination and the imagination to stimulate movement.

It’s my treasure/ Stolen Treasure – change the name to suit group

Set up a semi circle of ‘treasure’ around the person who is ‘on’. This person closes their eyes or wears a blind fold if they are younger. The class are invited one at a time to have a go to ‘steal’ the treasure (with some groups ask them to put hands up if they want a go and teacher makes sure everyone gets a go – in silence). They creep forward, take one piece of treasure and return to their place without making a sound. The person who owns the treasure must try to hear where they are and if they point in that exact direction then the person must finish their go/ return their treasure.

Traffic Light – using the colours to move/slow down and freeze. Variations include swapping the meaning of colours eg Red= Go- this demands more concentration; or adding in further instructions as people are moving in one mode, eg Amber means walking on tiptoes, Green means walking like a gorilla etc.

Snake Lines

Starting with one long line, give each child a number from 1. Explain you would like them to move around the room like a snake, staying together in one long line. Practice this.

Then explain that when you call a number you want that number person to be at the front of the snake. Anyone whose number is lower, must walk quietly to the back of the line. Practice this.

Once the group have mastered these first stages, then make 2 lines, standing shoulder to shoulder. Give each pair a number and repeat the exercise as above. When the pairs are going to the back of the line they should separate in different directions – person on left goes left, person on right goes right.

Once all of this has been mastered add one further challenge, when you say ‘Split’ the 2 lines separate out and follow their own path. When you call ‘unite’ then they must try to come back together again without stopping if possible.

Paired film-making

In pairs label yourselves A & B. A’s must think of an activity they can act out- something from everyday living, eg washing, eating, cleaning, gardening. Staying where they are (not moving around the room), A’s begin their action.

B’s are the film-makers and they are filming the action. They can choose long shots, medium shots or close-ups. Let this run for a couple of minutes while everyone is absorbed. Then swap roles.

Afterwards give pairs a couple fo minutes to chat about what shots they would keep in their films.

Mirrors

Standing opposite your partner one person begins to move their hands slowly and the other follows. The aim is to move slowly enough so that the action is perfectly mirrored. Swap roles so that the other person leads for a while.

Developments:

Have no leader- try to co-lead it
Lose the strained staring at each other- aim for a soft gaze
Add music for a longer, more sustained actionAsk the pairs to Freeze at certain moments and decide if they were in a story right now who might they be and what might the story be?
1. You can keep changing partners for this exercise so pupils get used to working with each other
  1. Moving in different ways
  In this exercise the class is moving around the room responding to instructions and narration given by the teacher. Begin form normal walking and then introduce:
  - Medium: in sea, on land, in air
  - Purpose: searching for food/treasure, escaping, moving from one place to another eg out of the sea, out of a hole
  - Surfaces: dry earth, into mud, onto hot rock, thick undergrowth, marbles, wet tar, sharp stones, on ice
  - Conditions: light, darkness, hot, cold, windy, stormy
  - Physical condition: strong becoming weak, determined then giving up, disappointed then hopeful.
  - Adverbs: happily, sadly, excitedly, lazily, determinedly, nervously
  It is best to alter the energy of the types of walking to maintain interest. If a group are engaging in one well then perhaps you can add more detail to allow a story to build around it.
2. Group movement journeys
In small groups, ask the class to choose scenarios (or give them scenarios if they are younger) for a journey that requires them to be in silence. Remind them to use other imagined senses including imagined touch, smell, vision, listening etc. This can all be done at the same time using some music, or individually.
1. Body as Objects
Walk around the room. When a number is called get into groups of that number. Call out an object and then tell the groups to make this object suing all of their bodies together. Countdown 10-1 and then FREEZE. Repeat as long as the class are absorbed in the task. Explore everyday objects, but also include difficult or even ‘impossible’ objects eg helicopter, Eiffel tower, wind turbine.

This can be developed from objects that do not move to electrical objects, or objects with switches etc to add some movement.
1. Estate Agent
Using the Body as Objects exercise the teacher becomes the estate agent. Ask one other child to be the house buyer. Show them around the house explaining what objects are there and asking the other children in the class to make the objects spontaneously.

