Literacy-based Summer Camp: Day 11

The number of children has been slowly going down, with many often choosing to play in the neighbourhood (often seen when I go out) rather than coming to school. Others, as I got to know from participating children, have to travel to their relatives' houses. I have also realised that it is not always possible to strike a chord with all children. In addition, a two-week camp is more sustainable from the perspective of attention, energy and preparation. In addition, after every weekend, the number of children usually goes down. It is also perhaps necessary to have more facilitators who can engage children better than just me trying to engage them over the three weeks. These are all learnings that can perhaps be implemented next year, if such a camp is organised again.

20 Questions

We began the day with a game of 20 questions.  In this game, a child thought of an object or person and others then asked 20 yes or no questions to the child, to guess the thing. Children often did not even say the whole question and used words or objects around them to make them sound like questions. I had to get them to ask the entire question or suggest ways they could ask about a larger category before they got to specifics. They were just eager to get the answer. I realised that children had to be shown how to play the game, never having played it, to make them think. This is also because children were not used to educational games, and often only engaged in physical outdoor games. After about 10 rounds, the children seemed exhausted and wanted to move on.

Make objects with your body

This is the game I played a long time back myself, and I wanted to try it out with the children. Given the mixed group ages of children, it worked very well for everyone to get involved. Children were divided into two groups, and this created a sense of competition. Sahil was usually quick in his thinking and was able to get the children organised much faster than the other group. This created a sense of disappointment in the other group. The other group began to watch the winning group organise themselves under Sahil, because of which they often lost crucial time. I had to remind them to concentrate on their own work before they observed the other group. This helped them get back to their own group, but the losses weighed heavily on the group, and they continued to feel disappointed.
    Some of the objects used as prompts included an aeroplane, a car, a cycle, a balloon, a cloud, a tree, and a stick. The object they found the hardest was the square. Children could not get all the sides equal, and this often led to a number of different trials.

What my parents, teacher, and friend think about me

I have been meaning to get children’s perceptions of adults around them. This led me to create a meme-inspired activity where children had to write what teachers, parents, their friends and themselves think about them. However, getting into this activity was challenging. Children found it difficult to pen down the thoughts of adults around them. They often also copied the same sentences in all boxes just to complete the task. It made me realise that an activity of this kind was probably too difficult, especially for the younger children. Some children, to my surprise, like Sahil, detailed personal and reflective writing. However, he did not want me to share it with anyone and wanted to keep it private. The writing alluded to him feeling “weird”, which others have also called him. He also mentioned not understanding himself often. A common theme that many children wrote, including Sahil, was the expectations of parents and teachers to be a successful person and score well in exams.
    Some mentioned being hit by teachers or expecting them to behave, and improve their writing. Others mentioned that they were generally considered good by adults around them, but were sometimes naughty. Children’s responses to themselves were also similar and reflected what adults thought of them. Children often wrote elaborate responses in parents’ and friends’ columns, and even named their friends.

Conversation about beating

In several conversations, children continued to talk about being hit or beaten up either by parents or teachers. I wanted to ask them what they felt about it. Hence, I engaged children in the conversation. Some of the girls initially mentioned that, because they did something wrong, it is ok to be hit. I then probed them further. See the conversation ahead.

Ekta: So does that mean from tomorrow I should hit you if you do anything wrong?
Girls: No ma’am. (smiles and laughs)
Ekta: But that’s what it means. I think you'll like it.
Girls: No ma’am.
Ekta: So then, is there an alternative? If you do not understand or listen to adults like teachers and parents, what should they do, if not hit you?
(Silence)

Salim: explain again and again.
See the children’s responses, which they wrote on the board.

Plan your play

The rest of the time was used for children to plan their plays for 23rd May or discuss the activities they wish to perform. Only a few children seem to be more eager about the exhibition and take time to plan. I have to continue to nudge and make them understand the gravity of the task. Sometimes it feels like, maybe I should abandon the idea of the exhibition, if children are not themselves interested. But perhaps the next few days will decide.

Games and Reflection

As usual, we ended the day with games like Simon Says and Make Objects with your Body. Khwaja also informed me that he had a family commitment and could not make it the next day.


Conversation with teachers in the afternoon

I had kept away from teachers for all this time. Given the initial personal questions I was asked by some of them, I was not sure if I wanted to be subjected to that. My marital status seems to be of major concern to everyone here, and the fact that I can leave my spouse and do this work seems very surprising. Hence, I have been asked several times about my spouse and the work he does. It seems that they are eager to establish his existence rather than speak to me about the work in the school.
    In this background, I had kept away from talking to teachers. However, I also realised that it was not sustainable and had to engage with them if I was to expect any systemic change in the daily schedule of children’s teaching and learning. In addition, we have also organised a two-day workshop on Maths for teachers with Dr Jeenath from Azim Premji University, Bhopal. Having no interaction with them, I was worried that because of my inaction, they may not engage with her.
    To start a conversation, I requested the principal to gather the teachers and formally introduce us. The principal was very kind and arranged a meeting between the teachers and me after lunch. Eklavya, Bhopal, upon request, has sent numerous books for sale and showcase on 23rd May, the day of the children’s exhibition. I circulated some of the books among teachers in our meeting and requested them to either purchase or request the school to buy them.
    After about 15 minutes, I introduced myself and the work I have been doing in the school for the last 3 years, including the summer camp. I mentioned that they may have seen me around, and I wanted to introduce myself formally so that we can talk to each other about the work. After I opened the floor for questions and comments, I was met with dead silence. After a while, a teacher at the last bench mentioned that I was hardly audible. I repeated myself again, and he, a science teacher, struck up a conversation with me about the book on biology. He was interested in it and asked me about other books on the topic. In that moment, I realised my own folly, of generalising two bad conversations with two teachers to all of them. A cognitive bias of sorts.  Another one asked how they were supposed to do any experiments, mentioned in the books, in the school, when the school does not have any science equipment. I had slowly come to realise the minimum resources in the school, and this included a lack of a science lab. Another one mentioned the strict schedule included canvassing that teachers had to do, which left them little time for experiments. They also mentioned that focusing on examinations made it difficult to try activities. However, when I asked him if they were forced to also follow a certain pedagogy in the classroom and if they had any freedom towards it. He agreed that teachers had pedagogical freedom. These are challenges that I have often heard from teachers in all kinds of schools. As real and frustrating as they are, it is also true that teachers often underestimate the power/freedom they have inside the classroom. I continued to engage him on this very point and suggested a 15-minute activity-based pedagogy in a week. When he mentioned that it was not doable in a class of 40, I suggested that he use children as teachers who taught other children and make it more conversational rather than purely teacher-centric. I also suggested that it will reduce the burden on teachers. He did not have a further response and appeared more thoughtful. Then after a while, he said, these are things I wish to learn and even pursue a PhD. I happily shared my own institute's details and encouraged him to do so. 
    Teachers, while they are made to feel like any regular employee in the school, because of the number of tasks bestowed on them, teaching and the classroom often occupy a secondary focus. Women teachers hardly spoke and were more interested in examining the books. One woman teacher asked me about the exhibition, the day they could buy the books and the Math workshop. However, they did not engage in any systemic-level conversation like the male teachers. This may also be due to a lack of trust, as someone who had only taken the initiative to speak to them now, after being at the school for days.
    I was also surprised by the strict division of space between male and female teachers as they sat for the meeting. When I suggested to a female teacher (more in number than men) that they could sit on the other side of the divided bench, where the male faculty were seated, one of them voiced loudly that that was for male teachers. This same division continues to be exercised among children as well.