1/4/16
After being woken up for tea, I could hear a whistle. The man was informing us that a car was ready to take us to breakfast. After breakfast we went on a campus tour. There were many things that amazed me on this tour. In general, it is incredible how much content, depth and breadth that Agastya covers in their subjects. They have tools, models and strategies for everything. Our first stop was in an area where they teach art. The instructor described a progression of projects that a student would go through. The example project was about trees. They would start by sketching a tree from memory. Then, a student observed a tree and painted it with more detail. Next, they would be given the freedom to change the colors and some aspect of the tree to be more creative. Then, in groups they would make abstract versions of the tree. Finally, the groups would use materials they found in nature to construct a tree. It is workshops like this which instill creativity and teamwork into students in a meaningful way. Agastya provides excellent scaffolding while giving students the freedom to define their own path. I was blown away by Agastya’s ability to put these lessons together and give students this great learning opportunity.
Let me just mention, these buildings are beautiful. The architect constructed these buildings with such creativity and interest. He has actually won awards for the auditorium. They all are truly remarkable, especially in contrast to the local buildings in the surrounding area.
Continuing on the tour, we then saw a prototyping lab and the machine shop. We then were taken to the discovery zone, which felt like a miniature Franklin Institute. There were so many experiments around the floor for a student to interact with. We talked with some of the students and learned about what they wanted to be when they grew up. I also watched a teacher (of course in another language) derive a^2 + b^2 = c^2. The method of teaching made sense, was visual and clearly appealed to many types of learners. Their labs were incredible and it was so obvious how much more the kids enjoyed being here. They worked hard, were concentrated and were incredibly well behaved. It was miraculous. They kept telling us: “We love Agastya! When we are home the teacher only lectures and give us the material, but here we understand.” It’s quite cool how well a student will behave when they are engaged in a good lesson.
After lunch, we observed both a robotics and an optics class.
Then, after a long break, we went into a community to go to their night school. We were treated like celebrities. The kids made origami for us and had so many questions. It was very overwhelming and quite hard to communicate because of the accent and language complication. Overall, a very cool experience. The kids had so many questions for me. I wouldn’t say that they got much work done, but I think both the students and I really enjoyed the chance to meet each other. I told them where I came from and they were all excited to hear that I took an airplane here. They sang a song to show off their English. All of them called me madam. I’m so glad I got to go into the community, because these was such a more realistic view of what these children experience. I’m surprised I wasn’t shell shocked (as Forrest was a bit), I was very comfortable even in the very new environment with so many kids. But I guess with my experience with kids and exposure to people who don’t know English, it felt very normal.
It was an exhausting day and I’m looking forward to a very early ecology walk tomorrow, so I’m going to sleep. Thanks for reading!
After being woken up for tea, I could hear a whistle. The man was informing us that a car was ready to take us to breakfast. After breakfast we went on a campus tour. There were many things that amazed me on this tour. In general, it is incredible how much content, depth and breadth that Agastya covers in their subjects. They have tools, models and strategies for everything. Our first stop was in an area where they teach art. The instructor described a progression of projects that a student would go through. The example project was about trees. They would start by sketching a tree from memory. Then, a student observed a tree and painted it with more detail. Next, they would be given the freedom to change the colors and some aspect of the tree to be more creative. Then, in groups they would make abstract versions of the tree. Finally, the groups would use materials they found in nature to construct a tree. It is workshops like this which instill creativity and teamwork into students in a meaningful way. Agastya provides excellent scaffolding while giving students the freedom to define their own path. I was blown away by Agastya’s ability to put these lessons together and give students this great learning opportunity.
Let me just mention, these buildings are beautiful. The architect constructed these buildings with such creativity and interest. He has actually won awards for the auditorium. They all are truly remarkable, especially in contrast to the local buildings in the surrounding area.
Continuing on the tour, we then saw a prototyping lab and the machine shop. We then were taken to the discovery zone, which felt like a miniature Franklin Institute. There were so many experiments around the floor for a student to interact with. We talked with some of the students and learned about what they wanted to be when they grew up. I also watched a teacher (of course in another language) derive a^2 + b^2 = c^2. The method of teaching made sense, was visual and clearly appealed to many types of learners. Their labs were incredible and it was so obvious how much more the kids enjoyed being here. They worked hard, were concentrated and were incredibly well behaved. It was miraculous. They kept telling us: “We love Agastya! When we are home the teacher only lectures and give us the material, but here we understand.” It’s quite cool how well a student will behave when they are engaged in a good lesson.
After lunch, we observed both a robotics and an optics class.
Then, after a long break, we went into a community to go to their night school. We were treated like celebrities. The kids made origami for us and had so many questions. It was very overwhelming and quite hard to communicate because of the accent and language complication. Overall, a very cool experience. The kids had so many questions for me. I wouldn’t say that they got much work done, but I think both the students and I really enjoyed the chance to meet each other. I told them where I came from and they were all excited to hear that I took an airplane here. They sang a song to show off their English. All of them called me madam. I’m so glad I got to go into the community, because these was such a more realistic view of what these children experience. I’m surprised I wasn’t shell shocked (as Forrest was a bit), I was very comfortable even in the very new environment with so many kids. But I guess with my experience with kids and exposure to people who don’t know English, it felt very normal.
It was an exhausting day and I’m looking forward to a very early ecology walk tomorrow, so I’m going to sleep. Thanks for reading!