With older children this can be done in groups, and the teacher becomes the buyer. Give the groups time to practise and then share each one with the class.
1. Pop-Up Stories
Tell a story with the class in a circle. Explain that when you mention an object, you would like some children to come into the centre of the circle to make that object. When that part of the story is finished they can sit down again. With younger children who might want to be in the picture all the time, you could use a story with full settings- eg gardens with many trees, flowers, creatures or a bedroom with a bed, wardrobes, lights and beautiful silk curtains. This way they can all be in each picture.
Images: Will be coming soon

January 19, 2019January 19, 2019

Discussion with Krishnan Maharaj from Ramakrishna mission

~Ranjith, Poovizhi

We met Krishnan maharaj from Ramakrishna mission in Chengalpattu. He is in the management of the polytechnic and works in building personality and leadership. We had a discussion about the situation of engineering graduates now a days and what are the causes for it. We also discussed about how to solve them.

Few of us brought up the following causes:

1. Students just mug up to score well in their exam without understanding anything out of it. Since the graduates are not trained in doing more practical and hands on stuffs during the course they are not skilled enough for industrial requirement.

2. Some students are forced to study engineering by their parents, neighbours and relatives to get a status in the surrounding though the student is not interested in it.

3. After completing the course students are forced to go to any kind of job to repay their education loan and debt. This itself becomes a barrier for their higher education and the exploration to other opportunities to learn.

After sharing our point of views and they all were more about technical solution (skill development), he shared his point of view “White hot desire” which motivates constantly to achieve higher goal.

White hot desire has a following three step:

January 18, 2019January 19, 2019

Garden clean up for Pongal

Pictures of Aura Auro Team cleaning the garden for Pongal

Before after picture..

January 17, 2019March 2, 2019

Welcome Anupama

Anupama Jagadeesh deeply cares about self-exploration. She has 18 years of experience in web based applications for various corporates in the US and and has just moved from Seattle. She was a senior development lead delivering products primarily on Java platforms. She is very interested in alternative education and she trained herself in Montessori and has home schooled her two children.

She is supporting us in making the school database software automated version in the afternoons after 2pm. It is really helpful for us to have a senior and experienced person to work with.

January 12, 2019January 12, 2019

MTA (Mathematics Teachers’ Association (INDIA )) Conference at Mumbai

The conference was happening for three days. There were about 100 people from different states. We wrote a paper on how children can learn mathematics by building project using physical technology eg. building / construction. Virtual technology such as programming. Children can also learn conceptual ideas by programming a computer. It helps them to break down their ideas into smaller bites for a computer to follow. At the conference we met many people who are working on the Maths education. People who were attending the conference were school teachers, college professors and some research people.

They were many paper presentations happening and debate were happening about mathematics. Most of them talked about the Mathematics at college level. There was a technology session happened using with GeoGebra. Where they introduced how to use this software. They showed how to find the angles and how to draw a parallelogram. They introduced all the tools to us on how to use GeoGebra. To learn more about Technology session Click here

Technology in Mathematics-MTA-2019

~Saranya

I went for Mathematics Teachers’ Association (MTA) conference @Mumbai. There I was curious to attend the workshop about technology in mathematics. Initially they asked us to install geogebra classic 5. They taught us to use all the options which was available inthe geogebra. We started with polygon then we kept on working on that. One thing I learnt new that is trace on and annimation on. We have to plot two points in the geogebra then we have to turn on trace on(to draw in mannual). After that we turned on annimation on(It will automatically take the radius of that two point and then it will draw). This was interestion for to indicate something with the colour.

In our STEM land already children were familer about the geogebra software. They did lot of projects by using geogebra. I was proud to say our children were familer with these things.

Also they taught excel formula’s for sum, random etc…

January 9, 2019January 9, 2019

Scratch course in Thamarai learning Centre

In Thamarai Learning Centre STEM land team offered a basic scratch course in the evening for 5 days from 5.30 PM to 7 PM. The facilitator in that centre didn’t know about scratch so they also joined the course. There were about 15 children and 4 facilitators.

