You might think any word which has all the vowel in it. But something which is special and essential is what I thought of. It's EDUCATION. Isn't this not a unique word? It is to me! This year I planned a project for an issue which I have identified.
THE PROBLEM WHICH I IDENTIFIED:
I have identified that quality education is not provided for all, especially for the government school children. The concept understanding is less and the focus has now has shifted to marks, memorize and exams. children in these schools are not provided with enough opportunities. The children aren't having the ability to reflect and ability to articulate. Children in these kind of schools do not let the children explore the topics. Extended learning Is not been established.
I chose to work on this because I could witness my other friends who aren't provided with the type of education I'm provided with. They struggle a lot in understanding the topics. After seeing all these I have been a hypocrite by just saying I will provide all of them quality education and did not do anything about it. So I chose this problem, to not be a hypocrite and make a change in the society by taking an initiative now.
MY INITIATIVES...
Steps I have taken towards this is, I have joined a NGO Called Katha on Ratha which basically involves story telling sessions in low income and government school. One other step which I have taken is, I have been a part of the KANAVU project by ASSEFA in which I did a story telling sessions followed by few activities for those government school children in cuddalore. So far this read aloud sessions were only the main initiative taken.
MY JOURNEY...
I had done Story telling sessions for Grade 1 kids as well as Garde 4 kids. Followed by the read aloud, I had conducted few activities such as quiz, puzzles, flash cards and rapid fire rounds. While working on this project i had experienced a lot of ups and downs. It involved a lot of team work with my peers, tweaking my plans according to the situation and a lot of belief in myself as well as the kids. My learnings were: 1) The best thing we can give someone is creating opportunities which will give them the space to voice out and give confident to show the outer world their potential and what they are up to. 2) analyzing and testing a child's understanding and understanding their capabilities by asking a lot of questions to them. 3) To handle a a huge and a enthusiastic crowd of curios children.4) Also learned to be humble and kind with the kids.
FEW OF MY SUCCESSES...
Few success which I saw were: 1) Made those children speak in English continuously for 10 minutes, though they were less fluent. 2) Taught those kids how to frame simple sentences which help the teachers in the upcoming classes based of sentence construction. 3) Analyzed their learnings while they were talking to me itself. 4) Delivered the content in a way that they could understand and remember it. 5) The most important success was- when they remembered me when I visited them 5 months later and asked me for a session with them and they remember the story which I told them and the challenges which I gave them too. :))
MY CHALLENGES AND HOW DID I OVERCOME IT...
The challenges which I faced were : 1) With the grade 1 kids, at times they did not understand what I spoke in English, though I did a lot of actions and this lead me to speak in Tamil. To overcome this, Later I reflected back on this and improved on the pace at which a speak and gave essential pauses, facial expressions and body language which made them grasp what I told them and I also showed them visual things which will help them connect much more better and tried emphasizing on the new English words. 2) To make the children blend the words in the sound books because they were confused whether to use phonics sound or the normal alphabets which they have learnt earlier. To overcome this challenge, I gave them the opportunity to choose which way they prefer because, then only they will know which is easy and comfortable way of pronunciation for those words.
THE IMPACT ON ME...
By taking this initiative, I have been courageous to execute my plans into actions. I feel the small steps which I have taken will definitely lead to a big change. In this journey of working with KANAVU project had got a great impact in acquiring the leadership qualities. This helped me emerge as a leader in my school by acquiring few of these leadership qualities. Through this process it made be Analyze other problem in and around my vicinity, Take initiatives , be persistent until I succeed and empower people in order to bring in possible and practical solutions for the problems. This process also had an impact on my values. I intended to be compassionate. I took part in new activities and established problem solving skills. I felt proud and blissful because I have contributed for a child's quality education.
All I have done so far is a small steps towards a unimaginable future. I am sure we - passionate young student leaders- can make this dream come true in the future. Lets do it.:))