Excellent education for 2500+ students in Chennai

Our Fellow Srinivas narrates how this pandemic has changed our course of action and forced us to look at the 'impossible' as we adapt to the reality:

Uncertainty and complications was prevalent right through these months due to the lack of clarity and rumors about the status of schools resuming again. Initially the tenth graders were called back, and it looked like a sign that schools might gradually open up for other grades, and the assumption got more backing when the 9th and 11th graders were called back too. While all this was going around, we ensured to focus on our core which was to deliver quality content for our students irrespective of what the future holds and kept our community outreach intact by visiting our students and their families individually to understand what they are going through and formulating a collective idea about the situation in our community through these visits to execute our actions in accordance with our needs. We were constantly having discussions with our HM to keep her informed about the situations and happenings, and receive her inputs to plan next steps through our collective ideas. This practice ensured us to be informed and updated about our community and design milestones and course of actions for creating impact based on relevance rather than assumptions. We witnessed spike as well as consistency in learning as well as engagement from our students, in terms of attendance, learning and being involved.

Uncertainty and complications seemed to have become our new friends as we once again are in a phase were the Covid cases are rampant and on a rise after a period of subsiding, and this is followed by the elections around which only suggests that the long haul of waiting to step into schools is only likely to continue in the immediate future. Hence, we intend to continue with our community outreach and engagement ensuring safe practices and continue to deliver quality content for our students to learn and grow.

It’s been an unusual year, rather an unusual time in our lives that we never imagined before, and hence the nature of impact and transformation during this one year has been that way.

A remarkable impact would be our students exploring and exhibiting independence and their individuality which has been starkly contrasting to the previous years when they were unconsciously so dependent on their teachers for almost everything. It needs to be noted that this was a gradual process as the students were struggling and anxious during the initial weeks but strongly evolved through the process.

A batch of students have been able to enhance their communication skills and abilities as they could focus on spoken English this year, which was otherwise in the dark during a normal school year. The program helped to reap the desired results which is evident from the fact that one of our students enrolled in this program is tutoring her football coach in spoken English!

Lack of exam and assessment fears allowed a batch of students to comprehensively focus upon preparing for a competitive exams called NMMS exams to earn a scholarship. Some students in a different batch where excelling in exploring and analyzing scientific concepts by learning through experiments at home, which allowed them to participate and excel in an interschool competition called ‘Hydrathon’ held by the Rotary Club of Madras. A batch of students proficient in the field of arts exhibited their skills and talents in performing arts such as dancing, singing, gig, art and craft work, speech and more in platforms such as the weekly Madras Party and CSK (Chennai Students Kondattam) which are some initiatives conducted by Teach For India Fellows.

Last but not the least, these young adults played roles of responsibilities in supporting and running their families alongside their parents at a time of crisis and complexities.

Overall, the engagements this year has played the role of countering shock and helped in keeping our students learning curve in motion, which projects positive signs of them being equipped to ease into the transition of going back to schools as and when the environment is evaluated to be conducive for resumption of schools by concerned authorities.

I completed an internship last summer, wherein I was working with a group of unskilled labors to enhance their communication skills. Since then I have been working on short projects to build access and exposure for our students to build perspective about the society and world beyond their text books. One such project which was thoroughly fruitful was the ‘Wonder girls’ project.

In this project women excelling in various fields came to interact with our students to share about their journey in life and their careers, which was inspirational as well as instrumental in understanding different fields one could opt to make a career in as they grow up. It gave the opportunity for the students to look beyond their societal conditioning of taking up a job and earning money to meet the household needs. It also helped to think and dissolve gender biases strongly erected in our heads as a result of the conditioning from the societal structures we come from.

Rapidly adopting and tirelessly being on my toes to come up with actions and take decision would be the most fundamental of the positives aspects this year, as it was a year of indescribable uncertainties and complexities arising from the community we work with. The positives that has translated as a result has been deepening of trust, building meaningful relations not only with our students and families, but the stakeholders concerned with our school.

From 5% to about 50% attendance in classes, from despising learning to excelling in diverse opportunities, and from negligence to complete involvement we have come a very long way.

This year has been a year of exposure to our vulnerabilities and the dire need to look into ourselves and shed our ego and practice humility and humanness, towards which I could thankfully take a conscious effort.

Growing and maturing into my role has been at the forefront of the Fellowship experience for me this year. I have transformed as a teacher, not only in terms of delivering better content, but being able to feel and relate to my students in their pain as well as joy. I have become another person in the community we serve in rather than being the ‘other’.

As I reach the twilight of my Fellowship I am at a place where I am content and ready to shift gears to experience what life has got to offer and give whatever I could offer.

Our Fellow Anna Liz Abraham narrates how the Blended Learning model had helped her use technology into the classroom to ensure the learning gap doesnt widen further:

"Being a Teach for India Fellow, I was looking forward to various experiences and learnings I could gather in and around my classroom. But it has been eight months since we stepped into our classrooms due to the pandemic. There are definitely pros and cons to this whole process but I, as a Fellow, take this as another learning opportunity. The challenges were the ones that excited me most about the Fellowship. With online classes they were no less.

The exposure I received towards the different technology that can be used for students was immense. Keeping in mind the different things to engage students in, my planning skills have improved to a great extent. My mindset has shifted from procrastinating to proactively completing tasks and deliverables. I believe in continuous learning, not only for students but as Fellows also and this time period has proved that learning doesn’t stop.

The students have showed immense growth during the past seven months. From using zoom and WhatsApp features to submitting google forms, students have received huge exposure to technology, which otherwise wouldn’t have been possible in a physical classroom. Learning at home, engaging with parents, learning from their own community are some achievements of blended learning. Students use apps to read stories and improve reading fluency. They have started to practice sustainability by making newspaper bags, growing plants, recycling paper and so on.

In the month of March, I got selected as the Content Advisor for Elementary Science in our cohort. The nature of my role is to create content for incoming Fellows to support and guide them during their 1st year of fellowship. Planning and creating resources paved the way for more holistic learning, not only for my students but for others as well.

With the completion of half academic year, I was able to provide learning to 60% of my students. Though I am happy about it, I am still worried about the other 40% who haven’t been able to access any sort of learning for the past eight months. Bridging the learning gap that has been created between these two sets of students is going to be the biggest challenge. I am still reaching out to all parents and trying to access devices for them and provide learning to at least 80% of my students by the end of this academic year.

The Fellowship promised a continuous learning experience and I believe no pandemic could ever stop it. Though learning was very different, it was very enriching and I have gained a lot of exposure through blended learning."