The Okra Exercise

One of the activities that I like to do early on with teacher trainees is one that I've come to call, "The Okra Exercise".  It's simple.

First I ask someone to buy a kilo of fruits or vegetables from the market: okra, tomatoes, cucumbers, apples ... anything that is frequently used and commonly purchased.  Once I've got my produce I place it on a table for trainees to touch and consider, then I give them their first task: to sort the okra into two categories - best and worst - with half placed on one side of the table and half on the other.   Everyone has to agree with the final groupings.  Much lively discussion always ensues at this point, but it doesn't take long (less than a minute usually) for the group to finish.  Then I make things a little harder, asking the group to narrow down their "best okra" group to only twelve, the ones they would choose if their market budget allowed for only a dozen pods.  Again, there must be consensus on the final selection.  Once the "best of the best" have been decided on, I pose my first questions to the group:

- How did you make your choices?  What do you look for when you're buying okra?

Answers usually involve factors like color, shape, size or firmness.  Then comes the next query:

- How do you know what you do about okra?  Where did you learn these things?

Inevitably (in Nepal at least) trainees have learned from their mothers or grandmothers, from helping in the kitchen as a child, from having to learn to cook on their own after marriage or from accompanying older family members to the market.  No one has ever told me that she learned to choose okra from a school textbook; no one has ever been instructed in this skill by a teacher; no one has ever had to study okra selection in preparation for an exam.  And so I ask,

- What things do your students know that they didn't learn in school?

Most children learn to walk and talk before they come to school.  They learn the rules of games (sometimes quite elaborate).  They learn to perform household chores; to help with agricultural work; to navigate their neighborhoods; to babysit younger siblings; to help in the kitchen; to operate radios, TV's and other sophisticated electronic devices ... in other words there is a world of skills and knowledge that children learn via experience and informal instruction, an array of knowledge that traditionally has nothing to do with formal schooling.  And that leads to the most important set of questions of all, the culmination of "The Okra Exercise":

- How can we use what we've just considered about learning to improve classroom teaching?  How can we use experience to help children learn what they need to know from school?

I would urge all educators to revisit this question often.  What do you know about okra or tomatoes or squash or apples, how did you learn it, and what might that mean for effective teaching practice.

(My thanks to Stan Chu for first showing me "The Okra Exercise".) 

Support Our Work

EAW is running its first-ever online fundraising campaign.  If you're interested in supporting real change at the grassroots level in schools around the world, please consider a donation.  We really need the funds!

http://funds.gofundme.com/dashboard/jzet6o

Thank you.

Beyond Kathmandu: Work With the Archini Foundation in Hetauda, Nepal

In my last post I wrote about leading a literacy workshop with Room to Read Nepal.   That experience was gratifying in itself, but what I didn’t know at the time was that it would lead me to further work and relationships, outside of Kathmandu this time. 

One of the participants in the Room to Read workshop was an educator from the city of Hetauda, in south central Nepal.  When we met, Pratibha Dangol was working in Room to Read’s regional office in Makwanpur District, but she had plans to leverage the experience she had gained as a classroom teacher and a literacy worker to create an organization of her own that would promote change in her local area.  I promised to do what I could to help her, and when I returned to Nepal in April of 2013, Pratibha invited me to be a part of the first-ever workshop organized by the newly minted Archini Foundation, titled “Progressive Leadership in Schools”.   The participants were school leaders from both government and private schools in the area who came together for three days of workshops, talks and team-building exercises.   For my part, I tackled three challenging topics:

- How Do Children Learn: Using Observation and Research to Rethink Teaching Practice

- Helping Teachers Be Their Best: Creating A Professional Development Plan That Works

- Considering the Culture of Classroom Management: From Punishment to Encouragement

In my next posts I will consider each of these workshops, but first … a bit about the city of Hetauda.  I was excited about my trip there because, despite many journeys to Nepal, I had somehow never managed to travel outside of the Kathmandu metropolitan area.   Hetauda is in Makwanpur District, about 140 kilometers south of Kathmandu and to get there Pratibha had booked me a seat in a Sumo, a small multi-passenger van.  There is a good highway linking the two cities and Sumos make back and forth runs continually, carrying 8-10 passengers per trip.  The drive took four hours, with a stop along the way for lunch, and wound through lovely mountainous countryside and villages … a pleasure to watch from my front seat window.  Hetauda is at a much lower elevation than Kathmandu (roughly 500 m v. 1300 m) and in April it was quite a bit hotter there than in the capital.  It’s a bustling small city with a population of about 80,000, an important intersection/stop along two of Nepal’s main highways.  The city has been growing in recent years and I saw quite a bit of construction (mostly new homes) while I was there.  With Pratibha and her wonderful assistant Bindu as my tour guides I visited local schools, colleges, shopping districts and even a regional fair with carnival rides and a midway.  I spent a week in Hetauda and I can’t wait to return … the sooner the better.

