Hello all,

The International Democratic Education Conference 2020 (Web IDEC)has begun from last weekend. The link to FB page and the video recordings of the sessions is as follows. Kindly take out some time to visit the page and listen to veterans in education all across the world talking about democracy in education

https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=web%20idec%202020%20-%20international%20democratic%20education%20conference

Gentle reminder to fill up the google admission form sent on Whatsap group.

Gentle reminder for Lets समझतें हैं on 7th November 2020

Glimpses through the week

Weekly meeting, emergency meeting

1. AV contents: The AV rule at LC was reviewed. It is as follows
2. 60 min/week AV time - YouTube, DIYs
3. Unlimited time - Khan Academy, skillshare, TedEd, Sketchup, Scratch, other learning platforms
4. Movies - Through Movie club - Last friday of the month
5. Not allowed - Cartoons, Video games, videos related to games, Sitcoms, Any violent contents, Pornography,
6. The time monitoring of AV was earlier decided to be by self-regulation. There was discussion on how to monitor the time, but no conclusive decision was arrived at.
7. This week all the children in LC violated the rule by inadvertently/inadvertently watching cartoons and hence all will be taking self-consequence in the coming week. 
8. The system of consequence works in the following way - Everyone decides the consequence for oneself. (These include things like - not playing on a jungle gym for 3 days, staying in quiet zone without playing with friends for a day, winding up whole LC for 3 days, not watching AV throughout the week - home or LC., not playing minecraft at home, not getting cuddled by mother, getting up at 5 O'clock in the morning, not using mobile phone for a day except to receive calls)
9. Whenever someone violates any of LC rules, that person takes a self consequence.

2. There were few instances over the past couple of weeks where one child was getting bullied by a few others. On Friday, when the same episode was getting repeated, other children in LC (bystanders) jumped into the matter and took the side of loner and started teasing the duo. It was a sudden change in the scene, which none had expected. This led to a physical fight. The bystanders thought they were being righteous to stand with the victim and giving the other two a chance to understand how the other one was feeling. Whereas the duo felt targeted and bullied by the whole bunch of children. The case was heard in the judiciary. Both the parties had their sides. No definitive conclusion could be reached. It was emphasized that LC is a free space but it is essential to follow the rules if we wish to enjoy the freedom. 

For the intolerable/ non-negotiable act, what should be the highest level of consequence one can get from the whole team LC was debated and decided as “For two days the person cannot come to LC”

The judiciary was resolved and immediately later another fight broke, in which one of the children used bucket words. This led to another exercise today. Everyone was asked to reflect on 

What kind of place LC should be?

How to make it a free place?

How can the environment be made respectful?

Is it important to follow the rules set by the Judiciary and why?

How would you feel if someone is hitting/pushing/ teasing you along with friends, would you feel safe?

What will you do if you spot someone doing this to others in LC?

What will you do if someone is using bucket words in LC?

The little ones also did similar exercise. What we understood from this was - everyone is well aware of the basic principles and is in complete agreement with the non-negotiables - which are Freedom, safety, respect, justice and Equality.

After this exercise, we opened the topic of someone using the non-acceptable words. Initially everyone said that we have to go for the extreme consequence, but finally it was decided that this is the last warning for any kind of violence and abusive language. Only the self-consequence will be practiced in the current case. But henceforth, there will be zero tolerance to bullying, abusive language and violence. 

Zubin’s session

After last week's intro session, Zubin and team had come for the first official session. He started the discussion by listing various electrical appliances in LC. He showed them the Meter, how usage is calculated, discussed the BEST bill, demonstrated main switch connections to various rooms. Later everyone made circuits with batteries and experimented by interchanging ‘+’ and ‘-’ ends. Some children were extremely curious and hands on. Overall everyone liked the session.

Reviews

Another important task for the week is semester end reviews and goal setting for next week. We are getting to understand what children wish to do over the next 6 months. We are also getting to know the expectations from the parents side. As facilitators of LC, we wish to have our children as much self-dependent as possible. Hence, in most of the cases, we have stimulated/ nudged the child to wake up on time, get ready, pack everything and reach LC on time. Once this is achieved, the child may take up small responsibilities at home, like cleaning the dining table, washing chopping vegetables, folding clothes, and making breakfast.

The review session will continue for the coming week.

That's all about this week. Stay tuned for further updates!

Cheers!