How I Fall in Love with Children and Nature - Part One

When I expressed my interest to take up the job of teaching experiential science to students, little did I know Anand would let me take it up. He has seen me as an intern for three months at Selco Labs. He certainly knew I was not passionate about software and as I told you, the code we developed crashed his laptop at times as well ;) So I never thought he would trust me on this.

I took a one month break to spend time with family. Mean while, I did some online research on 'experiential science learning'. Learnt about Kolbe's cycle of experiential learning and also made a small write up on why it is necessary to do hands-on activities, especially for young children. I realized that students at college are not so hands-on because they were accustomed to the didactic way of learning. Moreover, it will be harder to influence them when they are an adult. Hence introducing hands-on science activities for young children between 11 to 13 year old made sense.

On June 25, 2012 I joined Selco Labs as Community Solutions Engineer. Well, Anand let me choose the title myself and this is what I came up with :) And this title indeed intrigued everyone and also many engineers who joined later at Selco Foundation took up this title ;) (I am not kidding, just google 'Community Solutions Engineer' and you will see it yourself).

I worked with 7th grade students of Government Higher Primary School (GHPS), Kukkavu, the same school where we had taught the basics of computer during our internship. I started going to the school on the first week of July and I had designed a few activities based on my interaction with Anand, and some online research. The curriculum was developed very organically and the first activity I conducted was origami. (Please click here to read through my blog on the first ever session with my students).

The beautiful school, Government Higher Primary School, Kukkavu 

Children having fun, doing their favorite thing: playing in the ground. These mountains, the WESTERN GHATS, they look so majestic. Standing in the school veranda, I always starred at them with awe, longing to climb them one day and have a look at this beautiful village from the mountain top.

The cute little staff room where I used to meet the teachers. They were really sweet and though I looked like a kid myself they always treated me with lot of respect.

Second session: How to make simple DC motor

After a month at GHPS, Kukkavu, I started noticing how children waited for me every Wednesday.

Bus stop opposite to the school

GHPS, Kukkavu

As you can see in the pictures above, the classroom allotted for the 7th grade students was the pink colored RCC building, right next to the road, opposite to the bus stand. All the children knew that I would take the particular bus which arrived at around 11.45am to Kukkavu. As soon as I got down, I used to hear children screaming out 'Yeahhh!! Deepti madam has come!' And they would run outside their classroom, stand in the veranda and scream out 'Namaste Madam!'. They did that every class, every Wednesday. I felt so lucky that children are happy that I have come and for me it was a sign that 'We love you, and we love it when you are around us!'

During August I conducted brainstorming activities for children to think and discuss about the issues in the village/school/home that bother them and solutions to these issues. These sessions, where children sat down on the dusty floor in teams so enthusiastically, made me realize that sometimes we get too caught up by the structure of the classrooms and status, that children hardly sit down on the floor in groups. Actually, sitting down in circles helps them interact with the whole team and it is a change that children love to have, something that breaks the monotony of the type of 'class' they are so used to.

                   One of the brainstorming sessions - Students discussing the issues in their village.

By the mid September, I had become really good friends with the children, and I went along with them one fine Saturday afternoon, to their homes in the village. I never thought that the moments I spent with them would become one of the best times I ever spent with my children.

The beautiful stream along the village where the children took me

Oh yeah! We love playing by the stream.

Spot me!

During November, I got the opportunity to do a two day workshop with the students of Kalkeri Sangeeta Vidyalaya (KSV) on sustainability and renewable energy, as the solar installations by SELCO proceeded in the school (please click here to read in detail, about my experience at the school during the workshop). Barbara, the school manager and English teacher sat through my entire workshop and in the end of the workshop she told me that I was really good with the kids, and that children didn't get bored at all. I had been taking classes for students at GHPS, Kukkavu, but never really got feedback from a teacher or somebody closely working with children on a daily basis. Her feedback really got me excited, doubled my confidence and it was like a signboard that gave me direction to move ahead in this path. The second day, during my dinner the children told me,'Akka, please do not go' and they surrounded Barbara telling her, 'Ask akka not to go.' As I left KSV, I realized, if children seem to benefit with my teaching, then I should do it more, work harder towards giving them my best, and more than that, bring out the best in them.