Creating Children's Literature With Room To Read

Last month I had the opportunity to work with a team of educators to lead a conference with the Nepali faculty of Room To Read, a wonderful international NGO with the motto, "World change starts with educated children".   Quoting from the organization's web page (http://www.roomtoread.org/AboutUs):

We envision a world in which all children can pursue a quality education, reach their full potential and contribute to their community and the world. To achieve this goal, we focus on two areas where we believe we can have the greatest impact: literacy and gender equality in education.  We work in collaboration with communities and local governments across Asia and Africa to develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children, and support girls to complete secondary school with the life skills they’ll need to succeed in school and beyond.

Our workshop, held in Kathmandu, was titled, "Child Centered Pedagogy for Language and Literacy Skills", and consisted of six sessions over the course of three days.  I led three of these sessions and used the time to create a children's writing workshop for the participants.  Since promotion of quality children's literature is one of the cornerstones of Room to Read's mission, I worked with a Nepali colleague to include read-aloud sessions in English and Nepali at the beginning, end and midway through each day's session.  For the rest of the time we worked on creating original books of our own: first a group book based on the participants' experiences observing children in the nearby neighborhood and then individual books composed, bound and illustrated by each educator.

For the rest of this post I'll focus on the read-aloud portion of the workshop.  Then I'll discuss our writing experience.  But first a note on language.

I do not speak Nepali, so obviously all of my teaching was conducted in English and the Room to Read faculty are all English speakers.  For obvious reasons, however, it was important that Nepali writing and language be an important component of our work.  Room to Read is an advocate for creating and promoting children's literature in the local languages of the regions where they work and I wanted to build skills and tools to enrich the workshop participants' contributions to that mission.   For this reason I worked alongside my colleague Ms. Bandana Aryal, a Nepali teacher at the Rato Bangala School.  Bandana conducted some of our read-aloud sessions, selecting Nepali children's literature to share with the group.  Participants were encouraged to compose their books in either English or Nepali and Bandana was consultant on language and composition for those who chose Nepali (our group book was in Nepali as were most of the individual titles).

For more on Nepali children's literature, see my blog post from 2009 on Rato Bangala Kitab (Rato Bangala Books)  http://educationalalternativesworldwide.blogspot.com/2009/03/rato-bangala-kitab-quality-childrens.html. 

The English read-aloud books I chose included the following titles:

The Artist Who Painted A Blue Horse, by Eric Carle.

Hairs, by Sandra Cisneros, illustrated by Terry Ybanez.

The Eric Carle book is a simple, beautiful story of one artist's commitment to resisting conventionality.  It's suitable for young children, but if using it with adults be sure and include the tribute in the back to the German expressionist painter Franz Marc.  Sandra Cisneros' Hairs is in both English and Spanish and, as advertised, is all about hair - its varied textures, colors and styles.  

As I stated earlier, Bandana and I tried to include at least three read-aloud experiences per session.  There is no better way to teach the techniques we hope educators will use with children than to model those very techniques, using the best tools at our disposal.   Both of the books I've cited are wonderful examples of quality literature and there is so much more available.  What titles would you choose?

Recognition for Rato Bangala

It's been an exciting week for the Rato Bangala School and Foundation, who have just been awarded the UNESCO- Hamdan Bin Al-Maktoum Prize!  Website http://www.hamdanunesco.ae/ states that the award,

... set up in 2009 and funded by his Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, aims to support, encourage and benefit those working to enhance the performance and effectiveness of teachers towards Education for all.  It attaches particular importance to outstanding practices in developing country contexts or those aimed at marginalized and disadvantaged communities. It also aims to facilitate the global sharing and dissemination of outstanding practices regarding teachers.

I have written a lot about the work of Rato Bangala in this blog and I hope you'll read some of my older posts to learn more about them.  I'm proud to be associated with this wonderful organization.   If you'd like to make a tax-deductible contribution to support their work, please use the link on this page or contact me directly.