Day 1:
First day we introduced the different blocks and its function in scratch. Children started to explore and were excited in exploring the different options in Scratch. We have asked the children to create 10 question and answers. Then we introduced how to have a conversation between two people. Initially we showed them how to make a conversation with the 10 question. Slowly children started doing it on their own. They learnt to use ‘sensing’ and ‘=’ operators to ask 10 questions. When the wrong answer is typed, the same question should be asked again until the user gives the correct answer.

Day 2&3:
We introduced the pen function and motion function. Using these functions we showed them how to draw with and object and also to move a objects. Once when they were able to finish we had asked them to draw a triangle. They didn’t want to give up and after 15 minutes they figured it out. Then we asked them to draw a square, pentagon,hexagon, heptagon, octagon. Then they were able to draw different types of mandalas using ‘rotate’ block.

Day 4&5:
We had introduced children hoe to build a maze game. We showed how to move a object when a key is pressed. Children worked in pairs with each other to create a maze path in the backdrop image. They were able to use sensing function and also become familiar with motion function.

Everyday we asked children to sit in a circle at end of the session for 10 minutes. We asked them to share one thing that they learnt in the session. All the children share something that they learnt.

Most of the children loved and enjoyed building their own game. This created confidence in children that they can make many things using scratch.

To learn Scratch Click here

December 1, 2018

REFLECTION ON STEWARDSHIP FOR NEW EMERGING

What I learned about myself:

Session 1:

I care about happiness for myself and others.
I have background conversation, what I have to say next.
Background conversation within me, putting me into fear
How my values are connected with my emotions, which help me to grow and overcome my fear.

Session 2:

My past is influencing my interpretation about facts.
I noticed that I don’t feel Overwhelm, when I took problem as a challenge.
I noticed that I am mostly in 0-3 stages in Stage of leadership.
I noticed, my root cause of my unhappiness, is condoning the action.

What I will do differently because of what I learned:

Session 1:

Don’t care what project I’m choosing, but it should make me and others feel happy.
Start conversation from wisdom (value) profile to make commit request.
Eventually I will overcome my weakness (gender bias)
Practice deeply listen my thoughts (when thinking) and deeply listen others( when having conversation)

Session 2:

Use Phrase” I don’t want your gift”.
Step into action instead of feeling overwhelm.
Use integrity tool to complete my action.
Practice discernment.

June 17, 2018

Reflections on LNET(Learning Network)

STEM land team attended the LNET conference in Bangalore. Here is the reflections about the conference as a team.

Arun

I learnt about games that can help children to be engaged in the class rooms, prove (a+b)^2 & Pythagoras, energizers which help children who come from holidays and breaks, Introduce decimals and place values, learnt thought break games.

I interacted with Padnaban on children’s exposure to different concepts. I realized that at a child’s level it’s important for them to work on abstraction and they have a beginners mind to learn. I talked with a creative teacher about sending children outside when they wanted to play for sometime. It helped children to be focused once they come in the class and engage with the children (younger children 3-5 years).

I conducted a session on Stewardship and 7 segment display along with my team. Include thought breaks in classes.

Logeshwari

The History and Geography session of Aruna really struck me. I learned the format of how to introduce a concept in History and Geography. First Do activities and cards of a concept (eg.volcano), second do words related to that concept, third show movies and tell stories of the concept. And now the students will now have got an idea of almost the concept. So finally tell the fact about the concept. The interaction that made me grow was the need to learn History. History gives us experience of many people and many different situations, from which we can learn. I am interested in Geography but not in History. After attending the session I was really interested and I felt like learning the history is very simple.

The activity of showing children the flash cards at the end of class and not to talk anything more about it on that day, it will make the children to learn that. For example Aruna showed five cards of valleys and mountain and didn’t tell anything more about it. I was really curious of what it is. Children will also feel the same. This will make the children interested, which I would like to use in my class.

By learning history I could come out of the myths that we all generally have. For example, British were ruling most of India. It built an interest in me to learn history.

The overall insight about the LNET conference is that I didn’t feel that we all were from different places, schools or organizations. I felt the same because the motivation and the reason for the development and growth of children is the same. As a teacher it was really helpful for me. I learnt the different activity based learning from the conference.