After returning from the workshop, I came back to students at GHPS Kukkavu with a new found confidence and lots of love. Being with students was not just about facilitating these sessions, it was also about taking them in the right direction and give them morals that they can hold on to. I used to give a big chocolate every week to the team that performed well in terms of team work, and efforts taken during the execution of the work given, and I made sure they shared the chocolates with the whole team which conveyed to them, ' We sow seeds together and reap them together and share them.' There was this one particular class where I had given them a week's time to perform an activity. But the children did not complete it because they had forgotten about it, and that day happened to be the day I got a big chocolate bar to be shared to the entire class. I showed them the chocolate and they were really excited, but I held it in my hands and told them, 'Why do you think I will give the chocolate to you today? I had always given it as an appreciation for your efforts. I won't give the chocolate to you today.' I slowly put it in and said, 'Similarly in life you cannot expect to get rewards without putting in sincere efforts. The day you do the work, I will give the same chocolate to you.' The whole class was silent. This was the first time, the entire class had ever been silent. It was a sign that they were probably reflecting on what they listened to. The following week, they finished the work assigned to them, and the entire class shared the chocolate. But the most beautiful part was children giving me a piece of chocolate from their share. A chocolate never tasted so good :)

Our bond just grew thicker every week and one day during mid December I find a student who had written my name on her hand, with the 'Mehndi'. She was really excited to show her hand to me when I arrived, and when I saw, I was awe struck. I never thought children would ever love me so much. I was really happy, and felt contented. That day when I went back home, I realized being their 'Deepti madam' was the most precious thing in my life, and thanked God for giving me this opportunity to be with the children.

I always thought, 'What more do I want, being loved by your students is such a beautiful feeling'. Every Wednesday, before I entered the class they would make beautiful drawings on the board (usually a rose) and write 'WELCOME DEEPTI MADAM'. I would go crazy just looking at the board because I felt so loved and as a teacher or a facilitator I felt might be I am doing okay with the children since they shower me with so much love. If I wouldn't go on a Wednesday because of any travel related to work, the week after, the children would lovingly ask,'Why madam, you didn't come last week. You know we kept waiting for you!', I would blush and smile, deep within me thanking God for the love that these children shower on me.

On 9th February, the last day of my class for the academic year 2012-2013, they bid me farewell, that almost looked like a huge festivity. I was really impressed to see various programmes organized by the children to disseminate the knowledge they gained throughout the year. They also cuddled me, hugged me and gave me lots of presents with lots of love. 

After an year at school, I understood how beautiful the relationship between a child and teacher can be, how much happiness it can bring to both by cherishing, and valuing each other. Reflecting back on the year I spent with children at Kukkavu, KSV, and feedback from children, and wonderful people like Barbara, and Adam, I knew I had fallen in love with schools and children, and I wanted more of this than anything I was doing at work.

The story of how I fall in love with nature is as exciting as the story of falling in love with the children. In 2012, we went to a nearby waterfalls called 'Ermi Falls' which totally blew me away with its beauty, visited 'Bisle Ghat' during the rainy season and bathed in the waterfalls, travelled on top of the jeep for some distance, and trekked to 'Gadiakal/Jamlabad Fort' - a nearby Fort on a hill. Looking at the whole of Belthangady from Gadaikal made me fall in love with the greenery around, the majestic Kudremukh ranges and the entire area around Belthangady that was filled with lush green forests.

Ermi Falls in Ujire

The beautiful Bisle Ghat (Picture Courtesy: Anantha Murthy)

View of Belthangady from Gadaikal (Picture Courtesy: Graeme English)

Soon, I fall in love with wonderful creatures in and around me. The colourful butterflies, moths, bugs and healthy, beautiful cows; everything just caught my attention and made me fall in love with the nature around me.

By the end of 2012, I bought a second hand mountain bike: this is one of the best things I ever did for myself. I went into the woods, into the fields with my bike every morning. I enjoyed sitting near the fields and enjoying the sunrise, watching the birds, the paddy fields dance to the wind, the curious and humble grandmas who would walk to work and would gave a stare or sometimes a smile to a girl who had randomly decided to sit besides the fields.

During May, we had a team meeting at Anand's farmhouse, which is one of the most memorable meetings ever, because, we were so relaxed, yet made productive discussions. We also did a trek to Ermi Falls from his house, which was amazing :)

The team meeting at Anand's farm house

Trek to Ermi Falls

During May, we had also got an invitation from Lemelson Foundation to submit proposals for funding any ideas from the existing grantees who come up with inventive and innovative ways to demonstrate the power of invention. Based on my experience of working with the school children and also considering the feedback given by the school children, they did enjoy the hands-on activities. So, Anand and me came up with the idea of using hands-on activities at school to increase the level of innovation and ultimately help children solve the issues in the community through innovation. Lemelson Foundation approved our idea and by October we had already started working on the content along with Ashwathi and Trisha onboard on this cool programme that goes by the name 'Invention Education'.

Meanwhile, we also procured renewable energy toolkit from 'Horizon' and tried it with 8th grade students in Government High School(GHS), Diduppe and with 7th grade students in GHPS, Kukkavu.

Children from GHS, Diduppe making solar mixer using the small solar panels, a plastic jar and a blade

 Going to GHS Diduppe was exciting, we had to climb little bit to get there but once we reached there the view from the school of the Ghats around took my breath away.

GHS Diduppe

Greenery around the school

View of the Ghats from the school

 I really wished I was a teacher working in that school because I would just get lost looking at the view around me for the rest of my life!

This is just a bit of the beautiful journey, walk with me to the next post and you will uncover more!! :D