Block Work Begins at Rato Bangala

Once we had created block areas in the first grade classrooms at Rato Bangala it was time to let the students explore.  We gave them no particular assignment as small groups of ten began their interaction with the blocks; they were simply instructed to work with a partner and to build.  They tackled the task without hesitation and immediately we began to see rudimentary structures come to life.  Some of the children focused on exploration of shapes. 

For some, the first task was to create an enclosure bounded by the blocks.

Others worked to create tall structures.

In their work with blocks, as with all curriculum areas, children tend to conform to certain developmental stages and patterns.  Three year old block builders often simply carry materials from place to place or place them end to end horizontally.  As they grow, they tend to move on to creating enclosures, bridging spaces, focusing on decorative elements, adding height, naming and labeling their buildings and engaging in dramatic play.  It was fascinating to watch our Rato Bangala six-year olds explore each of these phases and progress quickly through them as they encountered the materials for the first time.  The first-graders proved to be sophisticated builders, collaborators and problem-solvers.   One adventurous pair constructed a "bike ramp", stretching from a height even with the top of the shelves to the floor.  When I asked them how bikes would get to the top of the ramp to begin their downward journey their first response was to say, "They'll fly".  After a bit more questioning and encouragement, the boys came up with the idea of building an elevator and ran eagerly to their teacher to request string and cardboard for the task.  Their creativity was so infectious that soon all of the groups at work in the block area were planning elevators for their structures and comparing ideas for the best ways to build them.

The reintroduction of blocks at Rato Bangala can certainly be counted as a success thus far and when I left the school in September the second grade teachers were eagerly awaiting their own sets.  There is no doubt, however, that with time questions will emerge, problems will arise, and adjustments will have to be made.  I look forward to learning how the groundbreaking Nepali teachers at Rato Bangala will meet these challenges. 

Why Blocks?

Once we’d made space in their classrooms the first grade students at Rato Bangala couldn’t wait to get started working with blocks.  In fact one group, returning from PE class to find new, still unpacked blocks stacked in the room began to dance and sing and to jostle one another for the chance to touch the new materials.  I’ll talk about their initial explorations in my next post, but before I describe in detail the work the kids did when they got the chance to really engage with the blocks, I’d like to revisit some of the reasons these materials are so highly valued in progressive education classrooms.   

Progressive educators seek to create rich experience as the basis for learning and believe that children need opportunities to process and recreate these experiences in multiple ways.  With blocks, learners can do just that, exploring and building in hands-on, multi-faceted, open-ended ways both individually and in groups.  Blocks enhance mathematical thinking and spatial reasoning and provide wonderful opportunities for dramatic play.  They lend themselves to complex problem solving, allow for artistic exploration and are important tools for fostering language development.   To quote the visionary educator (and Bank Street founder) Lucy Sprague Mitchell:  

The wonder of blocks is the many-sided constructive experiences they yield to the many-sided constructive child – and every child is such if guided by a many-sided constructive parent or teacher.

If you’d like to learn more about using blocks in the classroom, I recommend The Block Book (Elizabeth S. Hirsch, ed; Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1996.).  The quote above is from page 10.   

Also, see this recent article from the New York Times about the “rediscovery” of unit blocks: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/28/nyregion/with-building-blocks-educators-going-back-to-basics.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=nyregion.

Making A Space for Block Work

In my last post I wrote about the challenges involved in bringing blocks back to the early grade classrooms at Rato Bangala.  Now that I’m back to provide an update I’m happy to report that despite a few initial difficulties we were able to make the transition with very positive results.

We started with one classroom and began by tackling the formidable problem of space.  We needed a large enough block area with shelves arranged to allow the children easy access to all of the materials but that still left room for them to create and modify their buildings.  To tackle our new block area we moved all of the classroom tables and chairs to one side and began to experiment with shelf placement.

After a bit of tinkering, we decided on an area that would meet the needs of teachers and students.  In the rest of the classroom, work tables were arranged to suit the new configuration of the space.  Our wonderful and cooperative teachers even agreed to replace their large desk with a much smaller one and to move many of their supplies to a storage room next door. 

Back in the block area, we marked off work areas with masking tape to help the children organize themselves as they worked. We made sure to delineate open “corridors” along the shelves and between work areas so that everyone could reach the shelves and move around without bumping or knocking into each other’s buildings. With their new classroom block area laid out and in place, the kids couldn’t wait to get to work.

More about that work to come in my next post.

