Working!

This year I have been searching for signs of growth. As you know, many schools I have visited this year are schools I am visiting for the first time. I spend the week, thereby proving that I can wear a sari, sit on the ground, eat with my hand, and handle spicy food. More importantly it shows that I am not going to say “My way is best,” but will instead listen and partner with the staff. Usually trust builds slowly....by Thursday or Friday... leaving little left of the week.

But this week has come with several surprises showing "buy in"…

a. Yesterday, a wonderful surprise was waiting for me in the first grade room..a small, simple piece of paper with BIG importance. It was a paper I distributed a year ago...and it WAS being incorporated...proving something stuck.

b. The manager of the school was describing how he would like to see students gain a deeper understanding of concepts(I already liked that part). He went on to say.. “ You know, like those books you brought last year. I want my students to be able to make those.” (Thanks 3rd grade.. .those were the books you made.)

c. Two years ago I was so blessed to form really wonderful relationships with girls who were living where I live. They were studying to be teachers. I just loved them and we still keep in concact. This week I found out that one of the girls is working at the school I am visiting. She teaches LKG (lower kindergarten) and UKG (upper kindergarten). Yesterday I demonstrated one lesson in LKG. Today she asked for the supplies needed for the lesson because she wanted to do it in UKG. When I stopped in her room an hour later she had done it! All day was like that, almost team teaching. Sharing ideas and trying them.

d. On the first day of this week, the other LKG teacher seemed very resistant to my ideas. Saying as many do.. “We have to teach, we don’t have time for games.” Yet I was excited today to see him smile while I engaged his students in a lesson on prepositions. He hurried over to his book in order to write the idea down.)

e. I wanted to hang pocket charts.. 15 minutes later..screws were put in the wall.

f. After I demonstrated how to do “Mystery” in 2nd class, the teacher tried the same idea in 3rd class.

g. On the way to school today.. I was talking to the manager about how he would like his teachers to teach. He said, “ We had a meeting at the start of the year for one hour. I didn’t know you were coming, but I used you as an example...and I reminded them how actively you teach. I told the teachers that I'd like to see them using more activities like that.”

Starfish

This week I have thought a lot about the story of the old man who daily walks along the beach rescuing starfish stranded in the sand. He tosses them back out to safety in the sea. When he looks down the length of the beach, the sands stretch out very far...way too far for him to ever help all the starfish. Yet as he picks up each one and tosses it out to sea he is comforted by knowing that he made a difference to one.

Sometimes I am the old man...but often...I am the starfish. This week, I was both.

Me-The Old Man: Initially I forgot something that the old man knows.. the old man only picks starfish stranded in the sand. It annoys starfish already in the water when you try to move them to a new location. Two types of trainings work (here or anywhere), a training where an individual is sent and one in which the person recognizes a deficit and seeks growth. I forgot what the old man knows..and tried to move content starfish. This week however, it was exciting to find one starfish who really wanted help. Her class of 50 (3-5 year olds) was bursting at the seams. She didn't speak the same language as her students and was frustrated. It appeared that she spent more time outside the classroom than in it (who could blame her). While I love behavior modification, it is not something many teachers seem to want to utilize.. but in this case, she was willing for any kind of help. We tried rewarding positive behavior. It worked! The students started prompting each other to be quiet and to watch the teacher. More exciting than the children's reactions was the teacher's. By Friday, she was in the classroom, laughing with her students, trying out new songs and willing to soak up any new teaching suggestions I could offer. HOW COOL!

Me-The Starfish:
In my case, I am the starfish much of the time. I am learning to trust God, and just allow each week to unfold. On a weekly basis there are moments when nothing seems to go right. I panic in the middle, despite knowing that there is almost always a positive ending. I am learning that success can be measured by crunching numbers and analyzing data but it is often measured in much simpler and more beautiful ways. Success is also evident through increasing trust, laugher, and the connections built one person at a time. Next year, if I am lucky enough to return, I will continue to open the door a bit wider and seize every chance to work in the classrooms of many teachers or just offer helpful ideas....and to learn something about myself.

Update

If you read back in last year’s postings you read a story (reposted below) and see a picture of me with an elderly lady who lives in a village near where I stay. The text specifically referred to the moment the picture was taken..(the two of us sitting outside a home). It was one of those experiences that I have described many times before..an encounter where no words are exchanged yet much is spoken. In my case, in that moment..much was healed.

I saw her again last night. At first, when she took my hand.. I wasn’t sure if she remembered me. But a smile spread across her face and she flung her frail arms around my neck, holding tight...I guess she remembered!!!

re-post -lessons learned.. posted last year

My first year in India I took two pictures that I regretted taking. I regretted both for the same reason. Both pictures were really good, but really, both were “stolen”. Both were taken of people I didn’t know. One was of a little girl, maybe two years old who was sitting and crying in the street. Her brother, maybe four, seemed to be responsible for her. It was late, she was little, dirty and probably hungry. I was hurrying to get on the bus and stopped for a second and took her picture. As soon as I sat down I regretted that picture. I regretted that in the one second I had with her I took her picture. I forever wished I would have used that second to kneel down and ask if she was ok or offered this little one some kind of comfort as she sat, crying in this busy street. But instead, I had “stolen” her picture. The other picture I regretted was of an older lady in a village where we stopped to visit. My “national geographic wanna be” kicked in. I knew this picture of her scrubbing pots was going to be a good one..and it was, but I regretted not going over, shaking her hand, and introducing myself. I regretted in both cases forgetting first to love and get to know people. While I have changed how I take pictures I was so happy tonight to see this same lady and even happier when we sat outside, just the two of us; we shared a snack and enjoyed each other's company.

