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| Mindfields
02 Contents |
The
Pardada Pardadi School is located in Anupshahar,
Bulandshaher district, Uttar Pradesh. Its mission is to
uplift and empower girls from underprivileged
backgrounds by providing them free education and
vocational training. The vocational school run by the
society produces fine hand-embroidered linen appliqué
work and block printing in the form of table clothes,
bed covers, sheets, curtains and cushion covers.
Proceeds go towards the welfare of women in Anupshahar.
For further information mail: surekhakashyap05@yahoo.com
visit our outlets at:
G16 Ground Flr, MGF Plaza Mall, Gurgaon 122001, Haryana
India
or
G43, Abu Plaza Lane
Meerut, India.
The Pardada Pardadi website:
www.education4change.org |
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The 20 seventh graders were a bit quieter than the fifth graders. They worked better in pairs and spoke more openly. They noticed more daily life and were more people oriented. For example, they noticed blue buses with people going to
Anupshahar, men in the back of a truck, girls riding and falling off bicycles.
When class ended I asked the same questions: What did you learn today? And what would you like to know more about? The girls said that it was the first time they were asked what they saw and their answers were part of the lesson.. This surprised and delighted them. Already on this first day, they became more were curious and began to ask me questions about why I came to India.
During the following days I divided the students into five groups of four. The reason for this was partly to foster classroom management and to encourage process oriented activities through cooperative learning. Small groups work well with new media and exploring ideas. The girls did memory drawings of what they described. They used colored pencils, oil pastels and tempera paint. Having never used paints before they hesitated at first. I modeled three methods to handle this medium including wet on wet, dry brush and laying in areas of solid pigment. They practiced on scrap paper. At first the class was concerned about “messing up”. Very quickly they began to feel comfortable in handling paint, and mixing color. In a few days most learned how to organize and develop a painted illustration as a total composition.
After the illustrations were completed, I gave a lesson on storytelling. At first the girls asked, “Aren’t you going to tell us what to write about?” At that point I began to tell a story about a peacock, and asked one girl to continue. She did, and after a few sentences I stopped her, and asked another girl to pick up where she left off, and so on, until the story was complete. With everyone involved it was clear that they all understood what to do next. The stories were based on the initial discussion about something they noticed.
Time constraints influenced the kind of books that were made. Origami books are simple to construct. A piece of paper is folded and cut to form a one signature book made without glue or staples. Each signature was hand sewn into cardboard folders for a soft cover. These pieces were machine-stitched with fabric around the sides.
Both groups created two sets of books that showed tangible evidence of the learning that occurred. Classes rehearsed for a presentation to fellow students and teachers. Fifth graders read books aloud to the audience. Seventh graders interpreted their stories through a dance performance. Both classes as a whole and individually fulfilled the project objectives successfully.
These girls took a short journey with me. Through drawing, painting, bookmaking, story telling and creative writing they sharpened verbal and artistic skills, perception and memory. I gained their trust and enjoyed seeing their progress, total enthusiasm for art materials and their ability to express themselves so freely in such a short time.
A Queens College student is doing a similar project with her fifth graders in Long Island. We will exchange PPGVS books with books made by this Long Island group. In this way American students can learn about issues affecting girls in rural India and the Indian group will learn about American culture from students their own age. This project changed the girls ideas of art and learning in that they developed a feeling of ownership of their personal history. Although they live in economically poor communities, with many household responsibilities before and after school, they were open to one another, to the rich world of art and the imagination and moved to a new level of consciousness, of self worth and possibility.
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©
mindfields 2007 |
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