Back In Kathmandu: Blocks in the Classroom

I am very fortunate to be spending time once again at the Rato Bangala School in Kathmandu, Nepal. As I’ve written in earlier blog entries, I’ve been involved with this school for over twenty years now and so have had the privilege of observing an educational institution develop from nothing more than an idea into a fully functioning school serving grades 1-12. On this trip I’ve been especially lucky. My own mentor from my early years of teaching at the Bank Street School for Children is here, invited to do an assessment and revision of social studies curriculum in grades 1-8. Judith Gold has had many years of experience working in schools in the US and around the world. She has an extraordinary ability to zero in on key curriculum areas that need improvement and then to lead teachers and school leaders through the process of reflection and revision. With Judith on site, there’s a lot of change in the air at Rato Bangala. The most ambitious of these changes has been the return of blocks to grades one and two.

Blocks have long been a staple in many primary grade classrooms. Most use the classic “unit blocks” developed by Caroline Pratt in the early 20^th century. Ms. Pratt was firmly convinced that through work with blocks children are able to recreate and build on their experience, providing opportunities for deep and meaningful learning. A basic set of such blocks features fifteen shapes, all designed to be mathematically proportional with the simple rectangular “unit” (1 3/8” x 2 3/4” x 5 1/2”) that is the core of the collection.

Using blocks as part of regular classroom practice requires real understanding of the possibilities of this rich material and a commitment to significant time for block work. An adequately sized block corner takes up a lot of space, it requires regular periods of open-ended time that is not devoted to more traditional instructional methods, and teachers need to be able to tolerate the sometimes noisy hum generated by children busy with blocks. For these and other reasons, blocks have disappeared from many classrooms over the years. The same has been true at Rato Bangala, where the unit blocks that were built by local carpenters over fifteen years ago had been relegated to a tiny separate storage area, not connected to the life of the classroom. When Judith toured the school just after her arrival in Nepal, she decided to take on the challenge of “bringing back the blocks”.

More on the details of this adventure in my next post …

Building A Foundation

For almost a year now I've been working my way through the various steps involved in forming a non-profit corporation. For someone like me who's not familiar with the bureaucratic and legal issues involved the process has been complicated, at times tedious and extremely enlightening throughout. From the beginning I've been forced to think carefully about just what it is I want to do and just how I want to go about doing it, starting with the most basic question of all. Why form a non-profit? Why not simply pursue work as an independent consultant without the trappings of an incorporated organization that involves bylaws, a Board of Directors, etc.? The answer has three parts:

(1) I want to be able to support schools and educational institutions that need help by accepting tax-deductible contributions from interested donors here in the U.S.;

(2) I want to be able to fund projects through grants available to non-profit corporations;

(3) I want to be part of an organization, even if in its beginning stages (i.e. now) that organization is very small. I want to collaborate with my professional peers and I want to have access to the opinions and feedback of a community of like-minded educators. Creating a formal organization is one way of beginning to create such a community.

Like this blog, the non-profit is called Educational Alternatives Worldwide. Our mission is to provide support for schools that want to offer something other than test-driven curriculum based on memorization and competition. We believe in child-centered classrooms that encourage students to question, to think critically, to work together at solving problems and to use the tools they gain in school to make meaning from the world around them. We believe it is critical not simply that children learn but how they learn and that this is of the utmost importance to the future.

If these ideas make sense to you, please do be in touch. Let's build a community to make schools better for all children.

Reggio Emilia and The Child's Right to Beauty

Loris Malaguzzi, mentioned in my previous blog post as the guiding force of the Reggio movement, is famous for articulating the idea that learning is nurtured through multiple channels, using many materials and techniques. As he stated in his poem, The Hundred Languages of Childhood:

… The child has
A hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred hundred more)
But they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture
Separate the head from the body …

(see http://www.reggiokids.com/about/hundred_languages.php)

Development of the “hundred languages” is the guiding pedagogical principle in the infant/toddler and pre-primary centers of Reggio Emilia, which serve children from infancy through age five and their families.

To a first-time visitor, perhaps the most striking feature of these schools is their visual impact. The classrooms are lovely and engaging and teachers clearly put much energy into the use of color, shape and design to create inspiring environments for children. (Rights to images of the Reggio classrooms are copyrighted. For pictures, visit the Reggio Children website at http://zerosei.comune.re.it/inter/nidiescuole.htm). There’s much emphasis on work with light and almost every room features an overhead projector equipped with a sampling of shapes and colors for children to manipulate. Each center features an “atelier”: a space devoted to art and staffed by an “atelierista”. There is space and openness and an inviting sense of creative possibility. A broad variety of materials are used: paint, cloth, wire, paper, plastic, wood, feathers, leaves … almost anything from the surrounding environment can (and frequently is) incorporated into the experience of Reggio learners. (The municipality has established the most incredible center for collection/distribution of recyclable materials I have ever seen: (http://zerosei.comune.re.it/inter/remida.htm). Reggio planners have long understood the importance of careful architectural thinking in school design and the buildings they have created (or adapted) over the years are a sophisticated mix of large and small group spaces flooded with natural light and furnished with materials and structures that are playful, beautiful and functional.