Poovizhi

I learned different ways of teaching a subject to children. I learned the relationship between math and art from Swathi’s session. I learned to introduce line and concepts in geometry using sticks. I learned the importance of History and how it is related to Geography. I learned the way to teach history and geography using flash cards. From Manjunath’s session I learned the activities to do with children to build a good relationship between the team and to be energetic.

I got an opportunity to meet people who are also keen in changing the rotten the education system and are really taking effort for an alternative education where children enjoy learning. I shared about STEM land and I felt acknowledged for the work we do here.

I participated in the sessions and we conducted a session on LIAP and seven segment display.

I will apply the methods I’ve learned to teach decimal values, geometric concepts and ask children to come up with their own booklets with short stories. I’ll do some activities with the children when the class feels dull.

I’ve got a sense that people are there around the world who are willing to make change in the education system and are doing it at their best from where ever the are and are always ready to share and support others to learn and grow together.

Pratap

What I learnt from the conference is, how to engage with the children with geography and history.

How to introduce in step by step and break it down into smaller problems and introduce to the children. Make the concept concrete by doing activity related the concept. I participated in the Math sessions where I learnt how to introduce decimal and visualize the concept to the children. I also learnt exponential series.

All the people who came to the conference were teachers and when I told about what we do in STEM land the teacher were impressed and was able to inspire them. I used some of the SFNE tools to talk with others eg. powerful speaking and committed request. I felt I am not alone trying to change the education system there are so many people who are trying to exchange various method that worked for them in teaching to children.

My contribution to success of the conference are participating in all the session. Presented a session on SFNE for the teacher and gave electronic session to the kids. It was really interesting. Participating in sessions beyond the conference like Sundaram session on decimal and Manjunath session on theater session.

While doing EBD I use to concentrate only on Math and science but now I will also concentrate in including history and geography. I will also do assessment for the children at end of each EBD.
By interacting and exchanging ideas with the teacher gave me clarity on how to teach and explore with the children to learn and retain the concept.

Ranjith

I learnt about creating arts and GP series by cutting a triangle(fractal triangle), AP series by cutting a square, prove (a+b)^2 & Pythagoras, Approaches to developing emotional intelligence in children (similar to identifying fear and take action with responsibility), Introduce decimals and place values, kirigami Math arts.

I interacted with Manjunath about thought break games for both children and teachers, I realized that making children feel better before starting class is important, because it helps children to focus.

I participated in other session and we also conducted session leadership in action and 7-segment display. Introduce Art in Math and Emotional Intelligence to children.

Saranya

I learnt new activities, how to introduce division,place value,patterns and types of pattern, learnt what is theater learning, (a+b)2 through dotted sheet.

I interacted with Emma she did master in education. She worked in different zone after few years she started teaching for kids. She focuses only on English. She shared her story with me why she took specifically English and etc..there I got an opportunity to share my experience with children and we shared what material we will use for to improve children communication.

I participated in other session and we also conducted session leadership in action and 7-segment display. Few children voluntarily came and learnt about 7-segment display and I had a grate time with them.Beyond the conference I had a session with Manjunath and Sudaram. That session was very useful for me. I had a different experience with different person. It helped for my growth.

Experience in theater learning session was interesting for me.

June 14, 2018

LNET Conference (Learning Network) in Bangalore

STEM land team went for a conference at Bangalore in a creative school for there days . There were many teacher from different place and from different school. There were many session happening like maths session by Swathi and Sundaram.

The session that I like most was the session that was held by Aruna and Raghavan. The Geography and activity based learning
In the session they start to introduce about India with 2 and half years old to introduce Geography and history in step by step process. It also improve the vocabulary for the children. They talked about how to give activity and make the children to learn. Visualise the maps and different kind of photos and ask questions about India. Hanging charts of different states with the animals and plants that are growing in that state. Talks with the children about each state one by one and cover each state. Talk about the nuts, vegetables, fruits and also the kind of soils that are present at different place. Talk about the about animals and birds with the children. Talk about about the famous people in the place. Talk about transport, mountain and forest that are present at different place. They talked about how to go step by step and also remind what they learnt before and ask question and assess them. Children can remember what they learnt in the class. Once they started to tell everything about India then we start to spell and start to write about India. They also told that the session should be short like 30 minutes everyday.