1-11-16
This morning, I woke up early to get some soldering in. The iron and solder wasn’t really great and I was working in quite a precarious position (on a coffee table on the porch). I also had to surface mount a component on a board that was already installed. Basically it was a difficult job that Siddhartan helped me with. I skipped breakfast and they brought the yummy cream of wheat to me. It is actually pretty good because they make two types, one is a sweet with raisins and the other is a flavorful savory vegetable one. We then went on to do our teacher training.
We taught six teachers how to teach our lesson. In order to teach them, we had them experience the lesson and in groups complete the activities. The teachers really enjoyed the lesson and thought the students would like it too. In the afternoon, two of those teachers each taught the lesson to a classroom of students. The classroom I was observing went incredibly well. The teacher and the students enjoyed it and learned a lot. The teacher did a great job going between the groups and aiding them in the activities. Even with us in the room, the students were concentrated and focused, well-behaved and engaged. I was impressed. After the lesson, both the teacher and the Agastya staff member complimented the curriculum and our product and said they are super excited for it to be incorporated into Agastya’s program. I felt so validated and energized to keep working on this project. After a tea break, Mary and I ordered some supplies for next semester. On the way back, a little puppy followed us to our door. While this may sound cute, we don’t know where this puppy has been and possibly diseases. This resulted in us running to our room and closing the door. I met with Siddhartan and we discussed plans in context of the next the semester (and the puppy was like scratching on the door the whole time L)
This evening we went back to the community. When we got there, the power was out, so all of the kids were sitting on the floor of the schoolroom in a circle with the few lights that they have. It was a very real experience as this happens often for them but not for us. When the lights went back on things presumed as normal (while I feel in America, the lights turning back on would have been a bigger deal). We spent the remainder of the time sharing and learning different things. They sang for us and showed us some dances and we taught them Itsy-Bitsy Spider and my favorite, the hokey pokey. We also did a lot of origami. The kids made a mouth, which was the same shape as the fortune tellers I used to make, so I showed them how we used to use the fortune tellers. It was a very fun night with lots of smiles. Everyone was just really happy.
This morning, I woke up early to get some soldering in. The iron and solder wasn’t really great and I was working in quite a precarious position (on a coffee table on the porch). I also had to surface mount a component on a board that was already installed. Basically it was a difficult job that Siddhartan helped me with. I skipped breakfast and they brought the yummy cream of wheat to me. It is actually pretty good because they make two types, one is a sweet with raisins and the other is a flavorful savory vegetable one. We then went on to do our teacher training.
We taught six teachers how to teach our lesson. In order to teach them, we had them experience the lesson and in groups complete the activities. The teachers really enjoyed the lesson and thought the students would like it too. In the afternoon, two of those teachers each taught the lesson to a classroom of students. The classroom I was observing went incredibly well. The teacher and the students enjoyed it and learned a lot. The teacher did a great job going between the groups and aiding them in the activities. Even with us in the room, the students were concentrated and focused, well-behaved and engaged. I was impressed. After the lesson, both the teacher and the Agastya staff member complimented the curriculum and our product and said they are super excited for it to be incorporated into Agastya’s program. I felt so validated and energized to keep working on this project. After a tea break, Mary and I ordered some supplies for next semester. On the way back, a little puppy followed us to our door. While this may sound cute, we don’t know where this puppy has been and possibly diseases. This resulted in us running to our room and closing the door. I met with Siddhartan and we discussed plans in context of the next the semester (and the puppy was like scratching on the door the whole time L)
This evening we went back to the community. When we got there, the power was out, so all of the kids were sitting on the floor of the schoolroom in a circle with the few lights that they have. It was a very real experience as this happens often for them but not for us. When the lights went back on things presumed as normal (while I feel in America, the lights turning back on would have been a bigger deal). We spent the remainder of the time sharing and learning different things. They sang for us and showed us some dances and we taught them Itsy-Bitsy Spider and my favorite, the hokey pokey. We also did a lot of origami. The kids made a mouth, which was the same shape as the fortune tellers I used to make, so I showed them how we used to use the fortune tellers. It was a very fun night with lots of smiles. Everyone was just really happy.