There is much more to the Reggio philosophy and I encourage you to explore their practice more completely through via the internet, the many print publications available or even by visiting. In the meantime, I’d like to acknowledge once more the really inspiring example of this movement in underscoring the child’s “right to beauty” (and so much more). I may decide to write again about Reggio in future, but for my next few posts I plan to introduce Educational Alternatives Worldwide, the non-profit foundation I have created to promote teacher training and progressive curriculum development in South Asia (and hopefully beyond).

Reggio Emilia: Celebrating The Rights of Children

Back in November of last year, I traveled to the city of Reggio Emilia, Italy to take part in a study group for North American educators. The event was sponsored by Reggio Children, an organization responsible for one of the most successful experiments in early childhood education ever undertaken.

The story of this city's commitment to its children begins in 1945, just after the end of World War II. Faced with inconceivable devastation, with nothing but the shells amid rubble of bombed-out buildings, the townspeople decided to make schools the focus of their first rebuilding efforts - a very concrete investment in the future of a place whose past had been so deeply impacted. In the book Brick by Brick, by Renzo Barazzoni (published by Reggio Children, 2005), educator Loris Malaguzzi (who would become the guiding force behind the movement) described his first encounter with a remarkably visionary group of citizens:

Word had it that at Villa Cella the people had gotten together to put up a school for the young children; they had pulled out the bricks from the bombed-out houses and had used them to build the walls of the school. Only a few days had passed since the Liberation and everything was still violently topsy-turvy ... Behind a curtain made of rags to shield them from the sun two women were hammering the old mortar off the bricks. ..The news was true, and the truth was there, for all to see ... in the uneven but stubborn hammering of these two women. One of them looked up at me ... We're not crazy! If you really want to see, come on Saturday or Sunday, when we're all here. 'Al forn da boun l'asilo' ('We're really going to make this school!')

What makes the schools of Reggio Emilio so fascinating? Stay tuned for future posts...

-Beth

Education in Pakistan: Hoshyar and al-Hamd

For the past year, I have been working with The Hoshyar Foundation, an American non-profit whose mission statement asserts:

The organization's primary mandate is increasing women's and girls' access to education in historically underserved localities, particularly South Asia and Afghanistan. We are keenly aware that the cultural politics of development work are best navigated when grantors work together with--rather than initiate or direct--local initiatives. The organization seeks to work with communities that have already identified a need to promote female education, and to make its grants of resources according to articulated needs of those communities.

Carla Petievich, the founder and executive director of Hoshyar, is a South Asian Studies scholar and professor whose years of research in Pakistan have made her keenly aware of the need to support education in the region. One of Hoshyar's most ambitious projects to date has been a collaboration with the al-Hamd Educational Girls High School. The al-Hamd School is located in Baagarian Village, just outside the city of Lahore, Pakistan. Founded by a remarkable woman with a dream to provide education to girls and young women, it serves more than 150 students in nursery through grade ten. Students contribute a nominal tuition fee - with books, materials and uniforms provided. The school serves an impoverished semi-rural community of families eager to educate their children and enthusiastic about the opportunities that al-Hamd is providing. In May, with financial assistance from Hoshyar, al-Hamd completed construction on a brand-new building, setting the stage for an exciting future in the village.

My own work with Hoshyar and al-Hamd involves curriculum and pedagogy - the teaching practices that go on within the walls of the new building. I visited Pakistan last September to observe the school and to interview faculty and students. I also had the opportunity to meet other educators in Lahore, an introduction to the professional community working for school reform in the area. My next visit will be in January, 2010 when I'll be overseeing a training workshop for al-Hamd's teachers and administrators. Upcoming posts will describe this project in more detail as well as my hopes for al-Hamd and other Hoshyar projects that fuel my excitement about working in Pakistan.

