HELP TRANSFORM OUR SCHOOL!
WHAT WE DID LAST YEAR, WITH THE FUNDS YOU HELP US RAISE...?
Hello once again. Just like last year, this year too, I continue to teach. Last year I was in a class of amazing 80 fourth graders in a Municipal School in Malvani. There were a lot of things to be done and many of them could not have been done if it weren’t for YOU. I want to start by just thanking everyone for their massive amount of support because due to your contribution we were able to raise about 41 thousand rupees for our classrooms.
A lot of times while making donations, especially like this online, one is sceptical of what will be done with their hard earned money! But, I genuinely want to thank everyone for believing in us so much and going ahead to contribute. Here’s what we could do with your help!
1.
We got an awesome PROJECTOR from Epson and SPEAKERS (Tarang) from IBALL.
This projector was not only used in our own classrooms but also time and again, by other classrooms in the school. We showed them videos on values like teamwork, honesty, not giving up and excellence which were beginnings to open discussions of the same and understanding these values. We should them educational videos – especially videos for science, with experiments that we couldn’t have otherwise brought to the classrooms. We showed them videos of students outside the boundaries of Mumbai and Our country and what education looked in and outside our country. We should them dances and songs which they learnt and loved. We showed them environmental documentaries and amazing movies! Most of all we screened the Jungle book for them, a book that they had read and showcased in form of dance drama in their previous year and the joy in our class knew no bounds!
2. We took them for field trips – the highlight of which was the KALA GHODA Festival! We took them all across to the other side of town to show them the AMAZING things that are possible through arts. At the festival they met many eminent personalities and attended workshops! The Pictures will describe their experience.
3.
We enrolled them for a TFI interschool football tournament! – We bought shoes and other sports gear for them with the funds we raised, we trained them, both our senior and junior teams made it to the quarter finals!
4. We bought green boards and mats to sit on with the funds! A class of 80 is an enormous number of kids to accommodate in one class! And to instruct them is even more difficult together simply because learning in the school I taught in looked very different from the schools that we ourselves studied in! Fourth grade for me meant kids who knew only their ABCs, to kids who knew things only till first grade of learning to kids who were progressing to know things from 3rd and 4th grade. And they HAD to be taught differently according to their level of knowledge and learning. Because of this we could take instructions in our corridors OUTSIDE of the classroom in smaller, more targeted groups.
5. And last and most importantly, we used the funds for daily printables, lots of charts, worksheets, buying encyclopedias, and stationary for activities in class.
WHAT IS HAPPENING THIS YEAR?
I cannot BEGIN to explain what a huge difference those funds made to our class this past year and how much learning our kids could get from especially because all these mediums were SO engaging.
This year, I shifted to Pune to work on an arts project and was also given a brand new class room to work on.
While my lovely cofellows/teachers continue to work hard in Mumbai with my kids from last year and two lovely new teachers have joined in that school to work harder than ever on instruction.
I have shifted here to impact another beautiful bunch of kids who may lack resources but do not, in anyway, lack in potential!
I now teach a class of 25 3rd graders and work with about 100 First second and third graders in total in my school. It’s a new school which just started one year back and the kids are literally starting from scratch across all grades. In English, they all began their year with their ABCs in even third grade. But, I am extremely hopeful and have decided to work as much as I can to bring in three years of growth in their academics to get them to grade level. I also have a vision to inculcate strong values in the children and expose them to the arts and sports so that they get an “education” as opposed to just learning objectives and grow up to become responsible and caring people with skills as opposed to just having bookish knowledge.
Then, again, I need YOUR help. Reaching these goals is not going to be easy and a part of catalysing their growth with highly depend on the resources and exposure I give to them.
I am going to la down my plan and the funds and resources me and the teachers in my school are looking for. ANY help will be appreciate and apart from just that I assure you, that just like last year all of it will be directly invested into the kids learning and their growth. When you donate, you can also comment or write in to specify where you’d want your funds to be invested!
