Tough to Title

I knew that I’d be teaching today, but it seemed like the class and time were ever shifting, which was no problem for me.  After another stellar PSBB breakfast, Devika and Shonda took me for some impromptu visits to a government school and an orphanage.  For the first 5 days I thought everyone was talking about garment schools, I know textiles are big here but I was wrestling with the importance of the garment schools.  Anyway, the government school was not at all like PSBB, although my student interactions where quite pleasant.  I don’t have figures but it sounds like a majority of children in Chennai are in government schools similar to this.  Even if people are poor, they try to send their student to private school.  As I think I’ve discussed earlier there are levels of poverty here that wouldn’t allow for what I’m guessing is the small fee for some lower end private schools.  The most striking thing at the government school was the infrastructure.   There were no fans and the exposed metal roofs supposedly conduct heat.  I talked with one class and it was boiling hot, and to compound the problem the students don’t have access to drinking water.  Classes are large (40-60), and the rooms are small. The principal said that the lack of stability in students outside lives makes it difficult for them to concentrate on school, which sounds familiar but this obviously more severe.

When we got back I went into one class and began interacting with them.  Soon thereafter I was informed that this wasn’t the class I’d be teaching afterall, but I could still talk with them for a bit.  In the short time I had with them, they asked a ton of impressive questions which seems to be the norm.  I was then directed to another class, which was the one.  I have not taught a class in about 9 months, so I was banking on not having accumulated any rust since I have traveled half way around the world for this.

I can’t express how awesome teaching again felt.  It is a lot more than a job, to me it is equivalent to the feeling you get in sports when things are flowing.  The difference is when you score 30 points it feels great, but when you know a class worked it adds meaning to everything.   I taught just as I would teach back home and it worked well.  The whole experience was uplifting, I can tell that mountains could be moved if these kids were fully immersed in PBL.  They were ready to rock from the very beginning.  They listened carefully to instructions, and were very interactive.  Obviously what they are doing now is working given how well the students responded.  In all the years I’ve taught I’ve never had a class that performed so well right out the gates.

Without repeating the whole lesson, and purpose of the lesson I’ll give a short recap.  We are building out the context and framework to study the topic of globalization, by examining first what community values promote the “good life.”  Today we were able to establish a base understanding of the confluence topics through the” know and need-to-know” process.  Students volunteered what they knew about the project, which essentially was them conveying what they understood globalization to be (merging of economies, ideas…), and what societal components facilitate the good life (education, community health….).    Their responses were relatively advanced for being newly promoted 10^th graders, they demonstrated an impressive level of global awareness.  The need-to-knows were equally as impressive some of the responses included:

                We need to know about:

Ourselves first, before we look outward.

            Change, and how to account for that change.

            Other cultures and systems of government.

            The role of peace organizations (NGO’s, UN, WTO..)

The defense programs of other countries.

            Other countries markets.

This is just a sample of the impressive list they generated.   I had to cut this part of the lesson short in order to get end at a constructive point.  After this I moved them to the value ranking activity, but I first assigned group roles, and gave clear instructions on how to communicate with me and their classmates before beginning the group process. When they were released they began the group activity with vigor, although they were soon cut short by the time constraint.  As homework they will contemplate the activity, and hopefully start to look at the website.  At the conclusion of the activity tomorrow my hope is that they will publish their results using the online tool I provided so that we can compare their results with the American students.
 

The second class I taught was so on fire, that all that I need to say is that if I could teach these kids with the  freedom to work in my style it would be a tempting offer.  It was obvious that they responded really well to my teaching by their eagerness to talk about heady topics after class.  I’m now expecting a flurry of Facebook requests from all the students.  They are all so strong, eager, and polite that I’m sure they could make anyone feel like a world champion teacher.

Speaking of kids who don’t, or didn’t, have their basic needs met, we visited two orphanages today.  I didn’t know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised.  The first place was near the school and seemed to only have older girls.  I met a few of the girls and they were obviously doing quite well with their studies.  I believe 25 girls live there in total, and they are supported through the donations that are given at the Sai Baba temple in the front.  When the girls grow up and finish college the orphanage even finds a way to support the wedding expenses .  I guess I expected a solemn place were souls are crushed, and physical needs are maintained.  This place exuded love, and these kids where much better off than staying with families who didn’t want them or couldn’t take care of them.

I actually went to the aforementioned orphanage before teaching the second class.  After teaching the second class we got the okay to visit Udavum Karangal.  From what Devika had indicated this was going to be a bigger deal, but neither of us knew what to expect.  The man who started this organization Vidyaakar, is being compared to Mother Teresa.  I carry equal parts of hope and suspicion when I hear about organizations helping the needy.  I don’t know if it is warranted, but I’m always checking to see if there is an ulterior motive.  From the moment we walked in I could tell this place was something really special.  It was taking the most painful and tragic human conditions and offering unconditional love in a way that is so profound that it made me drop my suspicions without even thinking about it.  I can’t give the exhaustive list of people they help, but to give an idea it is an orphanage, a place to take care of abandoned and/or abused people with mental and/or physical handicaps, and a new home for abused women including victims of dowry burnings.  We were lucky enough to meet Vidyaakar who was unassuming and genuinely warm.  One of the social workers took us around, they never asked us for money but they are obviously doing a great job of promoting their good work to get funding.  I was impressed that it seemed so transparent and that you could so freely see what they had going on.

We first started off by visiting the orphans.  The stories of how these kids got there made my throat drop into my stomach.  The first room had mostly little girls maybe they were 3 or 4.  They were very happy to see me and Devika.  Two of the girls just clung to me and one grabbed my hand and continued to hold it the whole time that I was in there.  We then went over to see the babies, and this was tough.  Given that I’m finishing writing this a couple days after the fact, I think Jan picked up that I would been willing to expand the family if I could have.  One little guy who was maybe two came up to me and lifted his arms up, I asked if I could pick him up and Vidyaakar said sure.  For about five minutes I held this little guy and he took off my sunglasses and took them on and off his head in every possible way.  There was one girl in there who had some major disabilities and we were informed that she was a not-so-rare case of a disabled baby being born and abandoned at the hospital.  We then visited the other side of the campus that had different facilities for the disabled.  Many of the residents happily greeted us as we kept on our way.  One of the tougher areas was seeing the children and some adults that were severely disabled, disfigured, and couldn’t move under their own will.  We saw the Physio-therapist working with some individuals and evidence that these kids, who will forever be locked in one position and likely in pain, were frequently getting loving words and touch from the people in the wards.  Many of the residents help take care of the other residents.  For example some of the mentally retarded patients may not be able to ever be self reliant, but with supervision they can do a great job of providing loving attention to other patients.

This wasn’t a sad place in that it was clear that they were doing an amazing job of helping anyone that they could.  Of course I left with heavy heart even though I knew that even the children were being provided a relatively good life.  Devika is going to set up some intensive community service with Udavum Karangal which we both agree is a great idea.  It will give her students a great experience, and it may get that much more attention on an organization that is being incredibly well run from all angles.