-Beth

RBPOP: Rato Bangala Partnership in Outreach Programme

I've already written much about the achievements of the Rato Bangala School and Foundation throughout Nepal ... but there's more. Funded by a percentage of the school fees paid by parents of Rato Bangala Kathmandu, the Partnership in Outreach Programme (RBPOP) was formed in 2002 to provide leadership training, teacher training and scholarships to needy students from fifty schools in five rural districts throughout the country. There are training modules for administrators, a two-and-a-half month residential Skill Development Training for teachers and provision of school fees, uniforms, stationery, book bags and extra reading material for scholarship students. In addition, a select number of children are offered the opportunity to enroll at Rato Bangala Kathmandu, with full tuition and boarding fees covered by RBPOP.

One of my favorite pieces of RBPOP's work is the "tin trunk" program. Partner schools in rural areas are provided with a simple trunk filled with transformative teaching materials. There are books, hands-on math materials, maps and (as pictured above) hand puppets, carefully designed by RBPOP staff to complement the cultures of the region. I quote:

The set contains six puppets each from the Himalayan, Mountain and Tarai regions. People are represented in their local costumes on one side of the puppet, and, on the other side are animals found in that region. The grandparents wear the most traditional and ornate costumes, (Sherpa, Bahun/Chhetri and Tharu), the parents wear less traditional ones, and the children's clothes are modern. These puppets inspire children to know the traditional costumes, the joint family structure, and about animals found in these areas.

The tin trunks contain further treasures: magnets, balloons, globes, blocks, paints and brushes, skipping ropes ... a truly magical collection for the chronically under-equipped schools of rural Nepal. But there is more to educational reform than the concrete, quantifiable tools-of-the-trade. What makes Rato Bangala so unique and so revolutionary is powerful and considered pedagogy - a basic philosophy and set of educational principles that underlie and inform everything they do. The educators of Rato Bangala believe that children construct meaning from the experiences and environments around them. They believe in empowering teachers as valued and competent professionals. And they believe that the kind of schooling that truly supports open-ended thinking and questioning will bring about real change in Nepal. I am honored to continue to be a part of this visionary organization.

If you would like to make a donation to support the work of the Rato Bangala Foundation, please contact me: bnorford@mac.com. Your contribution will make a difference to the children and teachers of Nepal. (Note: Contributions are not yet tax-deductible in the US, but we're working on it.)

-Beth

Teacher Training at Rato Bangala - An International Collaboration for Excellence

From the literature of the Rato Bangala Foundation:

The Primary Teaching Training Programme is a unique teacher training programme in Nepal that has been inspired by the work of three educational institutions: Rato Bangala Foundation, Kathmandu University and Bank Street College of Education (in New York).

This one simple sentence sums up a remarkable endeavor to change the face of early education in Nepal. The Rato Bangala Foundation's teacher training course offers two "tracks": one aimed at those who have completed a highschool education and the other leading to a bachelor's degree from Kathmandu University. Each offers classwork in educational philosophy, social studies, language arts, mathematics, science/environmental education, the arts and physical education. Supervised fieldwork is a critical component of students' experience and each is mentored by an advisor and assigned to a small group of fellow trainees for ongoing discussion, feedback and sharing of experience. The curriculum is based in the principles of progressive education and classwork involves not simply lectures and reading but hands-on experiences which model those practiced with children. Prospective teachers learn to observe children closely, to document their observations and to use this knowledge to devise effective teaching strategies. Language arts students take part in a writer's workshop, composing and "publishing" literature of their own. Math training involves creation of charts, use of manipulatives and group problem-solving exercises. Social studies is based in the idea of the "community as classroom" and focuses on the creation of meaning in a complex and changing world.

To quote once more from Rato Bangala's promotional material:

The strength of this programme lies in the integration of theory and practice: lessons learnt in the classrooms are practiced in the field and new knowledge is built on the experience.

Seventeen years into the Rato Bangala "experiment", their work is generating ever greater international attention and acclaim. Teacher training is a key component of the Foundation's vision for change.

If you would like to make a donation to support the work of the Rato Bangala Foundation, please contact me: bnorford@mac.com. Your contribution will make a difference to the children and teachers of Nepal.
-Beth

Rato Bangala Kitab - Quality Children's Literature for Nepal

In 1992, during the very first teacher-training session at Rato Bangala we organized a writing workshop for the faculty. Each teacher was asked to compose and illustrate a children's story, then to share his/her work with the group and to make revisions before submitting a final draft. The results were amazing! We discovered a wealth of talent among that initial group of educators and from that first set of books came the inaugural title published by Rato Bangala Kitab, the publishing division of the Rato Bangala Foundation. Mangale Ko Changa, by Punyasheel Gautam, is the story of two boys and a kite, composed in rhyming Nepali verse and illustrated (using a combination of collage and tempera paint) by the author. Published in 1993, it has quickly become a classic.

