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LC Newsletter 69: Yr 21-22

1 Apr 2022,


Dear Parents,


After two weeks of jam packed activities of writing reviews and meetings, finally this was a much peaceful week. We hope you had discussions at home after the meeting with us. The goal charts have been sent to all of you, kindly go through and suggest if any changes need to be done. Meanwhile, we would like to give you a brief of how the reviews are written and observations are made.


In an alternative education set up where we don’t have exams, it's difficult to measure progress. Some even question, are progresses the only thing to measure? Who records failures? You would have read the review and realised that some of the observations are so mundane and ordinary. What is its value, and why record? We thought so too. But as the saying goes, “what can’t be measured, can’t be improved”. So we record every aspect of the child’s personality, attitude and character through the experiences they go through in LC. It is only a reflection of their time here. What’s their relationship with other children, likes, dislikes, disappointments, emotions, enjoyments, etc. With that in mind the review is a peek into your child’s life in LC, what the child wants to improve or forget is upto the child.


Judiciary

Quite a few agenda this time: We were hoping that kids will be equipped to operate computer on a day to day basis. Though some of the kids have shown interest and improvement, not all are comfortable using it. Next semester onwards we intend to send worksheets, reading materials, and deliverables through email. If your child doesn’t have an email id then pls make one. If any parent has any apprehension about it then please talk to us.


Plastic Waste segregation: We have observed that the plastic waste from some of the LC families arrive late and hence get stored in LC for a month till the next pick up. This invites rodents, which we want to avoid.


Housekeeping: To be done on time with efficiency and least probing.


Preparations for LSH

Throughout the week there were activities going on all the time. Few are practising their dances/drama. The whole place is chaotic and buzzing. Everyone is seriously working on something. Facilitators have been forewarned to not mention the plan to any parent. So, we will see on the day what that is!


Project Day

Hmm…wondering what to write?! This was supposed to be a group project day. Many actually started preparing for group projects but slowly switched to individual projects. When I inquired, it seems there was a lack of coordination and interest among themselves to do something together. Barring two groups who took refuge in each other’s company, the rest all did a flop show. During the circle time few of them mentioned lessons learnt as, “Don’t take noobs as your partners!” There was also some blame game. “He told me…”, “She did that..” etc.


Few things that went wrong: The presentations were not shared with team partners. When they did get together to work on the project, play took priority and the project was forgotten. Few also admitted that they didn’t contribute enough.


Anyways, every failure is an opportunity for growth and there is a lot of scope here. So finally we decided group projects are not going anywhere, it is here to stay.


Friday Food

This time the food manager completely forgot to organise and plan. Instead we all had watermelon that one of the parents got.


Guests

Preksha, who is 24 yrs old, works at a digital marketing firm. She happens to be a cousin of one of our learners and has volunteered to make a video of LC life.


Marzban and Oormi visited us this week. They have a very unique and interesting lifestyle. They travel, yes all the time. But unlike us they don’t return back to their homes. Once they reach their destination, from there they travel to other destinations and so on. They have been on road this entire pandemic. They started their journey from Mumbai, driving all along the western coast. After reaching Kanyakumari they travelled Northwards along the eastern coast. They lived with NGOs and volunteered their time and expertise. Also, did I mention they have a 9yr old son, Arzaan who travels with them? He learns everything through his travel experience and from the local people he meets.


That's all for now, until next week...