Measuring Success

On the way to the airport I was going through my last minute emotions, excitement and anticipation mixed with nervousness. My parents and I began discussing their opinion of my ongoing travels. Different from my first years they no longer express concern for safety (ok, at least less) but this year they challenged me to find answers to the effectiveness of these trips.

Typically, at the end of the summer, all that sticks with me are the delights.. the joys of watching children laugh, reflecting on what was learned and what was taught and mostly the joy of seeing walls of division melt into friendship. What I forget are the difficulties at the start (good thing). I forget about the language barrier .. that while we all speak English, my accent to some makes me unintelligible. I forget about introducing new concepts and how different it must seem from anything they are used to, and I forget that I will have to overcome my position of “honor” (that comes from being a teacher and a foreigner) and that it must be overcome by slowly building trust. Really, before they will trust me as a teacher.. they need to trust me as a person…

So, success is hard to measure (at least by the standards people want to hear about). Last week I taught concepts that didn’t seem to fly and complicated because I missed two days at the school because of a "bandh." I also watched teachers laugh in nervousness because I wanted to join them for lunch.

On Thursday night I prayed to know what to do.. I didn’t really want to leave materials that I had not shown teachers how to use.. but we were out of time. As I prayed I was reminded that they definitely could not use what I did not leave. So, I left everything.. giving them a brief rundown on what was there and trusting that my job was only to teach and God’s job was to instill in them the desire to use the concepts. While I have no clue what will be used and what will not be used or how to report “success” in that regard (yet).. three teachers did join me for tea on Friday at the hotel.. and that.. is success… we weren’t giggling in nervousness but instead giggling in friendship .

View of the Street

Today was a "bandh" .. I was stuck in the hotel room all day.. To pass the time I would “reward myself” by looking out the door to the hallway or out the window to the street below. The hallway provided almost no entertainment.. The only fun in the hallway came at around 9:00 in the morning when the ladies were sweeping. I tried out my Telugu but got back only a smile or blank stare.. must be my accent.

So, the only real source of entertainment was out the window. I am on the third floor, so I can see the rooftops of nearby houses and can gaze up and down the length of the street. Up one side is what looks like a garden.. I was told it was a government property. At the other end is a main road. It is hard to see that far but I can tell it is busy…

I am up early.. partly because I went to bed at 8:30 and partly because I don’t know it is a "bandh" and I think I am going to school. I am planning to wear a sari.. so it takes a little longer to get ready.

Here is some of what I see.. (times are approximate)

6:00 Head count… 8 others are sitting on the rooftops also up early.. welcoming in the morning...not much happening .. YET!

8:00- I think I am witnessing a break in. The houses across the way are being invaded. The owners of the house are nearby but because of the layout of the building I don’t think the owners can tell that right on the other side of the thin wall is an intruder. I am watching them quietly climb the steps, walk along the open roof, and peer over the edge. I think they are waiting to make their move. I try to motion to the owner but he doesn’t see me. Another intruder drops into the open area above the bathroom in the neighboring house. Only minutes before the owner had been standing there brushing his teeth. I am sure the intruder was waiting for him to finish. Eventually, the noise arouses the owner of the first house.. he sneaks a stick out the door banging it around and scaring the intruders away.. from what I can tell not too much damage was done.

10:00- A very heated argument takes place right across the road.. looks like a cat fight, “claws” out teeth showing. The yelling is intense. I can hear it all the way across the street. They are right on the edge of the walkway. I feel nervous at times that one or the other will slip and fall over the side. It is so heated I almost feel guilty watching. I fear at some point one will notice my eavesdropping and give me a nasty look.. but, I guess I can’t understand what they are saying so, it is not really eavesdropping right????

12:00 Must be lunch time... What appears to be a very hungry mama digs in the huge trash dump finding a bag of chips. She first raises the bag above her head.. peering into the mostly empty bag hoping for a few crumbs. She must have found them because she reaches in to grab a few morsels. I feel bad for her.. she clearly wants more. Another.. has a handful of bananas, two tucked under his armpit for safe keeping (who would want to steal them after that), and a third is peeled with meticulous precision making certain that every bite is eaten. He proceeds until all the bananas are gone.

2:00- Sad to see but outside the window is a girl missing her left arm. I keep watching.. impressed by how well she is able to get around despite these limitations. Seems nothing will stop her.

4:00. So cute. A mother and child are playing.. at least that’s what it looks like. Maybe the little one is not listening.. but I will choose to believe they are playing. Fun to watch them.. they play just as we do.. it almost looks like leapfrog.. the little one pokes his mom.. then jumps over her hunched back.. before she can reach to grab him he flips over the short wall as if to say.. COME GET ME!!!

Boy do I love watching these monkeys!

Sweetness

A little boy and his mom occupied my thoughts much of last year. I could not wait to see him. I was unsure if he would remember me. Today, he found me on the playground. He played alone for awhile wanting me to watch, then he asked me to sit down. When I did he climbed on my lap. Not content with that...he turned around facing me so he could lay his head on my chest. Then, he leaned up and kissed my cheek. So sweet coming from this rough and tumble kid who can barely seem to sit still. Love him!