Since then, Rato Bangala Kitab has expanded to include an impressive list of titles published in Nepali, English and over a dozen other regional languages. To list just a few: The Adventures Of A Nepali Frog recounts the travels of an intrepid amphibian; Kaag Kaag Kauwa introduces the alphabet to young children; Khadkhadai is set in the Nepali jungle; and Chhandaka Ek Saya Ek Kabita presents 101 poems in traditional Nepali rhyming meter. These books are available for purchase by families and schools throughout the country, and several are also included in the collected learning materials distributed to rural schools by the foundation. (More about this project to come.) The Foundation continues to sponsor writer's workshops and the work of producing quality literature for Nepali children moves forward.

A complete catalog of Rato Bangala Kitab titles is available at http://www.rbf.org.np/catalogue.html.

-Beth

Rato Bangala: It's Not Just A School ... It's A Foundation

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm very proud of my ongoing affiliation with the Rato Bangala School, a wonderful example of progressive education at work in Nepal. But there's more to Rato Bangala than just a school for kids from the Kathmandu area. From our very first conversations, all of us involved in this project envisioned an institution that would impact education for children throughout the region, not simply those from a particular economic class or location. With this mission in mind the Rato Bangala Foundation was begun. Because I don't think I can say it better myself, I will quote now from the Foundation's mission statement:

Since 2002, the Rato Bangala Foundation has been immersed in the challenging task of improving the quality of education in Nepal, with primary focus on schools run by the government. To fulfill its mission, RBF trains teachers, develops teaching/learning material and publishes children's literature. In line with its philosophy the Foundation works in formal collaboration with the Department of Education of the Government of Nepal, and partners with various agencies and organizations which are engaged in the task of improving teaching in the classroom ... Taking a 'whole school' approach, the Foundation works with parents, teachers, administrators as well as students so that all get a sense of empowerment and ownership towards the institution and its development.

RBF's approach is multi-faceted and I will use my next few blog posts to describe various components of their work. First up: books!

-Beth

If you would like to make a donation to support the work of the Rato Bangala Foundation, please contact me: bnorford@mac.com. Your contribution will make a difference to the children and teachers of Nepal. (Note: Contributions are not yet tax-deductible in the US, but we're working on it.)

Education in India - A Subjective Overview

Let me state from the outset of this post that I am not a formal scholar of South Asian educational history and there’s obviously much that I don’t yet know about the topic. My impressions and opinions are based on a combination of reading, observation and experience. I was a middle and high-school student in India myself - at an international school that, while certainly not typical, provided me with my first exposure to education in the region. Since then I’ve been lucky enough to work and study further in India, Nepal and Pakistan … and now to share my thoughts on those experiences. I repeat my usual entreaty. I invite those who read this blog to think of it as an online conversation and to respond to my statements, to question my opinions or to expand on what I have to say.

Many, many cultural, religious and political traditions have informed the practice of education in South Asia over centuries (and I hope to address some of these in future posts). But the contemporary system is based mainly in European and British pedagogical thinking. (Since each of the countries in the subcontinent has a unique modern history, I’ll focus only on India for the rest of this post.) In India, European schooling was introduced first by Christian missionaries and then augmented by the colonial powers (mainly British) that assumed political control of the region. Most classrooms look much like those in the West: a teacher, a blackboard, students at desks or benches working from textbooks. The curriculum is based on the standard “3 R’s”. The primary medium of instruction for many schools is English; for others it is the language of the local region. Class sizes tend to be large– sometimes 50 or above. As a rule, tests are paramount as assessment tools in Indian schools and there is a rigorous testing schedule in all subject areas. There are several standardized national examinations that hold tremendous weight and the most important of these are administered in grades 10 and 12. Some schools are religiously based, some are government-run and some are private but secular.

Pedagogically, most Indian schools rely on a model that stresses repetition, memorization of facts and methodology, and the primacy of teachers and texts as intellectual authorities. There is very little room for experience-based learning, for open-ended experimentation and discussion, or for critical thinking that might challenge sanctioned content and procedure. There ARE advantages to this system. Indian students tend to be disciplined scholars with an impressive mastery of subject matter. But they often find themselves at a loss when asked to answer open-ended questions or to formulate their own theories or opinions. Many students who have moved from Indian schools to American colleges and universities say they’ve found themselves better-prepared than their Western peers in math and science, but at a disadvantage when asked to write papers in the arts or social sciences.

