July 11-15, 2011

A group picture of many of the wonderful people who hosted us and shared their lives with us for our 2 week stay.

Baksi Ma'am dressed Julia, Anna, and I in sari's before dinner.  I have a new appreciation for those who can walk up the steps in sari's!

Archana leading a class discussion on the circulatory system

Chemistry students careful demonstrating a chemical reaction related to the topic being taught

Note the color changes in the testtube demonstrating that a reaction did take place.

I'm providing background information before we played a nitrogen cycle game

One of the school yards at the Navrachana School.

After the students of the Navrachana School leave for the day, the students from the Navprerna Centre of Learning for underprivileged arrive for school

The arts department treated us to traditional music and dance performances

A special dance which takes years and years of training to learn

Another traditional dance

Student project for the fabric competition

Students in Archana's biology class modeling the flow of blood in the circulatory system

Our home for the past 2 weeks... it was a sad when we left our new home...

A bulletin board created for my 1 day professional development workshop

Here I am convincing students that I can make a cloud in a bottle!

My second week at the Navrachana School opened with my workshop called “Teaching Science as Inquiry” for 35 teachers from the Navrachana School and surrounding schools.  The workshop investigated the topic inquiry, what inquiry looks and doesn’t look like, and modeled how to use it in science classrooms.  The workshop ran very well and the teachers were all very receptive.  In the evening we met at Baksi Ma’am’s before heading out to dinner.  There she set up a “game” where some of the teachers there had to dress Julia, Anna, and I in sari’s which we had to wear to dinner!  Everyone had a great laugh as did we!  I’m not sure how Indian women get from one place to another wearing sari’s because I sure did find it a challenge not to step on the fabric!  We ate at the Hotel Nidra for dinner and on yet another Indian feast.

On Tuesday I taught a class on the topic of the nitrogen cycle using the nitrogen cycle game. It went well except for the fact that these students already know most of the content but I think I took their knowledge to a deeper level.  I visited Archana’s lab classes and watched as the students prepared slides.  The “press” arrived at 3PM which included a newspaper reporter and TV reporter.  They interviewed the 3 of us and I made sure to clarify that when they are asking comparison questions that they be sure to state that it is a comparison of the Navrachana School and our home schools; not schools in India vs. schools in the US.  We headed back to the hotel it was time for dinner with the social studies teachers.  Again dinner was delightful – great company and great food.

Wednesday started out with an assembly on disaster management. The students were then briefed on and a long term (due Nov 16^th) assignment related to disaster management where they had a choice of about 7 different projects they could do.  From there we were whisked down to a performance by the arts department that included songs, dancing, and instrumental music from India. It was wonderful to see the students perform.  From there we were invited to view the fabric projects created by the 6^th grade students.  Next, Julia and I were interviewed by 4 students for their school newsletter.  It was great because we were able to ask them a number of questions.  They also gave me a list of Bollywood movies to watch and a couple of actors to watch out for.   Later in the afternoon I visited a class to go over basic meteorology concepts and did a couple of demos including cloud in a bottle and the wind tube.  We ended the day visiting the Navrachana School for the underprivileged where we were treated to a couple of songs.  I bought a number of items from their little store where some of the money will go back to the student.  The 150 students are taught in Gujarti since they do not know English, although it is one of the subjects they are learning. These students have the opportunity to go on to a trade or to a university after finishing the program at the school.  The parents chip a very small amount of money for their kids to be there.  Mala’s (the textile artisan) sister is the principal. Back to the hotel and afterwards we went to dinner at Sudha’s (a science teacher) home.  The food was delicious. When we got back to the hotel we heard of 3 bombings in Mumbai.  Jen (my travel colleague for the next week) and I were going back and forth with each other a few times about whether or not to cancel our travels. We decided to talk to our host teachers before making any rash decisions.

Thursday morning we sat through a leadership workshop for the kids. Julia ran it and had the kids do some metaphor activities to model leadership skills and styles.  I was scheduled to talk to the 6^th graders about my trips and also talk to a few teachers about data use in the classroom.  The 6^th grade talk was a bit too much with too many kids and towards the end the power went out.  The data discussion went well, and I think the teachers took away a few good ideas.  Last, I tried to talk to Archana’s older students, but I couldn’t access the powerpoint presentation on the hard-drive that I used when the power went out!  Then it was off to our ice-cream social, although they turned it into a much bigger deal –like a farewell party.  Julia and I tried to come up with a way to say thank you to the faculty for all they did for us while were there and with the help of Baksi Ma’am and Archana came up with the idea to host an ice cream social.  They all said nice things and it was a very pleasant event.  Jen and spoke about our travels and we decided to keep our GAP trip and head back after it instead of spending a few days in Mumbai. Dinner was at a Junior Level science teacher’s home –Krishna.  Krishna cooks southern cuisine and is known for her masala covered idli. Her coconut rice was also superb.

All of that waiting for the trip to happen and now it’s over.  I don’t want to go home. Archana picked us up at 7:35 and when we got to the school they had all the students assembled in the courtyard ready to bid us our farewell.  I got quite emotional seeing all the students and hearing their voices.  When asked to say something to the students I focused on “til we meet again” to all those who made our stay at Navrachana so wonderful.  Anagha then took us to the International School to visit the facility where there are approximately 800 hundred students included about 60 boarders.  While there we were entertained by an assembly, observed a class and judged a debate.  The school was beautiful.  We had dinner with members of the science department and bid a final farewell to all of our new colleagues.  How does one been begin to thank all the people at the Navrachana School for making my visit so wonderful?  Perhaps I’ll come up with something!