THIS YEAR, YOU CAN DONATE FOR:
FIELD TRIPS
This is one of the most important and most expensive parts when it comes to teaching. Field trips are the greatest source of exposure and learning about things outside the walls of classroom it is also EXTREMELY crucial for these children since unlike us who went for holidays to different cities these kids due to their low income background stay confined to the areas they live in. Transportation to take kids, paying for their tickets to places and sometimes for day long trips paying for their food proves to be really expensive even when on discount because of the number of kids we have to take! We are looking at ATLEAST 3 field trips:
a. To a historical place.
b. To the zoo.
c. To an exhibition or workshop.
The cost of buses for transport to any of these places one way is easily 2 to 2 and a half grand for 30 to 40 children. Plus the tickets and Food.
We are looking at a total of 15,000 Rupees for field trips.
SHOWCASE/EXHIBITION:
We want to set up an annual day because this will give our kids purpose to work hard till the end of the year and also push them to work hard and do “quality” or work since it has to be “presented”. This will help build their values and skills and push them to speak. For the presentation, we would require a stage, sound and light, Stage set up resources. For preparing them for the exhibition/annual day we would need art and craft resources especially for any external help we need from non-teachers.
For this again we are looking at a bare minimum of 15 to 25 thousand rupees.
Its a brand new class but a really old classroom and school and the classrooms look like this:
The paints chipping off, the older colours are now dull and dirty, the holes in the wall have randomly been covered with cement and left uneven. This DOES make a lot of difference in the moods and investment of the children. We want to make it look like a 1st,2nd and 3rd grade classroom! You would agree that at that age kids like things bright and colourful and it DOES encourage them to learn more.
For the enamel paints, we would need around 8000 rupees for 3 classrooms. And once itd done, and you see the before and after pictures, I assure you, you wouldn’t be less than ecstatic that you contributed to it.
BOOKS:
We have barely ANY story books or reading level books in School. We need to get books printed for their reading levels. And we need to set up a small library at school, because genuinely and especially for learning a language, this is age to do it and if they don’t involve in reading or “LIKE” reading now, its likely that they wouldn’t really ever develop their “liking” towards reading later either. Therefore this is HIGH priority.
Also, if you want to donate books and not funds, that also will prove to be a lot of help.
You can either donate used books that are for the age group of 5 to 12 years or just go through the following anf buy us one! Imagine HOW easily a library could be set up if everyone donated just one book! And to think of it, it only possibly costs as much as ONE coffee at CCD anyway!
Here is a list of recommended English story books for children:
Dr. Suess.
For printing levelled books corresponding to each grade, we are looking to raise 3000 to 4000 rupees.
CUPBOARD.
Just one cupboard to stack up books for the library and one shelf to keep classroom and art reasources.
Looking to raise 5 thousand rupees for the same.
RESOURCES
Teaching requires a lot of STATIONARY. We need to print worksheets everyday. Give them lists for vocabulary. Print tests and what not! Then there are charts to be put up in class, colours, paints, fat pens, scissors, glue, craft paper etc. For activities in class. A football for the sports class.
We looking to raise 3000 to 4000 rupees for the same.
Lastly, just YOU!
If you have a skill you want to teach the kids, or help up in art, craft or in conducting science experiments or just help them to learn a song or dance, or talk about your profession to them, or JUST meet the kids, you are most welcome! You can be our biggest resource in everyway.
Its already mentioned above HOW much we can gain out of what you contribute to us, but this is just to point out
WHAT WILL YOU GET OUT OF THIS?
1. A special mention on the wall of our classrooms. Our kids will know how much you’ve done to them and how privileged they really are!
2. Special Thank you cards form us on Email!
3. And most of all, a GREAT sense of satisfaction to have contributed to give an excellent education and environment for learning to kids who will grow up to be in a much better place than they probably otherwise could have been; just because you decided to HELP!
HOW to DONATE:
BOOKS: Write in to
shaan2012@teachforindia.org (with the subject : BOOKS) if you wish to donate a book or books to our school and I will send you the details for post!
If you are from Pune, Mail in, and I will try and coordinate to collect the books.
WORKSHOPS: If you are from Pune or can come down to Pune to take a workshop for the kids on whatever topic you think children should be exposed to while growing up... Write in to
shaan2012@teachforindia.org (with the subject : WORKSHOPS) and please mention which topic you want to take a session on!
WHAT TO KNOW MORE?
If you wish to know more about what I do or want to contribute to us in any other way... please just write in to
shaan2012@teachforindia.org!