My own agenda should be clear by now. I am a progressive educator who believes in the value of rich experience, collaboration, the arts and critical thinking – all largely absent in the typical Indian classroom. That’s the bad news … but there’s much to celebrate as well. There have always been alternatives in India and there certainly are now. There is an amazing range of schools, pedagogies, teaching methods and educational experiences available for kids and parents, and an incredible community of educators who administer these programs. Further, my sense is that now, more than at any time in the past few centuries perhaps, a major movement toward rethinking learning and pedagogy is gaining momentum. As India assumes a new and increasingly powerful role in the international community, parents are recognizing that their children need more than the ability to memorize and catalog facts. Most don’t know what form such an alternative might take and are anxious about moving away from a system that they know. Addressing these concerns is the work of progressive education and I’m looking forward to being part of that work.

-Beth

The Rato Bangala School, Kathmandu, Nepal

I made my first trip to Nepal back in 1990. I was a teacher at the Bank Street School for Children at the time, spending my summer break in South Asia, and I knew that a Bank Street family had recently returned to Kathmandu after several years of graduate study in the US. I called them when I reached the city, they graciously invited me to their home for dinner ... and the rest is history. At least it's become a big part of my own personal history. The Dixit family was frustrated by the educational options available at the time for their own young children. They had been thrilled with their Bank Street experience and recognized the potential for progressive education to make a difference in Nepal - not just for their kids but for the entire country. We talked that evening about the dream of starting a new school and the possiblity of working in collaboration with Bank Street to bring quality progressive education to the region. The Dixits have long been prominent in the Nepali intellectual/literary community and they were willing to commit time and resources (even their house!) to such a project. By the time I left to return to New York I was full of enthusiasm and energy and one of the first things I did when I got back there was approach Nona Weekes, the School for Children Dean, with my scheme for a Bank Street/Nepal connection. Nona thought it was a great idea and with her support I managed to secure Bank Street backing and funding for our first official consulting trip in 1991, the following summer. Nona and I traveled to Nepal, met with the Dixits, with other educators in Kathmandu, with members of the faculty at Kathmandu University and even with Nepal's minister of education. We brainstormed. We problemsolved. We planned and discussed. The Dixits worked tirelessly throughout ... And in 1992 the Rato Bangala School opened its doors to its first two classes of students in grades three and four.

There's much more to come on Rato Bangala, but in my next few posts I plan to shift focus a bit and give a very cursory sketch of the history and current state of education around South Asia. In order to understand just how revolutionary the accomplishments of the Dixits and other educational reformers in the region have been, it's necessary to understand the system within which they work.

Any other suggestions/ideas for future topics? I'd love to hear from you!

-Beth

How To Make A Book, pt. 2

I'll conclude this Lucknow chapter of my blog with some final praise for the books that our students created. Not their stories this time, but the books themselves: the covers, the pages ... the works of art they made from the materials we'd collected around the city. We worked on bookbinding throughout the writing process so that while some students composed and illustrated stories, others took turns putting their books together. The process involved several steps. First, each child covered two pieces of pre-cut cardboard with cloth s/he had chosen. The cloth was cut and folded - wrapping paper style - and fixed to the cover boards with all-purpose glue (Fevicol is the most common brand in India). Next, the two pieces of cardboard were joined at the spine with bookbinding cloth - again using Fevicol. To create pages, we had pre-sized paper prepared and the kids used embroidery thread and needles to sew the sheets together. Finally, they glued their pages into their covers and the basic books were complete. (If you would like to try this activity with your students and need more detailed instructions, please email me and I'll be happy to work with you.) I discovered that my students grasped the mechanics of the bookbinding process very quickly and that once the first few of them had finished, they became self-appointed instructors for their peers. This left my me and my colleagues free to focus on the revising and editing of stories. When that process was complete, final text and illustrations were copied into finished covers and when that process was finally done ... then we got to everybody's favorite part: the decorations! In India it's easy to find a wonderful assortment of buttons, lace, beads, sequins ... all of the accessories that go with the thriving personal tailoring trade. There's a great store in Lucknow called Button House that carries all these products and we managed to make a deal there for a big bag of assorted end-pieces: the short remnants from the thousands of rolls of fancy trim they stock. The students loved personalizing their covers with our treasures from Button House and it was a great way of finishing up the project. The results speak for themselves. (Click on each picture to see a close-up version.)



Next post: Progressive Education in Nepal - The Rato Bangala School

-Beth